Week 5 Discussion SOC

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Sociology: The Essentials, 

10e Chapter 8: Social Class and

Social Stratification

Andersen, Sociology: The Essentials, 10th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Andersen, Sociology: The Essentials, 10th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 2

Part Three Social Inequalities

Chapter Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: • Explain how class is a social structure. • Describe the class structure of the United States. • Identify the different components of class inequality. • Analyze the extent of social mobility in the United States. • Compare and contrast theoretical models of class inequality. • Investigate the causes and consequences of U.S. poverty.

Icebreaker: Income, Wealth, and Inequality   (10 minutes)

• How is income different from wealth? Working in pairs: • Create a list of income sources. • Create a list of wealth sources. • Review your lists and answer the question:

• Why do sociologists prefer to use wealth as a measure for inequality?

Social Differentiation and Social Stratification (1 of 3)

• Social differentiation is how different statuses develop in any group, organization, or society. • Social stratification is a relatively fixed, hierarchical arrangement in society by

which groups have different access to resources, power, and perceived social worth.

Social Differentiation and Social Stratification (2 of 3)

• Social class differences make it seem as if some people are living in two different societies.

Image: Alex Segre/Alamy Stock Photo Image: Don Ryan/AP Images

Social Differentiation and Social Stratification (3 of 3)

• Social stratification is a system of structured social inequality. • All societies have a system of social stratification. • Complex societies often stratify according to social class.

• This is influenced by occupation, income, education, race, gender, region of residence, ethnicity, national origin, and even age.

Estate, Caste, and Class

• Stratification systems are usually categorized into one of these three types: • Estate is a system in which a small elite group (owners or property and

power) has total control over resources. • Caste is a system where status is ascribed (given at birth). • Class is a system based on ascribed and achieved statuses.

Collaborative Activity   (30 minutes)

• All societies experience stratification. Strata are the different levels within any stratification system.

• Break up into groups of 4-5 students and identify the strata for a number of stratification systems you are aware of. Be sure to show the hierarchy (what is the highest strata and what is the lowest strata). Some areas to get started include gender, sexuality, education, and social class. See if you can identify other stratification systems.

• After 15 minutes, join the rest of the class and discuss responses.

The Class Structure of the United States: Growing Inequality (1 of 2)

• Class divisions in the United States are real, and inequality is growing. • More apparent since 2008 because of a financial crisis and national recession. • For many people, achieving “the American Dream” is no longer a possibility.

The Class Structure of the United States: Growing Inequality (2 of 2)

• Economic restructuring: the decline of manufacturing jobs in the United States. • These structural changes are having a profound effect on the life chances of

people in different social classes. • Many in the working class once employed in manufacturing jobs are now in

lower-wage jobs (such as fast food), if they work at all.

The Distribution of Income and Wealth   (1 of 2)

• The class structure in the United States means very different living conditions for those of vast wealth and everyone else.

The Distribution of Income and Wealth  (2 of 2)

• Income is the amount of money brought into a household from various sources during a given period. • Income growth has been greatest for those at the top of the population. • For everyone else, income has either been relatively flat or grown at a far

lesser rate. • Wealth is the monetary value of everything one actually owns. • Socioeconomic status: social class position is primarily measured in economic

terms.

Analyzing Social Class (1 of 4)

• Status attainment is how people end up in a given stratified position. • Class origins, educational level, and occupation produce class location.

• One’s socioeconomic status (SES) is derived from several factors: • Income, occupational prestige, and education.

Analyzing Social Class (2 of 4)

• Occupational prestige is the perceived, subjective rank assigned to an occupation. • This is associated with number of years of formal education and degrees.

• Occupations cluster in ranks such as: • High: physicians, professors, judges • Middle: electricians, insurance agents • Low: maids, garbage collectors

Analyzing Social Class (3 of 4)

• Educational attainment: the total number of years of formal education. • The U.S. class system: upper, upper-middle, middle, lower-middle, and lower

class (which includes the urban underclass).

Analyzing Social Class (4 of 4)

• Urban underclass: likely to be permanently unemployed and without much economic support. • Has little or no opportunity for movement out of the worst poverty. • May become dependent on public assistance or illegal activities.

Debate Activity   (30 minutes)

• Divide the class into two groups to debate the following issue: • A wealthy international drug trafficker and family live in a well-to-do upper-

class neighborhood. Consider a neighborhood where the wealthy live in your community. Debate the issue: • Is this family an elite upper-class family even though the source of the

family’s income is from illegal drug trafficking activities? • Teams will have 15 minutes to prepare their side of the argument (yes or no)

before debating as a class.

Diverse Sources of Stratification   (1 of 2)

• A woman’s class status used to be based on her husband’s or father’s social position. • Even with comparable educations to men, women are employed in lower

wage jobs and lower prestige occupations than men. • In 2017, when the median income for men working year-round and full-time was

$52,146, the median income of women working year-round, full-time was $41,977—80% of men’s income.

