Chapter 8 - Social Stratification

Question 1

Social Stratification

Answer 1

the way in which society is organized into layers based on wealth, power, and status

Question 2

Income Quintile Share

Answer 2

measures the share of total income earned by each fifth of the population, ranked by income

Question 3

How to compute income quintile shares (4)

Answer 3

1. rank families in population from lowest to highest incomes
2. compute the total income generated by all families
3. compute the total income for each quintile
4. divide the total income for each quintile by the total family income to calculate the income quintile share

Question 4

Gini Coefficient

Answer 4

reports the proportion of total income that would have to be re-distributed for perfect quality to exist

Question 5

Human Capital

Answer 5

the sum of useful skills and knowledge that an individual possesses

Question 6

Social Capital

Answer 6

networks or connections that individuals possess

Question 7

Cultural Captial

Answer 7

the stock of knowledge, tastes, and habits that legitimate the maintenance of power and status

Question 8

Low-Income Cutoff

Answer 8

statistic canada’s term for the income threshold below which a family devotes at least 20% of it’s income to the necessities of food, shelter, and clothing than does the average family

Question 9

Myths about the poor (3)

Answer 9

1. they don’t want to work and that is why they are poor
2. most people living in poverty are immigrants
3. most poor people are trapped in poverty

Question 10

Explanations of Poverty (3)

Answer 10

1. Individual Level = attributes of poor people
2. Economic Organization = capitalism
3. Social Policy = example: minimum wage

Question 11

Feudalism (what and who)

Answer 11

what: a legal arrangement in preindustrial Europe that bound peasants to the land and obliged them to give their landlords a set part of the harvest. in exchange, the landlords were required to protect peasants from marauders and open their storehouses to feed the peasants if crops failed
who: marx

Question 12

Class Consciousness (what and who)

Answer 12

what: being aware of membership in a class
who: marx

Question 13

Class (Marx’s Definition)

Answer 13

determined by a person’s relationship to the means of production

Question 14

Class (Weber’s Definition)

Answer 14

determined by a person’s “market situation”

Question 15

Bourgeoisie (what and who)

Answer 15

what: owners of the means of production, inducing factories, tools, and land. they do not do any physical labour. their income derives from profits
who: marx

Question 16

Proletariat (what and who)

Answer 16

what: the working class. do physical labour, do not own means of production in a position to earn wages
who: marx

Question 17

Petite Bourgeoisie (what and who)

Answer 17

what: small-scale capitalists, own means of production. employ only a few workers or none at all, forcing them to do physical labour themselves
who: marx

Question 18

Status Groups (what and who)

Answer 18

what: differ from one another in terms of the prestige or social honour they enjoy and in terms of their style of life
who: weber

Question 19

Parties (what and who)

Answer 19

what: organizations that seek to impose their will on others
who: weber

Question 20

Functional Theory of Stratification (3)

Answer 20

argues that:

1. some jobs are more important than others
2. people must make sacrifices to train for important jobs
3. inequality is required to motivate people to undergo these sacrifices

Question 21

Feminization of Poverty (2)

Answer 21

argues that:

1. women are more likely to become low-income earners than men
2. the low-income gap between women and men is growing

Question 22

Power

Answer 22

the ability to impose one’s will on others despite resistance

Question 23

Authority

Answer 23

legitimate, institutionalized power

Question 24

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Answer 24

combines data on income, education, and occupational prestige in a single index of a person’s position in the socioeconomic hierarchy

Question 25

Social Mobility

Answer 25

movement up or down the stratification system

Question 26

Intergenerational Mobility

Answer 26

social mobility between generations

Question 27

Intragenerational Mobility

Answer 27

social mobility within a generation

Question 28

How do most Canadians view the class system? (3)

Answer 28

• aware of existence of the class system and their place in it
• believe that large inequalities are not necessary to achieve national prosperity
• disapprove of government intervention to lower the level of inequality

Question 29

What do Canadians think is the reason that inequality persists?

Answer 29

because it serves the interests of the most advantaged members of society and because disadvantaged members do not join together to change things

Question 30

Why does Canada have no statistics on the amount of poor people?

Answer 30

because there is no official definition of poverty

Question 31

According to the functionalist theory of poverty, what is the ideal determinant of socioeconomic status?

Answer 31

achievement

Question 32

Ascribed Status

Answer 32

status that we receive involuntarily, without regard to our unique talents, skills, or accomplishments

Question 33

Achieved Status

Answer 33

status that we attain through talent, ability, effort, or other unique characteristics