Title: Sociology
1(No Transcript)
2Sociology
the core7e
Michael Hughes Carolyn J. Kroehler
3chapter 6
- Social Stratification
- Patterns of Social Stratification
- The American Class System
- Social Mobility
- Explanations of Social Stratification
Chapter Outline
4Social Stratification
- Social Stratification is the ranking or grading
of individuals and groups into hierarchical
layers. It represents structured inequality of
access to rewards privileges and resources.
5Patterns of Social Stratification
- Open and Closed Systems
- Open system
- Allows people to change their status with
relative ease - Status typically achieved
- Closed system
- Very difficult to change status
- Status typically ascribed
- Example Hindu caste system
6Patterns of Social Stratification
- Dimensions of Stratification
- Weber identified 3 components
- Class (economic standing)
- Wealth vs. income
- Status (prestige)
- Social respect admiration recognition
- Presentation and avoidance rituals
- Conspicuous leisure and consumption
7Patterns of Social Stratification
- Dimensions of Stratification (continued)
- Party (power)
- Power is the ability of individuals and groups to
realize their will in human affairs even if it
involves the resistance of others - Face-to-face interaction
- Access to critical resources and dependency
8The American Class System
- In U.S. all created equal
- 2001 Top 5 of families received 22.4 of income
- 2003 Top 20 of households own more than 80 of
wealth - White households far wealthier than
African-American and Hispanic households - Top 1 of households worth more than bottom 90
9The American Class System
The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer
Share of Income Received by Households in the
United States 1950-2001 Source U.S. Census
Bureau Current Population Survey Annual
Demographic Supplements 2003.
Figure 6.1
10The American Class System
The Concentration of Wealth in the United States
2001 (Percent Share of Total Net Worth by
Quintiles of Net Worth) Source Data from 2001
Survey of Consumer Finances Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System.
Figure 6.2a
11The American Class System
The Concentration of Wealth in the United States
2001 (Median Net Worth of Families by
Ethnicity) Source Data from 2001 Survey of
Consumer Finances Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System.
Figure 6.2b
12The American Class System
Distribution of Households by Income
2001 Source U.S. Census Bureau 2003.
Figure 6.3
13The American Class System
- Identifying Social Class
- Is social class stratified or continuous
- Four approaches to determining class
- Objective method use of a multidimensional
numerical (statistical) measure - Self-placement individuals appraise their own
class according to questioners categories - Reputational method individuals appraise
others class according to questioners categories
14The American Class System
- Identifying Social Class (continued)
- Four approaches to determining class
- Combined method Coleman and Rainwater
- People who have really made it
- People who are doing really well
- People who have achieved the middle-class dream
- People who have a comfortable life
- People who are just getting by
- People who are having a difficult time
- People who are poor
15The American Class System
- The Significance of Social Classes
- Social class determines life chances
- Raw cognitive ability
- Health
- Education
- Life expectancy
- Food choices
- Sexual behavior
16The American Class System
- Poverty in the United States
- Minimum income in England in 1795 the cost of a
gallon loaf of bread multiplied by three plus
an allowance for each dependent - Minimum income in U.S. today the minimum amount
a family needs to purchase a nutritionally
adequate diet assuming they use one-third of
their income for food
17The American Class System
People in Poverty in the United States
1959-2002 Source Proctor and Delaker 2003 U.S.
Census Bureau March Current Population Survey
http//www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/h17.html
.
Figure 6.4
18The American Class System
- Poverty in the United States
- 62 of nations poor live in large cities
- Concentrations in Appalachia Mississippi delta
Mexican-border Texas - Single/divorced parents and children
- Women at significantly higher risk than men
- 16.7 of American children lived in poverty in
2002
19The American Class System
- Poverty in the United States
- Poverty rates vary greatly by race
- Lowest rates
- Non-Hispanic whites (8) and Asian Americans
(10.0 to 10.3) - Highest rates
- Hispanics (21.8) and African Americans (23.9 to
24.1)
20The American Class System
- Poverty in the United States
- While poverty rate is lower for whites 15.6
million non-Hispanic whites lived in poverty in
2002 compared to 8.6 million African Americans
and the same number of Hispanics. - 20 of widowed and 24 of divorced older women
are impoverished.
21The American Class System
- Poverty in the United States
- Underclass core of inner-city poor trapped in a
persistent cycle of joblessness and dependence on
welfare or criminal earnings - Explanations include
- Culture of poverty (self-perpetuating patterns)
- Situational (poverty as a flowing pool)
- Structural feature (the poor are fodder for needs
of capitalist economy)
22The American Class System
- Poverty in the United States
- Poverty Programs
- Largely private
- Roosevelts New Deal (1930s)
- Social Security reduced poverty in elderly
- Aid to Families with Dependent Children
- U.S. is only industrialized country with
- No guaranteed income for families in poverty
- No national health program
23The American Class System
The immediate problem for poverty research is to
explain why so many working-class Americans do
not earn enough to sustain even a minimalist
standard of living in this extraordinarily
prosperous economy.
Historian Alice OConner
24Social Mobility
- Forms include
- Vertical and Horizontal
- Intergenerational and Intragenerational
- Status attainment
- Socioeconomic life cycle (Blau and Duncan 1972)
- High school student study (William Sewell
1970/75) - Education has greatest influence
- Other factors race gender dual labor market
25The American Dream
- The American Dream is the belief that an average
person through hard work and perseverance can
achieve as much as he or she wishes.
26The American Dream
Median Income of Households by Race/Ethnicity In
Constant 2001 Dollars 1972-2001 Source U.S.
Census Bureau 2003.
Figure 6.5
27Explanations of Social Stratification
- Functionalist
- Stratification exists because it is beneficial to
society - Filling all statuses requires motivating
individuals with (a) desire to fill and (b)
desire to perform Davis and Moore 1945 - Highest statuses are held by the most
talented/qualified and are functionally the most
necessary - Many exceptions (dysfunctionality)
28Explanations of Social Stratification
- Conflict theory
- Stratification exists because it benefits
individuals and groups who have the power to
dominate and exploit others - Capitalists extract a workers surplus value
- False and class consciousness
- Wright capitalists managers workers petite
bourgeoisie - Conflicts not restricted to economics
29Explanations of Social Stratification
- Synthesis
- Lenski / Kerbo (1966 / 2000)
- Stratification evolves to reduce conflict over
scarce resources - As technology advances the resulting surplus of
goods and services is distributed based on power