Class

Question 1

o Any system of ranking people in society, as manifest in objectively-identifiable ways
May include political, gendered, ethnic, or economic forms.

o The hierarchical arrangement of individuals in society.
Based on wealth, power, and prestige.

o Every society we have found so far has had some form of stratification; no society in which everyone is effectively equal.
Some people have more wealth than others; some have more power, higher status etc.

To identify inequality, we can compare people on income or on wealth, depending on total share people in different chunks of society have.

One may lead to another: more income means you can save and invest more, and hence accumulate more wealth over time.

Lower income people less able to save; spend all income on surviving.
* Consequently, wealth gap is often much large than income gap.

Answer 1

Stratification

Question 2

o Measures differences in annual income from e.g. wages, investments, in a particular year.

Answer 2

Income distribution

Question 3

o Measures differences in total wealth, including pension funds, housing, other assets, as well as cash.

Answer 3

Wealth distribution

Question 4

When analysing inequality, we may just describe different strata within society, or we may focus on more objective features shared by all those within a certain socioeconomic position.

o Ranks society as a whole by one principle (eg wealth) then compares people as statistical groups (quantiles, e.g. “top 20%”).

o Strata just statistical constructs of the sociologists: no claims of objective unity.

Answer 4

Strata

Question 5

o A social hierarchy based on the unequal distribution of material resources

o Class identifies characteristics shared by all those in the same class position as the basis of analysis and stratification.

o Class based on certain objective features about social structure: qualitative, not quantitative

Answer 5

Class

Question 6

The ‘everyday’ understanding of class is one example:
1. income only just enough to survive for the short term, without major savings.
2. income sufficient to save for retirement, home ownership, children’s education.
3. enough wealth & surplus income to take the risks of investing and increasing capital.

Answer 6

1. ‘Lower’ / ‘Working’ class
2. Middle class
3. Upper class

Question 7

Blue collar - Job in lower-paid manual labour – wore rough denim shirts

Wage- Pay at an hourly rate, typical of less-secure, lower-paid work

Job - Basic form of employment, with few prospects for promotion.

Answer 7

Working class

Question 8

White collar - Office job, professional role – workers in smart white shirts

Salary - Pay at a monthly or annual rate; more stable, higher pay

Career - Professional work, with long-term prospects and life plan.

Answer 8

Middle class

Question 9

Sociologists ask: is it really possible for someone to reach a particular position in society, regardless of their starting point?

It may be possible for a family to move up across generations, even if it’s hard for one person to move in own lifetime.

o Refers to an individual’s movement up or down within the economic system and the occupational hierarchy.

o Income inequality might not be as much of a concern if there is social mobility in a society.

o As people move from one class to another, the gap between the rich and the power may lessen.

Answer 9

Social mobility

Question 10

o Children improve on parents’ social rank.

Answer 10

Intergenerational Mobility

Question 11

o Moving up or down social ranks: rise in income, position etc.

Answer 11

Vertical Mobility:

Question 12

o Individual improves rank in own lifetime

Answer 12

Intragenerational Mobility

Question 13

o Moving across social ranks, to similar one in another field.

Answer 13

Horizontal Mobility:

Question 14

Structural functionalists see social stratification as serving a function because it is found across societies.

They believe everything exists for a reason; it’s for the good of society that some people have less.

Answer 14

Structural functionalism

Question 15

present classic account of this structural-functional position.
* Societies require many different roles to be filled
* Roles vary in the amount of education and training required
* Roles that require the most investment tend to be rewarded with higher pay
* Stratification allows us to provide such rewards: we give greater privileges as incentives to people to fulfill them.
* It is positively functional: stratification contributes to the continued smooth existence of society.

To ensure certain difficult but necessary positions are filled, society rewards those who do them very highly. This attracts most talented to do such jobs.

Davis and Moore thus assume society is meritocratic: our social position is determined by our talents and abilities.

Answer 15

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore The Davis-Moore Hypothesis

Question 16

highlights one key feature of class: it is (in theory) possible to change your class position.

