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
*
Food Desert
Area without easy access to healthy foods
Richard Sennet & Jonathan Cobb
Strong correlation between poverty and stress-related illness, shorter lifespan
Oscar Lewis
Culture of Poverty:
term for values, norms & behaviour patters of some urban poor.
Edwin Sutherland
undermines idea that poor are inherently criminal by looking at crimes committed by the wealthy
Delinquent
Michel Foucault
ill-disciplined individual, petty criminal
Erik Olin Wright
leading Marxist
class is defined by ownership of means of production
Class is central - all other forms of inequality stem from class
John Goldthorpe
leading Weberian
Class is defined by what resources you own
economic class is one form of many forms of inequality
Materialist conception of history
Marx’s basic assumption
In order to have society, there needs to be humans. In order to understand society, we need to understand how that society produces food, shelter, etc.
Means of Production
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
Mode of Production
Overall structure of social relations in a society at a specific point.
For example - the development of agriculture made landowners powerful
Ralf Dahrendorf
traces significant changes in economic organization that transform classes
Rise in shareholding creates new class of managers and CEO’s
Petty Bourgeoisie
self employed, independent, not powerful enough to employ others
Gerhard Lenski
Status Inconsistency - rank in one class system may differ in another
Monopolization of physical force
Taylorism or Scientific Management
Aims at absolute efficiency in the workplace, especially factories
FREDERICK TAYLOR
Deskilling
Introducing technology to make a job easier
Harry Braverman
Monopoly capital - increasing homogenization and polarization of work in two groups:
small number of high skilled, high paid
Large mass of unskilled workers
Monopoly Capital
Giant corporation dominate economy, forcing you to work for them
Alienation
Feeling distant from life, work , other people. Sense of no control
Caused by selling my labor
Melvin Seeman
Alienation leads to:
Powerlessness
Meaninglessness
Normlessness
Isolation
Self-Estrangement
Karasek & Theorell
workers who had control of tasks had significantly lower rates of stress-related illness
Exploitation
Profiting at expense of another
Labor Union
Organization of workers for collective bargaining of pay, etc.
Class Conflict
Marx - classes inherently clash head
Weber - interclass conflict more likely
Terry Clark & Seymour Lipset
people’s vote is based on identity and ascribed status instead of class agenda
Sex
Distinguished by biological features
Male/Female
Gender
Social & Cultural ideas of masculine or feminine behaviour