Module 4: Social Stratification

4\.1 Stratification Theories

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^^what determines social class?^^

**Karl Marx** 


1. One’s relationship to the means of production. They are split into two classes:

+ Bourgeoisie : control means of production. CEO’s or the boss

\+ Proletariats: the people who are being exploited. ex: workers

* Class consciousness: aware of common identity.
* Max Weber: not only property, but prestige (athletic skills), power (ability to control others)

Why is stratification universal:

* **Functionalism: Davis and Moore**


1. Important positions need to be filled
2. So they Need qualified people -
3. Greater rewards - since they require a great amount of knowledge

^^**Tumin’s Critique of Davis and Moore:**^^

* society as a meritocracy
* meritocracy: a form of social stratification in which all positions are awarded on the basis of merit
* stratification: dysfunctional

^^How do Elites maintain stratification?^^

* control ideas - dictators and democracy. this has to be accepted by masses
* control information - selectively release information
* technology: monitor activities

4\.1.1 Global Stratification

* 1st World: industrialized. ex: US and Japan - capitalist
* 2nd World: Industrializing. ex: forming Soviet Union, lower income.
* 3rd World: leas industrialized. ex: farms, villages, 68% of world population

^^How nations become stratified:^^


1. Colonialism: industrialized countries conquer weaker nations. ex: Europe and Africa, and US and central/South America. Representatives run country
2. World System Theory (proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein): he nations are economically dependent on each other:

\- core nations - capitalism.

\- semi-periphery - trade with core

\- periphery : selling cash crops to core

\- external area: few ties with core


3. Culture of Poverty (Galbraith): nations that remain poor because of their cycle of poverty, and it turned into their way of life. Values and Beliefs, one generation to next.

4\.2 Social Class

* group of people who rank closely to one another in:


1. wealth - net worth.

\- property: buildings, land, cars, bank accounts

\- income: flow of money


2. power: ability to get way despite resistance. Mills (1956) coined the term elite, old money
3. prestige: respect given to one’s occupation, it must be acknowledge to be valuable. ex: physician

\- pay more

\- it requires more abstract thought

\- more education

\- more autonomy

* Status Inconsistency: person who ranks higher on something and lower on others, when it comes to wealth, power, and prestige.

^^Sociological Models of Social Class:^^

* Marx: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
* Eric Wright: 4 social classes


1. Capitalists - owners of large enterprises
2. Petty Bourgeoisie - small business
3. Managers - employees that have authority over others.
4. Workers

* ^^**Gilbert and Kahl (Weber):**^^ created a class system describe the class system in the US


1. Capitalist: 1%: $1 million or more income
2. Upper-middle: 15%: professionals, they have a lot of education
3. Lower middle: 34% managers, and HS degree
4. Working: 30% white collar - HS degree
5. Working Poor: 16%: blue collar - badly in HS
6. Underclass: 4%: inner city - welfare, unemployed, or part time.

4\.2.1 Consequences of Social Class

^^Consequences of Social Class:^^


1. Physical/Health: 3 main reasons that social class has a dramatic affect on the physical health of an individual

\- unequal access to medical care

\- they more likely to have an unhealthy lifestyle. ex: they smoke, don’t eat healthy, or exercise.

\- stress wear down their bodies


2. Mental Health:

\- lower classes have more stress than higher class since they can’t escape their pains due to their financial situation


3. Family Life:

\- upper = pressure to continue family line, they also encourage their kids to be more creative

\- lower = more divorce, housing and job tensions, they encourage their kids to follow the rules


4. Education

\- The more education an individual has the more likely they are to be from the higher classes in the US.

\- $125,000 and above is the top 15% of US earners.


5. Religion:

\- classes: denominations/worship

\- higher classes have more quiet church meetings


6. Politics:

\- lower class: votes more democrat, they are liberal in economic issues, and they are conservative in social issues. Higher classes vote more than the lower class


7. Criminal Justice:

\- lower class: harsher punishments, and makes up a lower amount of crimes compared to the ones created by the white collars

\- white collar crimes get away most times than the lower class crimes.