• It is impossible to change your ascribed status - as this is a label society applies to you on the basis of certain ‘inborn’ features.
• It should be possible to change your achieved status, by definition – as it refers to the status you ‘achieve’ in life.

Answer 16

Davis and Moore’s

Question 17

o A social position you are given because of certain unalterable characteristics, e.g. race.

Answer 17

Ascribed status

Question 18

o A social position that you can acquire or change based on your actions (or luck), e.g. economic class.

Answer 18

Achieved status

Question 19

• Determines an individual’s rank by their ascribed characteristics.
• If people of certain ethnicities, religions, or genders hold certain ranks in society because of who they are, it is an ascription-based system.

Answer 19

Ascription-based stratification system

Question 20

• Social mobility occurs in an achievement-based system.
• In this system, people’s rank depends on their accomplishments.
• Those who work hard rise up the class ranks.

The extent to which a society is achievement- or ascriptive-based depends on the level of social mobility in a society.

In some cases, ascribed statuses may affect your ‘achieved’ status.

• Racism may prevent people rising higher in the hierarchy.

Answer 20

Achievement-based stratification system

Question 21

To understand inequality, we must consider gendered differences There are gendered patterns of domination in the home and in the workplace Feminists stress the interaction between various forms of inequality (intersectionality)

• i.e., class, race, gender, ability, etc.

Answer 21

Feminism

Question 22

A framework or understanding how aspects of a person’s social and political identities combine to create levels of discrimination or privilege. Even inequality is unequal.

Answer 22

Intersectionality

Question 23

Interactionists are interested in how class distinctions are maintained through social interaction Interested in the use and meaning of status symbols

Answer 23

Symbolic Interactionism

Question 24

• Thorsten Veblen
• Purchasing expensive things (status symbols) in order to display wealth

Answer 24

Conspicuous Consumption

Question 25

usually either Marxist (Erik Olin Wright ) or Weberian (John Goldthorpe ). They use Marx or Weber as their starting point, but develop more contemporary analyses.

Answer 25

Theorists of class

Question 26

There are two main points of disagreement between Marxists or Weberians:

Answer 26

* Is class defined as a position in a structure? * Is class the most important/dominant form of stratification?

Question 27

* Class is structural: it’s defined as a specific position within a system of social relations, defined by ownership of means of production. * Class is central: other forms of inequality are derived from class.

Answer 27

Marx

Question 28

Class is defined by your market situation: what resources do you have to get what you want? * Economic class is only one form of inequality, and can itself be shaped by other forms. 3

Answer 28

Weber

Question 29

He believed the core struggle in human societies was the class struggle. This refers to the struggle over who owns the means of production, or the means to make things society needs.

Answer 29

Marx developed conflict theory

Question 30

o Marx’s basic assumption or premise: in order for there to be human society, there need to be actual living biological humans. o Therefore, in order to understand society, history, and individual action, the first thing we need to understand is how a given society at a particular moment in time produces the food, shelter etc. that its people need for survival

Answer 30

historical materialism

Question 31

Marx’s term for the tools, technologies, resources etc. that are available to a society at a particular moment in time in order to meet those material needs. Spears and bows and arrows; industrial machinery. o The concept of ‘means of production’ is a part of the overall materialist conception of history

Answer 31

Means of production

Question 32

o Overall structured system of social relations in a society at a particular point in time. o Based on the available means of production: if bows and spears are most advanced means of production, we can predict an egalitarian society in which all hunt together. o The way a society is organized in order to produce the things its members need. o Based on economic organization around existing technology for getting food. o Other social relations depend on economy.

Answer 32

Mode of production

Question 33

argues that society in general, and social inequality in particular are best understood as consequences of the mode of production in operation in a given society. Whoever owns the means of production, or tools and materials used in making things, will hold power.

Answer 33

Marx

Question 34

* A society whose highest technology is spears or bows and arrows will be a tribal hunter-gatherer society. * Once we develop agriculture, social structure will change, and landowners (aristocrats) will be powerful. * With industrialization, those who own factories etc. dominate.

