Socioeconomics Status

Ch.7Stratification2.pptx

Home >Social Science homework help >Sociology homework help >Socioeconomics Status

Agency Quotable Design

faculty members who have been at the college for a minimum of one year and adjunct faculty who have taught at the college for a minimum of four (4) semesters

Chapter 7:

Social Class: The Structure of Inequality

CLASS AND POVERTY WARM-UP

Class and Poverty

https://www.uh.edu/cdi/diversity_education/resources/activities/pdf/diversity%20activities-resource-guide.pdf

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Questions 1

In America, all citizens have equal chances of obtaining significant wealth during their lifetime.

true

false

ANS: b

FEEDBACK: Due to hierarchies in every society, members of society are ranked differently and thus have different access to rewards such as wealth; Section- Social Stratification and Social Inequality

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Questions 2

Which person is likely to have the greatest status in the United States?

a black male

a black female

a white male

a white female

ANS: c

FEEDBACK: Members of society are typically grouped depending on criteria deemed important within that culture; Section- Social Stratification and Social Inequality

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Questions 3

Different systems of stratification have been implemented throughout history. Match the following three systems of stratification with the appropriate explanation.

a. slavery	aa. A system of stratification based on access to key resources (e.g., wealth, power, property).
b. caste	bb. A system of stratification based on status and family history. It cannot be changed.
c. social class	cc. A system of stratification based on the legal ownership of people.

ANS: a-cc, b-bb, c-aa

FEEDBACK: For more insight into systems of stratification, please review the “Systems of Stratification ” section

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Questions 4

Consider the three major theoretical perspectives routinely explored throughout the text. Which theorist explores the ways in which poverty serves a purpose in our society by providing jobs to many people in the social service sector?

Structural Functionalist

Conflict Theorist

Symbolic Interactionist

ANS: a

FEEDBACK: Functionalism focuses on how different aspects of society build or dislodge cohesion;

Section- Theories of Social Class

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Questions 5

General predictions can often be made about a person’s life chances based on their socioeconomic status. In general, people of lower socioeconomic status are less likely to encounter the criminal justice system.

true

false

ANS: b

FEEDBACK: In general, people of lower SES (socioeconomic status) are more likely to encounter the criminal justice system; Section- Socioeconomic Status and Life Chances

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Questions 6

Social mobility is the movement of an individual within a social class system. Select the different types of mobility that can exist in a society at any given time. (Choose all that apply.)

intergenerational

intragenerational

horizontal

vertical

circular

ANS: a, b, c, and d

FEEDBACK: Sociologists use the concept of social mobility to measure movement within the stratification system of a particular society; Section- Social Mobility

Social Stratification and Social Inequality

Social stratification is the division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy.

Every society has some form of stratification, but societies stratify people according to a variety of criteria (such as race, class, and gender).

Social inequality is the unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society.

Social stratification is a characteristic of society; it persists over generations and is maintained through beliefs that are widely shared by members of society. In a stratified society, groups at the top of the hierarchy have greater access to goods and services than members of groups at the bottom.

We find several different systems of stratification operating in the United States, where it is not hard to demonstrate that being wealthy, white, or male typically confers a higher status (and all that goes along with it) on a person than does being poor, nonwhite, or female. Because social inequality affects a person’s life experience so profoundly, it is worthwhile to examine how stratification works.

Family Portraits: the Skeens

Family Portraits From the top left: the Skeens (Pearland, Texas), the Thoroddsens (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland), the Namgays (Shingkhey, Bhutan), the Abdullas (Kuwait City, Kuwait), the Kuenkaews (Ban Muang Wa, Thailand), and the Natomas (Kouakourou, Mali).

Family Portraits: the Thoroddsens

Family Portraits From the top left: the Skeens (Pearland, Texas), the Thoroddsens (thou-rot-sen) (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland), the Namgays (Shingkhey, Bhutan), the Abdullas (Kuwait City, Kuwait), the Kuenkaews (Ban Muang Wa, Thailand), and the Natomas (Kouakourou, Mali).

Family Portraits: the Namgays

Family Portraits: the Abdullas

Family Portraits: the Kuenkaews

Family Portraits: the Natomas

Systems of Stratification: Slavery

Slavery is the most extreme form of social stratification and is based on the legal ownership of people.

Slaves are not considered to be people—they are considered the property of the slave owner.

This is an extreme form of stratification because the individuals who are slaves have no access to pursuing the resources available in society and no opportunity for social mobility (which we will discuss in a few moments).

Modern-day slavery persists, illegally, in many forms across the globe.

