Social Stratification Flashcards
What do Davis and Moore say about social stratification?
- FUNCTIONALIST; Stratification and social inequality is essential and functional for role allocation.
- Society consists of more and less functionally important jobs.
- Stratification is important in society as it ensures that the most talented people train for and fill the most ‘functionally important roles’ in society.
- These roles require the most talent and motivation (and also have best pay/rewards) - not everyone has this, so stratification ensures that individuals are allocated roles in society appropriately.
- So inequality is functional because society accepts it as fair.
- Stratification is functional also as it foster social cohesion.
^^Perhaps link to Parsons in education.
CRITICISMS
- All jobs are vital despite the fact that they may have lower pay and require less skill, eg refuse collectors.
- Many people have more competent skills but may not attain certain positions due to cultural deprivation.
What is meant by social stratification?
- The way society is structured into a hierarchy of unequal strata or layers and involves the unequal distribution of resources such as wealth and income in society.
- An example of a stratification system includes the caste system in traditional India.
- Certain individuals in one class have more opportunities eg education, resources, respect than others.
- OTHER EXAMPLES
- Slavery in Ancient Greece.
- Feudalism in Medieval Europe.
What do Marx and Weber say about stratification and class?
Marx (Marxist) - Social Class in 19th century;
CLASSES ARE PRODUCTS OF CAPITALISM AND LEADS TO REBELLION.
- Stratification is rooted in economic relationships.
- Capitalist society is made up of two main classes - bourgeoisie (owners of means of production) and proletariat (labourers, who sell their labour to bourgeoisie - IN ORDER TO SURVIVE).
- In a capitalist society, proletariat have no power over their production and so experience alienation as they build a disconnect between themselves and society (alienation iswhen individuals feel estranged or disconnected from their selves or society).
- This feeling of alienation caused means results in their focus being on making more money and serving the B, at the expense of their emotional satisfaction.
- While the interests and focus of the B revolves around exploiting the P
- This conflict between interests of both classes heightens class divide.
- Given that B have the power to justify their interest thru the illusion of FCC and their RCI
- So, P becomes bigger and poorer, B becomes smaller and richer - Petty B can’t keep up (which adds to P becoming smaller).
- Eventually out of frustration P rebel which may lead to a revolution where means of production will be communally owned.
Weber; social class in the late and early 19th century. - CLASS IS FORMED IN THE LABOUR MARKET + as well as economic factors, is also affected by non-economic factors. - stratification relates to economic and non- conomic factors
SUMMARY;
- Class is formed in a labour market and here, one class people hires another class, and that class sells their labour.
- According to Weber, there are 4 classes; 1 Property owners, 2 Professionals, 3 Petty Bourgeoisie, 4 Working Class.
- These different classes have different market situations/life chances and these are based on economic factors eg wealth, and non-economic factors eg status.
- So essentially class and status are two separate aspects of stratification, STATUS AFFECTS CLASS.
What is meant by an aristocracy?
- Highest class, consisting of a relatively small population of extremely privileged individuals.
- Status and wealth gets them here
- Eg the monarchy
- Well respected etc.
What are the different factors which affect life chances - summaries and state.
minimum 3
LIFE CHANCE - Refers to individuals having a positive or negativ eoutcoume in their lifetime in relation to certain factors eg:
- Social class - higher = more cultural capital and less material deprivation - chances of succeeding = higher OR labelling + SFP
- Gender - feminists may argue women are less likely to succeed in life than men, so have lower life chances, due to glass ceiling theory - women will always be disadvantaged + sex discrimination eg triple shift etc.
- Race - labelling - SFP - crime etc.
- Ethnicity^^
- Sexuality ^^
- Age ^^ - ageism, someone in their sixties may be denied a promotion bc of their age - more vulnerable to stereotyping etc.
Disability^^ - prejudice - inability to carry out tasks etc.
- Religion and belief^^ - prejudice.
The work of Devine
Fiona Devine revisited the Affluent Worker Study:
- IN LUTON - Goldthorpe interviewed affluent workers and their wives.
The original study by Goldthorpe suggested that there was a new working class, one that is socially different to the traditional working class - They were experiencing embourgeoisement.
How?
- Less solidarity; affluent workers supported the Labour Party for individual gain and their attitude to trade unions was instrumental. Unlike the TWC, they were not motivation by WC solidarity.
- More privatised and home-centred^^
- Instrumental attitude to paid work; went to work to soley get paid rather than to gain satisfaction. Work = only a means for survival.
- ^^KEY WORD - privatised instrumentalism.
So Fiona Devine revisited Luton to explore how far WC people’s life-styles were privatised in the 1980s.
Devine criticised Goldthorpe’s study and suggested WC lifestyle, norms and values hadn’t changed as much as he suggested.
What she disputed:
- The fact he said WC views had changed - more consumerism; Ppl still had traditional wc views eg dislike of capitalist
- Privatised instrumentalism - yes, they were less communal compared to previous generations, but were not isolated and home-based entirely.
What she agreed on;
- People were more aspirational and wanted to ‘‘better’’ themselves, here more consumerist lifestyle - more brands and material possession.
