Ch 12 - Social Stratification

Question 1

What is social stratification based on?

Answer 1

socioeconomic status, which depends on ascribed and achieved status

Question 2

What is the difference between ascribed and achieved status?

Answer 2

• ascribed: involuntary and derives from clearly identifiable characteristics, such as age, gender, and skin color
• achieved: acquired through direct, individual effort

Question 3

What is a social class?

Answer 3

• a category of people with shared socioeconomic characteristics

Question 4

What are the 3 main social classes?

Answer 4

• upper, middle, and lower

- these groups also have similar lifestyles, job opportunities, attitudes, and behaviors

Question 5

What is prestige?

Answer 5

the respect and importance tied to specific occupations or associations

Question 6

What is power and what does it depend on?

Answer 6

• the capacity to influence people through real or perceived rewards and punishments
• often depends on the unequal distribution of valued resources
• differentials create social inequality

Question 7

What is anomie?

Answer 7

• state of normlessness

- anomic conditions erode social solidarity by means of excessive individualism, social inequality, and isolation

Question 8

What is social capital?

Answer 8

• investment people make in their society in return for economic or collective rewards
• social networks, either situational or positional, are one of the most powerful forms of social capital and can be achieved through establishing strong and weak ties

Question 9

What is the difference between meritocracy and plutocracy?

Answer 9

• mert: a society in which advancement up the social ladder is based on intellectual talent and achievement
• pluto: rule by the upper class

Question 10

What is social mobility?

Answer 10

• allows own to acquire higher-level employment opportunities by achieving required credentials and experience
• can either occur in a positive upward direction or a negative downward direction depending on whether one is promoted or demoted in status

Question 11

What is poverty?

Answer 11

• a socioeconomic condition
• in the US, the poverty line is determined by the government’s calculation of the minimum income requirements for families to acquire the minimum necessities of life

Question 12

What is social reproduction?

Answer 12

the passing on of social inequality, especially poverty, form one generation to the next

Question 13

What is the difference between absolute and relative poverty?

Answer 13

• absolute: when people do not have enough resources to acquire basic life necessities, such as shelter, food, clothing, and water
• relative: when one is poor in comparison to a larger population

Question 14

What is social exclusion?

Answer 14

• sense of powerfulness when individuals feel alienated from society

Question 15

What is spatial inequality?

Answer 15

a form of social stratification across territories and their populations, and can occur along residential, environmental, and global lines

Question 16

What is most common of urban areas in comparison to rural areas?

Answer 16

• they tend to have more diverse economic opportunities and more ability for social mobility than rural areas
• also tend to have more low-income racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods than rural areas

Question 17

Why is the formation of higher-income suburbs a common occurrence?

Answer 17

because of the limited mobility of lower-income groups in urban center

Question 18

What is environmental injustice?

Answer 18

• an uneven distribution of environmental hazards in communities
• lower-income neighborhoods may lack the social and political power to prevent the placement of environmental hazards in their neighborhoods

Question 19

What has globalization led to?

Answer 19

• further inequalities in space, food and water, energy, housing, and education as the production of goods shift to cheaper and cheaper labor markets
• this has led to significant global economic hardships in industrializing nations

Question 20

What is incidence?

Answer 20

calculated as the number of new cases of disease per population at risk in a given period of time

Question 21

What is prevalence?

Answer 21

calculated as the number of cases of a disease per population in a given period of time

Question 22

What is morbidity?

Answer 22

the burden or degree of illness associated with a given disease

Question 23

What is mortality?

Answer 23

deaths caused by a given disease

Question 24

What is health dependent on?

Answer 24

geographic, social, and economic factors

Question 25

What is the second sickness?

Answer 25

an exacerbation of health outcomes caused by social injustice
- as a result, higher income groups have longer life expectancies than lower income groups

Question 26

How is poverty related to health?

Answer 26

• it is associated with worse health outcomes, including decreased life expectancy, higher rates of life shortening diseases, higher rates of suicide and homicide, and higher infant mortality rates

Question 27

Which racial and ethnic groups have worse health profiles than others?

Answer 27

• african americans are average, the worst off
• white americans, native americans, and hispanic americans are next
• asian americans and pacific islanders have the best health profiles

Question 28

How do males and females compare regarding health profiles?

Answer 28

• females have better health profiles than males, including higher life expectancy, lower rates of life threatening illness, and higher rates of accessing and utilizing health resources
• females have higher rates of chronic diseases and higher morbidity rates

Question 29

How does socioeconomic status and race affect healthcare access and quality?

Answer 29

low income groups and racial and ethnic minorities (specifically, African/Asian/native/hispanic americans) receive worse care than white Americans

Question 30

How does obesity affect healthcare access and quality?

Answer 30

biases against overweight and obese patients are associated with lower quality treatment, including less preventative care and fewer screenings

Question 31

How does gender affect health care access and quality?

Answer 31

women tend to have better access to healthcare and utilize more healthcare resources than men

Question 32

How does sexuality affect healthcare access and quality?

Answer 32

LGBT men and women may have barriers to care due to prejudices, discrimination, and homophobia

Question 33

What is Marxist theory?

Answer 33

proposes that the have-nots (proletariat) could overthrow the haves (bourgeoisie) as well as the entire capitalist economy by developing class consciousness

Question 34

What is the difference between class and false consciousness?

Answer 34

• class: the organization of the working class around shared goals and recognition of a need for collection political action
• false: a misperception of one’s actual position within a society (major barrier to class)

Question 35

What is strain theory?

Answer 35

focuses on how anomic conditions can lead to deviance

Question 36

What is intersectionality?

Answer 36

the compounding of disadvantages seen in individuals who belong to more than one oppressed group

Question 37

What is the difference between intragenerational and intergeneration?

Answer 37

• intra: change in social status happen within a person’s lifetime
• inter; changes are from parents to children

Question 38

What is the difference between horizontal and vertical mobility?

Answer 38

• vertical: upward/downward; movement from one social class to another
• horizontal: change in occupation or lifestyle that remains within the same social class

Question 39

What is the difference between core, peripheral, and semi-peripheral nations?

Answer 39

• core: focus on higher skills and higher paying productions while exploiting peripheral for their lower-skilled productions
• semi: midway between the 2; work toward becoming core nations, while having many characteristics of peripheral

Question 40

How does social capital affect social cohesion?

Answer 40

the less social capital a person has (reduced network equality and equality of opportunity), the more social inequality; this, in turn, decreases social cohesion

Question 41

What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?

Answer 41

• medicare covers patient over 65

- medicaid covers patients in significant financial need