Powerpoint #8 - Social Stratification Flashcards

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1
Q

What is social stratification?

A

the structure of social inequality in a society

–> distribution of wealth, status, and power among people occupying different social statuses

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2
Q

What are the different social status systems?

A
  1. Caste
  2. Clan
  3. Estate
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3
Q

What is the Caste System?

A
  • status is determined by birthright and is irrevocable
  • social mobility from one caste to another is unlikely
    (ex. Indians traditional system)
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4
Q

What is a Clan System?

A
  • basis for stratification is birthright
  • family ties are primary determinate of social status
  • can marry outside clan (exogamy)–>often encouraged to form alliances
    (ex. Somalia and Iraq)
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5
Q

What is the Estate System?

A
  • 3 main estates: nobility, church, and peasants
  • eldest sons inherit all wealth, other sons entered clergy or made another way of living
  • permit more social mobility
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6
Q

What is the functional view of stratification?

A

-inequality is nearly universal in all societies and it exists because it has positive functions for society

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7
Q

What are the positive functions of stratification?

A
  • most competent people = most important positions
  • assures people perform important positions competently
  • persuades people to undergo years of training required to perform important jobs
  • talented people rise to the top by hard work (barriers to success are comparable)
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8
Q

Who was Gans?

A

Came up with the six functions of poverty:

  1. assures “dirty work” will be done
  2. subsidizes economic activity that benefit the rich by the poor serving rich so they have free time for other activities
  3. creates jobs for people in professions that serve poor (ex. lawyers, police)
  4. prolongs life of goods (ex. day old bread)
  5. provides people who can be punished as real/alleged deviants
  6. offers social mobility to those just above the poverty line
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9
Q

What are the criticisms of the functional view of stratification?

A
  • -> Tumin
  • rewards are often inconsistent with performance (ex. pop stars/professional athletes make more than president/doctors)
  • view is inconsistent with inheritance
  • often many unfair barriers to competition (ex. women, minorities, elderly)
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10
Q

What is the conflict view of stratification?

A
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11
Q

What was Karl Marx’s view on stratification?

A

Class Conflict

  • proletariat exploited by capitalists
  • false consciousness –> workers revolt –> communism
  • classless society = communist
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12
Q

What was Eric Wright’s view on stratification?

A
  • ->modified Marx’s view
  • four classes of stratification
    1. capitalist: owns means of production
    2. petty bourgeoisie: small business owners
    3. managers: sell own labor, exercise some authority (ex. VP of a company)
    4. workers: sell their labor (ex. assembly line worker)
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13
Q

What was Max Weber’s view on stratification?

A

Class, Status, and Power

  • social class determined by wealth and income
  • social prestige/status: how people view you, can result from respected acts (ex. bravery, compassion)
  • power: influence over others/control of their behavior, controversy over power distribution in US
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14
Q

What is socioeconomic status?

A

composite index based on occupational prestige, income, and educational attainment

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15
Q

What is status consistency?

A

the tendency for people having high status in one area of their lives to also have high status in other areas

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16
Q

What is the social construction of reality?

A

people truly underestimate the amount of inequality in a society (false consciousness)
–> 1% of America holds 40% of the wealth

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17
Q

How is inequality measured?

A
  1. Income
  2. Wealth
  3. Occupational Prestige
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18
Q

What is wealth?

A
  • not income, measured by net worth (what you own - what you owe)
  • inequality is more pronounced in wealth than in income
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19
Q

What are net financial assets?

A

household wealth after equity in homes/vehicles has been deducted
-provides a more realistic estimate of liquid assets of people

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20
Q

What are liquid assets?

A

financial assets which can be quickly/easily converted to cash

21
Q

What was the “prosperity escalator”?

A

post-war period from 1947-1967 with increased prosperity and growth

22
Q

Who were Dennis Gilbert and Joesph Kahl?

A

sociologists who described US class structure in 6 categories defined by class, status, and power

  1. Capitalists
  2. The Upper-Middle Class
  3. The Lower-Middle Class
  4. The Working Class
  5. The Working Poor
  6. The Underclass
23
Q

Who are Capitalists?

A
  • super rich top 1%, make $1 million or more annually
  • educated at prestigious universities, own media
  • old $ vs. new $
24
Q

Who are the Upper-Middle Class?

A
  • 14% of population, make $100,000+ annually

- shaped by education, hold professional/managerial jobs

25
Q

Who are the Lower-Middle Class?

A
  • 30% of population, make $40-50,000 annually
  • high school/college education
  • semi professional/technical jobs (craftsmen/foremen)
  • make good/comfortable living, threatened by inflation/taxes
26
Q

Who is the Working Class?

A
  • 30% of population, make about $30,000 annually
  • blue/white collar workers
  • high school education/little occupational prestige
  • threatened by layoffs, recessions –> little hope of moving up in social status because of no high school education
27
Q

Who are the Working Poor?

A
  • 22% of population, make less than $20,000 annually
  • less than high school education, may be illiterate
  • no job security, paycheck-to-paycheck
28
Q

Who is the Underclass?

A
  • 3% of population, make less than $13,000 annually
  • less than high school education
  • unemployed/occasionally employed
  • survive by social services like welfare
29
Q

What is lifestyle?

A

refers to activities, behaviors, possessions, and other, often visible, characteristics of how an individual spends their time and money. May be how someone advertises their wealth to society.

30
Q

What are life chances?

A

refers to the likelihood of realizing a certain quality of life, or the probability of experiencing certain positive/negative outcomes in life (material goods/favorable life experiences)

31
Q

What is the American Dream?

A

life of material comfort/personal happiness

32
Q

What is social mobility?

A

changing one’s social status n thereby changing one’s social ranking in the stratification system

33
Q

What are the types of social mobility?

A
  1. Horizontal
  2. Vertical
  3. Intergenerational
  4. Intragenerational
34
Q

What is horizontal social mobility?

A

where sons are no better off than their fathers in terms of social prestige, wealth, or power

35
Q

What is vertical social mobility?

A

when there is a significant increase (“upward mobility”) or decrease (“downward mobility”) in social standing as measured by social status, class, or power

36
Q

What is intergenerational social mobility?

A

the change in social standing of children in relation to their parents

37
Q

What is intragenerational social mobility?

A

the changes in social standing for one person over the course of one’s lifetime

38
Q

What is structural mobility?

A

mobility resulting from changes in a societies occupational structure or stratification system rather than from individual (made possible by industrialization of economy, increase of white collar jobs)

39
Q

What is the sociological imagination?

A

public problems that pose private threats

40
Q

What is expanding universalism?

A

increased tendency for occupational status to be attained by achievement rather than inheritance

41
Q

What is absolute poverty?

A

a condition of deprivation in which people have too little money/other resources to obtain all they need for basic survival

42
Q

What is relative poverty?

A

deprivation experienced by some people in contrast to others who have more (may have way more than what is actually needed for survival)

43
Q

What is considered the poverty line?

A
  • assumes people spend 1/3 of income on food

- -> basis of deciding who receives government help

44
Q

Who are the poor?

A

children
racial/ethnic minority
inner city resident
woman (especially single heads of households)

45
Q

What is the culture of poverty?

A

a subculture associated with people of the lower social classes thought to encourage them to become resigned in their fate and discourage personal achievement

46
Q

What are dependency theories?

A

theories that argue rich industrial countries keep poor countries underdeveloped and dependent on them to serve their own needs

47
Q

What are peripheral countries?

A

countries that are the most dependent

48
Q

What are core countries?

A

countries that are dominant in the world-system theory