Section A Social Inequality Terminology Flashcards
Egalitarian
In an egalitarian society, all are considered equal, regardless of gender, race, religion, or age. There is not a class system in an egalitarian society but relatively equal access to income and wealth.
Power
The capacity to influence, lead, dominate, or otherwise have an impact on the life and actions of others in society.
Prestige
Prestige refers to the reputation or esteem associated with one’s position in society. A person can earn prestige by their own achievements, which is known as achieved status, or they can be placed in the stratification system by their inherited position, which is called ascribed status.
Wealth
Wealth is a critical concept that refers to the accumulation of assets, financial resources, and material possessions that an individual, family, or group owns. It is distinct from income, which is the money earned from wages, salaries, or investments.
Social inequality
Social inequality refers to the unequal distribution of power, privilege, and resources among individuals and groups in a society. Often characterized by differences in social class, status, and political influence.
Social stratification
Social stratification to describe the system of social standing. Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers.
Hierarchy of social groups
The ranking of members in social groups based on the power, influence, or dominance they exhibit, whereby some members are superior or subordinate to others.
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the shift in an individual’s social status from one status to another. The shift can either be higher, lower, intergenerational, or intra-generational.
Ascribed status
The social status of a person that is assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life.
Achieved status
An achieved status is a position in a social group that one earns based on merit or one’s choices.
Functional prerequisites
Functional prerequisites are the basic needs that an individual requires to live above the poverty line.
Value consensus
Parsons’ coined the phrase: the ‘value consensus’ to describe the need for societies to have a common set of beliefs and principles to work with and towards, a consensus meaning a general agreement or sharing of ideas.
Reciprocity
The giving of benefits to another in return for benefits received, is one of the defining features of social exchange and, more broadly, of social life.
Collective goals
It involves the participants’ intention to achieve the goal, requiring collective activity.
Effective role allocation and performance
Parsons believed in effective role allocation, which meant that all individuals in society get roles that were best suited to their abilities, work ethic and qualifications.
Functionally important
Roles that provide essential services and ensure society’s long-term survival are often seen as the most important.
Functional necessity
Moore (1945) argues that the most difficult jobs in any society have the highest incomes in order to motivate individuals to fill the roles needed by the division of labour.
Liberalism
Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasizes individual autonomy, equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual rights.
Free market
A free market is a system of buying and selling goods and services that is not under the control of the government, and most companies and property are not owned by the state.
Market forces
The forces that decide price levels in an economy or trading system whose activities are not influenced or limited by government
Individual liberty
The liberty of an individual to exercise freely those rights generally accepted as being outside of governmental control.
Social status
The relative rank that an individual holds, with attendant rights, duties, and lifestyle, in a social hierarchy based upon honour or prestige.
Dysfunctional societies
Any action or behavior that has negative consequences for a group or society.
Ruling class
The ‘Ruling Class’ refers to the economically and politically dominant group in society who hold power and influence over the legal system, ensuring that their interests are promoted and maintained through mechanisms such as socialisation and professionalisation.
Subject class
Means of production
The means of production are the resources and tools that make it possible for products and services to get created.
Feudal nobility
Nobles in the feudal system were members of the aristocracy who formed relationships amongst each other.
Bourgeoise
The bourgeoisie is the ruling class in Marx’s theory of class struggle under capitalism.
Proletariat
Marx defined the proletariat as the social class having no significant ownership of the means of production and whose only means of subsistence is to sell their labour power for a wage or salary.
Primitive communism
Primitive communism is a term used to describe the socio-economic structures of early human societies, characterized by communal ownership and egalitarian principles.
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production, with labor solely paid wages.
Socioeconomic groups
A way of describing people based on their education, income, and type of job.
Ruling-class ideology
As used in Marxist theory, an ideology is a coherent act of ideas, which are not necessarily accurate, but which serve to advance or defend the social position of a particular group, in this case the ruling class.
False class consciousness
The idea that people in a capitalist society unknowingly participate in a system that promotes inequality.
Class struggle
Conflict between different classes in a community resulting from different social or economic positions and reflecting opposed interests. Also called class war.
Class in itself
A social group whose members share the same relationship to the means of production.
Class consciousness
The awareness that the members of a class (generally the working class) have of their ‘objective’ class interests and aspirations.
Class solidarity
Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes.
Collective struggle
Polarisation
The splitting of a society into two distinct groups that are different ends of a spectrum.
Homogeneous working class
Homogeneous society refers to a social setting where the majority of its members share common cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds.
Pauperisation
The process of individuals or groups becoming extremely poor, or the condition of extreme poverty.
Petty bourgeoisie
A social class between the working class and the middle class, often including small business owners
Market situation
Market situation refers to what price an individual can achieve when ‘selling’ their skills.
Status situation
A status that exists only as long as an individual is in a particular situation and performing the role associated with it.
Status group
Status groups are aggregates of persons arranged in a hierarchical social system. Such groups differ from social classes in being based on considerations of honour and prestige, rather than on economic status or power.
Social closure
Closure refers to processes of drawing boundaries, constructing identities, and building communities in order to monopolize scarce resources for one’s own group, thereby excluding others from using them.
Intersectionality
It is the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.
