SOCIAL MOBILITY PRIVILEGE AND SOCIAL CLASS Week Eleven

SOCIAL MOBILITY, PRIVILEGE AND SOCIAL CLASS Week Eleven Sociology 1301: Introduction to Sociology

Definitions: Privilege unearned access to resources (social power) only readily available to some people as a result of their advantaged social group membership

Definitions: Oppression the fusion of institutional and systemic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry, and social prejudice in a complex web of relationships and structures that shape most aspects of life in our society

Definitions: Social Class A largely self-perpetuating category marked by persistent and pervasive inequalities of income, wealth, status, and social power. Class is also a whole lot more – specifically, class is also culture, including: Ideas, Behavior, Attitudes, Values, & Language

Capital Economic Capital Social Capital Cultural Capital Human Capital

Group Discussion Questions When you were growing up, what was your family’s source(s) of income? Describe your home(s) and neighborhood(s) growing up. (Own vs. rent, amount of space inside and between houses or apartments, safety, state of repair, etc. ) How does the education you are getting now compare with the education of others in your family in this generation, and in the previous two generations? How was your family’s leisure time spent when you were growing up? What do you appreciate or what have you gained from your class background experience? What has been hard for you from your class background? What impact does your class background have on your current attitudes, behaviors, and feelings? (about money, work,

The Social Class Worldview Model Ability to maintain or increase capital and therefore maintain or increase social class Social Class Worldview Accrue & Nurture Capital Human Econo mic Referent Peer/Cohor t Group of Aspiration Behaviors Consciousness, Attitudes, & Referent Saliency Social Cultura l Referent Group of Origin Property Relationshi ps Lifestyle Impacts of Classism Upward Privilege Lateral Downward Inability to maintain or even a decrease in capital and therefore decrease or maintenance of social class Oppressio n

3 Main Parts Accrual & Nurture of Capital Gaining/maintaining class Social Class Worldview The way one’s class is played out/their awareness of class Classism How, systemically and individually, we reinforce class

The Social Class Worldview Model Ability to maintain or increase capital and therefore maintain or increase social class Social Class Worldview Accrue & Nurture Capital Human Econo mic Referent Peer/Cohor t Group of Aspiration Behaviors Consciousness, Attitudes, & Referent Saliency Social Cultura l Referent Group of Origin Property Relationshi ps Lifestyle Impacts of Classism Upward Privilege Lateral Downward Inability to maintain or even a decrease in capital and therefore decrease or maintenance of social class Oppressio n

Assumptions of the SCWM Social class operates at an individual and subjective level in people’s lives. An individual’s perceptions shape their reality. Individuals work towards congruency in their worldview.

The Social Class Worldview Model Ability to maintain or increase capital and therefore maintain or increase social class Social Class Worldview Accrue & Nurture Capital Human Econo mic Referent Peer/Cohor t Group of Aspiration Behaviors Consciousness, Attitudes, & Referent Saliency Social Cultura l Referent Group of Origin Property Relationshi ps Lifestyle Impacts of Classism Upward Privilege Lateral Downward Inability to maintain or even a decrease in capital and therefore decrease or maintenance of social class Oppressio n

Poverty A condition of deprivation due to economic circumstances that is severe enough that the individual in this condition cannot live with dignity in his or her society. Culture of Poverty Perverse Incentives Absolute Poverty vs. Relative Poverty

Figure 10. 3 International Comparison of Poverty Rates among Wealthy Countries You May Ask

Why Is the United States So Different? The United States has a much broader range of inequality (our rich are much richer than our poor) than any other developed nation in the world, as well as higher poverty rates (a larger percentage of the population is below the poverty line).

Social Mobility Horizontal Social Mobility: Vertical Social Mobility: Ascending/Upward Descending/Downward Structural Mobility

Marx & Capitalism: economic system in which property and goods are owned privately; investments are determined by private decisions; and prices, production, and the distribution of goods are determined primarily by competition in a free market. Bourgeois vs. Proletariat

Marx & Capitalism Socialism: economic system in which most or all the needs of the population are provided for through nonmarket methods of distribution. Communism: a political ideology of a classless society, in which the means of production are shared through state ownership and in which rewards are not tied to productivity but need.

Marx & Capitalism Alienation: a condition in which people are dominated by forces of their own creation that then confront them as alien powers; according to Marx, the basic state of being in a capitalist society. Alienation from Product Alienation from the Process of Production Alienation from People Alienation from Ourselves

Weber & Capitalism Spirit of Capitalism: you work hard, but you cannot enjoy the fruits of your labor, instead you must reinvest to increase your capital. Protestant Ethic: predestination of salvation means looking for signs of God's favor through success, self-discipline, and asceticism (the ability to deny pleasure).

Weber & Capitalism Calvinist Beliefs: Calling Predestination Resulting in “Iron Cage”

Figure 14. 3 Annual Vacation Days and Holidays Worldwide You May Ask Yourself, 2

Figure 14. 4 Champagne-Glass Distribution You May Ask Yourself, 2 nd Edition Copyright ©

Education: the process through which academic, social, and cultural ideas and tools are developed. Two Main Functions: Educate (Functional Illiteracy & Innumeracy) Socialize (Hidden Curriculum)

Challenges with Education Some Problems with Education: Tracking Credentialism

Works Cited Adams, M. , Bell, L. A. , Griffin, P. (Eds. ) (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice (2 nd Ed. ). NY: Routledge. Bell (2007). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. In Adams, M. , Bell, L. A. Griffin, P. (Eds. ) (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice (2 nd Ed. ). NY: Routledge, pp. 1 -14. Hardiman, Bailey, & Griffin (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education. In Adams, M. , Bell, L. A. Griffin, P. (Eds. ) (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice (2 nd Ed. ). NY: Routledge, pp. 35 -66). Leondar-Wright, B. & Yeskel, F. (2007). Classism curriculum design. In Adams, M. , Bell, L. A. Griffin, P. (Eds. ) (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice (2 nd Ed. ). NY: Routledge, pp. 309 -333). Liu, W. M. , Soleck, G. , Hopps, J. , Dunston, K. , & Pickett Jr, T. (2004). A new framework to understand social class in counseling: The social class worldview model and modern classism theory. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 32, 95 -122. Adams, M. A. , Blumenfeld, W. J. , Castaneda, R. , Hackman, H. W. , Peters, M. , & Zuniga, X. (Eds. ). (2000). Readings for diversity and social justice: An anthology on racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism. New York: Routledge. Kimmel, M. & Ferber, A. (Eds. ). (2003). Privilege: A Reader. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press.