SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

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SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
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What is Social Stratification?

• For tens of thousands of years, humans lived in
  small hunting and gathering societies.
• Stratification based on Gender Age
• As societies became more complex, major changes
  came about.
• Changes elevated certain categories of the
  population by giving them more power, money, and
  prestige.

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SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

• Structured inequality of access to rewards,
  resources, and privileges that are scarce and
  desirable within a society.
• Inequality of an entire category of people, who
  have different access to social rewards as a
  result of their status in a social hierarchy.

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• Social stratification is a trait of society, not
  simply a reflection of individual differences.
• Children born into wealthy families are more
  likely than children born in poverty to
  experience good healthy, achieve academically,
  succeed in lifes work and live a long life.
• Titanic lower strata did not die because of
  personal failing

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• Social stratification persists over generations.
• In all societies, parents pass their social
  position on to their children.
• Social stratification is universal but variable.
• In some societies, inequality is mostly a matter
  of prestige in others, wealth or power is the
  key dimension of difference. More importantly
  some societies display more inequality than
  others.
• Social stratification involves not just
  inequality but beliefs.
• Any system of inequality gives some people more
  than others and the society also defines the
  arrangements as fair.

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Social Inequality

• Social Inequality ? condition in which members of
  a society have different amounts of wealth,
  prestige, and power
• Wealth All of a persons material assets (land,
  auto, home, jewelry)
• Which is the cause and which is the effect?
• Inequality or stratification

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ALL SOCIETIES HAVE SOME STRATIFICATIONFOUR
GENERAL SYSTEMS OF STRATIFICATION

• Slavery
• Caste
• Estate
• Social Class

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Slavery

• Ownership of some people by others (due to debt,
  crime, war).
• Examples
• Ancient times- Greece and Rome captives of war.
• USA and Latin America- Workforce in 1800s.
• Present Day- Outsourcing??

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CASTE SYSTEM

• Status is determined by birth and is life long
  (ascribed).
• A pure caste system is closed because birth alone
  determines ones destiny, with little or no
  opportunity for social mobility based on effort.

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CASTE SYSTEM

• Hereditary systems of rank- usually with
  religious justification/significance.
• Fixed and immobile.
• Traditional caste groups have specific
  occupations
• Generations of a family perform the same type of
  work
• Maintaining a rigid social hierarchy depends on
  people marrying within their own categories
  mixed marriages would blur the ranking of
  children
• Endogamy- marriage between people of the same
  social category- marry within caste.
• Born into caste, stay the same as parents (same
  occupation).
• Caste norms guide people to stay in the company
  of their own kind
• Caste systems rest on powerful cultural beliefs

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CASTE SYSTEM VARNAS

• Brahmins (priests)
• Kshatriyas (warriors nobles)
• Vaishyas (merchants)
• Shudras (common laborers)
• Dalits (untouchables)
• Members of three highest varnas are called twice
  born because they have gone through a ceremony
  entailing spiritual rebirth

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• Practice of caste-climbing has led to the spread
  of a uniform value system throughout India.
• Widespread agreement concerning values and
  criteria for distinguishing a low caste from a
  high caste.

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CASTE IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

• Impossible to maintain the caste system unaltered
  in contemporary India.
• Introduction of new professions
• Wageworkers are hired on the basis of
  qualifications (achieved status) rather then
  caste
• Authorities actively try to level out differences
  between castes through quotas for various castes
  in the public sector.
• Urbanization makes it difficult to classify the
  people one meets.
• Moving to city where no one knows you, one can
  escape stigma of caste

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Estates System

• European society- Feudalism and Middle Ages
• Peasants work land leased to them from Nobles.
• In return the Peasants get military and other
  services (use of farming tools).
• Wealth and power came from business not just land
  and agriculture.
• Estates system grew into Class System.

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CLASS SYSTEM

• Open system based on money or material
  possessions (achieved).

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Social Mobility

• Movement from one strata to another (can be up or
  down).
• Movement between classes is easier than in other
  systems but there is still inequality within
  social classes.
• Status consistency- the degree of consistency in
  a persons social standing across various
  dimensions of social inequality.

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SOCIAL MOBILITY A CHANGE IN ONES POSITION

• Ascribed vs Achieved status
• Caste system position at birth determines (or
  mostly so)
• Class system like ours, there is considerable
  mobility - one can achieve status, , power
• Are we a true meritocracy?
• Meritocracy - Social stratification based solely
  on merit

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2 kinds of Social Mobility

• Structural Mobility when of higher status
  positions increases, upward mobility inevitable
• Industrialization did this (Marx did not
  anticipate structural mobility)
• Exchange Mobility without structural changes,
  for every person who moved up, one would need to
  move down

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WHAT HAS CAUSED US TO HAVE SOCIAL CLASSES TODAY
IN THE US?

