SOCI 100 - 6. Class and Inequality

Absolute Poverty

Complete lack of necessities

Relative Poverty

Inadequacy compared to average living standards

Market Basket Measure (MBM)

An estimate cost of basic goods, representing modest basic standards of living for a reference family

• 1 mother, 1 father, 2 children

Social Stratification

A hierarchical system of inequality that is based on class, socioeconomic status, and power combined with other forms of differentiation such as gender and ethnicity

Social Mobility

Movement within and between classes

Vertical Mobility

Movement up or down between classes

Intragenerational Social Mobility

Movement of social classes that is within the generation

• within the persons lifetime

Intergenerational Social Mobility

Movement of social classes that is between generations

• grandparents may have a difference social class than grandchildren

Closed System

A social system where the system one is born in, is the one they stay in

• no social mobility

• slavery, castes, estates (feudalism)

Open System

A social system where individuals can move between classes

• social class

Achieved Status

Social Status that is earned by the individual

• meritocracy

Ascribed Status

Social status in which the individual is born into

• limited social mobility

Exchange Mobility

Movement within an occupational hierarchy that can only occur when an existing position becomes vacant

Structure Mobility

Movement within an occupational hierarchy that can occur as a result of the creation of new jobs or positions

Behavioral Health Model

An approach to health that considers the lifestyle choices of the individual as the only factors relevant to a person’s well-being

Safety Nets

Services that prevent people from falling into poverty

Social Assistance (Safety Net)

Programs that provide payments to the lowest-earning individuals and members of vulnerable social groups to enable them to meet their basic needs

The Davis-Moore Thesis

A functionalist theory which states that inequalities exist in all societies and, as such, they must be necessary

• in order to function properly, a society must somehow distribute its members into various social positions and persuade them to perform the duties of those positions

• the positions that are rewarded with the highest economic gains and highest rank are those that have the greatest importance for society, and those that require the greatest training or talent

Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory

Social structure is distorted through private property, expropriation of surplus wealth, division of labour, and alienated labour

• the drive for private property was primarily responsible for creating the two-class system

• capitalists are able to keep wages lower because capitalism ensures superfluous labour

Socially Stratified Social Functionalist Theory

By rewarding important work with more money, prestige, power, and leisure time, people are encouraged to choose important work and work hard at it

• more productive and efficient

Ralf Dahrendorf’s Conflict Theory

Many more people today have a stake in the capitalist system

• overall increase in the standard of living

• organized labour and union success

• greater legal protections

Weber’s Conflict Theory

Argued that class and economic inequalities were not the only measure of social stratification

• class, status, power

C. Wright Mills’ Elites

Identified and established three interlocked parts of elites in the US as a topic worthy of social research and analysis

• military, corporate, political

• proposed that elites in the US society were so powerful and so coordinated that they jeopardized democratic processes

Neoliberalism

The current political philosophy which emphasizes privatization, deregulation, reduction of welfare state through reduction in programs, and lowering of taxes

Thornstein Veblen’s Symbolic Interactionist Theory

Highlighted the symbolic embodiment of social inequality through the practice of conspicuous consumption

• wealth and social position are communicated through status symbols

Conspicuous Consumption

The ostentatious display of wealth

Individual Classism

Classism on a personal or individual level

• behaviour or attitudes

• conscious and intentional; unconscious and unintentional

Institutional Classism

Conscious or unconscious classism manifested in societal institutions

Cultural Classism

Classism manifested through cultural norms and practices