Chapter 7- Stratification Flashcards
Social equality
A condition whereby no difference in wealth, power, prestige, or status based in nonnatural conventions exist.
Dialectic
A two-directional relationship, one that goes both ways. (Master-slave - mutual dependency)
Ontological equality
The notion that everyone is created equal at birth.
Equality of opportunity
The idea that everyone has an equal chance to achieve wealth, social prestige, and power because the rules of the game, so to speak, are the same for everyone.
Bourgeois society
A society of commerce (modern capitalist society, for example) in which the maximization of profit is the primary business incentive.
Equality of condition
The idea that everyone should have an equal starting point.
Equality of outcome
A position that argues each player must end up with the same amount regardless of the fairness of the “game”. (Marxist, communistic)
Free rider problem
The notion that when more than one person is responsible for getting something done, the incentive is for each individual to shirk responsibility and hope others will pull the extra weight.
(Critics say that it is not efficient in making decisions)
Estate system
Politically based system of stratification characterized by limited social mobility. (Feudal Europe medieval era, you are what your parents were and what your children will be)
Caste system
Religion-based system of stratification characterized by no social mobility.
Class system
An economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive, oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility.
Stratification
Structured social inequality or, more specifically, systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.
Proletariat
The working class
Contradictory class locations
The idea that people can occupy locations in the class structure that fall between two “pure” classes.
Status hierarchy system
A system of stratification based on social prestige.
