Ch. 11 Class and Inequality Flashcards
class
a system of power based on wealth, income, and status that creates an unequal distribution of a society’s resources
egalitarian society
a group based on the sharing of resources to ensure success with a relative absence of hierarchy and violene
reciprocity
the exchange of resources, goods and services among people of relatively equal status; meant to create and reinforce social ties
ranked society
a group in which wealth is not stratified but prestige and status are
redistribution
a form of exchange in which accumulated wealth is collected from the members of the group and reallocated in a different pattern
potlach
elaborate redistribution ceremony practiced among the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest
bourgeosie
marxist term for the capitalist class that owns the means of production
means of production
the factories, machines, tools, raw materials, land and financial capital need to make things happen
proletarist
marxist term for the class of laborers who own only their labor
prestige
the reputation, influence and deference bestowed on certain people because of their membership in certain groups
life chances
an individual’s opportunities to improve quality of life and achieve life goals
social mobility
the movement of one’s class position, upward or downward, in stratified societies
social reproduction
the phenomenon whereby social and class relations of prestige or lack or prestige are passed from one generation to the next
habitus
Bourdieu’s term to describe the self-perceptions and beliefs that develop as part of one’s social identity and shape one’s conceptions of the world and where one fits in it
cultural capital
the knowledge, habits, and tastes learned from parents and family that individuals can use to gain access to scarce and valuable resources in society
intersectionality
an analytic framework for assessing how factors such as race, gender and class interact to shape individual life chances and societal patterns of stratification
income
what people earn from work, plus dividends and interest on investments, along with rents and royalties
wealth
the total value of what someone owns minus any debt
caste
a closed system of stratification in a society
achieved status
social position established and changeable during a person’s lifetime
ascribed status
social position inherited, assigned at birth and passed down from generation to generation with enforced boundaries
dalits
member of India’s lowest caste; literally broken people (untouchables)
