Chapter 7

1. Chapter 7 Social Stratification: United States and Global Perspectives

2. Chapter Outline • Social Stratification: Shipwrecks and Inequality • Patterns of Inequality • Global Inequality • Is Stratification Inevitable? Three Theories • Social Mobility • Noneconomic Dimensions of Class

3. Social Stratification: Shipwrecks and Inequality • Writers and filmmakers use the shipwreck as a literary device. • It allows them to sweep away all traces of privilege and social convention and reveal human beings stripped to their essentials.

4. Robinson Crusoe (1719) • Defoe was one of the first writers to portray capitalism favorably. • He believed that people get rich if they possess the virtues of good businessmen. • Defoe tells the story of an Englishman marooned on a desert island. • His strong will, hard work, and inventiveness turn the poor island into a thriving colony.

5. Swept Away (1975) • A yacht shipwrecks while on a cruise in the Mediterranean. • The only survivors are a rich woman and a lowly deckhand. • They fall in love. • When they are rescued and return home, the woman turns her back on the deckhand, who is once again just a common laborer.

6. Swept Away (1975) The movie sends three messages: • It is possible to be rich without working hard, because one can inherit wealth. • One can work hard without becoming rich. • Inequality disappears only on the desert island, without society as we know it.

7. Economic Inequality in the United States • In the mid-1990s, the richest 1% owned 39% of national wealth. • The richest 10% owned almost 72%. • The poorest 40% owned 0.2% percent of all national wealth. • The bottom 20% had a negative net worth - they owed more than they owned.

8. 10 Richest Americans, 2003

9. 10 Richest Americans, 2003

10. Income Classes Households, 2001

11. Income Classes, Households, 2001

12. Distribution of National Income Among Households

13. Patterns of Income Inequalities • 1974 - The top 5th of households earned 9.8 times more than the bottom 5th. • 2001 -The top 5th earned more than half of all national income. • The rich have been getting richer, middle-income earners and the poor have been getting poorer.

14. Global Inequality • 1/5 of the world’s population lacks shelter. • More than 1/5 lacks safe water. • 1/3 of the world’s people are without electricity. • More 2/5 lack adequate sanitation. • There are still about 27 million slaves in Mozambique, Sudan, and other African countries.

15. Polling Question • If you were asked to use one of the following four names for your parents' social class, which would you say they belong in? • Upper class • Middle class • Working class • Lower class

16. Gini Index • A measure of income inequality with a value ranging from zero to 1. • A Gini index of zero indicates every household earns the same amount of money. • A Gini index of 1 indicates that a single household earns the entire national income. • Most countries have Gini indexes between 0.2 and 0.5.

17. U.N. Indicators of Human Development, Top 6 Countries, 2000

18. U.N. Indicators of Human Development, Bottom 6 Countries, 2000

19. Top Ten Countries, Millions of Internet Users, 2003

20. Internet Connectivity and Population Density, 2001

21. Social Characteristics of Internet Users, U.S., September 2001

22. Social Characteristics of Internet Users, U.S., September 2001

23. Social Characteristics of Internet Users, U.S., September 2001

24. Social Characteristics of Internet Users,U.S., September 2001

25. Household Income Inequality and Low Income, Selected Countries

26. Inequality and Development

27. Polling Question • Our nation should give more money to assist the poor to have better lives. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree

28. Types of Societies • Foraging Societies • Horticultural and Pastoral Societies • Agrarian Societies • Industrial Societies • Postindustrial Societies

29. Theories of Stratification: Marx • A person’s class is determined by the source of his or her income: • The bourgeoisie owns the means of production. • The proletariat do physical labor. • The petty bourgeoisie own means of production but do some physical labor themselves.

30. Theories of Stratification: Weber • Four main classes: • large property owners • small property owners • propertyless but relatively highly educated and well-paid employees • propertyless manual workers

31. Weber’s StratificationScheme

32. Theories of Stratification: Functionalism • Some jobs are more importantthan others. • People have to make sacrifices totrain for important jobs. • Inequality is required to motivate people to undergo these sacrifices.

33. Criticisms of Functionalism • Inequality encourages the discovery of talent only for those who can afford to take advantage of the opportunities available to them. • Once people attain high-class standing, they can use their power to maintain their position and promote the interests of their families regardless of their children’s talent.

34. Blau and Duncan’s Model of Occupational Achievement

35. Poverty Threshold • The poverty threshold is set at three times the cost of an economy food budget and adjusted for: • number of people in the household • annual inflation rate • whether adult householders are younger than 65

36. United States Poverty Threshold • In 2003, the poverty guideline for individual adult householders under the age of 65 was $8980 per year. • For a family of four with two children under the age of 18, the poverty guideline was $18,400.

37. Polling Question • The poor are poor because the American way of life doesn't give all people an equal chance. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree

38. Poverty Rate

39. Myths about the poor • The majority of poor people are African- or Hispanic-American single mothers with children. • In 2001, fully 45% of the poor were non-Hispanic whites • Female-headed families represented 51% of the poor, 41% lived in married-couple families.

40. Myths about the poor • People are poor because they don’t want to work. • More than 38% of the poor over age 15 worked in 2001, nearly 12% full time. • 46% of poor people are under age 18 or over 65. • Many of the poor are unable to work due to health or disability issues.

41. Myths about the poor • Poor people are trapped in poverty. • Only about 12% of the poor remain poor 5 or more years in a row

42. Myths about the poor • Welfare encourages married women with children to divorce so they can collect welfare, and it encourages single women on welfare to have more children. • Women on welfare have a lower birthrate than women in the general population. • Welfare payments are very low and recipients suffer severe economic hardship.

43. Myths about the poor • Welfare is a strain on the federal budget. • “Means-tested” welfare programs require recipients to meet an income test to qualify. • Such programs accounted for only 6% percent of the federal budget in 2001.

44. American’s View of the Class System • Most Americans are aware of the class system and their place in it. • Most Americans believe inequality persists because it serves the interests of the advantaged members of society. • However, most Americans disapprove of government intervention to lower the level of inequality.

45. Quick Quiz

46. Since the early 1960s: • more upward than downward mobility has occurred in the United States • more downward than upward mobility has occurred in the United States • the amount of downward and upward mobility has been about equal • more upward than downward mobility has occurred in the United States, and the gap between upward and downward mobility started to shrink when many Americans reported deterioration in their economic situation

47. Answer: d • Since the early 1960s: more upward than downward mobility has occurred in the United States, and the gap between upward and downward mobility started to shrink when many Americans reported deterioration in their economic situation.

48. 2. The _________________ is a measure of income inequality that ranges from 0 (every household earns the same amount of money) to 1 (all income is earned by a single household).

49. Answer: Gini Index • The Gini Index is a measure of income inequality that ranges from 0 (every household earns the same amount of money) to 1 (all income is earned by a single household).

50. 3. For Marx, the bourgeoisie: • own the means of production • do not do any physical labor • own the means of production and do physical work themselves • are economically inefficient • own the means of production, and do not do any physical labor