Soci: Ch.8: Stratification and Social Mobility in the U.S.

Social inequality

Condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, and power.

Stratification

- A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society.

(general systems, of stratification) EX: Slavery, castes, estates, and social classes

Income

Refers to salaries and wages, interest o savings, stock dividends, and rental income.

Wealth

An inclusive term encompassing all a person's material assets, including land, stocks, and other types of property.

Capitalism

An economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits.

Castes

- Hereditary ranks that are usually religiously dictated and that tend to be fixed and immobile.


EX:

Estate system/feudalism

- Required peasants to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection and other services.

- within an agrarian society.

Class system

- A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility.

- can move from one stratum to another.

5 Class model (Danel Rossides)

1. Upper class (1-2%): typically accumulate wealth, passed on to next generation. Own auto dealerships, franchises, gas stations, beverage distributions, etc.

2. Upper-middle class (10-15%): doctors, lawyers, and architects.

3. Lower-middle class (30-35): teachers, nurses, small businesses, some clerical workers.

4. Working class (40-45%): people who hold regular manual or blue-collar jobs. Like electricians.

5. Lower class (20-25%): disproportionally black and hispanic, single mothers w/ young children, and people who cannot find regular work or must work low-paying work.

Precarious work

Employment that is poorly paid, and from the worker's perspective, insecure and unprotected.

Karl Marx's View of Class Diferentiation

- main focus on economic inequality

- class differentiation crucial determinant of social, economic, and political inequality.

- interested in culture of proletariat.

- exploitation of proletariat will lead to destruction of capitalist system (workers will revolt)

2 social classes

- Bourgeoisie: owns the means of production, such as factories and machinery.

- Proletariat: the working class.

Class consciousness

Subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change.

False consciousness

- An attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their objective position.

EX: individualist view "I am being exploited by my boss" instead of realizing all workers are being exploited.

Max Weber's View on Stratification

- insisted no single characteristic (such as class) totally defines a person's position within the stratification system.

- 3 distinct components of stratification: class, status group, power.

Class

- A group of people who have a similar level of wealth and income.

EX: minimum-wage workers.

Status group

- Refers to people who have the same prestige or lifestyle.

- Gain status through membership in a desirable group (medical profession).

EX: a college professor (high status) and a successful thief (low status) may have the same income but different statuses.

Power

- The ability to exercise one's will over others.

- Power stems from membership in particularly influential groups (corporate boards of directors, government bodies, and interest groups)

- Conflict Theorists generally agree that two major sources of power (government and big business) are closely related.

Interactionist Perspective (Thorstein Veblen)

- Noted that those at the top of the social hierarchy typically convert part of their wealth into conspicuous consumption.

Conspicuous consumption

- Purchasing goods not to survive but to FLAUNT their superior wealth and social standing.

EX: purchasing more cars than they can reasonably use or build homes with more rooms than they need.

Functionalist view on Stratification

- Maintain that a differential system of rewards and punishments is necessary for the efficient operation of society.

- David & Moore argue it's universal and social inequality is necessary so that people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions.

- Society must use some type of reward to motivate people to enter unpleasant or dangerous jobs and professions that require long training periods.

Conflict Theorist view of Stratification

- Argue that COMPETITION for scarce resources results in significant political, economic, and social inequality.

- See stratification as a major source of societal tension and conflict.

- Marx argued that under capitalism, the dominant class (bourgeoisie) manipulates the economic and political systems in order to maintain control over the exploited proletariat. Did not believe that stratification was inevitable, but he did see inequality and oppression as inherent in capitalism.

- Contemporary Conflict Theorist: believe that human beings are prone to conflict over scarce resources such as wealth, status, and power.

- MARX focused primarily on CLASS conflict.

Conflict theorist-Ralf Dahrendorf

- social classes are groups of people who share common interests resulting from their authority relationships.

- contend that the powerful of today, like the bourgeoisie, want society to run smoothly so that they can enjoy their privileged. positions.

Dominant ideology

- Describes a set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests.

- Marx's view: served the interest of the ruling class.

- Conflict perspective: the social significance of the dominant ideology is that not only do a society's most powerful groups and institutions control wealth and property: even more important, they control the means of producing beliefs about reality through religion, education, and the media.

Gerhard Lenski

- Economic systems change as their level of technology becomes more complex, beginning with hunting and gathering and culminating eventually with industrial society.

- Subsistence-based hunting-and-gathering societies, people focus on survival.

- A stratification system based on social class does not emerge because there is no real wealth to be claimed.

- Surplus resources --> possibility for inequality in status, influence, and power --> well-define, rigid social class system to develop.

- In contemporary industrial society, the degree of social and economic inequality far exceeds what is needed to provide for goods and services.

Objective method

A technique for measuring social class that assigns individuals to classes on the basis of criteria such as occupation, education, income, and place of residence. (researcher identifies and individual's class positions, not the person being classified)

Prestige

- Refers to the respect and admiration that an occupation holds in a society.

EX: "My daughter the physicist" garners more respect than "My daughter the server"

Esteem

- Refers to the reputation that a specific person has earned within an occupation.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

- A measure of social class that is based on income, education, and occupation.

- To determine SES of a young person, they use parental income, education, and occupation.

Absolute poverty

- Refers to a minimum level of subsistence that no family should be expected to live below.

EX: the poverty line

Relative poverty

- A floating standard of deprivation by which people at the bottom of a society, whatever their lifestyles, are judged to be disadvantaged in comparison with the nation as a whole.

Feminization of poverty

- A trend in which women constitute an increasing proportion of the poor people of both the U.S and the world.

- Conflict theorists trace higher rates of poverty among women due to the difficulty in finding affordable child care, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination in the labor market.

Underclass (William Julius Wilson)

Describes the long-term poor who lack training and skills.

Life chances

- Their opportunities provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences.

- Reflected in measures such as housing, education, and health.

Social mobility

- Refers to the movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another.

EX: going from a poor background to a position of prestige, power, or financial reward.

Open system

- Implies that the position of each individual is influenced by his or her achieved status.

"Hard work pays off"

Closed system

- Allows little or no possibility of individual social mobility.

EX: slavery and caste systems.

- social placement based on ascribed statuses, such as race or family background

Horizontal mobility (Pitirim Sorokin)

- The movement of an individual from one social position to another of the same rank.

EX: an elementary school teacher who becomes a police officer (have the same prestige rank).

Vertical mobility (Pitirim Sorokin)

- The movement of an individual from one social position to another of a different rank.

EX: a teacher becoming a lawyer (higher prestige rank).

INTERgenerational mobility

- Involves changes in the social position of children relative to their parents.

EX: a plumber whose father was a physician (downward intergenerational mobility)

INTRAgenerational mobility

- Involves changes in social position within a person's adult life.

EX: A woman who begins work as a teacher's aide and eventually becomes superintendent of the school district (upward intragenerational mobility).