Chapter 5- Textbook Flashcards
Social stratification?
A society’s hierarchical ranking of people into social classes.
Social class?
A group of individuals sharing a position in a social hierarchy, base don both birth and achievement.
Social status?
An individuals position within the class structure.
What are the 4 principles of social stratification.
1) all societies redistribute materials and social rewards to individuals
2) since social stratification transcends any single generation, the system is relatively stable over time
3) although it is present infall known human societies,s it varies in how it expresses itself
4) all societies recognize differences in wealth and prestige, the criteria by which they are granted are nonetheless considered fair and just by the majority of the population
How do all societies redistribute materials and social rewards to individuals.
- individuals who are more capable receive more wealth
- allows people who offer more to have more
- system of meritocracy
What is meritocracy
A system on rewards based on personal attributes and demonstrated abilities
Why is the social stratification system stable over time
There is very little social mobility
What is social mobility used to measure?
Used to measure a society’s equality of opportunity. Has little relationship to skills or abilities
Social mobility?
movement between social classes
Intergenerational mobility?
the comparison of adult children’s social class to that of their parents
What is intragenerational mobility?
status movement throughout one’s lifetime
How does social stratification vary in how it presents itself?
In some societies it is expressed by how much money one has, and in others it is expressed by how much money one gives away.
What is the fact that social stratification is considered just by the majority grounded in?
the dominant ideology
What is social inequality? (when does it exist)?
Exists when certain attributes affect a person’s access to socially valued resources
Why is inequality difficult to detect and challenge?
It is hidden behind ideologies that name the processes associated with their perpetuation as “normal” and “just” and their harmful consequences as being the fault of the disadvantaged.
What are some examples of the various forms inequality can take?
- women may be paid less
- members of a visible minority may be less likely to be hired
- those with more education tend to make more money
Inequality results from a system that tracks people from high to low on subjective criteria such as..?
- gender
- minority status
What is classism?
an ideology that suggests that people’s relative worth is a least partly determined by their social and economic status
-legitimates economic inequality
What belief does classism result in?
the wealthy deserve what they have and the poor are responsible for their failure
What is blaming the victim?
a perspective that holds individual responsible for the conditions in which they live
-assumes the poor only need to work harder in order to transcend their poverty
What is culture of poverty?
Who coined the phrase?
a fatalistic belief system held by the poor as an adaption to systemic discrimination
- belief that the poor have different subcultural value systems that limit their ability and desire to escape poverty
- coined by Oscar Lewis
What is deferred gratification?
the ability to forgo immediate pleasures in the interest of achieving greater rewards in the future
What is blaming the system?
A perspective that holds the systemic discrimination exists within the social system
What is an example of one structural VARIABLE THAT INFLUENCES UNEMPLOYMENT AND BY EXTENSION POVERTY LEVELS?
THE LOSS OF WELL-PAYING FACTORY JOBS AS A RESULT OF DEINDUSTRIALIZATION
What is deindustrialization?
the transformation of an economy from one based on manufacturing to one based on services
Why is deindustrialization a problem for the poor?
- the poor lack the skills needed to compete for the new more highly skilled jobs
- puts downward pressure on wages and increases the competition for fear and
What may be able to compensate for structural factors that cause poverty? Why is there resistance to this?
- well-planned, community-based, comprehensive anti poverty programs
- belief they encourage laziness
What did Huber and Form fin?
that wealthy and middle-class Americans saw themselves as deserving of their wealth while the poor were more likely to see their economic plight as being the result of structural factors
What did Newman and Smith argue?
that perceptions of why people succeed or fail has e important policy implications for government
What should government do if the policy makers believe the poor lack government?
focus on reducing people’s dependence on subsidy programs
What should the government do if poverty is viewed as a result of structural barriers?
focus on increasing educational and occupational opportunities for everyone
What are the two major ways in which social systems rank people?
closed and open systems
What is a closed system?
a social system in which status is based on attributes ascribed at birth
What is an open system?
a social system in which statuses based on achieved attributes
What is a caste system?
an ascribed system of hereditary class designation
- a person’s caste is a central component of who they are and determines virtually everything in their lives
- social mobility is foreign
What does a case system usually emphasize?
a legitimizing ideology, nearly always religious to support and justify such differences
What are two examples of a caste system?
India and Japan
What are the four primary caste’s in India? What is the caste below these 4?
1) Brahmin: teachers, doctors, scholars
2) Kshatriya: warriors and politicians
3) Vaishya: merchants and artists
4) Sudra: service occupations
- then the Dalits- have no caste and whose name translates as oppressed or crushed
What is the caste system in India a result of?
the historical encounter between Indian and Western colonial rule
What is the lowest caste in Japan?
Burakumin: people of the village
-still face discrimination today
What is class structure in an open system?
A society;s economic hierarchy that categorized groups of people based on their socioeconomic status
What is socioeconomic status?
compromised of three loosely relations indicators of social position: income, occupational prestige, and education
What is social mobility measured through in an open systeM
intergeneration earnings and income elasticity
What is intergeneration earnings?
a comparison between a father’s and a son’s earnings.
What do lower IGE scores indicate? What is Canada’s score?
- a more open class system
- 0.19 (high mobility society)
What is property divided into?
income and wealth
What is income?
money you receive annually from all sources
-what you earn
What is wealth?
net accumulated assets, including homes, land, and stocks
-what you have