Chapter 5 - Social Inequality and Social Class

Theory of Social Stratification

Social Stratification - Hierarchical arrangement of society and classes based on income, sex/gender, and race/ethnicity

Characteristics; Flexibility - open/close

Ascribed Status - Status that is given to someone following birth

Achieved Status - Status that is a result of a person’s actions

Intergenerational Mobility - Changes in social class of children relative to their parents

Intragenerational Mobility - Changes in social class that occur within a person’s lifetime

Income & Wealth

Income - Economic gain from wages, salaries, income transfers (government aid), and ownership of property

Wealth - Accumulated assets including property (e.g., building, lands, farms, houses, factories) as well as other assets such as bank accounts, stocks, bonds and insurance policies

Karl Marx

Relation to the means of production

Capitalist - Those who own the means of production (land, capital)

Workers - those who must sell their labor to the owners of capitals in order to earn wages enough to survive

Alienation of the working class - Feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other workers, oneself, and the means of production

-Bourgeoisie maintain position on top of the class structure - “superstructure” 

-Proletariat (workers) maintain position on the bottom of the class structure - “substructure”

Capital Class - Elements

Holds most of the wealth and power in society through ownership of capital (banks, corporations, factories, mines, news and entertainment)

-Source of Income - Profits, interest, and very high salaries

Managerial Class - Elements

Upper level managers, supervisors and professionals

-hold a contradictory position; don’t own the capital but have substantial control over the means of production and decide how the business operation is to be run

Small Business Class and Working Class

Small Business Class - Small in nature

-May employ a limited number of workers (restaurants, stores, etc)

Working Class - Blue collar/pink collar workers

-Make few decisions over their work

Max Weber - Wealth, Power and Prestige

No single factor defines class

-Many factors like culture, access to resources, contribute to class position

Wealth - total monetary resource a person has

Prestige - Respect with which a person or status position is regarded by others

Power - ability of people or group to achieve their goals despite opposition from others

Socioeconomic Status

Refers to a combined measure that attempts to classify individuals, families or households in terms of factors such as income, occupation and education to determine class position

-Idea by Max Weber

Weberian Model of Class in Canada

For weber, class position is based upon education, occupation, family income

-Using this, Canada divided into upper class, middle class, working class and the underclass

Upper Class - Max Weber

Highest level of wealth; about 3% of Canadians

Types; old money (wealth from generations past) and new money (wealth from current or recent success)

Related terms; corporate elite, the Canadian establishment

Middle Class - Max Weber

John Porter - Canada is predominantly a middle class society

Subtypes;

-Upper middle class - highly educated professionals (physicians, lawyers, etc)

-Lower middle class - entry via post-secondary education

Issues that threaten this class;

-Escalating house costs, occupational insecurity, blocked upward mobility, cost-of-living sequeeze

Working Class - Max Weber

30% of Canadians belong in this class

-Ex; Retail sales, routine mechanized jobs, trade work

Subtypes;

-Blue collar - industrial and trade workers

Pink collar - low paying, non manual, semi-skilled jobs held mostly by women

Working Poor - Max Weber

-20% of Canadians

Elements;

-Live just above the poverty level

-Engaged in unskilled work, seasonal jobs; low paying factory and service jobs

-Living on these wages, one cannot cover the cost of living

Underclass - Max Weber

Very poor, seldom employed due to low income and unemployment

-Some because of divorce, discrimination, age, or disability

-Likely to pass it on to their children 

Consequences of Inequality - Health

More wealth results in more health

-Life expectancy, diabetes, heart disease, etc

-50k children experience hunger

-Lack of food = negative school outcomes

-High increase in food bank usage

Consequences of Inequality - Education

Educational opportunities and life chances are directly linked

-Issue; does education increase the chance of social mobility (functionalist) or does it reproduce class (conflict)

-Children of wealth parents go to better schools than children of poor family

Consequences of Inequality - Crime/Safety

Crime of the upper middle class and upper class is mostly motivated by greed

-Crime of the lower classes motivated by fear, anger and frustration

-Crime is not from random action but the result of social inequalities

Poverty in Canada

Poverty consists of 3 measurements by statistics Canada

-Market Based Measure (MBM) - set as Canada’s first official poverty line in 2019

• Official poverty line based on what is considered to be minimum amount of money require for living at a subsistence level

• Thresholds based on cost of a basket of goods/services representing a basic standard of living

-Low Income Cutoff (LICO) - Low income threshold for families of different sizes based on the share of income an average family spent on food, shelter and clothing

-Low Income Cutoff is spends 63% of their income on basic necessities, which is 20% more than the average family

Absolute and Relative Poverty

Absolute Poverty - Exists when people do not have the means to secure basic necessities of life

Relative Poverty - Exists when people may be able to afford basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an average standard of living

Who are the Poor?

Age - Children (18%), more poor children today

Gender - 66% of the poor are women, mostly single parents and low income

Race/Ethnicity - Aboriginals due to high unemployment

Disabilities - 50% are working, 50% have incomes less than 10k

-Those are are unattached (live by themselves) have a higher rate of poverty in Canada

Feminization of Poverty

Trend in which women are disproportionately represented among individuals living in poverty

-Event Driven Poverty - as a result of marital separation, divorce or widowhood 

Economic/Structural Causes of Poverty

Economic - Over 50% of the poor are the working poor, meaning wages don’t meet the cost of living

Structural reasons - Broad factors that go beyond the control of individuals that results in poverty

-International competition

-Automation

-Closure of many factories (deindustrialization of NA)

Emergence of Job Deskilling

A reduction in the proficiency needed to perform a specific job that leads to a corresponding reduction in the wages for that job

-Shift from manufacturing to service

G-Motors Example; Different plants produce different parts of a car (division of labor), resulting in decreased pay due to less skill being required for each part

-Job deskilling is therefore a structural reason for poverty

Functionalist Perspective on Poverty

Davis claimed social inequality was necessary; Davis-Moore Thesis, Reasons;

1. All societies have important tasks that must be accomplished

2. Some position more important than others

3. most important position must be filled by the most qualified people

4. these positions which require talent must be highly rewarded

5. Those highly rewarded are functionally unique and on which other positions rely for expertise, direction or financing

Conflict Perspective on Poverty

Does not believe social inequality serves as a motivating force for people

-A stratified system is supported by Canadian ideology, laws and discrimination 

Feminist Perspective on Poverty

Double repression

-Being a woman and class inequality

-Men are more advantaged in power, status and possibilities of self-actualization

Link to the family

-Women more likely to both work/care for home and the child

Social Inequality - Future

Dollar buys less and less

-Workers wage decreases, manager wages increase

Tax laws continue to benefit the wealthy more than middle/lower classes

Poverty - Future

Poverty likely to increase

-Increase in single parent families

-Internationalization of the economy means local controls are less and less common (soft lumber dispute, effect of mad-cow disease, NAFTA renegotiation)

-no change in child poverty