Answer 34

Ownership of the means of production

Question 35

if we understand the mode of production in a given society, we can understand the relations between its members and work out who has power over whom. For example: in a tribe of hunter-gatherers, one person may be appointed to climb a tree and watch out for predators and prey. * This person does ‘mental labour’ (Marx), and ends up giving orders to the others. * They become accustomed to obeying him – not just in the hunt, but also in other parts of life.

Answer 35

Marx

Question 36

o Specific positions within a mode of production, defined by ownership of means of production, and the relations between people in different positions. Economic class relations are structured: those in particular classes interact in predetermined ways.

Answer 36

Class relations

Question 37

describes contemporary society as capitalism: * Mass production is aimed at increase of profits and capital. * Instead of producing communally and sharing everything, we sell our labour to the employer, and take home a private wage.

Answer 37

Marx

Question 38

have monopolized the means of production. The proletariat have no way to make a living independently, so they have to go to work for the bourgeoisie. Thus, class position gives the bourgeoisie an advantage. o The employers, who have enough capital to invest for profit, and who own means of production (e.g. factories etc)

Answer 38

the bourgeoisie

Question 39

o The workers, who do not own means of production. They must so have to work for bourgeoisie to earn a living. Each class needs the other: they have a clear relationship defined within capitalism as a mode of production.

Answer 39

Proletariat

Question 40

Marx also believed the world divided into two additional classes:

Answer 40

petite bourgeoisie and lumpenproletariat.

Question 41

* represent small capitalists, who may own the means of production but not employ workers.

Answer 41

Petite bourgeoisie

Question 42

is a class Marx theorized as representing what he thought of as the lowest layer of the working class.

Answer 42

Lumpenproletariat

Question 43

o The goals and desires of people as defined by their position within a class system. o Defined as what it would be rational for them to want, not (necessarily) what they do want

Answer 43

Class Interests

Question 44

o Capitalists want to keep wages low and increase their take of the surplus value while workers want to increase their wages. o Capitalists want to keep wages low and increase their take of the surplus value while workers want to increase their wages. o Class struggles exist because classes want different things and have different interests.

Answer 44

Class struggles

Question 45

o Using a position of strength to compel someone in a position of weakness to give you something they otherwise wouldn’t. o Profiting at expense of another.

Answer 45

Exploitation

Question 46

workers have no choice but to work for capitalists. * Exploitation is the fault of the system, not of individual members of the bourgeoisie (who must act this way).

Answer 46

Marx sees capitalism as inherently exploitative

Question 47

In his 1844 Manuscripts, Karl Marx identifies the sale of labour as central problem of modern production: alienating our labour by working for a wage leads to alienation from others. o Selling labour means we lose control over our products. o Feeling of distance from your life, work, other people, leading to sense of having no control. o For Marx, comes from treating labour as a commodity to be bought & sold.

Answer 47

Alienation

Question 48

o Alienated from selves & from labour: we work to live, and find no fulfillment in our work. o Alienated from selves & from labour: we work to live, and find no fulfillment in our work. Totally under control of the capitalist who owns all the means of production – in the past, workers had own means of working.

Answer 48

This leads to alienated forms of industrial factory production:

Question 49

o For Marx, comes from treating labour as a commodity to be bought & sold. o May be long-term persistent class struggle or open revolutionary class war.

Answer 49

Class Conflict

Question 50

uses theory of class interests to deduce the necessity of total overthrow of capitalist system in worldwide revolution, outlined in Communist Manifesto (1848): o “The history of all hitherto-existing society is the history of class struggle”: classes always fighting for social supremacy. o Under capitalism, conflicting interests of bourgeoisie and proletariat lead to ever-greater immiseration of proletariat. o This coincides with periodic crises of capitalism, due to falling rates of profit and economic problems.

Answer 50

Marx

Question 51

A society in which all class conflicts are resolved by the abolition of class. The ‘means of production’ are in everyone’s hands, so no-one has power over others. A society in which all class conflicts are resolved by the abolition of class. The ‘means of production’ are in everyone’s hands, so no-one has power over others.