Diverse Sources of Stratification  (2 of 2)

• 17.5% of U.S. children (almost 13 million) live in poverty. • 9.2% of those in the U.S. over 65 years of age are poor. • Most elderly live comfortably due to pensions and Social Security.

Social Mobility: Myths and Realities

• You may be able to climb up the ladder if others allow you to, or if you achieve it, but others may push you down or up a rung or two. • This is called social mobility. • People usually stay on, or close to, the rung they started on.

Individual Activity   (15 minutes)

• Individually, have students look at the social class of their grandparents versus the social class of their parents. • Is there any social mobility (up or down)? • Is the mobility structural or personal?

• If comfortable, share responses with the class.

Why Is There Inequality?

• Marx classified people into two social classes: • Bourgeoisie are the owners of the means of production. • Proletariat are the workers, those who sell their labor for wages; also referred

to as the exploited masses. • He also classified the petty bourgeoisie (small business owners) and the

lumpen proletariat (jobless).

Class Consciousness

• Class consciousness is the perception of: • The existence of a class structure. • Your shared identification with a given class.

• Are Americans class conscious? • Because of the widespread belief that mobility is possible, people in the

United States tend not to be very conscious of class.

Max Weber: Class, Status, and Party

• Weber saw three dimensions to stratification: • Class (the economic dimension). • Status (or prestige, the cultural and social dimension). • Party (or power, the political dimension).

• Weber is thus responsible for a multidimensional view of social stratification because he analyzed the connections between economic, cultural, and political systems.

Functionalist and Conflict Theories of Stratification (1 of 2)

Interprets Functionalism Conflict Theory Inequality The purpose of inequality is to

motivate people to fill needed positions in society.

Inequality results from a system where those with the most resources exploit and control others.

Reward system Greater rewards are attached to higher positions.

Inequality prevents the talents of those at the bottom from being discovered and used.

Classes Some groups are rewarded because their work requires the greatest degree of talent and training.

Classes conflict with each other as they vie for power and economic, social, and political resources.

Functionalist and Conflict Theories of Stratification (2 of 2)

Interprets Functionalism Conflict Theory Elites The most talented are rewarded in

proportion to their contribution to the social order.

The most powerful reproduce their advantage by distributing resources and controlling the dominant value system.

Class consciousness/ ideology

Beliefs about success and failure confirm the status of those who succeed.

Elites shape societal beliefs to make their unequal privilege appear to be legitimate and fair.

Poverty Poverty serves economic and social functions in society.

Poverty is inevitable because of the exploitation built into the system.

Social policy Because the system is basically fair, social policies should only reward merit.

Because the system is basically unfair, social policies should support disadvantaged groups.

Poverty

• Despite a high average U.S. standard of living, poverty afflicts millions of people. • Poverty line: amount of money needed to support the basic needs of a

household. • Below this line, one is considered officially poor. • Almost 40 million poor people in the United States (12.3% of the population

fall below the poverty line).

Who Are the Poor? (1 of 2)

• Feminization of poverty: large proportion of the poor are women and children.

• The poor are racially diverse, diverse in age, and diverse in region.

• Figure 8.7 Median Income by Race and Family Structure, 2017.

Source: U.S. Census. 2018. Detailed Income and Poverty Tables, FINC-02. Age of Reference Person, by Total Money Income, Type of Family, Race and Hispanic Origin of Reference Person. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. www.census.gov

Who Are the Poor (2 of 2)

• Hundreds of thousands of homeless people: Approximately 550,000 on any given night. • Increase in homelessness over the past two decades.

Causes of Poverty

• Myth that success requires only individual motivation and ability. • “Culture of poverty” argues major causes of poverty are absence of work

values and the irresponsibility of the poor. • Most of the able-bodied poor do work, even if only part-time.

• The underlying causes of poverty are the economic/social changes in the United States.

Discussion Activity   (15 minutes)

• Students need to apply the perspectives on poverty to understand the role of sociology in the debates. • Have students compare and contrast the functionalist and conflict approaches

to poverty and social stratification.

Welfare and Social Policy

• The welfare policy: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). • TANF has a life-time limit of five years for people to receive aid. • All recipients must find work within two years. • Those without work in two years may be required to do community service for

free.

Assessment 1

Social __________ is the process by which different statuses in any group, organization, or society develop. A. Differentiation B. Stratification C. Hierarchy development D. Estate creation

Assessment 1 Answer

B. Stratification

Assessment 2

Which theory states that the major causes of poverty are the absence of work values and the irresponsibility of the poor? A. The feminization of poverty B. Living wage theory C. The culture of poverty D. None of the above

Assessment 2 Answer

C. The culture of poverty

Assessment 3

In the United States, the __________ is the amount of money needed to support the basic needs of the household, as determined by the federal government. A. Subsistence level B. Poverty line C. Survival level D. Minimum wage

Assessment 3 Answer

B. Poverty line

Summary

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