Chapter 9 Flashcards
A severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information
absolute poverty
A status received through individual effort or merits (e.g., occupation, educational level, moral character, etc.)
achieved status
A status received by virtue of being born into a category or group (e.g., hereditary position, gender, race, etc.)
ascribed status
Ritualized practices by which people keep both a physical and social distance from status superiors
avoidance rituals
Relating to manual work or workers
blue-collar
In capitalism, the owning class who live from the proceeds of owning or controlling capital
bourgeoisie
A system in which people are born into a social standing that they will retain their entire lives
caste system
A group who shares a common social status based on their economic position or relationship to the means of production
class
A stratification system based on class structure and individual achievement
class system
Buying and using products to make a statement about social standing
conspicuous consumption
Cultural assets in the form of knowledge, education, and taste that can be transferred intergenerationally
cultural capital
An argument that social inequality provides positive functional incentives in the occupational system
Davis-Moore thesis
A lowering of one’s social class
downward mobility
Unions of people within the same social category
endogamous marriages
A situation in which everyone in a society has a similar level of wealth, status, and power
equality of conditions
A situation in which everyone in a society has an equal chance to pursue economic or social rewards
equality of opportunity
A sociological paradigm that models human interaction on the basis of calculated social exchanges of resources governed by a norm of reciprocity
exchange theory
Unions of people from different social categories
exogamous marriages
A measure of income inequality in which zero is absolute equality and one is absolute inequality
Gini Index
the correlation between greater social inequality in a society and lower intergenerational mobility
Great Gatsby curve
the ability of a dominant group in society to secure consent to its rule by successfully presenting its own interests, values and norms as the common sense interests, values and norms of everybody
hegemony
The money a person earns from work or investments
income
A difference in income level between different generations of a family
intergenerational mobility
A difference in income level between different members of the same generation
intragenerational mobility
The compounding effects of multiple determinants of social inequality
intersectionality
The income needed to meet a family’s basic needs and enable them to participate in community life
living wage
In capitalism, the underclass of chronically unemployed or irregularly employed who are in and out of the workforce
lumpenproletariat
Productive property, including the things like tools, technologies, resources, land, workplaces, etc. used to produce the goods and services needed for survival
means of production
An ideal system in which individual achievements determine social standing
meritocracy
A set of policies in which the state reduces its role in providing public services, regulating industry, redistributing wealth, and protecting the commons while advocating the use of free market mechanisms to regulate society
neo-liberalism
In capitalism, the class of small owners like shopkeepers, farmers, and contractors who own some property and perhaps employ a few workers but rely on their own labour to survive
petite bourgeoisie
How many people a person must take orders from versus how many people a person can give orders to or influence with their decisions
power
Ritualized practices by which individuals attest to the esteem they hold for others
presentation rituals
A law stating that all property passes to the firstborn son
primogeniture
The class of people defined by selling their labour for a wage or salary
proletariat
The process in which work conditions increasingly resemble those of the traditional, blue-collar working class
proletarianization
Living without the minimum amount of income or resources needed to be able to participate in the ordinary living patterns, customs, and activities of a society
relative poverty
The division of people into categories based on socially significant characteristics, identities, and roles
social differentiation
The unequal distribution of valued resources, rewards, and positions in a society
social inequality
The ability to change positions within a social stratification system
social mobility
An institutionalized system of social inequality
social stratification
A group’s social position in a hierarchy based on income, education, and prestige of occupation
socio-economic status (SES)
A level of material goods and comforts required to maintain a particular socio-economic lifestyle
standard of living
The degree of honour or prestige one has in the eyes of others
status
The consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s rank across different social categories like income, education, and occupation
status consistency
When societal changes increase or decrease the relative income of an entire group or category of people vis-a-vis other groups
structural mobility
An increase in one’s social class
upward mobility
The value of a person’s assets
wealth
Relating to “mental,” administrative or services work, particularly in an office or other professional environment
white-collar
