Social Stratification

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Social Stratification
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Definitions

• Status
• Social differentiation
• Social stratification

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Estate, Caste, and Class

• estate system of stratification,
• the elite have total control over societal
  resources, including property and power

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Estate, Caste, and Class

• caste system,
• status is ascribed

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Estate, Caste, and Class

• class systems,
• class is somewhat based on achieved status

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CLASS SYSTEM

• Social class (or class)
• the social structural position

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CLASS SYSTEM

• Life chances
• identified by Max Weber
• the opportunities that people in a particular
  class have in common

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WHY IS THERE INEQUALITY?

• Karl Marx
• defined classes in terms of their relationship
  to the means of production

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Karl Marx

• capitalist class, or those who own the means of
  production
• working class, or those who labor for wages

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Marxs View of Stratification
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Karl Marx

• petty bourgeoisie, or small business owners and
  managers, who identify with the capitalists
• lumpenproletariat, who become the permanently
  poor underclass.

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Karl Marx

• class struggles would occur, as capitalists would
  continue to exploit workers for profit

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Max Weber Class, Status, and Party

• A person can rank high on one or two dimensions
  and low on another
• class as access to the material goods

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Max Weber Class, Status, and Party

• status is the social judgement or recognition
  given to a person or group.
• party is the ability to impose one's will on
  others,

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Webers View of Stratification
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Marx and Weber

• Marx argued that individuals act primarily on
  economic interests
• Weber - one's position in the stratification
  system was the result of economic, social and
  political forces

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Functionalist Perspective on Inequality

• society as an interdependent system
• inequality motivates people to fill different
  positions
• poverty is necessary to maintaining social
  stability

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Conflict Perspective on Inequality

• society held together by conflict and coercion
• powerful groups maintain their advantage
• consequences of inequality are negative

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CLASS STRUCTURE OF THE UNITED STATES

• Social class
• Social attainment
• Socio-economic status (SES)
• Income
• Occupational prestige
• Educational attainment

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Layers of Social Class

• upper class, also known as elites
• nouveau riche have newly acquired wealth

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Layers of Social Class

• upper-middle class - high incomes and high social
  prestige
• middle class clustered around the median income
• lower-middle class - skilled trades and
  low-income bureaucratic workers

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Layers of Social Class

• lower class - displaced and poor, - little formal
  education - often unemployed or working for
  minimum wage
• People of color and women
• underclass - permanently unemployed

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Class Conflict

• Classes compete with each other
• the elites exploit and dominate other classes.

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Class Conflict

• Classes compete with each other
• the elites exploit and dominate other classes.

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Class Conflict

• managerial class, -
• substantial control over other people, -
• but minimal control over the economic system

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Class Conflict

• Conflict theorists believe
• elites blame the poor for their poverty

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Distribution of Wealth and Income

• Wealth is the monetary value of everything one
  owns
• Income is the amount of money brought into a
  household

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Distribution of Wealth and Income

• The wealthiest 1 of Americans owns 37 of all
  net worth
• The wealthiest 10 controls 86 of the nations
  wealth.

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Distribution of Wealth and Income

• one-fifth of the nation's wealthiest people are
  women
• most wealthy women have inherited their wealth

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Distribution of Wealth and Income

• one-third of Americans have no financial assets
  at all

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WHY IS WORLD INCOME DISTRIBUTED THIS WAY?
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Sources of Stratification

• Race and gender are two of the primary influences
  in the stratification system in the United States

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Sources of Stratification

• majority of U.S. women work in low-prestige,
  low-wage occupations and would likely be
  considered working-class

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Sources of Stratification

• The age group most likely to be poor are
  children,
• 20of U.S children live in poverty

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SOCIAL MOBILITY

• A person's movement over time from one class to
  another

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SOCIAL MOBILITY

• Most people remain in the same class as their
  parents
• Mobility is strongly influenced by education
• Mobility can occur in two directions

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Class Consciousness

• people in the United States do recognize class
  divisions
• False consciousness

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POVERTY

• 35 million people
• 13.3 of the U.S. population, who are poor

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POVERTY

• Some argue
• individual motivation and ability will allow
  anyone to succeed in the U.S
• This is called Blaming the Victim

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POVERTY

• most of the able-bodied poor
• are employed

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POVERTY

• Sociologists argue
• poverty is caused by complex economic and social
  changes

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Welfare

• a lifetime limit of five years for people to
  receive welfare
• recipients to find work within two years