Chapter 7: Stratification, Class, and Inequality

socialist - gov control of economy will result in greater equality and democracy for benefit of working class

• more popular among young people

• associated with Karl Marx

social stratification - structured inequalities among individuals/groups in human society in terms of access to material/symbolic rewards

• rankings apply to social categories of people who share common characteristic

  • category continues to exist independent of individuals mobility

  • ex. gender and ethnicity

• peoples life experiences and opportunities depend on how social category ranked

  • ex. male vs female

• ranks of different social categories change slowly over time

  • ex. women began to achieve economic equality

socioeconomic status - overall standing within society

• combination of education, income, occupation

• mediated by race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, status, disability, religion

slavery - extreme form of inequality, certain people owned as property by others

• enslaved deprived on rights by law or like servants

• enslaved people historically fight back, systems of slave labor unstable

• not economically efficient, requires constant supervision and punishment

caste system - social system where social status determined at birth and set for life

• based on personal characteristics

  • ex. race, ethnicity, parental religion, parental caste

endogamy - marriage within social group required by custom or law

• maintains caste purity

class - large group of people who occupy similar economic position in wider society

• class systems fluid

• class positions in some part achieved, social mobility possible

• economically based

• large scale and impersonal

  • perpetuated through massive institutions, not personal interactions

life chances - opportunities from achieving economic prosperity

• ex. humble background less chance of ending up wealthy than one from prosperous background

capitalism - free-market economy, economic exchanges deregulated, occur through supply and demand

• wealth privately owned, invested and reinvested to produce profit

means of production - resources used to produce goods and services

Marxist Theory - captialist institutions so powerful bend social life to will

• political ideologies, religions, family life feed dominating nature of capitalist system

  • guarantees workers obedient to capitalists

  • guarantees capitalists allowed to shape culture to will

• class struggle results from inequalities between ownership of resources and ownership of means of production

  • workers exploited

  • continues until proletariat achieve class consciousness and overthrow capitalists in revolution

    • distracted by consciousness-changing power of capitalists

• parties created to exert power over economic resources

  • form associations around common interest

• (Marx)

relations of production - day-to-day interactions based on materialism

• relationships between workers and products, workers and authority figures, distribution of production throughout society

• (Marx)

capitalist state - capitalists control state, direct to act in interests

• stat reproduces class relationships using formal and informal systems

• class conflict prevents rebellion

• (Marx)

Instrumental Marxist theory - capitalists assert control over state officials and insituttions without holding formalized power

• state must appear neutral to legitimize power

• occasionally leads to policies that help proletariat

• (Marx)

hegemony - power based on culture, ideas, routines of ruling class

bourgeoisie - capitalists own means of production

• (Marx)

proletariat - earn living by selling labor to capitalists

• (Marx)

surplus value - source of profit

• capitalists put to own use

• (Marx)

high-income countries - benefited earliest from industrialization and colonialism

• able to expand empires from 1600s-1900s

• ex. US, Canada, Western European nations, some Asian nations

middle-income countries - benefited from industrialization later

• ex. Russia, many Asian nations, certain Central and South American nations

low-income countries - have not industrialized or recently industrialized

dependency theory - wealth of high-income countries comes from forced subserviene of low-income countries

• victim of centuries of colonialism

• locked into economic systems makes access to jobs/wages reliant on higher-income nations

• can’t compete with high income nations and associated corps in setting prices for goods and selling goods internationally

status - differences among groups in terms of social honor accorded by others

• can vary independent of class division

• social honor may be positive or negative

  • ex. doctors and lawyers have high prestige

pariah group - negatively privileged status groups subject to discrimination prevents from taking advantage of opportunities open to others

power - ability to enact change, command resources, make decisions

• distinct from status and class

contradictory class locations - can influence some aspects of production but lack control over others

• ex. managers and white-collar workers

income - wages and salaries earned from paid occupations plus unearned money from investments

wealth - measured in net worth, all assets one owns minus debts

• some argue wealth not income indicator of social class

class consciousness - each class has own worldview based on shared experiences

• worldview represents economic interests

• (Marx)

upper class - richest Americans

• wealthy but not superrich

• professionals

  • ex. doctors, lawyers, university administrators

• power concentrated in hands of few

  • economic interest basis for power in society, elite capitalist classes control labor, markets, goods

