Ch9: social inequality in Canada Flashcards
habitus
defined by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu as the deeply seated schemas, habits, feelings, dispositions, and forms of know-how that people hold due to their specific social backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences
social inequality
used to describe the unequal distribution of valued resources, rewards, and positions in a society
social differentiation
does not necessarily imply a division of individuals into a hierarchy of rank, privilege, and power
social stratification
- refers to an institutionalized system of social inequality
- refers to situations in which the divisions and relationships of social inequality have solidified into a system that determines who get what, when, and why
- society-wide system that makes inequalities apparent
equality of opportunity
everyone has an equal chance at success
equality of condition
everyone in a society has a similar level of wealth, status, and power
factors that define stratification
differences in wealth, income, power, and status
wealth
the net value of money and assets a person has
income
a person’s wages, salary, or investment dividends
power
how many people a person must take orders from versus how many people a person can give orders to
status
the degree of honour or prestige one has in the eyes of others
status consistency
used to describe the consistency of an individual’s rank across the four factors
two types of systems of stratification
closed and open systems
closed systems
accommodate little change in social position
open systems
are based on achievement, allow movement and interaction between layers and classes
the caste system
close stratification system in which people can do little or nothing to change their social standing, people are born into their social standing and remain there their whole lives
ascribed status
a status one receives by virtue of being born into a category or group (hereditary position, race, gender)
achieved status
a status one receives through individual effort or merits (occupation, educational level, moral character)
endogamous marriage
means marriage between castes is forbidden
exogamous marriage
a union of people from different social categories
class system
based on both social factors and individual achievement, partially open system
class
consists of a set of people who have the same relationship to the means of production or productive property (the things used to produce the goods and services needed for survival)
bourgeoisie
the capitalist class who live from the proceeds of owning or controlling productive property
proletariat
working class who live from selling their labour to the capitalists for a wage
petite bourgeoisie
shopkeepers, farmers, and contractors who own some property employing a few works but still rely on their own labour to survive
lumpenproletariat
those who are chronically unemployed or irregularly employed who are in and out of the workforce
social inequality in a class system
it is structural, meaning that it is “built in” to the organization of the economy
standard of living
the level of wealth available to acquire the material necessities and comforts to maintain one’s lifestyle (based on factors such as income, employment, class, poverty rates, and affordability of housing)
absolute poverty
a severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information (marginalized and socially excluded)
relative poverty
refers to the minimum amount of income or resources needed to be able to participate in the ordinary living patterns, customs, and activities of a society
meritocracy
an ideal system in which personal effort or merit determines social standing
gini index
a measure of income inequality in which zero is absolute equality and one is absolute inequality
gini index of Canada
increased by 5% between 1980 and 2005
Marx’s definition of social class
- rested on one variable: a group’s relation to the means of production
- two dominant classes in capitalism – the working class and the owning class
- any divisions within the classes are less important than the tendency toward the increasing separation and polarization of these classes
Weber’s definition of social class
- defined as “life chances” to acquire rewards one share in common with others by virtue of one’s possession of property, goods, or opportunities for income
- whether a person owns property/capital or not is still the basic variable that defines one’s class
- value of one’s products or skills determines whether one has greater or lesser life chances
class stratification
determined not only by a group’s economic position but also the prestige of the group’s occupation, education level, consumption, and lifestyle
socio-economic status (SES)
Weberian approach that mixes status categories with class categories, their social positions relative to other based on income, education, and occupation
material quality
relating to a group’s structural position within the economic system
social quality
relating to the formation of status graduation, common subjective perceptions of class, political divisions in society, and class-based lifestyle and consumption patterns
three components of social class
Marxist and Weberian models
- a group’s position in the occupational structure and authority structure
- a group’s position in a property structure (ownership of capital)
- subjective component that related to recognitions of status, distinctions of lifestyle, and how people perceive their place in the class hierarchy
the owning class
- Canada’s top, power elite
- people of old money firmly situated in the upper class for generations, have held high prestige, socialized to know the customs, norms, and expectations with wealth
- new money are not oriented to the customs and mores of the elite, have not gone to most exclusive schools, not established old-money social ties
the middle class
