Social Problems Chapter 2

Social stratification

The system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy

Social classes

Categories of people who have similar access to resources and opportunities

Income

Salary/wages from jobs plus earnings from investments or any other source

Wealth

The value of all economic assets owned by a person/family, minus debts

Progressive taxation

Tax system where rate increases as income increases (government's tool to reduce inequality)

The Rich

Families in the top 10% of income distribution

Poverty line

Gov't standard: level of annual income below which a person/family is officially "poor"

Poverty gap

Difference between the poverty line and the actual income of the typical poor household

Underclass

Poor people living in areas of concentrated poverty, with limited opportunity; persistent poverty rather than temporary

Social welfare program

Organized effort by government, private orgs, or individuals to assist needy people defined as "worthy" of help

Feminization of poverty

Growing share of the poor who are women, esp. single mothers

Cultural capital

Non-monetary social assets (schooling, values, skills) that affluent families pass to children

Intersection theory

Studies how race, class, and gender combine to create multiple, compounding disadvantages

William Ryan – "Blaming the Victim" 4-step process

• Pick a social problem

• Decide how sufferers differ from everyone else

• Define those differences as the cause of the problem

• Respond by trying to change the victims, not the larger society

Marxist theory

poverty is a product of capitalism

Cultural capital

poverty involves more than money (lack of transmitted knowledge/skills/values)

Multicultural theory

links poverty to race and ethnicity

Feminist theory

poverty tied to patriarchy; → feminization of poverty

Intersection theory

race + class + gender combine → multiple disadvantage

Conservatives

View: Personal responsibility; stress self-reliance

Solution: Individual effort, limited government aid

Liberals

View: Poverty is structural, not individual failure

Solution: Societal solutions (programs, policy)

Radicals

View: Poverty is inherent in capitalism itself

Solution: Reject welfare/tax "band-aids"; replace capitalism with a more humane system

Social pathology theory

Focuses on personal deficiency of the poor

Social disorganization theory

focuses on idea of too much [rapid] social change

Davis and Moore

inequality actually helps society function efficiently (rewards important jobs)

Herbert Gans

poverty persists because many people/groups benefit from it (not just the poor)

Six Problems Linked to Poverty: Poor health

infant mortality among the poor is twice the national average; poor die earlier, more often from infectious disease/violence

Six Problems Linked to Poverty: Substandard housing / homelessness

500,000 homeless on a given night; up to 3.5 million homeless at some point in a year; caused by low income + shrinking low-income housing supply

Six Problems Linked to Poverty: Limited schooling

poor children less likely to finish high school or attend/complete college; tracking labels poor kids as "less able"

Six Problems Linked to Poverty: Crime and punishment

focus on street crime means poor face more arrests/trials/convictions; poor rely on overworked/underpaid public defenders (vs. wealthy white-collar crime, which gets less attention

Six Problems Linked to Poverty: Political alienation

2008 election: 80% of people earning $100,000+ voted vs. less than half of people earning $10,000 or less

Working poor

18% of heads of poor families work full-time but remain below the poverty line

Non-working poor

often due to poor health, and/or lack of skills or self-confidence