• Both Karl Marx and Max Weber had explanations.

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KARL MARX EXPLAINED THAT IT IS ECONOMICS (
PROPERTY) THAT CAUSES THE CLASS SYSTEM. - WHO
OWES OR CONTROLS WHAT.
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MARX PREDICTED

• The rich would get richer
• The workers would develop a class conscious and
  become aware of the rich taking advantage of
  them.
• The workers would over come false class
  consciousness.
• Revolution would ensue and communism would
  replace capitalism.

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MARX EXPLAINED

• The proletarians of the world have nothing to
  lose but their chains. They have a world to gain.
  Workers of the world, unite!
• Exploitation
• the utilization of a subordinate group, by a
  group in a superordinate position for its own
  economic or other advantage (surplus of wealth)

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KARL MARXS VIEW OF CAPITALISM
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KARL MARXS VIEW OF COMMUNISM

• From each according to his abilities, to each
  according to his needs.

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MARXS THEORY

• Marx explained through the family, opportunity
  and wealth are passed down from generation to
  generation.
• The legal system defends private property and
  inheritance.
• Elite children mix at exclusive schools, forging
  social ties that will benefit them throughout
  their lives.
• Capitalist society reproduces the class structure
  in each new generation.

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HOW WAS MARX WRONG?

• not the only way societies stratified
• 2 great classes did not emerge
• Industrialization initially produced great
  inequality, but eventually produced a middle
  class
• Revolution did not occur as he predicted (US most
  industrialized of all)
• Classless society impossible

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Why No Marxist Revolution?

• The fragmentation of the capitalist class.
• Day-to-day operations of large corporations are
  now in the hands of a managerial class, whose
  members may or may not be major stockholders.
• A higher standard of living.
• A century ago most workers were in factories or
  on farms performing blue-collar occupations,
  lower-prestige work that involves mostly manual
  labor. Today, most workers hold white-collar
  occupations, higher-prestige work that involves
  mostly mental activity. Most of todays
  white-collar workers do not think of themselves
  as an industrial proletariat.

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• More worker organizations.
• Workers today have organizational clout that
  they lacked a century ago. Worker management
  disputes are settled without threatening the
  capitalist system.
• More extensive legal protections.
• During the twentieth century, the government
  passed laws to make the workplace safer and
  developed programs such as unemployment
  insurance, disability protection, and Social
  Security.

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Max Weber Wealth, Status, and Power

• Weber saw Marxs two-class model simplistic.
• - Observed that stratification was more then
• - Life Chances determined by more then just
• - Ex. ? Clergy might have status and power, but
  little money

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MAX WEBER

• Believed that social class is more than just
  differences in material wealth.
• Other defining characteristics
• Power ability to achieve ones goals and
  control others, even against the will of others
• Political Status
• Prestige Power degree of respect, favorable
  regard, or importance according to an individual
  by members of a society
• Social Status
• Wealth (Property) accumulated economic
  resources
• Economic Status

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• Webers view of social stratification in
  industrial societies as a multidimensional
  ranking rather than a hierarchy of clearly
  defined classes.
• Socioeconomic status (SES) - a composite ranking
  based on various dimensions of social inequality.
• Social stratification according to Weber is
  variable and complex.

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Inequalities in History

• Weber points out that each of his three
  dimensions of social inequality stands out at
  different points in the evolution of human
  societies.
• Agrarian societies emphasize status or social
  prestige, typically in the form of honor.

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DO WE NEED TO HAVE STRATIFICATION?
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HOW DO FUNCTIONALISTS VIEW SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?

• Societys positions must be filled.
• Some positions are more important than others.
• The more important positions are filled by
  qualified people.

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HOW DO CONFLICT THEORISTS VIEW SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION?

• No society can exist unless it is organized.
• Leadership means inequalities of power.
• Human nature is self-centered so there are
  injustices in how the power is divided and used.

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• Great quote Functionalism can explain why
  doctors (or fill in the blank) make more than
  orderlies, but it requires conflict theory to
  explain why the gap is as large as it is.

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MODERN SOCIETY AND CONFLICT

• Limited amount of resources in society.
• Not evenly distributed.
• Conflict Theory addresses how those with
  resources attempt to hold onto them and how those
  with limited resources try to obtain them.

