Social Stratification Class and Inequality 1 AgreeUnsureDisagree It

Social Stratification, Class, and Inequality 1

Agree/Unsure/Disagree? • It is possible to move from poverty to the middle class. • Hard work alone determines success. • Being middle class is the American Dream. • Poverty equals unhappiness. • Money equals happiness. • You can never change your class status. • A stable family life is important to achieving success. 2

Social stratification • Social stratification is structured inequality between groups. • This inequality may be based on economics, gender, race, religion, age, or another factor • What is at play is power. 3

Characteristics of stratification systems • Systems of inequality are organized around groups with a shared characteristic. • The social location of a group is significant in terms of the life chances of members. • Rankings of groups change only very slowly. 4

Three basic models • Slavery—ownership of certain people • Caste—status for life • Class—positions based on economics 5

How do stratification systems look today? • In modern, industrialized societies, there is little overt support for rigid systems of inequality. • Remaining caste systems appear to be transitioning into class systems. • From the time of World War II to the 1970 s, class boundaries appeared to soften, but they have been hardening since the 1970 s. 6

Class systems • In modern societies, class systems dominate. • While class systems do allow for social mobility, opportunities are not evenly distributed across social groups. • Class has a significant impact on many aspects of life, including education, occupation, place of residence, marriage partner, and more. 7

What is social class? • Social class is some mixture of: • Wealth • Income • Education • Occupation 8

Marx and class conflict • Karl Marx was very interested in class relations in capitalist societies. • Class was determined solely by one’s relation to the means of production. • Proletariat and bourgeoisie • Group membership utterly determined life chances. • Ultimately the proletariat would overthrow the bourgeoisie, ending the reign of capitalism. 9

Functionalist approaches • Functionalist theorists attempt to understand what role inequality plays in keeping society at equilibrium. • Davis and Moore (1945) argued that stratification benefited society by ensuring that the most important roles would be filled by the most talented and worthy people. 10

Weber: Class and status • For Max Weber, position in a stratification system was not based on economics alone: social status was also significant. • Weber’s multidimensional approach is attractive to those who believe that social prestige and power can be independent of economics. 11

Occupational prestige Occupation Accountant Cab driver Carpenter Classical musician Electrical engineer Garbage collector Journalist Physician Police officer Real estate agent Registered nurse Secretary Shoe shiner Social worker Sociologist Waiter or waitress Rank (1 = most prestigious; 16 = least prestigious) _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ 12

The rankings 1. Physician 2. Electrical engineer 3. Sociologist 4. Accountant 5. Registered nurse 6. Classical musician 7. Police officer 8. Journalist 9. Social worker 10. Secretary 11. Real estate agent 12. Carpenter 13. Cab driver 14. Waiter or waitress 15. Garbage collector 16. Shoe shiner 13

The American middle class • The United States understands itself as a middle-class society. • This fits with strongly held ideologies, including classlessness, meritocracy, and the work ethic. • Middle-class ideologies tend to promote the reproduction of inequality. 14

Social mobility • Social mobility is the movement of people up or down the stratification system. • Class systems allow for more movement than slave or caste systems. • Even so, it remains quite difficult to achieve upward, intergenerational social mobility. 15

Social Inequality in the U. S. Median net worth of American families based on various social factors $300, 000 EDUCATION No high school High school $225, 000 Some college College degree AGE 0 55 35 65 45 75 $150, 000 RACE OR ETHNICITY $75, 000 Nonwhite or Hispanic White, non Hispanic HOME OWNERSHIP $0 Renter Owner © 2011 W. W. Norton Co. , Inc. Essentials Of Sociology, 3 rd Edition Copyright © 2011 W. W. Norton & Company SOURCE: U. S. Federal Reserve Board 2009. 16

Social Inequality in the U. S. Median net worth by percentile $2 m $1 m $0 0% 25% 50% 75% 90% 100% PERCENTILE OF NET WORTH Essentials Of Sociology, 3 rd Edition Copyright © 2011 W. W. Norton & Company © 2011 W. W. Norton Co. , Inc. SOURCE: U. S. Federal Reserve Board 2009. 17

Poverty • Despite the wealth of resources and opportunities in the United States, poverty remains a significant social problem. • Sociologists discuss two general types of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty. 18

Poverty in the United States • A full 12. 5 percent of the population in 2007 was in poverty (more than 37 million people); this is the highest rate among the major industrialized nations. • One-third of these people is working. • Poverty is calculated using a formula from the 1960 s, whereby the poverty line is based on an income three times the cost of monthly groceries. 19

Why are the poor? • Poverty is not simply the result of not working hard. • Explanations for poverty are diverse. • What we know is that low earnings (often based on a low minimum wage) make it very hard to “get ahead. ” • Also, the poor have less educational attainment, less health insurance, and more broadly, diminished life chances. 20

Race and wealth • Though race is not an actual component of class, there is a clear intersection. • Research shows that non-whites generally have less wealth and education than other social groups. • Non-whites are also much more likely to experience discrimination when buying homes. 21

