YMAY Chapter 7 - 9

Question 1

social equality

Answer 1

(Rousseau) a condition in which no differences in wealth, power, prestige, or status based on non-natural conventions exist

Question 2

Rousseau’s two forms of inequality

Answer 2

physical (natural) - age, health, body strength, mind & social (political) - power and privilege given to others by ‘men’. being rich, honorable, powerful etc.

Question 3

Three individuals that see income inequality as “necessary or maybe even good”

Answer 3

Millar, Ferguson, Malthus

Question 4

How does income inequality exact social progress?

Answer 4

Private property is important here as it leads to improved social organization and efficiency. Owning property that is an asset for the future acts as incentive for individuals to work beyond the bare essentials of today and thereby improve society in the long run.

Question 5

How does Malthus see inequality

Answer 5

He thinks it will prevent problems that would stem from overpopulation by limiting the number of people that can grow there families and societies.

Question 6

dialectic

Answer 6

two-directional relationship, following a patter in which an original statement or thesis is countered with an antithesis leading to a conclusion that unites the strengths of the original position and the counterarguments

Question 7

Master-Slave Dialectic

Answer 7

Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Question 8

Equality of Opportunity

Answer 8

the idea that everyone has an equal chance to achieve wealth, social prestige, and power because the rules of the game, so to speak, are the same for everyone.

Question 9

Bourgeois society

Answer 9

society of commerce in which the maximization of profit is the primary business incentive.

Question 10

Equality of Condition

Answer 10

everyone should have an equal starting point.

Question 11

Equality of outcome

Answer 11

each player must end up with the same amount regardless of the fairness of the “game”

Question 12

Free rider problem

Answer 12

the notion that when more than one person is responsible for getting something done, the incentive is for each individual to shirk responsibility and hope others will pull the extra weight

Question 13

Ideal types of social stratification

Answer 13

Estate, Caste, Class, Status Hierarchy, and (arguably) Elite-Mass Dichotomy

Question 14

Estate System

Answer 14

politically based system of stratification characterized by limited social mobility. Land ownership is essential for wielding any social power.

Question 15

Caste System

Answer 15

religion based system of stratification characterized by no social mobility. hereditary notions of religious purity.

Question 16

Class system

Answer 16

economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive, oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility.

Question 17

Proletariat

Answer 17

the working class

Question 18

Bourgeoisie

Answer 18

the capitalist class

Question 19

Contradictory class locations

Answer 19

the idea that people can occupy locations in the class structure that fall between the two “pure” classes.

Question 20

Status Hierarchy System

Answer 20

class system based on social prestige. your social status and position are most important for defining your social power.

Question 21

Elite-mass dichotomy system

Answer 21

a system of stratification that has governing elite, a few leaders who broadly hold power in society. System also appears to incorporate a system of meritocracy.

Question 22

Meritocracy

Answer 22

a society where status and mobility are based on individual attributes, ability, and achievement.

Question 23

socioeconomic status

Answer 23

an individual’s position in a stratified social order

Question 24

income

Answer 24

money for work, from transfers (gifts, inheritances, or government assistance), or from returns on investments

Question 25

wealth

Answer 25

family or individual’s net worth (total assets minus total debts)

Question 26

upper class

Answer 26

term for the economic elite

Question 27

middle class

Answer 27

commonly used to describe those individuals with non-manual jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line - though this is a highly debated and expansive category, particularly in the U.S. - everybody thinks they are middle class.

Question 28

social mobility

Answer 28

movement between different positions within a system of social stratification

Question 29

horizontal social mobility

Answer 29

you can change status but still exist in a similar social standing

Question 30

vertical social mobility

Answer 30

the ability to move up or down between social classes.

Question 31

structural mobility

Answer 31

mobility that is inevitable due to changes in the economy.

Question 32

exchange mobility

Answer 32

mobility in which, if we hold fixed the changing distribution of jobs, individuals trade jobs not one-to-one but in a way that ultimately balances out.

Question 33

Status-attainment model

Answer 33

approach that ranks individuals by socioeconomic status, including income and educational attainment, and seeks to specify the attributes characteristic of people who end up in more desirable occupations.

Question 34

Feminism

Answer 34

a consciousness raising movement to get people to understand that gender is an organizing principle of life. The underlying belief is that women and men should be accorded equal opportunities and respect.

Question 35

Sex

Answer 35

biological differences - males , females

Question 36

sexuality

Answer 36

desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior.

Question 37

gender

Answer 37

a social position; the set of social arrangements that are built around normative sex categories.

Question 38

essentialism

Answer 38

a line of though that explains social phenomena in terms fo natural ones

Question 39

biological determinism

Answer 39

a line of thought that explains social behavior in terms of who you are in the natural world

Question 40

hegemonic masculinity

Answer 40

the condition in which men are dominant and privileged, and this dominance and privilege is invisible.

Question 41

gender roles

Answer 41

sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female

Question 42

patriarchy

Answer 42

a nearly universal system involving the subordination of femininity to masculinity.

Question 43

structural functionalism

Answer 43

theoretical tradition claiming that every society has certain structures(the family, the division of labor, or gender_ that exist to fulfill some set of necessary functions (reproduction of the species, production of goods, etc.).

Question 44

sex role theory

Answer 44

Talcott Parson’s theory that men and women perform their sex roles as breadwinners and wives/mothers, respectively, because the nuclear family is the ideal arrangement in modern societies, fulfilling the function of reproducing workers.