social class

attributes of american capitalism (wright and rogers)

1. markets for exchange (organized for markets rather than immediate use)

2. private ownership and control of investment

3. markets for labor

gigantic corporations

extremely weak labor unions

• limited parental leave

• right to strike

weak regulation of the economy by the government

globalization

economic inequality in a wealthy economy

Lecture

• dominated by powerful mega-corporations

• weak labor unions

• weak regulation of economy 

• deeply interconnected with global capitalist economy

social class in the US (wright and rogers)

classes

• connection between individual attributes and material life conditions

• as opportunity hoarding

  • requirements for filling the job (education → human capital to make people more ‘productive; licenses/credentials; private property rights)

• as exploitation

  • landowners seizing control of common lands; those who own and control the means of production and those who are hired

how social class is perceived and portrayed (lecture, Loewen, video)

sociological perspective

• robust class structure

• class structure is a product of a particular type of capitalism

• three barriers to social mobility

3 theories

1. theoretical origins (Weber); individual life chances

2. attributes that sort people into different class positions (educational attainment, social connections-social capital; cultural resources-cultural capital)

3. main class divisions: upper / middle / lower / underclass

why the myth of ‘classless society’ exists

• your own class position (background and accept)

• politics

• education (is it addressed?)

• the media

class dismissed soc. video

TV reproductions

• deeply ingrain faults of working class - less education, lack of intelligence, less sophisticated, ignorant of elite society

  • taste

• self-made principle - ‘working class deserve their failure’

social reproduction

how did identities and inequalities get reproduced?

-why do things stay the same?; social stability

working class (lecture)

“nickel and dimed”

• those employed in skilled and semi-skilled manual occupations, esp. industrial manufacturing

working poor (ehrenreich)

lecture

• those who are regularly employed (often in unskilled, service-sector occupations), but whose wages do not provide enough income to escape poverty

• general decrease since 1986

  • 4-7% of the working population

  • 11.4% = poverty rate

  • less than 12k a year

employment to “improve productivity and mindset”

living wage (lecture)

minimum employment earnings necessary to meet a family’s basic needs while also maintaining self-sufficiency 

• does not cover: budget funds for elaborate meals, entertainment, savings, investments 

reproduction of class relations (ehrenreich, domhoff)

domhoff

• recreating class relations due to education and private social elite clubs

  • transmit idea to children in schools → many pursuing careers in business/finance which will continue their capitalist mindset

  • social mobility is limited, especially due to financial barriers in clubs

ehrenreich

social capital (lecture)

the use of social connections - resources used to draw on to succeed

cultural capital (lecture)

ability to ‘move in the waters’ in elite spaces

• speaking about ‘sophisticated literature, music, etc”