Systems of Stratification: Caste System

A caste system is a form of social stratification in which status is determined by one’s family history and background and cannot be changed.

India is the country most closely associated with the caste system.

Life in India's lowest caste - CNN Video - CNN.com

https://www.cnn.com › videos › world › 2016/07/25 › india -lower-caste- udas

South Africa and South West Africa

Apartheid Caste System

Another example of a caste system was apartheid, the segregation of racial and ethnic groups that was legal in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.

South Africans were legally classified into four main racial groups: white (English and Dutch heritage), Indian (from India), “colored” (mixed race), and black. Blacks formed a large majority, at 60 percent of the population. These groups were geographically and socially separated from one another. Blacks were forcibly removed from almost 80 percent of the country, which was reserved for the three minority groups, and relocated to independent “homelands” similar to the Indian reservations in the United States. They could not enter other parts of the country without a pass—and if they did get a pass it was usually in order to work as “guest laborers” in white areas. Ironically, African Americans visiting South Africa were given “honorary white” status and could move freely within white and nonwhite areas.

Systems of Stratification: Examples of Caste Systems

Apartheid is the term for the system of segregation of racial and ethnic groups that was legal in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.

Michelle Alexander argues that there is what is similar to a caste system in the criminal justice system of the United States

Systems of Stratification: Social Class

Social class: a system of stratification based on access to resources such as wealth, property, power, and prestige.

Sociologists often refer to social class as socioeconomic status (or SES).

Intersectionality: a concept that identifies how different categories of inequality (e.g., class, race, and gender) intersect

AMERICA’S CASTE SYSTEM

The Have’s and the Have Not

Although this is not America’s reality as it pertains to land division it is as it pertains to wealth.

But, for the most part this is reality. As 1% of the U.S. population owns most of the property.

Social Classes in the United States: Upper and Upper-Middle Classes

The upper class:

consists of the wealthiest people in a class system

possesses most of the wealth of the country

makes up 1% of the U.S. population

The upper-middle class:

includes professionals and managers

makes up about 14% of the U.S. population

Social Classes in the United States: Middle and Working Classes

Interestingly, most Americans would call themselves middle class, whether they make $25,000 per year or $250,000.

Middle class seems to be a social norm that people want to identify with even when they really are not part of that class.

The middle class:

includes “white-collar” workers

has a broad range of incomes

makes up about 30% of the U.S. population

The working (lower-middle) class:

includes “blue-collar” or service industry workers

members less likely to have college degrees

makes up about 30% of the U.S. population

Social Classes in the United States: Working Poor and Underclass

The working poor:

members likely work manual and service jobs and seasonal employment

makes up about 13% of the U.S. population

The underclass:

members likely employed part-time or unemployed

makes up about 12% of the U.S. population

The U.S. Social Class Ladder

Theories of Social Class: Conflict Theory

Bor-was-zee or bor-zhwaa-zee

Pro-la-ter-ree-it or prow·luh·teh·ree·uht

Remember, Marx was a conflict theorist, meaning that he was interested in the conflict between these two classes. He believed that eventually the workers would revolt against the capitalists because of the oppression they felt.

Karl Marx believed that there were two main social classes in capitalist societies:

Capitalists (or bourgeoisie) who owned the means of production

Workers (or proletariat) who sold their labor for wages

He believed that the classes would remain divided and social inequality would grow.

Theories of Social Class: Weberian Theory

Sometimes this is referred to as “The 3 Ps” or the “Three-Pronged Image of Power.”

Wealth might be considered money and investments (earned or inherited); power is political power or ability to make changes in the system; and prestige is the social honor people are given because of their membership in well-regarded social groups.

Sometimes a person may have one of these but not the others, but often the most powerful or successful people have all three.

Max Weber offered a similar model that also included cultural factors.

He argued that class status was made of three components:

Wealth (or privilege)

Power

Prestige

The Relative Social Prestige of Selected Occupations in the United States

Discussion: Are there connections between social prestige and income.

Theories of Social Class: Structural Functionalism

Suggests that the system of stratification that has emerged is functional to society in many ways:

Certain roles are more important for the functioning of society, and these roles may be more difficult to fill, so more incentive is needed.

Greater rewards are necessary for work that requires more training or skill.

The functionalist perspective helps to explain the existing system of social stratification and its persistence, but it still leaves us with questions about the structured inequalities that the system continues to reproduce. For example, is it really functional for social rewards (such as wealth, power, and prestige) to be so unequally divided among members of society?

Theories of Social Class: Postmodernism and Social Reproduction

While we like to believe that our society has an “open system” in which people have social mobility, we can notice patterns that lack inter- and intragenerational mobility.