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MARX DID NOT BELIEVE THE PEOPLE IN POWER ARE
THERE BECAUSE OF SUPERIOR TRAITS.

• Do you agree or disagree?

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HOW DO ELITES MAINTAIN STRATIFICATION?

• By force least effective.
• Politically use laws and regulations
  (dictators)
• Controlling information
• Control the media
• Selectively releasing or withholding information
  (ex in the interest of national security)
• Using new technologies
• Controlling ideas
• The divine right of kings kings authority
  comes directly from God.

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HOW DO THOSE NOT IN POWER FIGHT BACK?

• Politically if in a democratic country
• Judicial System
• Terrorism
• Using new technologies

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HOW HAVE NATIONS BEEN STRATIFIED?

• Colonialism Theory
• Process by which one nation took over another
  nation
• Dependency Theory
• Stresses how the least industrialized nations
  grew dependent upon most industrialized
• Culture of Poverty
• Some nations are crippled by a way of life that
  perpetuates poverty

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WHY DO SOME COUNTRIES REMAIN POOR OVER TIME?

• Neocolonialism
• Economic and political dominance over the least
  industrialized nations by the most industrialized
  nations
• Multinational Corporations
• Help to maintain global dominance

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Social Class in the United States
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DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY

• Income- wages or salary from work and earnings
  from investments.
• Wealth- the total value of money and other
  assets, minus outstanding debts.
• Wealth includes stocks, bonds, and real estate
  is distributed even less equally than income.
• Occupational Prestige
• In addition to being a source of income, work
  also provides social prestige. We commonly
  evaluate each other according to the kind of work
  we do, respecting some and looking down on
  others.

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RULE OF CUMULATION

• If someone is economically wealthy, he or she
  probably also has a good education, good health,
  and secure employment.

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Schooling

• Industrial societies make schooling widely
  available to prepare workers for specialized
  tasks.
• Schooling affects both occupation and income
• A college degree or other advanced study is
  needed for most (but not all) of the
  better-paying white-collar jobs.
• Most blue-collar jobs, which bring lower income
  and social prestige, require less schooling.

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Ancestry

• Family is our point of entry into the social
  system and has a strong bearing in schooling,
  occupation, and income.
• Research suggests that at least half of our
  countrys richest individualsthose worth
  hundreds of millions of dollars or more derived
  their fortunes mostly from inheritance.

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SOCIAL CLASSES IN THE USUPPER CLASS

• The Upper Class
• 5 of the population
• Upper-Uppers
• People who have inherited wealth are known as
  Blue Bloods or society ? Old Money
• Includes less than 1 percent of society.
• Lower-Uppers
• Appear to be just as privileged but have newly
  acquired wealth, the main difference is that
  these people are the working rich. ? New Money

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Middle Class

• The Upper Middle Class (Professional)
• 40-45 of the population
• Upper-Middles
• 80,000 to 160,000 a year
• Middle Class
• White Collar and Entrepreneurs
• 40,000- 80,000 a year
• Typically work in less prestigious white-collar
  occupations middle management, high-school
  teachers, and sales clerks, or in highly skilled
  blue-collar jobs, such as a building contractor.

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• The Working Class
• Blue Collar
• 25,000- 40,000 a year
• 1/3 of the population
• This population is somewhat below the national
  average, and they have little or no wealth.

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Lower Class

• Upper Lower
• Unskilled Laborers
• Low income makes this population unstable and
  insecure.
• Lower Lower
• Socially and Economically Disadvantaged
• In 2000, the federal government classified 31.1
  million people as poor.

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Middle Class Attitudes

• 36 of those earning 15,000 a year call
  themselves middle class
• 49 of those with incomes between 35,000 and
  49,999 call themselves middle class
• 71 of those with incomes above 75,000 call
  themselves middle class

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SOCIAL CLASS IN THE US
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Housing

• Number of families or primary individuals who
  live in mobile homes or trailers 6.8 million
• Percentage change in the number of Americans
  living in mobile homes between 1980 and 1990
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• Number of US households earning less than
  10,000/year 7.6 million
• Number of affordable housing units available 4.4
  million
• Number of gated communities in America approx.
  20,000 (housing approximately 8.4 million people)
• Number of gated communities in 1950 2,500
• Interesting Fact In 1995, homeowners earning
  more than 100,000 a year received a total of
  28.9 billion dollars in federal income tax
  deductions on mortgage interest payments. The
  entire 1996 budget of the US Department of
  Housing and Urban Development was only 19
  billion

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The Difference Class Makes

• Health
• Children born into poor families are three times
  more likely to die from disease, neglect,
  accidents, or violence during their first years
  of life than children born to rich families.

