Chapter 7 Flashcards
What is social inequality?
Social inequality is the long-term existence of significant differences in access to goods and services among social groups.
What factors contribute to social inequality?
Factors include ethnicity, “race,” gender, class, and stratification.
How is social inequality viewed in the sociological tradition?
The study of social inequality has long been a part of the sociological tradition, exploring its causes and implications.
What is the main term used to discuss social inequality?
Class, popularized by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, refers to the relational dynamics of individuals in society regarding their access to resources and opportunities.
How is class defined in relation to social structures?
Class is relational; it reflects individuals’ relationships to the means of production and their role within the economic system.
What are the means of production?
The means of production are the resources needed to produce goods, including factories, tools, and technology.
What is capital in the context of class and production?
Capital refers to the funds and properties necessary for large-scale manufacturing and trading, which significantly influence social class dynamics.
What are the two primary classes identified by Marx in relation to the means of production?
The bourgeoisie (owners) and the proletariat (workers).
Who are the bourgeoisie?
The collective of capitalists who own the means of production.
What is the proletariat?
The class of workers who succeeded the peasant class of the pre-industrial era.
What is the petty bourgeoisie?
Small-time owners with little capital.
What does the term lumpenproletariat refer to?
Small-time criminals, beggars, and the unemployed.
When did Marx write his theories?
At the height of the Industrial Revolution.
What economic practices were prevalent during Marx’s time?
Laissez-faire market practices.
What struggle was prominent during the Industrial Revolution according to Marx?
The struggle between capitalist interests and workers’ rights.
According to Marx, what type of identity does class have?
A corporate (or organic) identity as a real social group.
What is class consciousness?
An awareness of what is in the best interests of one’s class.
Which class always possesses class consciousness, according to Marx?
The owner class.
What is false consciousness in Marx’s theory?
A belief that something is in one’s best interests when it is not, often attributed to the workers.
What did Max Weber contribute to the study of social inequality?
Weber studied social inequality as divided into economic classes, but emphasized that it involves more than just ownership of the means of production.
What three elements did Weber identify as contributing to social inequality?
Wealth, Prestige, and Power.
How does Weber’s view of social inequality differ from Marx’s?
Weber includes factors beyond economic class and ownership, such as prestige and power.
What does Weber include in the concept of wealth?
Wealth encompasses factories, properties used to generate income, and those that are highly respected by society (e.g., flashy cars, expensive houses).
How does Weber define prestige?
Prestige is the degree of respect individuals and their socially valued possessions or statuses receive from the majority in society.
What is Weber’s definition of power?
Power is the ability of individuals or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others.
Give an example of power as defined by Weber.
Individuals like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan, who achieved their goals despite opposition.
What does the term “precariat” refer to?
The “precariat” describes a new class of workers facing precarious employment and uncertain job security.
Who coined the term “precariat”?
The term was coined by British economist Guy Standing in 2011.
What two concepts does “precariat” combine?
It combines “precarious” (referring to precarious employment) with Marx’s term “proletariat.”
Why is the concept of the precariat relevant today?
It highlights the vulnerability and instability faced by today’s working class in the context of changing job markets.
What is the defining characteristic of the precariat, according to Guy Standing (2014)?
Distinctive relations of production, including “flexible” labor contracts, temporary jobs, and casual or part-time work.
What types of employment arrangements are common among the precariat?
Employment as casual workers, part-timers, or intermittently for labor brokers or employment agencies.
How does precarious employment affect workers’ occupational identity?
Workers in the precariat have no secure occupational identity or narrative to their lives.
What additional work challenges do those in precarious employment face?
They often engage in work preparation that does not count as work and is not remunerated.
What additional work challenges do those in precarious employment face?
They often engage in work preparation that does not count as work and is not remunerated.
What unique characteristic does the current working class, referred to as the precariat, have regarding education?
The precariat is expected to have a level of education greater than the labor they perform or expect to obtain.
How do members of the precariat typically utilize their educational qualifications in the workforce?
Few individuals in the precariat use their full educational qualifications in the jobs they hold.
Why is it difficult to apply a traditional Marxist class interpretation to contemporary societies like Canada?
Most people do not fit neatly into the capitalist–worker binary.