Answer 51

Classless society

Question 52

Marx’s model of class identifies only two basic classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat. _______traces significant changes in economic organization that transform classes: * Rise in shareholding means owners of businesses now don’t usually run them – new class of managers and CEOs. * Increase in administrative tasks, even in factories: creation of new middle classes with nonproductive role.

Answer 52

Ralf Dahrendorf

Question 53

Used to describe modern Western societies, which were formerly industrial centres, but which have now transitioned to service economies with less manual labour. For Dahrendorf, this complicates the picture: position in an administrative system is just as important.

Answer 53

Post-Industrial Society

Question 54

begins his theory by looking at how power drives human behaviour. thought power was defined by the chance a person or group of people had to realize their will despite opposition. argued that many non-economic factors also influence who has power in society.

Answer 54

Max Weber

Question 55

Weber defines class as ______ * Instead of a position within a clearly-defined structure, he only refers to possession of resources to get what you want. * Weberians therefore treat class as less systematic than Marx.

Answer 55

market situation

Question 56

Weber identifies _______ which can act independently. high economic class doesn’t always equate to high social status; you may be looked down on as merely ‘nouveau riche.’

Answer 56

three dimensions of social hierarchy

Question 57

________ means that individuals have many different ranks – and may be relatively high status in one system, whilst relatively low in another. o You may be highly-educated, but have low income, or be part of sociallyexcluded ethnicity or gender.

Answer 57

Multiplicity of systems of social ranking

Question 58

o An individual’s rank in one class system may differ from his/her rank in another.

Answer 58

Status Inconsistency

Question 59

o Determined by “market situation”: what access do you have to property?

Answer 59

Economic Class

Question 60

o Defined by honour: are you viewed as personally ‘worthy’ or ‘noble’?

Answer 60

Social Status Group

Question 61

o Individuals form parties of those with similar ends to facilitate goals.

Answer 61

Political Party

Question 62

_____ have some kind of social honour or prestige through their social position expressed during interactions. oSocial honour or prestige may be positive or negative and the status groups underlying this honour are varied.

Answer 62

Status groups

Question 63

____ is often used to control (or limit) access to privileges, and to ensure privileges are limited to a certain group by closure. * Frequent use of legal restrictions to ensure closure, e.g. only allowing males to work. * Groups thus delimited by specific legal rights, not by (class) quantity of wealth: deliberately-set boundaries.

Answer 63

High status

Question 64

According to ____ status groups may try to inhibit development of free markets, to protect, say, aristocratic privileges by limiting the power of the rising merchant class.

Answer 64

Weber

Question 65

oParties are any organization that seeks to exercise power communally to achieve some goal. oCan include not only political parties, but also groups aimed at improving specific problems, environmental groups, or even sporting and recreation groups.

Answer 65

Parties

Question 66

o Particular rights or opportunities permitted only to members of certain groups, e.g. marry a prince

Answer 66

Privileges

Question 67

o Strategic monopolization of access to privileges for all except members of your own group, e.g. male-only clubs. Often uses laws.

Answer 67

Closure

Question 68

Sociologists ask how different systems of stratification may co-exist with one another: can we use one resource, or position in one system to get the others? For _____ (b.1924), physical force (“the power to take life”) is the source of all other position and privilege. * Physical power allows you to commandeer resources and demand the respect of all others.

Answer 68

Gerhard Lenski

Question 69

If class is defined by position in a system, it becomes possible to predict the needs and interests of people in that position. ________ focus on such systemic class interests, deduced from your position within a social structure: * All individuals in the same class position will predictably want the same kind of things. * For Marx, the bourgeoisie always want a weak proletariat, because this makes it easier to wield control over them.

Answer 69

Marxist theorists of inequality

Question 70

For ____ class does not predict your interests: there’s no reason to assume all those of the same wealth would want the same things in life.

Answer 70

Weber and Weberians

Question 71

Because _____ Define class within a clear structure, they predict conflicts between different class positions. * The bourgeoisie and proletariat are in a definite relationship: they’re defined by fact that the latter works for the former. * Their predictable interest are thus opposed – they want incompatible things from their interaction, so will conflict.

