Week 9: Class

Question 1

How do sociologists define class inequality?

Answer 1

the differences between populations in terms of their income, wealth, educational attainment, occupational status, and lifestyle

Question 2

What is class stratification?

Answer 2

societies consist of strata in a hierarchy, with the most favored at the top and the less privileged nearer the bottom

Question 3

How are class systems different from older forms of social stratification?

Answer 3

class systems are characterized by social mobility and they don’t fix people in specific social positions

Question 4

What is social mobility and what are two types of social mobility?

Answer 4

the upward or downward movement of individuals and groups among different class positions through changes in occupation, wealth, or income

*the two types are upward (economic gains) and downward mobility (economic losses)

Question 5

What is intergenerational mobility?

Answer 5

social movement across generations where children are compared with their parents and grandparents

Question 6

What is intragenerational mobility?

Answer 6

how far an individual moves up or down the socioeconomic scale during their working life

Question 7

What is income?

Answer 7

the wages and salaries earned from paid occupations

Question 8

How has the income distribution in the U.S. changed since 1945?

Answer 8

income inequality has been increasing dramatically and a new class structure has emerged where the middle class is eroding

Question 9

What does wealth refer to?

Answer 9

wealth is usually measured in net worth, which refers to the total market value of an individual for household’s accumulated assets - minus all debts and liabilities

E.g. savings and checking accounts, investments in stocks and bonds, real estate, pensions, etc

Question 10

How do trends in wealth inequality parallel those with income inequality?

Answer 10

the rich are getting wealthier relative to everyone else, mainly due to soaring top incomes

Question 11

What is the state of debt in the U.S.?

Answer 11

U.S. Household debt is at an all-time high

*total debt is currently $17.7. trillion

Question 12

What does educational attainment refer to?

Answer 12

the level of education a person has achieved

Question 13

How does educational attainment correlate with income?

Answer 13

the higher the educational attainment that greater the income you are likely to achieve

Question 14

What is occupational status?

Answer 14

public opinions of different occupations

Question 15

According to Lisa Keister, what are the two primary paths through which success is intergenerationally transmitted?

Answer 15

1. Wealth: direct transfers of wealth from parent to child (inter vivos and post mortem transfers)
2. Education: successful parents tends to provide quality education to their children

Question 16

According to Karl Marx, how does the exploitation of wage labor lead to the production of surplus value and growing economic inequality?

Answer 16

the market value of what laborers produce exceeds their wages (which are very low), thus creating surplus value- capitalists use the profit from surplus value for their own interest rather than increasing the wages of laborers

Question 17

What is the difference between absolute poverty and relative poverty?

Answer 17

Absolute poverty means that a person or family does not have access to food, housing, or health care while relative poverty refers to being poor as compared with the standards of living of the majority

Question 18

According to Max Weber, how do differences in people’s skills and credentials lead to differences in compensation?

Answer 18

people’s skills and credentials have variable ‘market value’ which lead to differences in compensation

Question 19

According to Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore, how is social stratification beneficial to society?

Answer 19

Certain occupations are functionally more important and require greater training, skill, and talent – rewards such as power, prestige, and money must be offered to attract the most qualified people

Question 20

According to Claude Fischer et al., what ultimately determines the degree of economic inequality in American society?

Answer 20

not the individuals, but the society they live in, primarily the policies on schooling, taxes, and jobs

Question 21

What is required to promote and achieve full opportunity?

Answer 21

policies with extensive public investment, such as in health care, educations, job training, affordable housing, and living wage jobs