Ch. 7: Social Differentiation and Stratification

Question 1

Social Stratification

Answer 1

the ranking of people based on wealth, power and prestige - influences where we live, work, our hobbies and health

Question 2

simple societies

Answer 2

people perform similar tasks and have similar amounts of money

Question 3

Hunting-and-gathering societies

Answer 3

50 or fewer people hunt for their own food, no one works; usually nomadic people

Question 4

simple horticultural societies

Answer 4

farm for food, stay in 1 place, build shelters, make tools

Question 5

Advanced horticultural societies

Answer 5

societies w/ irrigation systems and other advanced farming practices, they know how to work with metals

Question 6

Agrarian societies

Answer 6

more sophisticated technology than horticultural societies: weapons are improved, rich can develop armies, merchant class trades goods, wealth/power becomes concentrated

Question 7

Industrial Societies

Answer 7

have the greatest division of labor, most wealth, highly specialized jobs that mass produce goods

Question 8

mechanical solidarity

Answer 8

People do similar work but aren’t dependent on one another. (Durkheim said this)

Question 9

Organic Solidarity

Answer 9

integration of society that results from division of labor which causes reliance on others. (Durkheim)

Question 10

open system

Answer 10

A system of stratification where it is possible to move up/down in class

Question 11

class system

Answer 11

determined by wealth, vertical social mobility is possible

Question 12

closed system

Answer 12

A system of stratification where rankings are permanent

Question 13

caste system

Answer 13

social status is ascribed at birth, deals with family traditions and beliefs

Question 14

estate system

Answer 14

like the caste system, status is based upon law/inheritance

Question 15

slave system

Answer 15

There exists a basic belief in using ownership of humans for labor

Question 16

social class

Answer 16

rankings based on a person’s wealth

Question 17

life chances

Answer 17

the opportunities a person has to improve his or her lifestyle

Question 18

social status

Answer 18

the amount of honor and prestige a person receives from others and the position one occupies in the stratification system

Question 19

an assessment of status based on one’s income, education and occupation

Answer 19

socioeconomic status

Question 20

having fewer resources than are required to meet basic necessities of life

Answer 20

Poverty

Question 21

awareness that different classes exist in society

Answer 21

class consciousness

Question 22

Top 1% own how much of privately held wealth?

Answer 22

35%

Question 23

split labor market

Answer 23

a labor market in which some jobs afford upward mobility and others do not

Question 24

1st estate

Answer 24

made up of nobility, wealthy families and powerful landowners - they had the right not to work, labor was beneath them

Question 25

power

Answer 25

having authority and respect, makes decisions in groups in order to reach the group’s goals: win an election change a law, revise banking system, teach children, etc.

Question 26

Top-middle class

Answer 26

39% of middle class, likely to have college degrees/be white males, 30-49 years old

Question 27

Satisfied middle

Answer 27

23% of middle class, generally white women between ages 18-29 or over 65, not uncommon to be unmarried

Question 28

Anxious middle class

Answer 28

make basically the same as top-middle class, likely white males 30-40, less hopeful about children’s lives, report less satisfaction with their lives

Question 29

Struggling middle class

Answer 29

make $20,000 or less, more minorities than any other class but whites still make up 56%, likely to be unmarried with no college degree

Question 30

social differentiation

Answer 30

The difference or variation of people based on selected social characteristic such as class, gender, race or age