Stratification/Inequality/Social Mobility

Question 1

Stratification

Answer 1

A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and power in a society.

Question 2

4 systems of stratification

Answer 2

1. Slavery
2. Castes
3. Estates (feudalism)
4. Social classes

Question 3

Class system

Answer 3

1. Social ranking based primarily on economic ranking in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility.
2. Although class standing is an achieved status, it is heavily dependent on ascribed factors (like family, race, ethnicity).

Question 4

5 Class Model in US

Answer 4

Daniel Rossides

1. Upper class
2. Upper-middle class
3. Lower-middle class
4. Working class
5. Lower class

Question 5

Castes

Answer 5

Hereditary ranks that are usually religiously dictated and tend to be fixed and immobile. Rely completely on ascribed status.

Question 6

Income

Answer 6

Salaries and wages

Question 7

Wealth

Answer 7

Term encompassing all a person’s material assets, including land, stocks, and other types of property.

Question 8

Capitalism

Answer 8

An economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits.

Question 9

Max Weber’s view on Stratification

Answer 9

Unlike Karl Marx, who insisted only economics played a role in stratification, Weber identified 3 distinct components of stratification:
1. Class
2. Status
3. Power

Question 10

Dominant Ideology

Answer 10

1. Set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps those in power to remain in power.
2. Not only do the powerful control the economic wealth but also the means of producing beliefs about reality (religion, education, media)

Question 11

Lenski’s view on stratification

Answer 11

1. At the hunter-gatherer stage, there is little differentiation and little surplus wealth to accumulate, so there is little social inequality.
2. However, as technology improves, surplus goods can be accumulated, which then results in power and social imbalances.

Question 12

Absolute poverty

Answer 12

Minimum level of subsistence that no family should be expected to live below. Measured with the “Poverty Line”

Question 13

Relative poverty

Answer 13

Floating standard of deprivation by which people at the bottom of a society (whatever their lifestyles) are judged to be disadvantaged in comparison with the nation as a whole.

Question 14

Underclass

Answer 14

Long-term poor who lack training and skills.

Question 15

Open Stratification System

Answer 15

Implies that the position of each person is influenced by their achieved status

Question 16

Closed Stratification System

Answer 16

Allows little or no possibility of social mobility. (Slavery and castes system). Position determined by ascribed status.

Question 17

Horizontal Mobility

Answer 17

Move from one social position to another of the same rank (wealth and prestige).

Ex.: school teacher becoming a police officer.

Question 18

Vertical Mobility

Answer 18

The movement from a social position either in an upward or downward direction.

Question 19

Intergenerational Mobility

Answer 19

Changes in social position of children relative to their parents. (Can be upward or downward)

Question 20

Intragenerational Mobility

Answer 20

Changes in social position within a person’s adult life. (Can be upward or downward).

Question 21

Dependency Theory

Answer 21

1. Even as developing countries make economic advances, they still remain subservient to core nations and corporations
2. This allows core nations to continue to exploit periphery ones.
3. World Systems Theory is the most widely used version.

Question 22

Modernization Theory

Answer 22

1. Functionalist Theory
2. Proposes that modernization and development will gradually improve the lives of people in the developing world.
3. Opposite of Dependency Theory.

Question 23

Racial Group

Answer 23

Group set apart from others due to physical differences that have taken on social significance

Question 24

Ethnic Group

Answer 24

A group set apart from others primarily because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns.

Question 25

Minority group

Answer 25

Subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their own lives than members of a dominant/majority group

Question 26

5 basic properties of minority groups

Answer 26

1. Unequal treatment
2. Physical or cultural traits
3. Ascribed status (not voluntary)
4. Solidarity
5. In-group marriage

Question 27

Ethnicity, Race and Stratification

Answer 27

Because socially constructed physical differences tend to be more visible than ethnic ones, stratification along racial lines is more resistant to change than stratification along ethnic lines.

Question 28

Master status

Answer 28

A status of a person that dominates all their other status’, and therefore determines your position in society. (Example, tennis star with AIDS…the AIDS dominated peoples perception of her)

Question 29

Contact Hypothesis

Answer 29

In Cooperative circumstances, interracial contact between people of equal status will cause them to become less prejudice.