  • (Marx)

superrich - accumulated vast fortunes, enjoy unimaginable lifestyle

• ex. celebrities, professional athletes

middle class - diverse group of occupations, lifestyles, earn stable incomes at white-collar jobs and skilled blue-collar jobs

• increasingly diverse in race

• broadly defined, most “normalized” class

• many gov policies middle-class focused

  • attempt to appeal to middle class with generalized promises

    • alienated middle class from politics

  • ex. public schooling, progressive income tax, social security

upper middle class - highly educated professionals

• likely to be college educated with advanced degrees, makes $126,000-$188,000

• own comfortable homes, drive expensive cars, savings and investments

• active in local politics

• ex. doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors

lower middle class - college-educated peole with modest earnings, makes $42,000-$126,000

• ex. trained office workers, elemantary and high school teachers, nurses, salespeople, police officers, firefighters

middle class squeeze - generalized sensibility among middle class that they are oppressed and increasingly hard to maintain standards of living

working class - earn modest weekly paycheck, little control over size of income or working conditions, making $31,000-$42,000

• racially and ethnically diverse

• dramatically hurt by anti-union efforts

• pink and blue collar workers

blue-collar workers - jobs that pay low wages, involve manual or low-skill labor

• typically held by men

• ex. factory workers and mechanics

pink-collar workers - low wages and involve manual or low-skill labor

• typically held by women

• ex. clerical aides, sales clerks

lower class - those who work part-time or not at all making less than $31,000

• most live in cities or in rural areas as farmers

• employed in semiskilled or unskilled manufacturing or service jobs

• unstable dead-end jobs without benefits

• higher percentage are non-white

• less connection to political opportunities, less participation

• less home ownership

social mobility - upward or downward movement of individuals and groups among different class positions

• as result of changes in occupation, wealth, income

intragenerational mobility - mobility within careers in course of working lives

intergenerational mobility - where children are on scale compared to parents or grandparents

• across generations

social reproduction - parents pass down children resources

• financial and cultural capital

cultural capital - cultural advantages coming from “good home”

• ex. wealthier families afford to send kids to good schools

downward mobility - individuals own wealth, income, occupational status lower than what parents once had

• less common than upward mobility

short-range downward mobility - moves from one job to another in similar pay and prestige

• ex. routine office job to semiskilled blue-collar job

absolute poverty - person or family can’t get enough to eat or can’t gain adequate health care and education

• no access to healthy food, may starve to death

relative poverty - measure of inequality, poor compared to standards of living of majority of population

poverty line - based on cost estimates for families of different sizes

working poor - people who work for at least 27 weeks a year but earnings not high enough to lift above poverty line

feminization of poverty - increase in proportion of poor who are women

• growing rates of divorce, separation, single-parent families

welfare state - system gov attempts to protect health and well-being of citizens especially in financial/social need

• grants, pensions, other benefits

• middle class resentment against welfare state

  • pays majority of taxes that funds system

  • easier to resent poor than rebel against rich

liberal welfare state - only intervene when things break down

• limited services provided makes difficult for people get off welfare

social control model - state acts in interests of elite to limit rebellion

• repression using coercive force or increasing benefits of welfare system to keep people complacent

• responds to threats by making system more attractive for citizens while being more harsh

• not wanting to lose benefits if rebel against

social security - gov program provides economic assistance to people faced with unemployment, disability, or old age

• relatively weak safety net, still impactful

• beneficial in helping children over poverty line

medicare - program under US Social Security Administration reimburses hospitals and physicians for medical care for people over 65

public assistance programs - assist people when explicitly need help

• shift to workfare, means-tested approach

corporated welfare (wealthfare) - gov assistance to corporations to increase profit

• priority of sitting governments

• ex. tax cuts, legalized tax evasion, massive subsidies for airlines, athletic organizations, defense contractors, trade restrictions against foreign imports, bailouts

culture of poverty - poverty not result of individual inadequacies but result of larger social and cultural milieu where poor children socialized

• transmitted across generations, young people from early age see little point in aspiring to something more

• (Oscar Lewis)

dependency culture - poor people rely on gov welfare than enter labor market

• undermines personal ambition and capacity for self-help

• (Charles Murray)

social exclusion - new sources of inequality

• emphasizes mechanisms of exclusion that take number of forms

agency - ability to think, act, make choices independently

homeless - traditionally seen at bottom of social hierarchy