Module 7 Flashcards
Social Stratification
-Refers to the structured inequalities between differen groups in a society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards
~Every human society have same form of stratification
~Social stratifications involve not just inequality, but the beliefs or ideologies use to justify the existing social arrangements
Inequality
-Refers to the systematic distinctions that we can rank (more or less, higher or lower) and which concern valued qualities, such as wealth, prestige, education, and security
Systems of Stratification
- Slavery
- Caste System
- An estate system
Slavery
-A social system in which some people are owned by other’s as property
~US Chattel Slavery System
Caste System
-A social system in which one’s social status is given at birth and is maintained for life
~India until 1949 and Apartheid South Afirca
An estate system
-A social system whereby a person is born into a social rank, and can move, but only in very limited ways up or down the social ladder
~European feudalism that existed prior to the rise of capitalism
Class system
-A system stratification containing unequal groups but with a relatively high degree of social mobility
-Characteristics
~Open social system: mobility possible
~Social boundaries: fluid with social position based on achievement rather then ascription for the most part
~Ideology: used to justify and legitimize societal arrangements
Class
-Socioeconomic position among groups of individuals reflect similar levels of wealth, power, occupation, income, and education
Income
-Money received from paid wages and salaries or earned from investments over a particular amount of time
~Median US household income
*2000: $63,535
*2011: $55,640 a decline of more than 12%
*2018: $57,700
Wealth
-The net assets, or money and material possessions held by an individual or households minus their debts
~68% of Americans own their home
~But the top .1% of the population owns 22% of all household wealth
Education Occupation
-Together, sociologists use these characteristics to identify a person’s class. They also affect one’s life chances: a person’s opportunities of achieving economic prosperity
Intergenerational mobility
-Movement up/down from one generation to another
-Example
~Comparing children to their parents SES
Intragenerational mobility
-individual moves up/down within the course of a personal career
-Example
~Horizontal versus vertical movements
Gini Index
-A summary measure of income inequality, by summarizing the dispersion of income across the entire income distribution
~0 = perfect equality (everyone receives an equal share)
~1 = perfect inequality (where only one person/group receives all income)
~Comparative assessment
*US 2018 (.485), up from (.482) in 2017
**Anything above .45 is an extremely inequality society.
Economy
-The society institution that organizes that production, trade, and consumption of good and services providing the material needs of a society
~The production process changes over time
~The economy is an inherently social phenomenon
Capitalism
- Private ownership over the means of production
- Profit as an incentive
- Free competition with markets
The Industrial Revolution
-The increase use of machinery and mass production as a central point in shaping the growth of a class society
Characteristics of industrial Revolution
- Increase in urbanization
- Technological innovations
- Mass productions: large scale standardized manufacturing of identical commodities
- Greater division of labor
Frederick W. Taylor’s Scientific management
-A system that breaks down production process to generate greater efficiencies and increase output by focusing on simple, coordinated operations in industries
~Has widespread effects on the organization of industrial production and workplace politics
Characteristics of Taylorism
- Reduce physical movements of workers to improve productivity and thus increase efficiency
- Managers increase control over the labor process and knowledge by using explicit instructions of how to perform a given task
- Contributes to the deskilling and degradation of labor
Unionization
-Organizations of workers that sought to improve wages and working conditions through collective action, strikes, and negotiations
~Workers began unionizing in the 19th century
~From 1888 to 1908, industrial accidents killed 700,000 American workers. Roughly 100 a day.
Declining Labor Union Strength
-Unionizing peeked in the 1960s at 35% and it has been declining ever since. Currently stands at 11% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015)
Post-industrial societies
-Flexible forms of production and innovation are maximized to meet global market demands for diverse and customized products ~Old ways *Ford Motor Company ~New ways *Walmart
Characteristics of Post-Industrial economy
- Global outsourcing
- Greater job insecurity
- Automations
- Flexible productions