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• Values
• Affluent people with more college education and
  financial security are more tolerant of
  controversial behaviors such as homosexuality.
• Working class people, who are use to greater
  supervision and discipline in their formative
  years and have less education, tend to be less
  tolerant.

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• Politics
• In general, the more privileged people support
  the Republican Party and the people with fewer
  advantages support the Democrats.
• A desire to protect their wealth prompts well-off
  people to be more conservative in economic
  issues, favoring lower taxes.
• But on social issues such as abortion and
  feminist concerns, the more educated and affluent
  are more liberal.
• People of lower social standing favor expanding
  government social programs, but support a more
  conservative social agenda.

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• Family and Gender
• Most lower-class families are somewhat larger
  than middle class families because of earlier
  marriage and less use of birth control.

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POVERTY IN THE US
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• The Extent of U.S. Poverty
• The line of poverty is described as-the income
  needed to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet
  on the assumption that no more than a third of
  the family income is used for food.
• 38.1 million Americans as of 2008
• Below 18,000 a year for a three person family

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• Working poor are common
• Federal Minimum Wage 7.25 (since 2008)
• In tipping industry, wage is 2.13 with tips
  equaling 7.25
• Do the math
• 7.25 x 8hrs x 5 days x 52 weeks

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Wealth and Poverty

• US Median Household Income ? 40, 816 (as of
  1999)
• Average Household Net Worth of Top 1 of Wage
  Earners ? 10,204,000
• Average New Worth of Bottom 40 of Wage Earners ?
  1900

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• Definition of Middle Class in Terms of Income ?
  32,653 to 48,979 (as of 1999)
• Percentage of US Children Who Live in Poverty ?
  20
• Percentage of US Adults Who Live in Poverty ? 12
• Percentage of Single Mothers Who Live in Poverty
  ? 37.4
• Rank of the US among the seventeen leading
  industrial nation with the largest percentage of
  their populations in poverty ? 1
• Portion of US stock owned by the wealthiest 10
  of Americans ? 9/10
• Minimum Wage ? 7.25
• Bill Gates hourly wage ? 650,000 / hr (1999,
  average since 1986)

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Explaining Poverty

• People counted among the officially poor in the
  United States are far better off than the poor in
  other countries.
• Millions of people in the United States have too
  little income to lead healthy lives.
• Almost 42 straddle the fence
• Both government and individuals share this
  responsibility.

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Whose to Blame?

• Blame the Poor
• This view sees society offering plenty of
  opportunity to anyone able and willing to take
  advantage of it. Thus, anyone who is poor either
  cannot or will not work.
• Blame Society
• Another position holds that society is primarily
  responsible for poverty.
• Weighing the Evidence
• Many people are idle not because they are
  avoiding work but because there are not enough
  jobs.

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• The Working Poor
• The working poor command the sympathy and support
  of people on both sides of the poverty debate.
• 20 of poor heads of households worked at least
  fifty weeks of the year and yet could not escape
  poverty.

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GLOBAL STRATIFICATION

• An Overview
• The Extent of Poverty
• Modernization Theory
• Dependency Theory

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High-Income Countries

• About three-fourths of the people in high-income
  countries live in or near cities.
• Production in rich nations is capital-intensive
  that is, it is based on factories, big machinery,
  and advanced technology.

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Middle-Income Countries

• Two-thirds of people live in cities, and
  industrial jobs are common. The remaining
  one-third of the people live in rural areas,
  where most are poor and lack access to schools,
  medical care, adequate housing, and even safe
  drinking water.

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LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES

• Low-income countries, where most people are very
  poor, are largely agrarian societies with some
  industry. Most of the sixty nations are in
  African and southern Asia. Low-income countries
  cover 28 percent of the planets land.
  Population density is high although it is
  greatest in Asian countries than in central
  African nations.

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Severity of Poverty

• Poverty in poor countries is more severe than it
  is in rich countries.

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RELATIVE VERSUS ABSOLUTE POVERTY

• People living in rich countries generally focus
  on relative poverty, some people lack resources
  that others take for granted. Relative poverty
  cuts across every society, rich or poor.
• Absolute poverty, a lack of resources that is
  life threatening. Human beings in absolute
  poverty lack the nutrition necessary for health
  and long-term survival.