^^3 Types of Social Mobility: ways we are able to climb up or down the social ladder^^

* **Intergenerational:** change because of generations, this can go up or down. ex: your father didn’t go to college, but you went to college and became a physician this is an intergenerational change/mobility.
* **Structural:** change in social structure causes large movement on ladder. ex: when the economy shifted from machines to computer animation, this created a large shift in new jobs from blue collar to white collar jobs.
* **Exchange:** change in social structure causes a large movement up and down at the same time. overall movement in a lot of people were they are exchanging places on the social ladder. ex: working class people get trained in new technology.

4\.2.2 Poverty

^^Poverty line:^^

* 1.5 of the US population is in poverty
* The US did a study and found out that people in the poverty line are under the low cost food budget that a family usually spends a year times 3. This means that they are earning less money that a regular family spends in food per year.
* Under $24,250 = poverty line

^^Who are the Poor?^^


1. **Geography:** South and Rural
2. **Race and Ethnicity**

9% of whites (41% of all poor are whites bc they are the largest US group).

21% of Latinos

25% African Americans


3. **Education:** 3% of people who finished college end up in poverty. 25% who dropped out of high school are in poverty.
4. **Age**:

least likely: elderly

most likely: children


5. **Sex of Head of Household:** feminization of poverty association of poverty and single mothers = women make less than man do. The more education you have the more likely you are to be married and have kids.

^^Dynamics of Poverty:^^

* Culture Poverty: poor have different values and behaviors
* Poverty is short lived (they usually don’t get trapped) due to being caused by major events
* 60% are in poverty for less than a year

^^Why are people poor?^^


1. Social Structure: features of society. ex: discrimination and economic changes
2. Characteristics of Individuals. ex: lazy? lack of intelligence, or single mother?
3. Sociologist focus on social structure.

^^Welfare Reform:^^

* US welfare system (1996) = must look for a job and are they taking the available jobs that are being made for them. **You are able to be on welfare for about** **5 years** (some states less)
* Teen parents are mandated to attend school and attend a supervised setting.
* ==****Conflict theory**\*\*:== they argue that the national welfare program was not made to help out people in poverty but instead keep the unemployed alive during the economic downturns until their labor is needed during the next economic boom.

Horatio Alger Myth: belief that all equal chance of getting ahead.

^^Functionalism:^^


1. encourages competition
2. places blame on individual
3. stabilizes pressure to change

Tamara worked as a waitress for five years after high school before she went to college. After college, Tamara got a job as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company. This best exemplifies which of the following types of mobility?

Intragenerational mobility

4\.3 Gender

* Gender Stratification: unequal access to power, prestige, and property on the basis of sex.

^^Sex and Gender:^^

* sex: biological. ex: male or female
* Gender': social, varies with culture
* you inherit sex, but learn gender

^^Biology or Culture:^^

* Biology: XY vs. XX chromosomes
* Sociologist: behavior would be same around the world towards gender.
* opening door to biology: a medical accident = twin boy sex change, genetics have an important way on how you perceived gender.

^^Origins of Patriarchy:^^

* Females: childbearing
* Men = hunters and warriors. Trade and Knowledge
* Men = dominant
* This continues todays, the old millennia patterns.

^^Feminist Movements:^^

* feminism: stratification according to gender is wrong
* 1st movement: 1920s right to vote
* 2nd movement: 1960s earn equal pay
* 3rd movement: today - removing the objectification of women, focus of women in least industrialized nations, work force qualities. ex: women in Iran, and over sexualizing women.

^^Gender Inequalities in the US^^

* Income Gap:


1. 2015 - median income

males: $50,385

females: $39,621 ( woman earn 81 cents to a man’s dollars)


2. Men over their lifetimes earn $650,000 more than women
3. 32 of the top Fortune 500 companies are own by women

* **Work Places:**


1. Glass ceiling: barriers to moving up in the workforce
2. Women are 46% of US labor force
3. Pink collar jobs: jobs that most women have. ex: receptionist, cashiers, secretaries, and bank tellers.

* **Health Care**


1. women are twice as likely to die following a coronary bypass surgery than man are.

