Chapter 8 - Social Class in the United States Flashcards
social class
According to Weber, a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, prestige; according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who own the means of production or workers who sell their labor
property
Material possessions: includes animals, bank accounts, bonds, buildings, businesses, cars, cash, commodities, copyrights, furniture, jewelry, land, and stocks
wealth
The total value of everything someone owns, minus the debts
income
Money received, usually from a job, business, or assets
power
The ability to carry out your will, even over the resistance of others
power elite
C. Wright Mills’ term for the top people in the U.S. corporations, military, and politics who make the nation’s major decisions.
prestige
Respect or Regard
status consistency
Ranking high or low on all three dimensions of social class
status inconsistency
Ranking high on some dimensions of social class and low on others: also called status discrepancy
status
The position that someone occupies in a social group (also called social status)
anomie
Durkheim’s term for a condition of society in which people become detached from the usual norms that guide their behavior
contradictory class locations
Erik Wright’s term for a position in the class structure that generates contradictory interests.
underclass
A group of people for whom poverty persists year after year and across generations.
intergenerational mobility
The change that family members make in the social class from one generation to the next.
upward social mobility
Movement up the social class ladder
downward social mobility
Movement down the social class ladder
structural mobility
Movement up or down the social class ladder that is due more to the changes in the structure of society than to the actions of individuals
exchange mobility
A large number of people moving up the social class ladder, while a large number move down; it is as though they have exchanged places, and despite much social mobility the social class system shows little change.
poverty line
The official measure of poverty; calculate to include incomes that are less than three times a low-cost food budget
feminization of poverty
A condition of U.S. poverty in which most poor families are headed by women
culture of poverty
The assumption that the values and behaviors of the poor make them fundamentally different from other people, that these factors are largely responsible for their poverty, and that parents perpetuate poverty across generations by passing these characteristics to their children
deferred gratification
Going without something in the present in the hope of achieving greater gains in the future
Horatio Alger myth
The belief that due to limitless possibilities anyone can get ahead if he or she tries hard enough
