Ch. 8: Social Class and Social Stratification Flashcards
What is social differentiation?
How different statuses develop in any group, organization, or society.
What is social stratification?
A relatively fixed hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have different access to resources, power, and perceived social worth.
What are the 3 types of stratification systems?
Estate, caste, and class
Describe the estate stratification system.
An elite or noble class has total control over societal resources
Describe the caste stratification system.
A system where status is determined by birth
Describe the class stratification system.
A system based on ascribed and achieved statuses
What stratification system is the U.S. classified as?
Class
Define social class.
The social structural hierarchical position groups hold relative to the economic, social, political, and cultural resources of society
What are life chances?
The opportunities that people have in common by virtue of belonging to a particular class.
What is conspicuous consumption?
The ostentatious display of goods to mark one’s social status.
What is economic resturcturing?
The decline of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
What is income?
The amount of money brought into a household from various sources during a given year
What is wealth?
The monetary value of everything one actually owns.
What is social mobility?
A person’s or group’s movement over time from one class to another
What is class indicated by?
Levels of income, occupational standing, and educational attainment
How does economic restructuring affect the working class?
They’re forced into lower-wage jobs such as fast food
What is socioeconomic status?
A measure of class standing, typically indicated by income, occupational prestige, and educational attainment
What is prestige?
The value with which different groups of people are judged.
What is occupational prestige?
The subjective evaluation people give to jobs as better or worse than others.
What is educational attainment?
The total years of formal education
What is the main idea of Marx’s theory of class conflict?
Class is not simply a matter of what individuals possess; class is instead defined by the relationship of higher classes of economic production
What is status attainment?
How people end up in a given stratified position
What is the “myth of the model minority”?
The idea that a minority group must adopt alleged dominant group values to succeed
What is a meritocracy?
A system in which one’s status is based on merit or accomplishments, not other social characteristics.
What is class conciousness?
The awareness that a class structure exists and the feeling of shared identification with other in one’s class with whom one perceives common life chances.
According to Marx, what is a Bourgeoisie?
People that are the owners of the means of production
According to Marx, what is a Proletariat?
People who are workers; those who sell their labor for wages
Why do Americans tend not to be class concious?
Because of the widespread belief that mobility is possible
According to Weber, what are the 3 dimensions to stratification?
Class, status, and party
What do functionalists believe about stratification and inequality?
The purpose of inequality is to motivate people to fill needed positions in society.
What do conflict theorists believe about stratification and inequality?
Inequality results from a system where those with the most resources exploit and control others.
According to Congress, what determines if someone is in poverty?
When they reach below the poverty line, which is the amount of money needed to support the basic needs of a household.
What tends to be the underlying cause of poverty in the U.S.?
The economic/social changes in the U.S.
What is the feminization of poverty?
The process whereby a growing proportion of the poor are women and children
What is the “culture of poverty”?
The argument that poverty is a way of life and, like other cultures, is passed on from generation to generation.
