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 ârewards,â 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 worldâs population to unsustainable levels and ultimately bring about mass starvation
Hegel viewed history in terms of a masterâslave 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.
Marxâs Two Class System
Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat
Exploitation leads to revolution
Weberâs 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: âYou get what you deserve and you deserve what you getâ
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
âThe general cultural background, knowledge, skills, dispositions inherited from one generation from to the nextâ
Habitus is really the physical embodiment of cultural capitalâ such that we have the goals, tastes, ideas, and thoughts of people who are in our same social class
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 ârewards,â 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 worldâs population to unsustainable levels and ultimately bring about mass starvation
Hegel viewed history in terms of a masterâslave 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.
Marxâs Two Class System
Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat
Exploitation leads to revolution
Weberâs 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: âYou get what you deserve and you deserve what you getâ
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
âThe general cultural background, knowledge, skills, dispositions inherited from one generation from to the nextâ
Habitus is really the physical embodiment of cultural capitalâ such that we have the goals, tastes, ideas, and thoughts of people who are in our same social class