Social Stratification & Class

Question 1

Davis & Moore Theory on Inequality

Answer 1

• Inequality is necessary ; makes people strive for rewards ; society needs people to perform various important tasks
• EX. Occupation Prestige Rankings

Question 2

Meritocracy

Answer 2

• Functionalist view ; social stratification is a hierarchy of positions and rewards based on people’s abilities and credentials

Question 3

Critique of Meritocracy

Answer 3

• Poor not lazy ; 20% pop. are working poor
• Poor want and are motivated to work ; more job availability = decreased poverty levels
• Poor have not earned nor deserve their condition ; kids poverty* = 1.3 mill ; ascribed NOT achieved

Question 4

Social Mobility

Answer 4

• movement from one level of stratification to another ; class you were born in is best predictor of class you will die in

Question 5

Marx - Ideology & Class

Answer 5

• Ideology to base model * ; people in power control outlook on social problems
• Social programs viewed as handouts ; handouts to multibillion dollar corporations = “good for the economy”
  EX. Walmart = 22nd richest country by GDP in 2004 by World Bank

Question 6

Alienation

Answer 6

• feeling of powerlessness or estrangement from oneself and the world ; social world seems “alien” ; beyond our control/change

Question 7

“Objective” VS “Subjective” Measurement of Class

Answer 7

• researcher “groups” people together based on quantitative measures - wealth, income, prestige etc.
• people self-identify class ; associate with middle class when only 40-50% of pop. is actually middle class

Question 8

Critique of Marx

Answer 8

• definition of class is too simple ; class = ownership or non-ownership of forces of production
• class interests related to this distinction ; others like Weber have developed more complex understandings of class

Question 9

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Answer 9

• considers income, prestige, wealth, power, etc, rather than just ownership of FOP

Question 10

Upper Class

Answer 10

• “Capitalist Class” ; 1.1% pop. yet wealth is greater than lowest 90% of the population combined
• massive power = individual decisions have huge social impact

Question 11

Upper Middle Class

Answer 11

• education is key ; don’t outright OWN FOP, but do control it
• average income = $90,000

Question 12

Lower Middle Class & Working Class

Answer 12

• distinction between two classes has burred ; average income = $40,000
• Working Class = 30% of pop.

Question 13

Working Poor

Answer 13

• 20% of pop. ; many in service sector (counter, retail etc.)

Question 14

Manufacturing Decrease & Service Sector Growth

Answer 14

• 1) Technology deskilling jobs & decreases amount of workers needed
• 2) De-industrialization of North America

Question 15

Structural Blocks in Poverty - Social Institutions

Answer 15

• Housing ; lack of affordable housing means constant moving, stress and instability
• Education ; key for mobility, yet moving hinders marks ; impoverished school boards
• ChildCare ; lack of affordable childcare keeps women from workforce or education
• Government ; social programs cut in the name of “tax breaks”

Question 16

Poverty : Public Issue or Personal Trouble

Answer 16

• public issue ; culture of poverty = result of poverty NOT cause
• programs for Equality of Opportunity NOT designed for Equality of Outcome
• only some are able, structurally, to compete therefore meritocracy = impossible ; *Durkheim says meritocracy only works if inheritance is gone