soc 100 chapter 8: stratification, class, and inequality

Social stratification

the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards

• the most distinctive form of stratification in modern societies is class divisions

Intersectionality

a sociological perspective that holds that our multiple group memberships affect our lives in ways that are distinct from single group memberships.

• for example, the experience of a black woman may be distinct from that of a white woman or a black man

structured inequalities

social inequalities that result from patterns in the social structure.

slavery

a form of stratification in which some people are owned by others as property.

caste

a social system in which one’s social status is held for life.

systems of stratification

• Class system of social hierarchy that allows individuals to move among classes

• Class systems differ from slavery and castes in four main ways: class systems are fluid, and movement is possible, positions are partly achieved, classes are economically based, Class systems are large scale and impersonal.

Class

although it is one of the most frequently used concepts in sociology, there is no clear agreement about how the notion of class should be defined.

• Most sociologists use the term to refer to socioeconomic variations between groups of individuals that create variations in their prosperity and power.

Life chances

a term introduced by Max Weber to signify a person’s opportunities for achieving economic prosperity.

Income

money received from paid wages and salaries or earned from investments

• real income is income excluding increases due to inflation, and provides a fixed standard of comparison from year to year.

• The increase in real income in the past century has not been distributed evenly across groups (classes).

• Income inequality in America is increasing.

Systems of stratification: Wealth

money and material possessions held by an individual or group

• some scholars argue that wealth, not income, is the real indicator of social class because it is less sensitive to fluctuations

• Racial disparities in wealth negatively impact people of color

Systems of stratification: education

• Education is one of the strongest predictors of occupation, income, and wealth later in life.

• Racial differences in education persist, which partly explains racial differences in income and wealth

• How much education one receives is often influenced by the social class of one’s parents

Systems of stratification: occupation and lifestyle

• In the US, occupation is an important indicator of social standing

• social capital

• Cultural capital

social capital

the relational networks that provide a person with tangible resources (such as wealth) and intangible ones (such as wealth) and intangible ones (such as personal connections)

Cultural Capital

The accumulated cultural knowledge within a society that confers power and status.

Means of production

the means whereby the production of material goods is carried on in a society, including not just technology but also the social relations between producers.

Bourgeoisie

people who own companies, land, or stocks (shares) and use these to generate economic returns.

Proletariat

people who sell their labor for wages, according to Marx.

Marx: Capitalism and the Analysis of class

• According to Marx, the relationship between classes is exploitative

• Marx believed a capitalist system would result in the working class overthrowing it and replacing it with a classless society

Surplus value

In Marxist theory, the value of a worker’s labor power left over when an employee has repaid the cost of hiring the worker.

Communism

A social system based on everyone owning the means of production and sharing on the wealth it produces.

Marx: Capitalism and the Analysis of class

• According to Marx, the relationship between classes is exploitative

• Marx believed a capitalist system would result in the working class overthrowing it and replacing it with a classless society

Weber: class and status

• According to Weber, class divisions derive not only from control or lack of control of the means of production, but also from economic resources that have nothing to do with property.

• These resources include people’s skills and credentials

• Those in managerial or professional occupations earn more and enjoy more favorable conditions at work, for example, than do people in blue-collar jobs.

Status

the social honor or prestige a particular group is accorded by other members of a society.

• Status groups normally display distinct styles of life— patterns of behavior that the members of a group follow

• Status privilege may be positive or negative

Pariah groups

groups who suffer from negative status discrimination— they are looked down on by most other members of society

Davis and Moore: the functions of stratification

• Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore argued that social stratification and social inequality are functional because they ensure that the most qualified people, attracted by the rewards society bestows, will fill the roles that are most important to a smoothly functioning society

• Critics point out that the functional importance of an occupation is difficult to measure, social rewards do not accurately reflect a person’s importance, and stratification limits the discovery of talent in a society.