We’ll talk about all of these terms in upcoming slides, but the point is that we tend to notice trends where children reproduce their family’s social class.

More recently, Pierre Bourdieu attempted to explain social reproduction.

Social reproduction: the tendency for social-class status to be passed down from one generation to the next

Theories of Social Class: Postmodernism and Cultural Capital

According to Bourdieu, this happens because each generation acquires cultural capital (tastes, habits, expectations, skills, knowledge, etc.), which helps us to gain advantages in society.

This cultural capital either helps or hinders us as we become adults.

For instance, it is very helpful for business people to know how to play golf, as many important business deals are struck on a golf course. Growing up in a family that can teach you how to play golf can give you some cultural capital that will be very advantageous.

Theories of Social Class: Symbolic Interaction Theory

You might notice that you wear similar brands of clothing or eat at similar restaurants as your friends. You’ll also notice that there are other people who wear or eat things that are very different from what you wear or eat. These preferences might say something about the class that you belong to or associate with.

The example of Christine Mallinson and Becky Child emphasized the locations of interactions reinforced social class distinctions.

Symbolic interactionists examine the way we use status differences to categorize ourselves and others.

As Erving Goffman pointed out, our clothing, speech, gestures, possessions, friends, and activities provide information about our socioeconomic status.

Socioeconomic Status and Life Chances

Belonging to a certain social class has profound consequences for individuals in all areas of life including family, health, education, work and income, and criminal justice.

Think about which people in society tend to have greater access to these resources. Not everyone has an equal chance of getting into Harvard, being operated on by the best surgeon, or even becoming the president of the United States, despite what children are told in school. People also tend to marry those whose social and cultural backgrounds are similar to their own, mainly because they are more likely to meet people like themselves.

Social Mobility: Closed and Open Systems

Social mobility is the movement of individuals or groups within the hierarchical system of social classes.

A closed system is one in which there is very little opportunity to move from one class to another.

An open system is one with ample opportunity to move from one class to another.

America technically has an open system (it is legal and permissible for people to move between classes), but we can notice structural patterns where people tend to stay very close to the class they were raised in.

Discussion: If we have an open system, why do we see a lack of opportunities to move between classes?

Social Mobility: Intergenerational and Intragenerational

An example of intergenerational mobility would be a plumber who has a daughter who becomes a doctor. There was class movement between generations.

An example of intragenerational mobility would be a man who is a secretary, but then goes back to school to become a lawyer. The mobility in that situation would be within his own lifetime and would likely change his social class.

Discussion: Why might sociologists distinguish between social mobility between generations and social mobility within a generation (an individual’s lifetime)?

Intergenerational mobility is the movement between social classes that occurs from one generation to the next.

Intragenerational mobility is the movement between social classes that occurs over the course of an individual’s lifetime.

Social Mobility: Horizontal and Vertical

Horizontal social mobility is the occupational movement of individuals or groups within a social class.

Vertical social mobility is the movement between social classes and, depending on the direction, is often called either upward mobility or downward mobility.

Horizontal social mobility, which is fairly common, refers to the changing of jobs within a class: a therapist who shifts careers so that he can teach college experiences horizontal mobility.

Vertical social mobility is movement up or down the social ladder, and thus is often called upward or downward mobility. If this same therapist marries a president of a large corporation, he might experience upward mobility. On the other hand, if he or his wife gets laid off, he might experience downward mobility.

People are far more likely to experience horizontal than vertical social mobility. However, most Americans strive for upward social mobility.

Social Mobility: Structural

Structural mobility refers to changes in the social status of large numbers of people due to structural changes in society.

Structural mobility occurs when broad-scale social changes occur – such as an economic recession or the expansion of higher education

Women entering the workplace during World War II is an example of a structural change that affected large numbers of people and families.

During periods of economic recession, we may see downward social mobility for many people at once due to layoffs and company closures.

Structural mobility helps to make sense of how individuals’ lives are shaped by a broader historical moment. That is, social mobility may be impacted by structural mobility.

Discussion: remind students of C. Wright Mills’ definition of sociology as the intersection of history and biography).

Poverty

The number of people in poverty in the United States was 40.6 million people or 12.7 percent of the population in 2016.

Individuals living below the poverty line are eligible to receive assistance. Welfare reform occurred in the 1990s under President Clinton. In their book $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, Edin and Shaefer discuss their findings regarding welfare benefits that have declined significantly while individuals living in absolute poverty have increased significantly.

In the United States, the federal poverty line (an absolute measure of annual income) is frequently used to determine who should be categorized as poor.

