Social Stratification

Why are you at college?
  * Get a good job?
  * Get ahead?
  * If so, then you sound like you are already concerned with inequality, fairness, and social mobility.
Social Stratification
  * How a society is sorted into groups (a.k.a. strata).
  * Each layer of a stratification system has different
    * access to resources
    * and opportunities
  * Stratification refers to the hierarchical organization of a society into groups with differing levels of power, social prestige, or status and economic resources.
  * Social stratification is UNIVERSAL
    * The degree of stratification differs across societies
  * Davis-Moore Thesis
    * the greater the functional importance of a social role, the greater must be the reward
    * The theory posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different work.
Forms of Equality
  * Equality of opportunity
    * Inequality is acceptable so long as everyone has the same opportunities for advancement and is judged by the same standards.
  * Equality of condition
    * Idea that everyone should have an equal starting point from which to pursue his or her goals
  * Equality of outcome
  * Everyone in a society should end up with the same “rewards,” regardless of starting point, opportunities, or contributions. [e.g. Communism]
3 Views of Stratification
  * Rousseau argued that private property creates social inequality, and that this inequality ultimately leads to social conflict.
  * Malthus viewed inequality favorably, but only as a means for controlling population growth.
    * more equal distribution of resources would increase the world’s population to unsustainable levels and ultimately bring about mass starvation
  * Hegel viewed history in terms of a master–slave dialectic, a relationship of mutual dependency
    * eventually lead to equality for all (or very nearly all).
Components of Stratification Systems
* How do you enter strata?
* How do you move between strata?
Caste Systems
  * born into strata
  * no mobility
  * often religious based system
Class Systems
  * Born into strata
  * Some mobility
  * Classes are groups of people who share similar characteristics and social locations.
Marx’s Two Class System
* Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat
* Exploitation leads to revolution
Weber’s Multi-Class System
* Weber believed that a class of people was defined by the similar life chances they held.
* Life chances can be thought of as the chances that you will be able to reach your goals in society.
Status Hierarchy System
* Another way that Weber argued we could identify social classes was to look at the social status a person held.
* To approximate social status Weberian Sociologists study the social honor and prestige we give to certain occupations.
Meritocracy
* Meritocracy: a system that rewards and punishes based on your merit, talent, and achievement.
* Vilfredo Pareto argued that 20% of the population was more talented, smarter, and more able to assume positions of power.
C Wright Mills - The Power Elite
  * The Power Elite focused on controlling just 3 institutions:
  * Economic Order: With just a few mega-corporations controlling almost the entire economy.
  * Political Order: With only a few parties who are remarkably similar on almost every issue, controls the legal justice system allowing the powerful to define their behaviors as legal and others behaviors as illegal.
  * Military Order: The largest and most expensive feature of government and one that has a monopoly on violence and death.
Why is Inequality Rising So Much?
  * Changes in Politics
    * De-unionization
    * Supply-Side Economics (a.k.a. trickle down economics)
    * Distrust in government
  * Changes in Economy
    * Deindustrialization
    * Automation of labor
  * Changes in Society
    * Credentialization
    * Divorce/Remarriage
    * Feminization of poverty
Hegemony
  * political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states
  * leadership or dominance of one group over another.
    * Eg: hegemony is the student government leadership in a school.
Returning to Meritocracy
* What is wrong with the our understanding that: “You get what you deserve and you deserve what you get”
Poverty
  * Structural Causes of Poverty
    * Joblessness:
      * in 2010 48 million people aged 18 to 64 were unable to find work for even one week.
    * Access to education:
      * the poor are disproportionately likely to go to poorly funded schools
    * The lower classes bear the brunt of almost every aspect contributing to growing inequality.
  * Consequences of Being Poor
    * Payday loan industry charges 400% interest.
      * Cost borrowers $3.4 billion dollars a year.
      * There are as many pay day loan outlets as there are McDonalds and Burger Kings combined! (Rivlin 2010).
    * Hospitals routinely charge more to patients without healthcare.
    * Check cashing can cost up to 10%.
    * WIC-only grocery stores charge 10-20% more for food items.
    * Food Deserts
      * Many low income communities have no access to grocery stores or places that sell fresh produce, meats, or dairy.
  * Welfare Benefits to the Poor
    * In 1996 congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA).
      * Limited welfare cash assistance to 5 years total in your lifetime
      * in GA it's 4 years, in some states it's as low as 2 years.
      * Mandated welfare recipients find work within 2 years.
      * Cut federal assistance programs by $54.5 billion.
    * People may still be eligible for food stamps, housing assistance, and programs like W.I.C., but very few people receive cash from the government because they are poor.
  * Upside Down Welfare System
    * Of all the money spent by the government on people, the majority goes to the non-poor.
      * Public education
      * Social Security
      * Medicare
  * When Asked if Using a Government Program
    * 60% of those receiving the home mortgage tax deduction said no.
    * 53% of those receiving subsidized student loans said no.
    * 51.7% of those receiving a child and dependent care tax credit said no.
Cultural Capital
* “The general cultural background, knowledge, skills, dispositions inherited from one generation from to the next”
* Habitus is really the physical embodiment of cultural capital– such that we have the goals, tastes, ideas, and thoughts of people who are in our same social class