Chapter 7 Flashcards
Social Stratification
Society’s Hierarchial ranking of people into social classes
Meritocracy
System that emphasizes personal attributes and demonstrated abilities
Social Mobility
Movement between social classes
Social Inequality
When attributes affect a person’s access to social valued resources
Is supported by dominant ideology
Dimensions of Social Inequality
Income
Wealth/Power
Schooling
Ancestry
Race
Gender
Classism
Worth is determined by social status
Blaming victim vs system
V: Working harder will alleviate poverty
S: Systemic discrimination
Closed system Ranking
Based on ascribed status
Very little room for social mobility
Determines behaviours of people
Open system ranking
Based on achieved status
Result of one’s own merit within class structure
Income, education
Davis-Moore thesis on Functionalism
Social inequality serves important social function by creating desire to complete social duties
Conflict Theory (Stratification)
Social classes are a manifestation of conflict between the haves and have nots
Marx Approach to stratification
Interests of social classes incompatible
Social stratification is embodiment of class conflict
Weber approach to stratification
Power comes from different sources
Social class is multidimensional
Symbolic Interactionism (stratification)
How people interpret and construct their responses to class inequality
Feminist Theory (Stratification)
What is deemed valuable and important has been decided by the patriarchy
Recognize the working lives of women within capitalism
