Social Stratification Flashcards
Social class
category of people who share a similar socioeconomic position in society
Social stratification
product of one’s socioeconomic status and both ascribed status and earned status
Prestige
Amount of positive regard society has for a given person or idea
Power
Ability to affect other’s behaviour through real or perceived rewards and punishments
-based on the unequal distribution of valuable resources
Class consciousness
Organization of the working class (proletariat) around shared goals and recognition of a need for collective political action
False consciousness
The biggest barrier to class consciousness -misperception of one's actual position within society
The rise of capitalist economies has lead to…?
- increase in social inequality
- reduction in social cohesion
- waning of social capital
Anomie
Refers to a lack of social norms
-breakdown of social bonds between an individual and society
Can include:
- excessive individualism
- social inequality
- isolation
Strain theory
Focuses on how anomic conditions can lead to deviance
In the past decades, the urbanization, materialism, and isolation of society has lead to a decline in social capital
2 sources of social trust
- Social norms of reciprocity (scratch my back, ill scratch yours etc. )
- Social networks
Social capital
The investments people make in their society in return for economic or collective rewards
-one of the main forms is social network
2 types of social inequality formed by networks
- Situational - socioeconomic advantage
2. Positional - based on how connected one is in a network / one’s centrality in that network
Inequality in networks reinforces ____?
Privilege
Strong ties
peer to peer and kinship contacts
-quantitatively small but qualitatively powerful
Weak ties
Social connections that are personally superficial but provide connections to a wide range of other individuals
Intersectionality
The compounding of disadvantage seen in individuals who belong to more than one appressed group
5 ethnicities model
White, Black, Asian, Latino, and Native American
-widely seen as an oversimplification
Social mobility
In a class system, social mobility is typically the result of an economic and occupational structure allowing one to acquire higher-level employment -not directly correlated with education
Intragenerational changes
Changes in social status that occur within a person’s lifetime
Intergenerational changes
Changes in social status that are passed from parents to children
Meritocracy
Merit based system of social mobility
-based on individual talent and achievement
Poverty
Defined by low socioeconomic status and a lack of possessions or financial resources
Social reproduction
The idea that inequality, especially poverty, can be passed on from one generation to the next
Social exclusion
Can arise from the sense of powerlessness when individuals feel segregated and isolated from society
Spatial inequality
focuses on social stratification across territories and their populations
-how does geography influence how resources are distributed?
Residential segregation
Where a person lives can greatly affect how they interact with others, cooperate and advance in society
Suburbanization
Migration patterns of the middle classes to suburban environments/communities
Urban decay
A previously functional part of the city becomes decrepit and derelict over time
Urban renewal
Spontaneous reversal of urban decay - land is reclaimed and renovated
-usually fuelled by gentrification
Incidence
Number of new cases of an illness per population AT RISK in a given amount of time
Prevalence
Measure of the # of cases of an illness overall (new and chronic) per population in a given time
Morbidity
Burden or degree of illness associated with a given disease
Mortality
Refers to the deaths caused by a given disease
John Snow report
Looked into cholera epidemic in London (1854)
-found that a contaminated water pump was the source of illness
Second sickness
Exacerbation of health outcomes caused by social injustice -professional people have longer life expectancies than working class people