- divided into upper and lower subcategories based on gradations of status defined by education, occupation, cultural capital, lifestyle afforded by income
- upper-middle-class tend to hold bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees in business, management, law, or medicine that lead to occupations in the professions
- lower-middle-class hold bachelor’s degrees or associate’s degrees from two-year community or technical colleges that lead to various types of white collar, service, administrative, or paraprofessional occupations
professions
occupations that claim high levels of specialized technical and intellectual expertise and are governed and regulated by autonomous professional organizations
the traditional working class
- referred to as part of the lower class
- divided into subsets: working class, working poor, and underclass
- traditional working class have less of an educational background and usually equated with blue-collar types of jobs (smaller incomes)
blue collar
comes from the traditional blue coveralls worn by manual labourers
working poor
- unskilled, low-paying employment
- jobs rarely offer benefits such as retirement planning, positions are often seasonal or temporary
living wage
the amount needed to meet a family’s basic needs and enable them to participate in community life
underclass or lumpenproletariat
- lowest tier in Canada
- unemployed or underemployed
social mobility
refers to the ability to change positions within a social stratification system
high degree of social mobility (upwards or downwards) suggests
that the stratification system of a society is open
upward mobility
refers to an increase or upward shift in social class
downward mobility
indicates the lowering of one’s social class
intergenerational mobility
explains a difference in social class between different generations of a family
intragenerational mobility
describes a difference in social class between different members of the same generation
structural mobility
occurs when societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder
class traits
- “class markets”, the typical behaviours, customs, and norms that define each class
- indicate the level of exposure a person has to a wide range of cultural resources
global statification
- compares the wealth, economic, stability, status, and power of countries across the world
- sociologists analyze economic comparison between nations based on income, purchasing power, and wealth, also compares the quality of life
Walt Rostow
suggest that disparity results from power differences
global capitalism
an economic system characterized by constant change, so too is the relationship between global capitalism and national state policy
neoliberalism
- used to define the new rationality of government, which abandons the interventionist model of the welfare state to emphasize the use of “free market” to regular society
- a set of policies in which the state reduces its role in providing public services, regulating industry, redistributing wealth, and protecting the commons
- addressing the “inefficiency of big government”
- a way to attract increasingly fickle global capital making entire market more competitive
empire
the changing configuration of global capitalism and politics
functionalism perspective on social inequality
- different aspects of society exist because they serve a needed purpose
Davis-Moore thesis (functionalist)
- argues some social stratification is a social necessity
- argued that the greater the functional importance of a social role, the greater must be the reward
- posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different work
Melvin Tumin’s counterpoint of Davis-Moore thesis
he believed social stratification prevented qualified people from attempting to fill roles
critical sociology perspective on social inequality
- deeply critical of social inequality, asserting that it benefits only some people not all of society
- draw on the work of Karl Marx, who saw workers experience deep exploitation, alienation, and misery resulting from class power
proletarianization
the process in which the work conditions of the middle class increasingly resemble those of the traditional, blue collar working class
interpretive sociology perspective on social inequality
- examines stratification from a micro-level perspective
- people interact with others who share the same social standing in communities
- note that people’s appearance reflect their perceived social standing
Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital
- suggests that cultural assets such as education and taste are accumulated and passed down between generations in the same manner as financial capital or wealth
- sense of an investment, as it is expensive and difficult to attain while providing access to better occupations
conspicuous consumption
what Thorstein Veblen described as the tendency of people to buy things as a display of status rather than out of need (buying certain products to make a social statement)
primogeniture
a law sating that all property passes to the firstborn son
For Marx, which class is driven by the desire to accumulate capital and increase profit at any cost?
the bourgeoisie
Which of the following concepts refers to the mechanism through which people acquire similar ‘skillsets’ and ‘tastes’ as others from the same class backgrounds?
habitus
What two variables differentiate Weber’s conception of social and class inequality from Marx’s structural class position perspective?
status; power
Contemporary approaches to social inequality suggest what three variables make up one’s social position in a hierarchical society?
income, education, and occupation
Which of the following is an example of how the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) differs from that of welfare or unemployment benefits?
UBI provides more flexibility to participants.
A “mobility springboard” refers to
A geographical area where intergenerational class mobility is more likely to occur.
