Sociology - Social Stratification Flashcards
What is social stratification?
Describes the way society is structured in a hierarchy, shaped like a pyramid.
What does social inequality mean?
Refers to the uneven distribution of resources such as money and power, life chances or opportunities related to education, employment and health
What is the culture of poverty?
People from poorest sections of society are socialised within subculture of poverty. As a result they are unable to break free from poverty.
What is the cycle of deprivation?
The policy to remove poverty involves employing social workers and using local authority provision to help break children out of the cycle of deprivation
What is material deprivation?
Having insufficient money to be able to afford goods and services. As a result people may not have a balanced diet. Poverty may lead to an ill health during childhood and inadequate housing
What does social mobility mean?
Moving between social classes
What does infra-generational social mobility mean?
Movement of their lifetime e.g. promotion
What does infer-generational social mobility mean?
Movement between generations of a family
What is an ascribed status?
Social position is fixed at birth and unchanged overtime
What is an achieved status?
Social position is earned on merit e.g. education
What is absolute poverty?
Income is insufficient to have the minimum to survive
No access to basic necessities
What is relative poverty?
Cannot afford the general standard of living of most people in society
Income is much less than average
What type of sociologist are David + Moore and what do they believe?
-functionalists
Social stratification is a universal necessity for every human
4 requirements:
1-all roles must be filled
2-must be filled by those best to perform them
3-necessary training must take place
4-roles must be formed diligently
What type of sociologist is Marx and what do they believe?
-Marxists
Capitalism stratifies into two groups:
Ruling class - bourgeoisie who own means of production
Working class - proletariat who own labour
What type of sociologist was Weber and what did they believe?
-interactionalist
Class is not based on just money but also power and status
Those who share a similar class background have similar life chances
1-charismatic - special qualities of a leader
2-traditional - inherited status
3-legal rational - through established laws
What type of sociologist was Townsend and what did they believe?
-social democratic
3 measurements of poverty:
1-state standard - on which official statistics are based, based on individual entitlement to claim benefits
2-relative income - identifying households whose income falls below the average for similar households
3-relative deprivation - lack of resources to obtain the types of diet, do activities and have living conditions that are widely available in the society they live in
What did Devine believe?
Retested embourgeoisment thesis after economic depression
-found no evidence of privatised instrumental
-she rejected ideas of new working class and did not believe workers accepted capitalism unquestioningly
-they retained values of the traditional working class
What type of sociologist was wallaby and what did they believe?
-feminist
6 patriarchal structures:
1-paid work
2-patriarchal relations of production
3-patriarchal culture
4-sexuality
5-male violence towards women
6-the state