Erik Olin Wright: Contradictory Class Locations

• Wright incorporated concepts from Marx and Weber to classify three dimensions of control over resources

• Contradictory class locations: positions in the class structure, particularly routine white-collar and lower managerial jobs, that share characteristics with the class positions both above and below them

three dimensions of control over resources (Erik Olin Wright)

1. control over investments or money capital

2. control over the physical means of production

3. control over labor power

Upper class

a social class broadly composed of the more affluent members of society, especially those who have inherited wealth, own businesses, or hold large numbers of stocks

• most of this class are rich but not superrich

• globalization and the information revolution contributed to the rising number of superrich Americans in recent

Middle Class

a social class composed broadly of those working in white-collar and lower managerial occupations

• The number of Americans who identify as middle class has declined

• The upper middle class consists of highly educated professionals, mid-level corporate managers, small businesses owners and managers, some large farm owners

• The lower middle class consists of trained office workers, schoolteachers, nurses, salespeople, police officers, firefighters, other providers of skilled services

Working class

a social class broadly composed of people working in blue-collar, or manual occupations

Lower class

a social class compromising those who work part-time or not at all and whose household income is typically lower than $31,000 a year

• The lower class overlaps with the working class to account for about 29% of American households

Social Mobility

movement of individuals or groups between social positions

Intergenerational mobility

movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy from one generation to another

Intragenerational mobility

movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy within the course of a personal career.

structural mobility

mobility resulting from changes in the number and kinds of jobs available in a society.

exchange mobility

the exchange of positions on the socioeconomic scale such that talented people move up the economic hierarchy while the less talented move down

Downward Mobility

• downward intergenerational mobility, in which a worker moves from one job to another similar in pay and prestige, is the most common type of downward mobility.

• short-range downward mobility, in which a worker moves from one job to another similar in pay and prestige, is the most common type of downward mobility.

social mobility: the importance of education

• One of the most important avenues to upward intergenerational mobility is higher education.

• Family income plays a role on whether children go to college.

• Enabling lower-income students to attend more elite colleges (whose students come from higher-income backgrounds) would increase the intergenerational mobility of low-income students

Absolute poverty

a state of poverty in which one lacks the minimal requirements necessary to sustain a healthy existence.

Relative poverty

poverty defines according to the living standards of the majority in any given society.

Poverty line

an official government measure to define those living in poverty in the united states

measuring poverty

• This calculation results in a strict budget, which for a family of four in 2020 works out to an annual cash income of just over $26,246 or about 2,200 a month to cover all expenses.

• Critics argue this formula greatly underestimates the amount of poverty because it overemphasizes the proportion of a family budget spent on food and severely underestimates the share spent on housing.

Working poor

people who work but whose earnings are not enough to lift them above the poverty line

• education can significantly impact the likelihood that someone can significantly impact the likelihood that someone will be among the working poor.

• 75% of working poor dropped out of high school

poverty in the U.S.: poverty, race, and ethnicity

• poverty rates in the US are much higher among most minority groups than among non-hispanic whites

• racial discrepancies in median household income are because Black and Hispanic Americans often work at the lowest-paying jobs and face racial discrimination.

feminization of poverty

an increase in the proportion of the poor who are female.

• the female of poverty is particularly acute among families headed by hispanic, black, or Native American women.

Children in poverty

• children are the principal victims of poverty in the united states

• in 2021, one in six children (15.3%) lived in households with income below poverty line.

• In 2021, the child poverty rate was:

• - 8.8% for white americans and asian americans

• - 27.3% for black americans

• - 22.4% for hispanic americans

• - 29.6% for Native Americans

poverty in the US: the 65+ population in poverty

• thanks to social security and medicare, relatively few (10.3%) older Americans live in poverty

• because most older people have retired from paid work, their income is based primarily on Social Security and private retirement programs

• poverty rate figures may underestimate how widespread older adult poverty is because they fail to consider the high costs of medical care, which disproportionately strike older adults.

poverty in the United States: homelessness

• Homelessness is a sign of changes in the stratification (class) system.

• It impacts young single men, most of whom are working age, more than other groups

homeless

people who have no place to sleep and either stay in free shelters or sleep in public places not meant for habituation.

Kuznets curve

a formula showing that inequality increases during the early stages of capitalist development, then declines, and eventually stabilizes at a relatively low level; advances by the economist Simon Kuznets.

Thomas Piketty

• this person argues that unless an economy is growing rapidly (e.g., through technological breakthroughs, population growth), increases in wealth will exceed economic growth.

• he calls for a global tax on wealth to avoid future political and economical crisis