Social Class Inequality Flashcards
Stratification
Categorisation of people into socioeconomic strata
Social Class
Broad group in society having common economic, cultural or political status
Objective social class
Individuals are placed into social class
Subjective social class
How an individual sees themselves in social class
Underclass
Lowest social stratum, consisting of poor and unemployed
Great British Class survey
BBC teamed up with sociologists, surveyed over 160,000 people, came up with a new model for 7 groups
Life chances
The opportunities each individual has to improve his or her quality of life
Inequality
Inequality is looked at in terms of difference in income, opportunities etc
Absolute poverty
When you can not afford food, clothes or shelter
Relative poverty
Below an acceptable standard of living
HBAI
Household Below Average Income
Income
Income is a flow - money over a period of time
Wealth
Wealth is a stock of someone’s entire money worth
Social mobility
Ability to move up and down class system
Intergenerational mobility
Changes in social status between different generations
Intragenerational mobility
Changes in social mobility throughout a life course
Meritocracy
Most skilled are rewarded the most
Anti school subculture examples
Willis - the lads
Jackson - ladettes
Mac an Ghail - Macho Lads
Becker - middle class is an ideal pupil
Youth subculture examples
Resistance: Hall & Jefferson, Frith
Exaggeration: Cohen, Clarke, Hebdige
Magical Solution: Brake
Deviant subculture examples
Harding - casino capital
Merton - American Dream
Miller - focal concerns
Murray - New right
Class Identity examples:
Upper Class: Scott - Old Boy Network
Middle Class: King & Raynor - Child Centerdness, Bourdieu - capitals, Goodwin - Yummie Mummies, Saunders - Conspicuous Consumption
Working Class: Willis - Lads, Mac an Ghail - Macho Lads
Underclass: Murray - Lazy, Jordan - feel shame
Traditional Marxist Views
Marx - infrastructure, superstructure, means of production, alienation etc
Westergaard - polarisation
Scott - Social Closure
Neo Marxist Views
Marx: Class fraction
Gramsci: Hegemony
Wright: Contradictory Class location (middle class exploit and are exploited)
Marxist Feminists Views
Feeley: Family teaches patriarchy and passivity
Benston: Unpaid domestic labour, men have to provide for family
Ansley: ‘takers of shit’ men take frustrations home
Beechey: reserve army of labour (women are prepared to work for less and are only an option if no men available)
Functionalist Views
Durkheim: Class stratification, value consensus, meritocracy
Parsons: without status, personal qualities, achievements, possessions, authority you are more likely to face inequality
Davis & Moore
New Right Views
Saunders: inequality is justified to promote economic growth, competition, social mobility
Murray: Underclass (dependency culture)
Weberian Views
Weber: Class/status/party, fragmentation Zweig: Embourgeoisement (working/middle class merging)
Postmodern Views:
Polhemus: globalisation
Pakulski & Waters: Class is dead, consumer choices, individualisation
Beck
Furlong & Cartmel
