Social Class Inequalities Flashcards
What is the resource for measuring income?
Gini coefficient
Name two other resources relating to income and wealth.
Family Resource Survey (Living conditions)
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Distribution of time worked compared to wage)
What does income affect?
1) Sufficiency and quality of food and housing
2) Reputable education
3) Medical care
4) Consumer goods
What is Parsons’ functionalist POV on social class inequality?
The skilled and successful should be rewarded to encourage capitalism and so others imitate them.
What is David and Moore’s functionalist beliefs on social class inequality?
1) Functional uniqueness
2) Degree of independence
What were Tumin’s criticisms of David and Moore?
1) Jobs of different pay can be equal importance
2) Inequality stops people from doing unique jobs
3) Enjoyment of job could be > pay
What is Saunders’ New Right POV on social class inequality?
Equal society is only possible with force and left wing governments have risen tax on rich which is demotivating.
What is Murray’s New Right POV on social class inequality?
Left wing governments have created a ‘dependency culture’ so the underclass becomes lazy and reliant on state/upper classes.
What is the Marxist and Weberian POV on social class inequality?
Managers can determine own and other salaries, which they are then alienated to accept.
Define wealth.
Abundance of value of possessions and resources
What source calculates wealth?
Office for National Statistics
Name 4 flaws of wealth calculation method.
1) Wealth accumulates with age
2) Value is hard to find exactly
3) People hide wealth or taxing reasons
4) Shares are not always accessible
Outline Atkinsons Study.
Found that the wealth from assets is what causes social class inequality, rather than your job/gender etc.
What is intragenerational mobility?
Upwards movement in the workplace hierarchy.
What is intergenerational mobility?
A difference in occupation to your parents.
Outline Savage and Egerton’s study.
1) Working class had shrunk so there were more opportunities for those that remained.
2) Females were less likely to experience intragenerational mobility.
Define status.
Distribution of social honour.
What are the flaws of calculating status?
1) Based on finance and success but can be influenced by ethnicity/gender/lifestyle.
2) Lower class can have high status due to charitability or talents.
What is Weber’s POV on status?
People naturally interact with those of similar status as them.
Define Weber’s social stratifications.
1) Class
2) Status
3) Political party
What is a risk society?
Risks created by science and technology e.g. pollution, job loss
Define social class.
Stratification system used in industrial societies to determine ones wealth, job and income.
What are postmodernist’s overall POV on social class inequalities?
Class is losing its significance and that it was too much of a general issue - needed to focus on individualism.
What did postmodernist’s Pakulski and Water’s study show?
People are now stratified via culture, not economics.
