Social Stratification Flashcards
What is Absolute Poverty?
when people have incomes that are insufficient to obtain the
minimum needed to survive (i.e. shelter, food, water, clothing)
What is Relative Poverty?
when people cannot afford to meet the general standard of living of most other people in their society
What is Achieved Status?
Social positions that are earned on the basis of personal talents or merit
What is Ascribed Status?
Social positions that are fixed and birth and unchanging over time, including hereditary title linked to family background (e.g. Princess, Lord)
What is the Cycle of Deprivation?
The idea that deprivation and poverty are passed on from parents to their children
Define Life Chances
An individual’s chances of achieving positive or negative outcomes as they progress through life. Life chances are related to health, education, housing, employment
Define Authority
The exercise of power based on consent of agreement
Define Power
The dominance and control of one individual or group over others
What is Embourgeoisement?
A hypothesis suggesting that working class families are becoming middle class in their norms and values as their incomes and standard of living improves
What is the Poverty Trap?
People can be trapped in poverty if an increase in income reduces the benefits they are entitled to. For example, an employed person receiving means-tested benefits could be worse off after a wage rise if they now earn too much to qualify for benefits.
Define Vertical Social Mobility
movement up or down between the layers or strata of society
Define Inter-generational social mobility
movement up or down between the layers as measured between generations of a family
Define Intra-generational social mobility
movement of an individual over the course of their life up or down from one occupational classification to another
Define affluence
Having a lot of money and material possessions
What is Social Stratification?
The way that society is structured into hierarchical strata (layers) with the most privileged at the top and the least favoured at the bottom e.g Social class
What is the Welfare State?
A system in which the state takes responsibility for protecting the health and welfare of its citizens and meeting their social needs. The state does this by providing services e,g the NHS
What is Bureaucracy?
An organisation e.g the government that operates as a hierarchy with a clear set of rules
Davis and Moore (1945) theory of stratification: Perspective and key findings?
Functionalist
-Societies must allocate people to different roles - some roles are functionally important (essential for society e.g. doctors) - this is meritocratic
-These roles have high status and rewards to attract best people to them
-Stratification is necessary to ensure the most talented people get best jobs
Marx’s theory of social class: Perspective and key findings?
Marxist
-Argues there are two main social classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat
Bourgeoisie have more power - those that own means of production
-Proletariat are exploited and experience alienation - class conflict exists
-Bourgeoisie impose their ideology on working class and create false class consciousness
Weber’s theory of social class: Perspective and key findings?
Weberian
-Classes are formed in the labour market - a class is a group who have similar life chances
- 4 main classes: property owners, professionals, petty bourgeoisie, working class
-Classes based both on economic factors and status and power too
Weber’s theory of power and authority: Perspective and key findings?
Weberian
-Power is based on coercion (use of threat/ violence) or authority (when someone obeys you as they think they should).
- 3 types of authority:, Charismatic authority (inspiring qualities), Traditional authority (based on tradition), Rational legal authority (based on a set of rules and laws which are accepted)
Devine’s (1992) Affluent Workers revisited: Key findings?
-Revisited Luton to see how far WC life had changed - compared to Goldthorpe’s
-Found WC lifestyles had not changed as much as Goldthorpe suggested
-Home life not purely home-centred and privatised, interviewees did not have a purely instrumental attitude to work, plenty of evidence of solidarity
Townsend’s (1979) relative deprivation theory: Key findings?
-Developed a deprivation index to measure relative deprivation
-Found almost 23% of population were in poverty
-Much higher than 6% (state measure of poverty)
Murray’s (1984) New Right perspective on poverty: Perspective and Key Findings?
New Right
-Argues welfare benefits create dependency - discouraging people to find work, and actually creating more poverty
-The underclass are a threat to society - a group who drain resources and do not work - associates it with rising crime and single-parent families
