Social Stratification

1
Social Stratification

• Chapter 7

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Social Stratification

• Social stratification is the ranking of people or
  groups in accordance with their access to scarce
  resources.
• Incomemoney that one has.
• Wealthresources and value one has.
• Powercontrol that one has.
• Prestigerecognition and respect one has.
• Each layer of stratification is a social class.
• Categories of people who hold similar resources
  and share values and lifestyles.

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Systems of Stratification

• Open system - boundaries between hierarchies may
  be influenced by peoples achieved statuses.
• US
• Closed system - boundaries between hierarchies
  are rigid, peoples positions are set by ascribed
  status.
• Caste System

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Class System

• A type of stratification based on the ownership
  and control of resources and on the type of work
  people do.
• Social mobilitymovement from one class to
  another.
• Horizontal mobility occurs when people experience
  a gain or loss in position and/or income that
  does not produce a change in their place in the
  class structure.
• Vertical mobility is movement up or down the
  class structure is.

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Caste System

• Status is determined at birth based on parents
  ascribed characteristics.
• Cultural values sustain caste systems and caste
  systems grow weaker as societies industrialize.
• Vestiges of caste systems can remain for hundreds
  of years after they are officially abolished.

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Slavery

• Extreme form of stratification where people are
  owned by others.
• Throughout recorded history 5 societies have been
  slave societies
• Ancient Greece
• Roman Empire
• United States
• Caribbean and Brazil.
• There are an estimated 30 million people held as
  slaves worldwide.

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Layers of Stratification
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Life Chances

• Access to resources such as food, clothing,
  shelter, education, and health care.
• Affluent people have better life chances because
  they have greater access to
• quality education
• safe neighborhood
• nutrition and health care
• police protection

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Poor vs. Wealthy

• Marx believed that there would ultimately be two
  classes the bourgeoisie (wealthy) and the
  proletariat (working class).
• There is a large poverty problem in America.
• Roughly 47 (Poverty USA 2014) million Americans
  live in poverty.
• Some of the richest in the world live in America.
• Roughly 10 million millionaires (CNBC 2016) and
  540 billionaires (Forbes 2016).

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Structural-Functional

• Does the social structure contribute to society?
• Rewards should serve as incentives to complete
  needed tasks in society based on
• The importance of the task
• The pleasantness of the task
• The scarcity of talent and ability to perform the
  task

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Conflict Perspective

• Inequality grows from class conflict
• Private ownership and means of production

Marxs View
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Weber Class, Status, Power
Social Class
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Symbolic Interaction

• Social inequalities are perpetuated through the
  socialization process

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Stratification in the US
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Wealth Distribution in US

• 50 of US income lies in 20 of the population
• 84 of US wealth lies in 20 of the population
• Under 4 of the wealth lies in the lowest 20of
  the population
• Open Class Structure of US
• Upper Class
• Upper Middle Class
• Middle Class
• Working Class
• Working Poor
• Underclass

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Upper Class

• Includes infamous 1
• Approximately 20 of total population
• Old MoneyRockefellers, Vanderbilt's etc
• Rarely associate outside of class.
• Can include lower upper class which is often a
  result of achieved status.
• May be better off financially but have the
  prestige.

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Middle Class

• 40-50 of Americans
• Upper middle class consists of 14 of the
  population.
• Successful business people, politicians,
  professions etc
• Earn enough to live well and save money
• Highly educated.
• Middle, middle class is 30 of the population
• Most of us
• Mix of education

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Working Class

• Also known as the lower middle class.
• Truck drivers, machine operators, skilled labor
• Below average income and unstable employment
• Lack benefits
• Mostly wage workers

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Working Poor

• 13 of the population
• Minimum wage workers
• Do not earn above the poverty threshold
• Low skilled workers

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Underclass

• 12 of the population
• Unemployed
• Lack education and skills
• Often have disabilities

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Poverty in the U.S.
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How much?

• How much do you need to sustain a good living in
  the U.S.?

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Measuring Poverty

• Absolute povertynot enough to secure lifes
  necessities.
• Relative povertycomparing the bottom with other
  levels of income.
• Poverty Thresholda measure of income level at
  which people are considered poor.
• 47 (2015) million Americans live below the
  poverty threshold.
• 15
• Americans are experiencing downward mobility.

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Current Poverty Thresholds

• 1 person12000
• 2 people15000
• 3 people19000
• 4 people24000

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Who are the Poor?

• About 47 of the poor are white
• However, the poverty rate for whites is 8.2
• The poverty rate for African Americans and
  Latinos around 24, and 27 for Native Americans
  (U.S. Census 2011)
• African Americans and Latinos account for 25 of
  the population but make up 50 of the poor
  population

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Who are the Poor?

• Female head of households
• Nearly half of poor households are headed by
  females.
• On average, women earn about .79 (IWPR 2015) for
  every dollar earned by men.
• Known as the feminization of poverty.
• Children
• Poverty rate for children under 6 is 22...the
  highest for any age group in the US
• IWPRInstitute for Womens Policy Research

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Who are the Poor?

• Elderly
• About 9 over 65 live in poverty
• Due to a fixed income
• Disabled
• Make up 12 of the poor.
• U.S. Census 2009

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Issue facing the poor

• Parents may go hungry so their children can eat
• Clothing for growing children
• No health care (minor may tune severe)
• Homeless (3.5 million Americans)
• Concentrated poverty
• Areas with high concentration of poverty
• Results in more than personal poverty issues
• Very limited life chances

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Distribution of Poverty in the U.S. according
to Education
Education All Races White African American Hispanic
No diploma 21.8 15.7 34.8 26.7
High School Graduate 11.9 9.4 22.0 15.4
Some college 8.5 7.0 11.5 10.6
College degree (or more) 4.3 3.7 7.1 7.5
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Distribution of Poverty in the U.S. According
to Age
Age All White African American Hispanic
Under 18 17.8 10.5 33.6 28.9
1824 18.1 14.5 28.1 22.6
25-44 11.2 7.8 20.2 18.4
45-64 8.8 7.0 16.8 14.4
65 and above 9.8 7.5 23.9 18.7
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Distribution of Health Insurance
32
Global Stratification
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Global Inequality

• Global poverty is linked to the level of
  development in a nation.
• Industrialization brings a higher standard of
  living.
• Also believed that development increases life
  chances
• However, development may breakdown traditional
  norms and values.

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Theories of Global Development

• Modernization Theorybelief that modernization
  can lead to a higher standard of living, economic
  movement and sustainability.
• Dependency Theorybelief that global poverty can
  be blamed somewhat by the exploitation of high
  income nations.
• Poorer nations are reliant on wealthier nations
  and cannot break out of the cycle.

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Theories of Global Development

• World Systems Theorysuggest that core nations
  dominate the world economy and other nations may
  move slightly depending on resource development.
• Truly global system held together by economic
  ties.
• New International Division of Labor
  Theorysuggests that with the age of
  globalization, highly industrialized societies
  are dependent on less developed societies for
  cheap labor.

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Poor and Wealthy