Block 4: Social Stratification and Social Inequalities I

Question 1

Social stratification

Answer 1

• system by which society categorizes people, ranking them in a hierarchy
• social divisions linked to the processes of inequality

Question 2

What are the five characteristics of social stratification?

Answer 2

1) characteristic of society, not just a reflection of individual differences
2) persists over generations
3) is universal but variable
4) involves not just inequality, but beliefs
5) engenders shared identities

Question 3

Social mobility

Answer 3

• changes in position within a social hierarchy (can be vertical or horizontal)
• not just a matter of individual achievement, but also structural social mobility (economic forces, changing belief systems, new policies)

Question 4

Systems of stratification

Answer 4

• closed: rigid, little/no mobility, position is based on ascribed status and stratification is enshrined in law (caste system)
• open: allows for some mobility, and social positions can be both ascribed and achieved (class system)
• mixed: have elements of both (ancestry, lineage, etc. combined with more open elements, like modern Britain)

Question 5

Social hierarchy examples

Answer 5

• social/economic
• gender/sexuality
• ethnic/race
• national
• religious
• age
• health and disablement

Question 6

Functionalist paradigm

Answer 6

• Davis-Moore thesis: social stratification has beneficial consequences for operation of society (unequal rewards are motivational)
• meritocracy: system in which mobility is based on personal merit and talent
• in real life… is a principle of social stratification and a justification for inequality

Question 7

Marxist paradigm

Answer 7

• social stratification promotes social conflict, and does not benefit all of society
• inequalities can’t be justified as they only serve the interests of the powerful minority
• naturalizes inequalities and perpetuates exploitation/suffering

Question 8

Symbolic interactionist paradigm

Answer 8

• micro-level, everyday interactions (explaining social stratification in everyday life)
• demonstrating how social divisions become naturalized, function of judgement and recognition
• explains the processes of justifying inequalities

Question 9

Why is social stratification research controversial?

Answer 9

• deals with both facts and values that suggest how society should be organized
• classificatory practices and power
• is actively engaged in the formation/establishment of the hierarchies that it describes

Question 10

Why use class as a category?

Answer 10

• class distinctions have new ways of expressing themselves…
• for sociologists, ‘class’ describes the problem of inequality and its structural conditions

Question 11

What IS class?

Answer 11

• set of inequalities related to the structure of economies, but also to cultural differences/quality of life/identities, etc.
• different conceptions of class have different focuses and concerns, but have in common the concept of interdependency (like how some get rich at the expense of others)

Question 12

“Class” as a homonym?

Answer 12

• two radically different strands in understandings of class… developed in the interests of different groups:
  1) grouping of people assigned a status/rank according to their origins or activity (stratification strand)
  2) an operator of conflict, a name for counting the uncounted (Marxist strand)

Question 13

Stratification strand

Answer 13

• governmental purpose, began in 1644 for tax collecting and controlling the population
• became encompassed in formal government documentation, paved the way for today’s classifications

Question 14

Marxist strand

Answer 14

• analytical and critical purpose
• began in 1840s to understand how the economy works (industrial capitalism) and how people get to be in the positions that they hold
• how does power work? how do people get turned into labor? how come some are seen as having no value?

Question 15

Marx’s conception of class

Answer 15

• structural/economic… basic structure of capitalism, property relations (how ownership of property helps create distinct classes)
• bourgeoisie (owners) and the proletariat (workers who sell their labor)
• relationality and interdependence, exploitation and alienation
• class structure is repeated in each generation and exploitation becomes justified

Question 16

Weber’s conception of class

Answer 16

• multidimensional… a modern phenomenon that emerges in the market economy, entailing two forms of economic divisions (ownership and occupational skills)
• social inequality has three dimensions: economic class, social status, and power
• what types of authority determine different stratification systems?

Question 17

Bourdieu’s conception of class

Answer 17

• challenge to social stratification scholarship, questions use of statistics in an objectivist fashion
• class as a relational concept (classes emerge through struggles against exploitation and inequality)
• why and how do hierarchies of social class persist?
• economic capital in relation to cultural and social capitals
• soft power, taste as a social phenomenon