The poverty threshold in 2017 for a family of four was $24,600

Most people living in poverty are not unemployed. This fact is evident in the term “working poor.”

Poverty: Absolute and Relative Deprivation

Absolute deprivation is an objective measure of poverty that is defined by the inability to meet minimal standards for food, shelter, clothing, or health care.

Relative deprivation is a relational measure of poverty based on the standards of living.

People are considered poor if their standard of living is less than that of other members of society.

Absolute: In this case, you feel poor because you can’t meet minimal, basic needs. You are comparing your salary to the cost of living.

Relative: You might feel poor compared to others because they have more material possessions or spending power than you have. You are comparing your salary to the salary of others.

Poverty in the United States by Selected Characteristics, 2013

Poverty: Culture of Poverty and Invisibility of Poverty

One of the key criticisms of this theory is that it tends to blame the victims of poverty for their own misfortune while failing to take into account the structural factors that shape culture.

However, it is worthwhile to discuss ways that society might help stop this cycle. For instance, if children aren’t getting skills about financial management at home, could the schools intervene and give these children the skills they’ll need to move into a higher social class?

The culture of poverty refers to learned attitudes that can develop among poor communities and lead the poor to accept their fate rather than attempt to improve their situation.

Invisibility of Poverty: Residential segregation, political disenfranchisement, and the use of law enforcement to control the homeless can make poverty invisible to many Americans.

Inequality and the Ideology of the American Dream

The American Dream:

is the ideology that anyone can achieve material success if he or she works hard enough

explains and justifies economic inequality in our social system

has been criticized for legitimizing stratification by implying that everyone has the same opportunity to get ahead

This is the idea of meritocracy (that hard work is justly rewarded). This notion tells us that success or failure depends on the person, when in reality we know that there are structural advantages and disadvantages that also contribute to an individual’s success or failure. In upcoming chapters we will discuss some of these structural issues.

The American Dream is exemplified in U.S. society by “rags-to-riches” success stories.

Although once pervasive, younger Americans have begun to reject this ideology

A 2015 Harvard poll revealed that among college-age millennials:

50% believe the American Dream still exists

50% believe the American Dream is dead

There are also differences in belief across racial groups.

The simplicity movement is a reaction to this ideology. It encourages people to work less, oppose consumerism, earn less, and spend less – placing less value with materialistic goods.

In conjunction with “The American Dream,” the “wealth gap” should be discussed, which indicates that the rich are getting richer while the poor gets poorer.

“Oligarchy” is also relevant to discuss alongside “The American Dream” and the “wealth gap.” Oligarchy occurs when a few very wealthy individuals rule a country.

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 1

Every society has some form of stratification.

true

false

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 2

The tendency of social classes to remain relatively stable as social class status is passed down from one generation to the next is called

cultural capital.

social prestige.

social reproduction.

class consciousness.

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 3

We call entrenched attitudes that can develop among poor communities and lead the poor to accept their fate

the culture of poverty.

the just-world hypothesis.

disenfranchisement.

social welfare.

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 4

Max Weber argued that there were several important components of social class. Which of the following is NOT one of the components?

prestige

power

wealth

morals

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 5

Sociologists apply the terms wealth and income interchangeably.

true

false

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 6

Disenfranchisement refers to

the removal of the rights of citizenship.

geographic segregation.

absolute deprivation.

relative deprivation.

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 7

Apartheid is best described as which of the following types of social systems?

slavery

modern-day slavery

caste

social class

Social Class and Inequality – Concept Quiz 8

__________ refers to a system of stratification based on access to resources such as wealth, property, power, and prestige.

Slavery

Modern-day slavery

Caste

Social class

ANS: D

Chapter 7: Data Workshop Activity

Refer to the Data Workshop on page 195 to prepare for this activity.

You are a sociologist engaged in a research project about social class.

Observe the following video clip and take field notes on 1–2 individuals. Look for markers of their social class.

Be prepared to share your field notes with the class.

Directions for Instructors:

Reference Chapter 2. This activity exemplifies the terms content analysis, representativeness, observation, field notes, and quantitative vs. qualitative research. Refer students to page 195. Read the data workshop activity. We are going to focus on a modified, classroom version that combines

Options 1: You are sociologists charged with a research study that includes conducting a content analysis of this film clip. Based on the instructions given for the Data Workshop, engage in observation of the individuals in the clip. https://youtu.be/3mzhaBTlfM0

Option 2: Select four to five individuals to observe and write notes. After you have completed your observation write a two page essay describing your observations of four to five people from the field site. Use the questions on page 195 to guide your essay response. You must include images of your experience.