SOC150: Reproduction of Class Stratification

income

money earned from paid wages and salaries or investments

wealth

total value of the money or other material possessions and assets you hold

net worth

measuring wealth by subtracting any debts you need to pay back from everything you own

assets

cash, savings and checking accounts, investments in stocks and bonds, real estate

debts

mortgage, credit card balances, and outstanding loans

absolute poverty

the point at which a family’s income falls below the necessary level to purchase food to physically sustain its members

US poverty line

originally developed in 1963 based on a calculation involving the minimum nutrition need for survival

working poor

people who work but whose earnings aren’t enough to lift them above the poverty line

relative poverty

a measurement of poverty based on a percentage if median income in a given location

social stratifications

a social hierarchy where individuals and groups are categorized and classified on the basis of social factors like wealth, occupation, education, race, gender, age, and more. Stratification is a characteristic of how society creates categories, not about individual traits, characteristics, or differences

implications of social stratification

unequal access to resources, power, and opportunities based on social location

closed stratification systems

extremely rigid, little social mobility, and social positions are based on ascribed status. Ex. caste systems

open stratification systems

more social mobility, both upward and downward mobility, and social position is based on achieved status (theoretically). Ex. Class system

class system

combines ascribed status and personal achievement in a way that allows for some social mobility into and out of class positions. Social mobility is not legally restricted to certain people or groups and categories aren’t as formally defined as in caste systems

class

an economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive and oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility. Includes income, wealth, education, parents’ education, occupational prestige

surplus value

the amount of money those who own capital can keep from their profits

Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Capital

extends to both Marxist and Weberian theories of class determination to the reproduction of class domination through status and cultural power

economic capital

financial and other tangible assets; immediately and directly convertible into money

social capital

the actual or potential resources linked to your network of social obligations and connections

cultural capital

culturally specific competences associated with the established dominant class that act as a non-economic power and resources in a social setting; cultural capital = symbolic wealth

social reproduction

the tendency for social classes to remain fixed across generations; there is very little class mobility, and the American Dream is rather unattainable