Course Reflection Paper----social science
simbasmith
chapter5.ppt
Power and Sociology: The Importance of Social Class
Chapter 5
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- After reading this chapter, students will be able to:
- Explain the focus of the field of sociology, including its emphasis on power relations of all sorts within societies.
- Explain how social class is defined
- Explain the theories that inform sociology's examination of social class.
- Describe how social class influences the exercise of power in the United States.
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SOCIOLOGY AND
THE STUDY OF HUMANKIND
- The American Sociological Association says sociology is:
- the study of society
- a social science which studies social lives of people, groups and societies
- the study of our behavior as social beings
- the scientific study of social aggregations
- an overarching unification of all studies of humankind
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SOCIOLOGISTS AND THEIR WORK
- Sociologists most commonly work in academe, either conducting research or teaching.
- Some utilize research skills within the judicial system, health care or social service organizations, policy foundations, government agencies or marketing firms.
- All types of analysis are based on categorizations of groups of individuals.
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POWER RELATIONS AND
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
- Stratification–classification of individuals and ranking classifications on a superiority-inferiority scale.
- Ranked by occupation and control of economic resources.
- Characterized by unequal distribution of wealth, income, and power.
- Stratification creates social classes-individuals who occupy a broadly similar category in the ranking system.
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STRATIFICATION IN
AMERICAN SOCIETY
- Sociologists have devised several methods of identifying and measuring social stratification:
- Subjective method
- Reputational method
- Objective method
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SUBJECTIVE SELF-CLASSIFICATION
- American ideology
- Status should be based on personal qualities and achievements.
- Individuals should have the opportunity to achieve the social ranking they can earn by ability, effort, and moral worth.
- Most Americans will describe themselves as middle class.
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THE GREAT RECESSION AND
SELF-CLASSIFICATION
- Between 2008–2014, there was marked downward adjustment of Americans’ self-classification of social class.
- In 2008, 53% self-identified as middle-class; in 2014, 44% self-identified as middle-class.
- Proportion self-identifying as lower-class more than doubled in this period.
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REPUTATIONAL PRESTIGE
- Occupations differ in reputational prestige—general level of respect
- Prestigious occupations tend to:
- require extensive education
- involve substantial authority
- be white-collar, involve mental activity rather than blue-collar, requiring physical labor.
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OBJECTIVE CLASSIFICATIONS
- Principle objective criteria of social class – income, occupation, and education.
- The biggest factor determining income is education.
- College graduates comprise nearly 30% of adults in the U.S.
- Higher levels of educational achievement are linked to higher earnings across racial groups.
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RACE AND ETHNICITY
- Ethnic and racial stratification is visible in virtually all measures of social class.
- Educational attainment most important factor
- Hispanics lag behind in educational measures.
- But even controlling for education, there are still significant differences in earnings between racial and ethnic groups.
- Unequal levels of educational attainment create continued inequality in American society.
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SOCIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF SOCIAL CLASSES
- Functional theory assumes that society is stable and orderly and requires inequality.
- Conflict theory focuses on the struggle among competing groups in society for scarce resources.
- Feminist theory
- Queer theory
- Racial theory
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SOCIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF SOCIAL CLASSES (cont’d)
- Symbolic Interaction theory examines the way individuals use symbols to create subjective reality.
- Postmodernism rejects older theories, calls into question key assumptions on which they are based.
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INEQUALITY IN AMERICA
- Income is key component of stratification, and income is unequally distributed in all societies.
- How much inequality is required to provide adequate rewards and incentives for education, training, work, enterprise, and risk?
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RISING INCOME INEQUALITY
- Rising income inequality since 1970:
- Decline of the manufacturing sector
- Increase in two-wage earner households
- Demographic trend—more aged and single-female headed families
- Global competition lowered unskilled and semi-skilled wages
- Concentration of wealth among the superrich
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RISING INCOME INEQUALITY
- Inequality of Wealth
- Wealth is the total value of a family’s assets
- Equality of Opportunity: success based on ability, work, initiative, and luck
- Equality of Results: equal incomes regardless of ability, work, or initiative
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SOCIAL MOBILITY: THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SOCIAL CLASS
- Traditional Upward Mobility
- Throughout 20th century, Americans experienced more upward than downward mobility.
- By 1970, white-collar workers outnumbered blue- collar workers.
- The Shrinking Middle Class
- Deindustrialization and globalization
Mobility and Education
Education is the most common path to social mobility.
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CLASS AS A DETERMINANT
OF LIFESTYLE
- Life differs in each social class, although class lifestyles overlap.
- In America there are no rigid boundaries between classes, although there may be generational or geographic differences.
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CLASS AS A DETERMINANT
OF LIFESTYLE
- Upper Class—future oriented regarding the community, nation, and humanity.
Provided leadership in Republican and Democratic parties.
C. Wright Mills—upper class constitutes a ruling class of power elite (institutional power).
Nelson Polsby—competition causes lack of unity, so there is no cohesive, unified power elite.
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CLASS AS A DETERMINANT
OF LIFESTYLE
- Middle class also future oriented, but concerned with their immediate families.
- Middle of the road or conservative politically–important because it is the largest class.
- Do not expect to have an effect on community, state, or national events.
- No unified American middle class—instead a range of classes from upper middle with economic stability to lower middle with economic uncertainty.
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CLASS AS A DETERMINANT
OF LIFESTYLE
- Working class—present oriented, work to maintain themselves and their families.
- Expect their children to make their own way in life.
- Often apathetic about politics, less likely to vote than other classes; vote Democratic when they do vote.
- Look down on those who accept government assistance.
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CLASS AS A DETERMINANT
OF LIFESTYLE
Lower Class—live day-to-day; no confidence in ability to control what happens to them; resent authority.
- Families frequently headed by a woman.
- Male offspring of lower-class matriarchal family may drop out of school, have a police record, and limited job opportunities.
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SOCIAL CLASSES:
CONFLICT AND CONCILIATION
- Class consciousness—the belief that all members of one’s social class have similar economic and political interests that are adverse to the interest of other classes and ought to be promoted through common action.
- Americans are aware of class membership, but do not always share political interests, feel that collective action is necessary, or see themselves as locked in a struggle with opposing classes.
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SOCIAL CLASSES:
CONFLICT AND CONCILIATION
Why is there no class conflict in America?
- Relatively high standard of living of all social classes.
- Great deal of upward mobility focuses attention on individual efforts at “getting ahead.”
- Existence of a large middle-income, middle-prestige class.
- Widespread belief in the legitimacy of class structure.
- Many cross-cutting allegiances interfere with class solidarity.
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SOCIAL CLASS AND
POLITICAL POWER
- Government leadership is mainly from the upper and upper—middle class.
- Several factors modify the impact of upper social classes in politics:
- Individuals may not share a consensus about public affairs.
- The elite may be “public regarding” in their exercise of power.
- Can be held accountable for their exercise of power by the majority in elections.
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