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
