SOC3 Week 2: Poverty, Class, Race, and Ethnicity

stratification

a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy based on control of resources

• ex: clas

4 principels of stratification

1. it is a trait of society

2. it persists over generations

3. it is universal but varies

4. it involves both inequality and ideology

social mobility

movement of indivdiuals or groups from one level in stratification system to another

intergenerational mobility

experienced by family members from one gen to the next

intragenerational mobility

experienced by individuals with their own lifetime

possible factors for upward/downward mobility

divorce, marriage, illness, jobs, lottery, etc

structural functionalism 

stratification is inevitable and necessary; leads to meritocracy 

• policies: limit the social safety net; reform 

social conflict

inequality results from power

dynamics of wealth and poverty

karl marx: bourgeoisie/ proletariat; alienation/ class conflict

policies: challenge those in power; revolt

symbolic interaction

what inequality means

• power, prestige, privilege (wealth)

• culture of poverty; labeling theory

• policies: welfare = cycle of dependency

gendered stratification

gender is central to strat and inequality 

• impacts all social institutions 

• power is gendered 

• wages are usually the focus 

• rise of pink-collar occupations 

• feminization of poverty 

pink-collar occupations

low-paying, nonmanual, semiskilled jobs held primarily by women

caregiving and service

feminization of poverty

more women live in poverty than men

women often care give for children, thus kids are also in poverty

socioeconomic status (SES) 

classifies individuals, families, and hosueholds thru a combo of income, occupation, and education

sociologists use SES as a variable to

explain patterns, behavior, and social phenomena

predict patterns, behavior, and social phenomena

official poverty line

federal gov’s annual threshold 

income standard for basics like shelter, food, clothing, etc 

2025: $32,150 for a family of 4 

relative poverty

deprivation of some people in relation to others

extreme poverty

deprivation based on higher severity

absolute poverty 

deprivation of basic resources (preventable) 

social empathy

ability to understand people by perceiving and experiencing their life situations

• crucial for policy makers

social inclusion

a sense of belonging and interconnectedness

• policies exclude low-income people, require limited assets for aid yet encourage wealth accumulation

distributive justice 

relative equality in social and economic resource distribution 

public policy fairness 

tax policies (social security, income, wealth) 

“blame the indivdiual” poverty theory

culture of poverty thesis

indvidiual fault

“blame society” poverty theory

discrimination; unequal access to resources; institutional barriers to equality

global stratification

unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige on global basis, resulting in people having vestly different lifestyles and life chances both within and among the nations of the world 

3 worlds approach

first, second, and third world levels

• problematic because first world levels are more valued than third world levels

human development index

developed to measure different countries in terms of key aspects to wealth and poverty

• life expectancy, education, and living standards

race

a socially constructed category that groups people by shared phenotype 

biologically transmitted traits that members of a soceity consider important 

racial categories

• involve collective agreement

• involve imposition from one groups onto another

• involve acceptance of meaningul racial construction

ethnicity

a socially constructed cateogry that groups people by shared cultural characteristics

ethnic group

a collection of people distinguished, by others or by themselves, on the basis of distinct cultural characteristics 

• unique cultural trais 

• sense of community 

• feeling of ethnocentricism 

• ascribed membership 

• territorial

conflict theory and race

society’s organization is the source of racial inequality

• power and resource inequities

• racial profiling

• racial/ ethnic exploitation

symbolic interactionism and race

socially creaed meanings thru interaction

• maintain, perpetuate, and resist racial/ ethnic inequalities

tokenism fallacy

saying systemic racism doesn’t exist bc someone of color is in power