Answer 71

Marxists

Question 72

For ____ classes are not necessarily likely to conflict. In fact, there’s more likelihood of conflict within a class as between classes. * North American workers may view workers in other countries as rivals for jobs – instead of opposing bourgeoisie. Thus, Weber suggests conflict is more likely on basis of status groups or political parties.

Answer 72

Weber

Question 73

is defined by sociologists as a state in which cultural and material resources are lacking.

Answer 73

Poverty

Question 74

the deprivation of one individual compared to another.

Answer 74

Relative poverty

Question 75

deprivation that threatens the individual’s survival.

Answer 75

Absolute poverty

Question 76

Holds individuals responsible for any negative situations in their lives * i.e. The culture of poverty (Lewis’ argument that the poor feel inferior and helpless and are incapable of improving their situation) Results from Classism * Bias and discrimination on the basis of class Ignores the fact that poverty is strongly influenced by structural factors

Answer 76

Understanding Poverty: Blaming the Victim

Question 77

Considering the influence of structural factors on poverty Argues that much of poverty has to do with wealth distribution Recognizes that systemic discrimination exists and impacts an individual’s circumstances

Answer 77

Understanding Poverty: Blaming the System

Question 78

1. Women 2. Unattached singles 3. Indigenous people 4. Immigrants and visible minorities 5. The disabled

Answer 78

Populations Facing the Highest Income Inequality in Canada

Question 79

A system that ranks individuals based on their accomplishments.

Answer 79

Achievement-based stratification system

Question 80

A system that ranks individuals based on a person’s ascribed features (e.g., race or sex).

Answer 80

Ascription-based stratification system

Question 81

One of the two primary classes in Marx’s theory; the owners of the means of production.

Answer 81

Bourgeoisie

Question 82

An awareness of what is in the best interests of one’s class. Marx argued that this awareness is an important precondition for organizing into a “class for itself” and advocating for class interests.

Answer 82

Class consciousness

Question 83

Groups of people who play different roles in the productive system.

Answer 83

Classes

Question 84

The conflict between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and those who own only their labour power (workers).

Answer 84

Class struggle

Question 85

The lowest layer of the working class, according to Marx, including criminals and the chronically unemployed.

Answer 85

Lumpenproletariat

Question 86

The idea that people will achieve based on their own merit.

Answer 86

Meritocracy

Question 87

In Weber’s theory, organizations that attempt to influence social action and focus on achieving some political goal.

Answer 87

Party

Question 88

Small-scale capitalists, such as shopkeepers and managers.

Answer 88

Petite bourgeoisie

Question 89

A condition in which material or cultural resources are lacking.

Answer 89

Poverty

Question 90

According to Weber, the chance that a person or group can realize its own will in a communal action, even against the resistance of others participating in the same action. The idea is based on a person’s or group’s economic class, social status, and party.

Answer 90

Power

Question 91

One of the two primary classes in Marx’s theory. Proletariats own only their capacity to labour, which they must sell to the capitalist.

Answer 91

Proletariat

Question 92

Any resource that can be used to produce things of value and to generate wealth. In Marxist theory, property is owned by the capitalist.

Answer 92

Property

Question 93

The upward or downward movement in a stratification system, such as the class system. Social mobility can be intergenerational (occur between generations) or intragenerational (occur within a single generation).

Answer 93

Social mobility

Question 94

A measure of a person’s or family’s income, educational attainment, and occupational prestige that is used to determine one’s social and economic position in relation to others.

Answer 94

Socio-economic status (SES)

Question 95

Weber’s term for a group that is based on social honour or prestige and that has a “style of life.” Honour refers to any distinction, respect, or esteem that is accorded to an individual by others.

Answer 95

Status group

Question 96

In Marx’s theory, the new value created by workers that is in excess of their own labourcost and is available to be appropriated by the capitalist. This value is the amount of money that the capitalist keeps after paying the workers’ wages.

Answer 96

Surplus value