Economic Inequality

Capital

The economic resources we use to get things we want and need.

Economic Capital

Financial resources that are or can be converted into money.

Economic Elite

The minority of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth.

Wage

Cash payments given to workers in exchange for their labor. 

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of the resources used to create wealth, and the right of individuals to personally profit.

Proletariat

A class of people who are employed by others and work for a wage. They typically do not own the means of production and are considered the working class.

Labor

The work people can do to produce goods and services.

Bourgeoisie

A class of people who employ the workers and own the means of production, typically associated with the capitalist class. They are characterized by their ownership of capital and their role in the production of goods and services, often accumulating wealth through the exploitation of labor.

Means of Production

Resources that can be used to create wealth, which include factories, machinery, and tools used in the production of goods.

Alienation

The feeling of dissatisfaction and disconnection from the fruits of one's labor. This disconnection can lead to a sense of powerlessness and estrangement from one's work, contributing to overall economic inequality.

Crisis of Capitalism

A coming of catastrophic implosion from which capitalism would never recover, often resulting from overproduction, inequality, and market instability.

Class Consciousness 

An understanding that members of a social class share economic interests.

Socialism

An economic system based on shared ownership of the resources used to create wealth that is then distributed by governments for the enrichment of all.

Free Market Capitalism

A capitalist system with little or no government regulation. 

Labor Unions

Associations that organize workers so they can negotiate with their employers as a group instead of as individuals.

Social Safety Net

A patchwork of programs intended to ensure that the most economically vulnerable do not go without basic necessities.

Living Wage

An income that allows full-time workers to afford their basic needs.

Welfare Capitalism

A capitalist economic system with some socialist policy aimed at distributing the profits of capitalism more evenly across the population.

Service and Information Economy

An economy centered on jobs in which workers provide services or work with information.

Precariat

A new class of workers who live economically precarious lives.

Working Poor

People in the labor force who earn poverty-level wages.

Protestant Work Ethic

The idea that one’s character can and should be measured by one’s dedication to paid work.

Comparative Sociology

A research method that involves collecting and analyzing data about two or more cases that can be usefully compared and contrasted. 

Case

An instance of a thing of interest which can be a person, group of people, an organization, an event or a place.

Social Mobility

Opportunity to move up or down in the economic hierarchy.

Glass Ceiling 

An invisible barrier that restricts upward mobility.

Glass Floor

An invisible barrier that restricts downward mobility.

Wealth Gaps 

Differences in the amount of money and economic assets owned by people from different social groups. 

Wage Gaps

Differences between the hourly earnings of different social identity groups.

Legitimation

A process by which a potentially controversial social fact is made acceptable.