Soci 102 - Chapter 9 Key Concepts

absolute poverty

A severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

achieved status

A status received through individual effort or merits (e.g., occupation, educational level, moral character, etc.).

ascribed status

A status received by virtue of being born into a category or group (e.g., hereditary position, gender, race, etc.).

avoidance rituals

Ritualized practices by which people keep both a physical and social distance from status superiors.

blue-collar

Relating to manual work or workers.

bourgeoisie

In capitalism, the owning class who live from the proceeds of owning or controlling capital.

caste system

A system in which people are born into a social standing that they will retain their entire lives.

class

A group who shares a common social status based on their economic position or relationship to the means of production.

class system

A stratification system based on class structure and individual achievement.

conspicuous consumption

Buying and using products to make a statement about social standing.

cultural capital

Cultural assets in the form of knowledge, education, and taste that can be transferred intergenerationally.

Davis-Moore thesis

An argument that social inequality provides positive functional incentives in the occupational system.

downward mobility

A lowering of one's social class.

endogamous marriages

Unions of people within the same social category.

equality of conditions

A situation in which everyone in a society has a similar level of wealth, status, and power.

equality of opportunity

A situation in which everyone in a society has an equal chance to pursue economic or social rewards.

exchange theory

A sociological paradigm that models human interaction on the basis of calculated social exchanges of resources governed by a norm of reciprocity.

exogamous marriages

Unions of people from different social categories.

Gini Index

A measure of income inequality in which zero is absolute equality and one is absolute inequality.

Great Gatsby curve

The correlation between greater social inequality in a society and lower intergenerational mobility.

hegemony

The ability of a dominant group in society to secure consent to its rule by successfully presenting its own interests, values and norms as the common sense interests, values and norms of everybody.

income

The money a person earns from work or investments.

intergenerational mobility

A difference in income level between different generations of a family.

intragenerational mobility

A difference in income level between different members of the same generation.

intersectionality

The compounding effects of multiple determinants of social inequality

living wage

The income needed to meet a family's basic needs and enable them to participate in community life.

lumpenproletariat

In capitalism, the underclass of chronically unemployed or irregularly employed who are in and out of the workforce.

means of production

Productive property, including the things like tools, technologies, resources, land, workplaces, etc. used to produce the goods and services needed for survival.

meritocracy

An ideal system in which individual achievements determine social standing.

neo-liberalism

A set of policies in which the state reduces its role in providing public services, regulating industry, redistributing wealth, and protecting the commons while advocating the use of free market mechanisms to regulate society.

petite bourgeoisie

In capitalism, the class of small owners like shopkeepers, farmers, and contractors who own some property and perhaps employ a few workers but rely on their own labour to survive.

power

How many people a person must take orders from versus how many people a person can give orders to or influence with their decisions.

presentation rituals

Ritualized practices by which individuals attest to the esteem they hold for others.

primogeniture

A law stating that all property passes to the firstborn son.

proletariat

The class of people defined by selling their labour for a wage or salary.

proletarianization

The process in which work conditions increasingly resemble those of the traditional, blue-collar working class.

relative poverty

Living without the minimum amount of income or resources needed to be able to participate in the ordinary living patterns, customs, and activities of a society.

social differentiation

The division of people into categories based on socially significant characteristics, identities, and roles.

social inequality

The unequal distribution of valued resources, rewards, and positions in a society.

social mobility

The ability to change positions within a social stratification system.

social stratification

An institutionalized system of social inequality.

socio-economic status (SES)

A group's social position in a hierarchy based on income, education, and prestige of occupation.

standard of living

A level of material goods and comforts required to maintain a particular socio-economic lifestyle.

status

The degree of honour or prestige one has in the eyes of others.

status consistency

The consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual's rank across different social categories like income, education, and occupation.

structural mobility

When societal changes increase or decrease the relative income of an entire group or category of people vis-a-vis other groups.

upward mobility

An increase in one's social class.

wealth

The value of a person's assets.

white-collar

Relating to 'mental,' administrative or services work, particularly in an office or other professional environment.