Final Exam Notes Flashcards
Wealth Distribution
Total wealth - including pension funds, housing, assets, and cash
Income Distribution
Income - wages, investments, etc.
Stratification
Any system of ranking people in society
Could include political, gendered, economic, etc.
Strata
Ranks society by one principle (wealth for example) then compares them in these groups
Quantitative
Class
Describes certain shared economic features or situations in a group.
Qualitative
Group
Groups are self defined. They exist because members have a unity of interests
Quantile
Statistical units of indentical sized chunks of population
Decile
Quantile
One tenth of the population
Quintile
Quantile
One fifth of the population
Working Class
Blue Collar
Hourly wage
Few Prospects for Promotion
Middle Class
White collar
monthly/annual salary
Career with long term prospects
Productive Class
Groups defined by position within structure of production (Marx)
Distributive Class
Classes defined by share of the rewards of society (Weber)
Caste System
Position in hierarchy determined at birth
Estates
Classes defined by laws. Life feudal aristocracy
Davis-Moore Hypothesis
Society rewards those who do difficult but necessary positions highly. This attracts most talented to do them
Social Mobility
Ability to change social class position
Open System
It is possible for someone to improve social position
Creese, Guppy & Meisner (1991)
Greatest opportunities exist for the rich. Not true that poor are just lazy
Life Chances
opportunities to climb social hierarchy
Absolute Poverty
Universal Standard - ability to get food and shelter
Relative Poverty
Poverty compared to other members of society - how far behind are you?
Poverty Trap
Mechanism that make it hard for people to escape poverty
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Food Desert
Area without easy access to healthy foods