The work of Murray
New Right; policies with the aim to alleviate poverty actually encourage it, eg welfare benefits.
- Murray (1984) examined US governments’ social policies since the late 1960s that aimed to reduce poverty and focused on the impacts of these policies on the behaviour of the underclass.
- He noticed that these policies** reproduced poverty.**
- This is because more people became dependent on them eg thru welfare benefits.
- Eg he noticed a rise in unmarried young mothers and a more prevalent group of unemployed young people who had no interest in finding jobs, but rather to become welfare dependent.
- Murray argues that these people created the underclass (he associated them w Hispanics and African Americans) and posed as a threat to society.
- This is because he argued that it encouraged crime, single parenthood and unemployment as it took away the incentive to work.
CRITICISMS:
- Murray blames victims of poverty for their misfortunes.
The work of Townsend
In the bid to discover how much of the UK was in poverty:
Townsend developed a deprivation index to measure the relative deprivation in the UK.
This index listed 12 items, including, ‘Household does not usually have a Sunday joint’.
From this, Townsend discovered 23% of the UK was in poverty, and this stat is higher than that of state’s findings.
CRITICISM
- Some households may not eat a Sunday joint due to religious beliefs.
Identify and describe one way at which poverty is a social issue.
- The culture of poverty;
People who are poor, eg welfare dependant, link to Murray, are socialised within a sub-culture of poverty. In this SC, they develop a way of life that allows the to cope with their situation. Eg immediate gratification. This IG means they see no point planning ahead so tend to drop out of school and dont save money. This lifestyle results in Mat and Cul deprivation and continues onto following generations, locking families int a cycle of poverty and material deprivation.
Work of Weber and power.
- Argues that power is based on either coercion or authority.
- Coercion involves threat or force eg physical violence - here, people obey this power because they have no choice.
- Authority involves people willingly agreeing to obey an individual because they see it right to do so. So here, force isn’t exercised because people have already consented to the power being exercised over them.
THREE TYPES OF AUTHORITY
1- Traditional authority (authority based on custom and tradition, eg in the uk, the monarchy being a source of authority is based on tradition).
2- Rational legal authority
(authority based on individuals accepting a set of laws or rules because eg respecting the captain of the Royal Navy as they symbolise lawfulness. Rational legal authority operates within a bureaucracy - an organisation with a hierarchy and a clear set of rules.
3- Charismatic authority, operates where people obey a political or religious leader who they believe has good personal qualities that inspire them, eg the Pope.
Different forms of power and authority:
- Traditional
- Charismatic
- Rational-legal
- Formal
- Informal
^^Sources of power, and diff perspective from M, F and Fem.
- Traditional authority (authority based on custom and tradition, eh in the uk, the monarchy being a source f authority is based on tradition).
- Rational legal authority
(authority based on individuals accepting a set of laws or rules because they are with them, eg respecting the captain of the Royal Navy. Rational legal authority
operates within a bureaucracy - an organisation with a hierarchy and a clear set of rules. - Charismatic authority, operates where people obey a political or religious leader who they believe has good personal qualities that inspire them, eg the Pope.
- Informal power - power that stems from the relationships that an individual builds.
- Formal power - power that stems from an individuals position in society.
What is meant by the underclass?
A group in society who have different attitudes and values to others in society and experience long- term unemployment, tend to be reliant on benefits.
What is meant by subjective class?
How people view themselves with respect to class in society.
The work of Walby on Patriarchy
- Radical feminist; male power is based on patriarchy - a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate and exploit women.
She highlights 6 patriarchal structures in society:
- Paid employment; women typically earn less than men and are excluded from better types of paid work - GLASS CEILING.
- The household; husbands and partners exploit women by benefiting from their unpaid labour in the home;
- Culture; the fact that there is gender equality in the UK doesn’t mean the culture is not patriarchal, eg mean being the ‘head of household’.
- Sexuality - the double standards is an aspect of male dominance, for example sexually active young women are shamed, while men are praised.
- Male violence against women; male violence affects women’s actions and is a form of power over them.
- The state; state policies are biased towards patriarchal interests. There has been little effort to improve women’s position in the public sphere, for example in the workplace.
SO IF 12 MARKER
- Power is based on authority and coercion eg Weber
- Power is based on patriarchy eg Walby
Different views on factors affecting power relationships:
^^From M, F and Fem perspective.
- Social class - md and cd
- Gender - gc etc
- Sexuality - labelling
- Race - labelling, md , cd
- Age - ageism, labelling, md, cd
- Disability - labelling
- Religion and beliefs (eg labelling and discriminations, antisemitism etc)
What is meant by social inequality?
- The uneven distribution of resources and opportunities within society.
- eg wealth
- So certain groups will have more money to do certain things while others won’t and will be in material deprivation.
- This affects life chances.
What is meant by alienation?
- When individuals in society feel disconnected from it.
- This could be due to lack of control over circumstances created by society.
- Eg marxists such as Karl Marx argue proletariats feel alienation under capitalism as they lack control over production and products of their labour.
Lumpenproletariat meaning:
- Drop outs from society/criminals
- Aka the underclass
