Social Stratification

Social Stratification

Social Status • ‘Everyday’ meaning: Prestige • Sociological meaning: Position a person occupies • Status Set: All the statuses or positions a person occupies

Social Status • Ascribed Status: Involuntary position • Achieved Status: Voluntary position you earn or accomplish • Status provides guidelines for how we are to act and feel

Social Status • Status symbols: Signs that identify a status, allow others to recognize status • Master Statuses: Cuts across other statuses one holds, such as age, gender

Roles • Behaviors, obligations, privileges attached to a status • Role exit

Cultural Roles • Age roles • Occupational roles • Friendship roles • Gender roles

Social Stratification • Division of society into layers (strata) • Occupants of different social strata have unequal access to social opportunities and rewards

Social Class • Group of individuals who occupy similar social statuses • Includes educational level, occupation, political influence, economic position

Structure of Stratification • Closed system • Position in social hierarchy is ascribed

Structure of Stratification • Open system • Position in social hierarchy is achieved • Social mobility is possible

Structure of Stratification • Functionalist perspective: • Complex societies depend on individuals occupying a variety of positions • Societies develop systems of unequal rewards • Meritocracy: • Position in social hierarchy is determined by individual merit • Based on equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome

Social Mobility • Movement up or down socioeconomic ladder • Upward Mobility: • Better off than one’s parents • Better off than one used to be in a lifetime • Downward Mobility: • Worse off than one’s parents • Worse off than one once was

Social Mobility • Movement up or down socioeconomic ladder • Structural Mobility: • Structural changes in society ‘push’ and ‘pull’ people into higher and lower social levels

The American Class System Capitalist Class Upper Middle Class Middle Class Working Class Working Poor Underclass

Distribution of Wealth and Income • Income: • Money people earn from wages/salaries, interest, investments, etc. • Wealth: • Things people own; assets (stocks, real estate, savings bonds, cars, consumer goods)

Distribution of Wealth and Income

Deindustrialization • Shift from economy based on manufacturing to an economy based on information and service • Globalization • Technology

Poverty in America • 1995: Over 36 million Americans (almost 14% of our population) officially poor • Poverty line: Governmental estimate of minimum budget for families of different sizes • 2003: $18,400 for a family of 4

Poverty in America • Who are the poor? • For most, poverty is a temporary condition • Non-Latino whites: 48% • Single moms living alone: 37% • Majority of poor live in suburbs, small towns, and rural areas (58%) • Proportion of children who are poor has climbed (now about 20%)

The Ghetto Poor • Ghetto originally used to describe an urban neighborhood of a minority segregated from rest of the city • Now commonly used to describe poor, deteriorating, inner-city neighborhoods

Explaining Ghetto Poverty • ‘Underclass’ explanation: • Acute, chronic poverty • Culture of poverty: No work ethic, no family values, no respect for law and order

Explaining Ghetto Poverty • William Julius Wilson: • Ghetto poverty a result of the combination of • Joblessness due to deindustrialization • Social isolation

Explaining Ghetto Poverty • Christopher Jencks: • Questions the existence of special category of poor as ‘ghetto poor’ • Assuming these problems are linked together perpetuates stereotypes • This excuses inaction

The Impact of Poverty • Poor women less likely to seek prenatal care • More health problems • Hit harder with increased prices of consumer goods • More likely to be arrested for committing crime; more likely to be victims of crime

Global Stratification • Most industrialized nations • Industrializing nations • Least industrialized nations

Theories of Global Stratification • Colonialism • Industrial nations use technology, military power to exploit labor, resources of weaker nations

Theories of Global Stratification • Dependency Theory • Poverty in poor nations the result of exploitation by wealthy nations • Related to colonialism—Colonies were encouraged to develop one or two prime exports

Theories of Global Stratification • World System Theory • World economic system must be seen as a unit • Core countries • Semiperipheral countries • Peripheral countries

Social Stratification