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.
Elite-mass dichotomy system
System of stratification that has a governing elite, few leaders who broadly hold peer in society.
Meritocracy
Society where status and mobility are based on individual attributes, ability, and achievement. ( Vilfredo Pareto )
Socioeconomic status
An individual’s position in a stratified social order.
income, wealth, and education
Income
Money received by a person for work, from transfers (gifts,inheritances, or government assistance), or from returns on investments.
Wealth
A family’s or individuals net worth ( that is, assets minus total debts)
Globalization
The rise in the trade of goods and services across national boundaries, as well as the increased mobility of multinational businesses and migrant labor.
Social mobility
The movement between different positions within a system of social stratification in any given society.
Horizontal social mobility
Means a group or individual transitioning from one social status to another situated more or less on the same rung of the ladder.
Vertical social mobility
Rise or fall of an individual (or group) from one social stratum to another.
Structural mobility
Mobility that is inevitable from change in the economy.
Exchange mobility
Mobility in which, if we hold fixed the changing distribution of jobs, individuals trade jobs not one-to-one but in a way that ultimately balances out.
Status-attainment model
Approach that ranks individuals by socioeconomic status, including income and educational attainment, and seeks to specify the attributes characteristic of people who end up in more desirable occupations.
Intragenerational mobility
Mobility in one’s lifetime
Intergenerational mobility
Mobility in-between generations in regards to family.