Gender and poverty • Sociologists often discuss what is called the feminization of poverty. • Because of social changes, including divorce and the increasing normalization of single-parenting, there are more female -headed households today than throughout modern U. S. history. • Of these families, 28 percent were poor in 2007. 22

Explanations for poverty • Sociologists have many empirical explanations for poverty, but by and large they all fall under one of two themes: • Blaming the victim (culture of poverty arguments) • Blaming the system (social exclusion, structural arguments) 23

Poverty and social problems • Social welfare systems • Homelessness • Lack of basic medical care • Educational segregation • People turn to non-conventional means to make money. 24

Does inequality affect you? • The U. S. economy is changing; that means changing jobs, changing wages, and new competition. • Inequality has been on the rise for the past three to four decades. 25

Practice Questions 1. What is social stratification? a. the existence of structured inequalities between individuals and groups in a society b. a system in which success is based on whom you know. c. a system based on the simple fact that some people are lucky and others are unlucky d. a condition that results when people’s social mobility is hindered, such as in caste or slavery systems 26

Practice Questions 2. If someone is poor when compared with the standard of living for most people, he or she experiences a. absolute poverty. b. relative poverty. c. downward mobility. d. structural mobility. 27

Practice Questions 3. What is the basis of Karl Marx’s theory of class? a. Class is a by-product of the Industrial Revolution. b. Modern societies are divided into those who own the means of production and those who sell their labor. c. People with power will always use it to project their material interests. d. Class is a transitory system of stratification between feudal estates and the classlessness of communist society. 28

Practice Questions 4. What term describes the movement of individuals or groups between different social positions? a. social mobility b. social exclusion c. social structure d. vertical advancement 29

Practice Questions 5. What did Max Weber add to Karl Marx’s theory of class? a. Weber argued that income was more important than property in determining class standing in modern society. b. Weber argued that marketable skills were as important as property in determining class standing and that status was as important as class as a dimension of stratification in modern society. c. Weber argued that society was much too complex for anything remotely resembling Marx’s historical materialism (his theory of history). d. Weber understood the enduring significance of the middle class. 30

Practice Questions 6. Which of the following systems of stratification permit the least amount of mobility? a. caste b. class c. slavery d. clan 31

Clicker Questions 7. Since the early 1970 s, inequality in the United States has a. increased. b. decreased. c. remained approximately the same d. become more difficult to measure. 32

How do students derive status from the products they buy and the clothes they wear?

Women from the Dalit caste (formally known as Untouchables) earn a living as sewage scavengers in the slums of Ranchi, India.

Figure 7. 1 The Kuznets Curve

Figure 7. 2 Distribution of Income in the United States, 1967– 2008

Figure 7. 3 Social Inequality In The U. S. Essentials Of Sociology, 3 rd Edition Copyright © 2011 W. W. Norton & Company

Social Inequality in the U. S. Median net worth of American families based on various social factors $300, 000 EDUCATION No high school High school $225, 000 Some college College degree AGE 0 55 35 65 45 75 $150, 000 RACE OR ETHNICITY $75, 000 Nonwhite or Hispanic White, non Hispanic HOME OWNERSHIP $0 Renter Owner © 2011 W. W. Norton Co. , Inc. Essentials Of Sociology, 3 rd Edition Copyright © 2011 W. W. Norton & Company SOURCE: U. S. Federal Reserve Board 2009.

Social Inequality in the U. S. Median net worth by percentile $2 m $1 m $0 0% 25% 50% 75% 90% PERCENTILE OF NET WORTH Essentials Of Sociology, 3 rd Edition Copyright © 2011 W. W. Norton & Company © 2011 W. W. Norton Co. , Inc. SOURCE: U. S. Federal Reserve Board 2009. 100%

Globalization and Everyday Life

Globalization and Everyday Life

Table 7. 1 How Has an Increase in Income

Figure 7. 4 Income Inequality in Selected Industrialized Countries: Ratio of Richest 20 Percent to Poorest 20 Percent for 2008

Figure 7. 5 Black and Latino Household Income Compared to Whites’

Over the last two decades Tony Barbagallo has collected around $3. 6 million in stock options from companies

The former governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, shares a joke with former president George W. Bush, his brother, and his father, former president George H. W. Bush.

Figure 7. 6 Percentage of Americans Living in Poverty, 1959– 2008

What does Katherine Newman’s research reveal about the working poor?

Figure 7. 7 Median Income and Poverty Rates for Households in 2008, by Race and Ethnicity

Figure 7. 8 Families with Children: Percentage in Poverty, by Race and Ethnicity, Marital Status, and Sex of Householder, 2006

Figure 7. 9 Percentage of the U. S. Population on Welfare since 1960.

The people who are at the greatest risk of becoming homeless are those who work in jobs that have low wages, live in poverty, and also struggle with personal troubles such as mental illness, alcoholism, and family problems.