Social Inequalitues Flashcards
What is social stratification?
This is the way society is grouped into divisions based on age, gender, social class and ethnicity. This leads to social inequalities, poverty and exclusions in society.
What are life chances?
This is the opportunities for obtaining material goods, healthcare, education, employment, services and cultural experiences within society. It links to living standards and the difference in access to resources.
What is economic capital?
This is material wealth, money and property.
What is cultural capital?
This are the different sets of tastes, preferences and linguistic competence passed down to children by their parents.
What is social capital?
These are social networks and levels of trust in communities.
What is human capital?
This is particular to jobs, skills, knowledge and educational qualities regarded as investment for future rewards and enables people to do certain jobs.
What is the functionalist view on gender inequality?
They believe that social roles are based on biological differences and this helps society run smoothly. These differences lead to gender inequality. The female role is domesticity and the male role is dominant and economic.
What did Parsons believe about gender inequality?
He believed that males have an instrumental role because they provide food, shelter and clothing for their family and this is dominant. Females have an expressive role because they provide warmth, emotion, they are caring and this is less dominant. This limits career choices for then. In childhood, the personality factory teaches these roles so they can integrate into society. The motherly is mainly responsible for this. In adulthood, couples rely on each other for emotional support. The form isolated nuclear families that hold these roles.
What is the warm bath theory?
This is when females provide a caring and positive emotional environment for the males to rely on.
Advantage of Parsons view on gender inequality. (1)
- Marxists
- Marxists support because they believe females provide support for their husbands so they can function at work. They believe that women are a safety valve.
Disadvantage of Parsons view on gender inequality. (2)
- Leech
- Feminists
- Leech believes that the dark side of the family is ignored. This is domestic abuse or violence occurring because of the patriarchy in the home.
- Feminists that women have little recognition for the work they do at home and they receive no emotional support or enough pay. This leads to depression. There is also a burden of responsibility placed on them.
What is the human capital theory?
Every individual may have different incomes to others in the same job and this depends on how much human capital the person has. Males tend to have more human capital because they have more opportunity to study, more experience in jobs, and are more work oriented. This creates inequalities for women because they prioritise the home and caring, lack commitment, abandon or interrupt their career to have children. This means that women have less experience or training, they are promoted less and less valued.
Advantages of the human capital theory. (2)
- dual
- ceiling
- the Dual Labour Market by Weber supports this.
- the Glass Ceiling and Elevator by Desai supports this
Disadvantage of the human capital theory. (1)
- crisis
- the Glass Cellar or Crisis of Masculinity suggests that men also experience inequalities in the workplace.
What does the Marxist Engels believe about gender inequality?
The reason for women’s position in society is the ownership of property and development of the nuclear family. This leads to gender inequality and discrimination. The bourgeoisie and proletariat relationship is represented in a male and female relationship. Males gain control over women through money and resources and want to pass in their property and inheritance onto their legitimate children. Sexual dominance and enforced monogamy is also a way males dominate. This ensures they will have legitimate children and the males property is protected.
Advantage of Engels view on gender inequality. (1)
- Parsons
- Parsons supports this because this is a responsibility the males have because of their important role in the nuclear family.
Disadvantages of Engels view on gender inequality. (2)
- Radical
- Postmodernists
- Radical Feminists believe there is too much focus on economic factors as oppression by men in the home was the first for of gender inequality.
- Postmodernists believe this idea lacks temporal validity as in contemporary society there are stay at home dads and female breadwinners who have economic power.
What do Marxist Feminists believe about gender inequality?
They believe that women are a reserve army of labour and safety valves.
What is the Marxist Feminist theory about women as a reserve army of labour?
Women perform unpaid domestic labour in the home. This suggests that they are available as a reserve army of labour in the work force if businesses need them. The family are a central force for women’s oppressions. The bourgeoisie use women for work when they need them then send them back when they’re no longer needed. They then go back to being housewives. Women are the most affected by redundancy, low pay and low job security.
Disadvantages of women as a reserve army for labour. (2)
- Crisis
- successful
- The Glass Cellar and the Crisis of Masculinity show men are disadvantaged too.
- women are more successful now and are in high positions like Theresa May who is our prime minister.
What is the Marxist Feminist idea of women as a safety valve?
When men return home after being exploited at work for labour, they take their anger and frustrations out on their wives. Women absorb this and this helps reinforce their powerlessness and oppression in the home. The bosses feel secure if a man has a wife as he has an outlet for his tensions.
Advantage of the Marxist Feminist idea of women as a safety valve. (1)
- Leech
- this idea is supported by Leech’s idea of the the dark side of the family. Men blame their job and money for their aggressive nature at home and this may turn into domestic violence in the home. He found that domestic violence tends to increase when the wife is pregnant because of the frustration from worries about finances.
What does the Radical Feminist Millet believe about gender inequality?
They believe that patriarchy is the main source of female oppression and family plays a key aspect in this. Society is run by men who are disadvantaged and will not give up their power or control; this is reinforced by gender divisions. Collective efforts are made by men to dominate, control and exploit women. They acquire power due to biological factors and the idea that women cannot contribute to society. The introduction of the contraceptive pill suggests males no longer have power over that aspect. Men are prepared to defend power and may use violence against women. Domestic violence reflects patriarchy through patriarchal terrorism and women should go towards separatism and political lesbianism.
What is patriarchal terrorism?
This is the idea that men use violence, threats and isolation because they feel her have a right to control their women.
What is separatism or patriarchal terrorism?
This is the idea that women should liberate the,sleeves and avoid sleeping with the enemy.
Advantage of Millets view in gender inequality. (1)
- Leech
- This is supported by the study on the dark side of the family by Leech.