* **Politics:**


1. underrepresented, but it is increasing

* **Education:**


1. gender tracking
2. library vs. construction
3. more women are in college than men.
4. Women in post-grad is increasing.

^^Gender Inequality Worldwide:^^

* higher illiteracy rates
* lower HS enrollment
* poorly represented in politics
* 10% in world politics.

A sex ratio of 120 means that in a population there are

120 males for every 100 females

A society in which women have more wealth, privilege, and political power than men is said to be experiencing which of the following?

Gender Stratification

An advertisement for men’s cologne depicts a woman as a pair of legs. This is an example of

objectification

What is an unequal access to power, property, and prestige based on one’s sex

Gender Stratification

4\.4 Aging

^^Aging in the Global Perspective:^^

* Social Construction of aging
* Life expectancy increased with industrialization
* 7 million more elderly than teenagers in the U.S

^^Symbolic Interactionist:^^

* **Ageism:** discrimination based on one’s age
* **Growing old:** changing

Past: asset

Today: Liability

^^Functionalist:^^

* **Disengagement Theory:** smooth transition because those leaving jobs and those entering workplace.
* **Activity Theory:** more activities for elderly. more fulfilling life.

^^Conflict:^^

* Rising costs of elderly
* Money taken away from other age cohorts
* **Dependency Ratio:** affecting Social Security. Ratio of workers are paying into social security vs. those collecting social security.

4\.5 Race and Ethnicity

^^What is a subordinate/minority group:^^ less control or power over their own lives than the dominant group. They have less economic and political power, there is a strong sense of solidarity in the group

* Racial Group:


1. They have obvious and physical differences
2. socially constructed concept of race

* Ethnic


1. Basis of nation origin or culture
2. language, marriage, death, food habits.

* Prejudice:


1. negative attitude towards a group of people
2. this is not disliking someone because of behavior

* Discrimination:


1. an action
2. denial of rights. excludes members of a group

^^Racial Profiling:^^

* arbitrary police initiated action based on race, ethnicity, or origin.

Relative Deprivation:

* deprived of something you think you are entitled to.
* you compare your positions to others.

^^Absolute Deprivation:^^

* fixed standard that is based on the minimum level of survival
* the poverty line

4\.5.1 Theories of Prejudice

^^Theories of Prejudice:^^


1. **Scapegoating Theory:** blame others for other failures. Transfer of responsibility.

ex: Hitler with the Jews, Americans blaming immigrants.


2. **Authoritarian Personality**: Harsh discipline, intolerance adult, conventional values/authority. A very conservative person who doesn’t like someone who is different from themselves.

^^Functionalist Theories:^^

* **Manifest Functions** - discourages questioning of status. Serves as rallying point


* **Dysfunctions:** failed use of resources, increased social problems.

^^Labeling Theory:^^

* **Negative stereotypes**: unreliable generalizations about all members of group. This does not take personality differences not taken into account. People respond to labels

Conflict Theory:

* economic and structural inequality
* Social structures serve interest of the powerful. Split labor market, reserve labor force.
* “Blaming the victim”

4\.5.2 Consequences - Race and ethnicity

^^Consequences:^^


1. **Genocide/Extermination** - systematic killing or elimination of a group of people. This is the most extreme way. ex: The Holocaust
2. **Expulsion:** dominant group of forces minority group to leave area. They are expelled or transplanted. ex: 1979 - Vietnam expelled nearly 1 million Chinese
3. **Internal Colonialism:** minority group is exploited, used for economic advantage. ex: slavery
4. **Segregation:** physical separation, this creates poverty (less education, jobs, and crime).

* census data: whites live in neighborhood that are 80% white.


5. **Assimilation:** subordinates or minority groups take on characteristics of the dominant group.

* They do this to eventually be accepted as a part of the majority
* Dictates conformity
* Devalue minority culture
* wants to eliminate culture differences


6. **Pluralism:**

* mutual respect because different cultures in a society
* able to express culture, with no hostility or prejudice
* one’s race or culture is not sole truth
* truths exist in other races and cultures. ex: funeral practices.
* latin salsa dancing or yoga are examples.