Sociological Frameworks of Stratification and Race

Comprehensive review flashcards covering sociological theories of stratification, social mobility, and the social construction and mechanics of race and ethnicity.

According to the sociological framework of stratification, what is the paradox of abundance?

Inequality is the direct result of abundance.

How is stratification defined in sociology?

The hierarchical organization of a society into groups with differing levels of power, social prestige or status, and economic resources.

What was Jean-Jacques Rousseau's view on the origin of inequality?

Private property creates social inequality, which inevitably leads to social conflict.

According to Karl Marx, what drives history and what is the ultimate fate of capitalism?

History is driven by class struggle between the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat through dialectic materialism, and capitalism's internal contradictions lead to its overthrow.

How did Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel conceptualize inequality?

Through the master-slave dialectic, where inequality represents a historical arc constantly evolving toward ultimate equality.

Why did Adam Ferguson and John Millar view inequality as positive?

They argued inequality signifies that people are getting ahead and creating assets stored for the future.

What was Thomas Malthus's functional justification for inequality?

Inequality is a favorable, necessary mechanism to control population growth and prevent mass starvation.

How do Structural Functionalism and Conflict Theory differ regarding the core mechanism and stability of inequality?

Structural Functionalism views inequality as allocating the best people to the most important roles based on consensus, norms, and traditions. Conflict Theory views inequality as destructive and exploitative, driven by competing group interests over limited resources and maintained by domination and power.

What are the three standards of equality, and what problem is associated with equality of outcome?

The three standards are Equality of Opportunity, Equality of Condition, and Equality of Outcome. Equality of outcome creates the Free Rider Problem (the incentive to shirk responsibility).

What are the primary bases and mobility levels of the Estate System and the Caste System?

The Estate System is based on politics/law with limited mobility (e.g., Feudal Europe, Antebellum South). The Caste System is based on hereditary religious purity with no mobility (e.g., India's varna system).

What is the primary basis and mobility level of a Status Hierarchy system?

It is based on social prestige (occupation and lifestyle) and features fluid mobility dictated by prestige scores.

What concept did Erik Olin Wright develop to refine Karl Marx's class model?

Contradictory Class Locations, which accounts for people occupying structural positions falling between Marx's two pure classes (Bourgeoisie and Proletariat).

How did Max Weber define social class compared to Karl Marx?

Weber defined class as gradated rather than strictly relational, based on common life chances and value in the commercial marketplace through selling property and labor.

How do Vilfredo Pareto and C. Wright Mills differ in their views of the Elite-Mass Dichotomy?

Pareto views it as a beneficial meritocracy based on individual attributes, ability, and achievement. Mills views it as an 'Institutional Crush' where the elite monopolize economic, political, and military power through institutional positions, harming the masses.

In modern stratification, what is the fundamental difference between income and wealth?

Income is an active flow of money received from work, transfers, or investment returns, whereas wealth is a deep reservoir accumulating over time (total assets minus total debts / net worth).

According to the internal stratification of U.S. wealth, what percentage of net worth is held by the Top $1\%$ versus the Bottom $80\%$?

The Top $1\%$ holds $40\%$ of total net worth, while the Bottom $80\%$ holds $10\%$.

What is the difference between exchange mobility and structural mobility?

Exchange mobility is a zero-sum swapping where one person moving up requires another to move down, whereas structural mobility is inevitable movement caused by changes in the economy (such as tech job expansion).

According to the Status-Attainment Model, what are the best predictors of a child's eventual socioeconomic outcomes?

Parental education and net worth (the deep reservoir), rather than parental occupation or income.

What is the policy dilemma between race-based and class-based affirmative action?

Race-based policies often fail to help the most disadvantaged minorities and can enhance intraracial stratification. Class-based policies address inequalities across communities but present massive administrative difficulty in measuring true social class.

How does sociology reconcile the biological status versus the social status of race?

Race has $0\%$ biological determinism (it is a biological fiction at the genetic level), but is a $100\%$ social reality deeply engineered into institutions that dictates wealth, health, and life-or-death outcomes.

What was the significance of the Supreme Court case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)?

A Sikh WWI veteran classified as Caucasian was denied 'free White' status because his inclusion threatened the socially manufactured, ever-shifting boundaries of Whiteness.

How do race and ethnicity differ in origin, focus, and power dynamics?

Race is externally imposed, involuntary, based on physical differences, and hierarchical/exclusive. Ethnicity is self-defined, voluntary, based on cultural affiliations, and nonhierarchical/fluid.

What is symbolic ethnicity, and who has the privilege to practice it?

It is the White privilege of adopting an ethnic identity purely for pleasure without risk of stigma (such as being Irish on St. Patrick's Day), whereas nonwhite Americans have their ethnicity racialized as a forced marker of otherness.

What was the average household net worth in 2016 for White, Latinx, and African American households?

White households averaged $\$171{,}000$, Latinx households averaged $\$20{,}600$, and African American households averaged $\$17{,}100$.

In Robert Merton's typology of prejudice and discrimination, how is a 'Fair-Weather Liberal' characterized?

An individual who is not prejudiced in their internal thoughts but discriminates in external actions by yielding to societal or institutional pressures.

What are the four strategic responses minority groups use to navigate the grid of racial domination?

Withdrawal (physical escape), Passing (blending into the dominant group), Acceptance (feigning compliance and code-switching), and Resistance (organized collective effort to dismantle the power hierarchy).

What is 'New Racism,' and how does color-blind racism reinforce inequality?

'New Racism' replaces biological determinism with assumed cultural inferiority. Color-blind racism acts as a sealant that permanently locks in historical wealth and equity gaps by ignoring accrued disadvantages under the guise of technical neutrality.

What structural shift occurred in the 2000 U.S. Census regarding racial identity, and what trend did the 2010 data reveal?

The 2000 Census marked the first time Americans could legally select more than one racial category. By 2010, over $9\text{ million}$ people officially self-identified as multiracial, reflecting a shift toward pluralism.