Disadvantages of Millets view on gender inequality. (2)
- class
- together
- class and ethnicity are ignored
- males and females can work together effectively and cooperatively and this can be seen through campaigns for gender inequality.
What is horizontal segregation?
This is the number of males and females there are across one occupation. This has an influence on younger people choosing careers. The explanation of this is the Human Capital theory.
What is vertical segregation?
This is idea of Male domination in high ranking jobs in both Male and female type occupations.
What is the glass ceiling theory by Desai?
This is the idea that there are invisible barriers keeping women from achieving power and success. They can see where they want to go in their careers but cannot break through the barriers.
What is the concrete ceiling theory?
This is the idea that inequality has worsened and it is even more difficult for women to reach high job positions.
What is the glass elevator?
This is the idea that men rise higher and faster in the career ladder. They have hidden advantages.
What are Weber ideas about gender inequality?
There are 3 dimensions of stratification; class, status and party. Status and party are the most applicable to gender inequality. Status provides social closure for women. Woman participate less in groups that exert power and pressure groups in society. They are less likely to be active in political parties or activist groups.
Advantage about the Weberian view of gender inequality. (1)
- capital
- the human capital theory supports these ideas.
Disadvantages of the Weberian view of gender inequality. (2)
- Crisis
- Postmodernists
- the crisis of masculinity and glass cellar theory suggest that men are disadvantaged too
- Postmodernists suggests that women can pick and choose in contemporary society. Women are politically active and get involved like Theresa May and Angela Merkel.
What is the dual labour market by Barron and Norris?
This suggests that there is the primary and secondary sector labour market in the workplace. The primary sector labour market includes secure, well paid jobs with high chances of promotion and are mainly occupied by males. The secondary labour market involves low security, low paid jobs with zero contract hours and a low chance of promotion. These are usually occupied by females and they have low status because the role of a housewife or mother has low status and little power.
Advantages of the dual labour market by Barron and Norris. (2)
- Marxists
- reserve
- Marxists would suggest that those in the primary sector are bourgeoisie and those in the secondary are proletariats.
- Marxist Feminists would support this as women are probably in the secondary sector because they are a reserve army for labour.
What does the New Right theorist Redwood believe about gender inequality?
He suggests that the nuclear family is a natural institution that is important and social change threatens traditional norms and values. Examples are sexual permissiveness, homosexuality, cohabitation, unmarried mothers, high divorce rates and single parent families. The decline in marriage rates in weakening, cohabiting leads to these people not marrying and becoming less stable, and 91% of single parent families are headed by females. So more women end up working outside of the home so people need to return back traditional family roles.
Advantages of Redwoods views on gender inequality. (1)
- Functionalists
- Functionalists and Right Realists would support the idea of keeping traditional nuclear families for social, economic and political factors.
Disadvantages of Redwoods views on gender inequality. (2)
- Feminists
- victims
- Marxists and Feminists would suggest that new modern families are different but they aren’t inferior to traditional nuclear families.
- this theory blames victims of society.
What does Murray suggest about gender inequality?
The inadequate socialisation of the underclass leads them to have lazy and criminal tendencies. The over generous welfare system leads to immoral and criminal behaviour. Single mothers raise young boys with no fathers or male role models and they end up having poor impulse control. This may lead to them becoming sexual predators and not being able to keep jobs. Illegitimacy is the greatest predictor of criminality. Girls without fathers are emotionally damaged and search for father substitutes or get pregnant early. Low IQ is an predictor for poverty, raises chances being a school drop out, unemployment, divorce, illegitimate births, increased welfare dependency and committing crime.
Advantage of Murray’s views on gender inequality. (1)
- Functionalists
- Functionalists and Right Realists would support because they believe that socialisation is important.
Disadvantages of Murray’s views on gender inequality. (2)
- Marxist
- Feminists
- Marxists world say this theory ignores exploitation, which should be a key focus.
- Feminists would suggests that there are many reasons why women become single mothers and some of them are bad so they are victims of society that are being blamed.
What is the functionalist view on social class inequality?
They believe that successfully run businesses create wealth and jobs , which contributes to a smooth running society. The working class has shrunk because they are in the workforce now, they have class consciousness now and they are more integrated into other social classes.
What is the dual labour market theory by Giddens?
This suggests that the primary sector is jobs with high and stable economic returns and chance of career mobility as they possess eduction. The middle class tend to hold these jobs. The secondary sector labour market has the least desirable and most insecure jobs. These have low rates of condominium return, poor job security,p and low chances of career advancement. The working class, underclass and skilled labourers possess these jobs, as well as women and ethnic minorities. Women experience this through part time jobs and ethnic minorities through discrimination.
Advantages of the dual labour market by Giddens. (1)
- gender
- there is a link to gender and ethnicity
Disadvantages of the dual labour market by Giddens.
- Crisis
- Cellar
- the crisis of masculinity suggest that men experience disadvantages too
- the glass cellar suggests this too.
What are the principles of social stratification by Davis and Moore?
This ensures that there is effective role allocation and performance and has two purposes. The first is to allocate the right people to the most important roles and ensure they are filled by the most able. These people receive high rewards, income and status. The second reason is to ensure the people in these top jobs perform these roles to high standards as they have people depending on them that trust them. They must have functional uniqueness and there should be a degree of dependency from others.
What is functional uniqueness?
This is the idea that a job is important if only one person or a small group can perform the role.
What is degree of dependency of others?
This is that a job is important if many people depend on the person to perform the job effectively.
Disadvantages of the principle of social stratification by Davis and Moore. (3)
- importance
- small
- monetary
- it is not possible to determine the functional importance of a job. Footballers have little functional importance but still get paid too much. For example Ronaldo is worth $108 million.
- this theory suggests only a small number of people can perform roles
- this theory focuses on monetary rewards when there are people who do jobs for altruistic reasons like nurses or teachers.