Chapter 7

The unequal distribution of:WealthPowerPrestige

Due to meritocracy or social stratification

Structured Social InequalityCriteria:

RaceClassGender Age

Whatever is socially important

1. Characteristic of society

2. Persists over generations

3. All societies stratify their members

4. Maintained through beliefs (ideology) Divine right of kings White man’s burden Work hard and you will achieve

1. Slavery2. Caste system3. Social class

Most extreme form of stratification

People are propertyCan be bought and sold

Provide labor

Status determined by heredity (birth)

Social ClassSystem based on access to

resources: Wealth Power Prestige

Sociologists refer to it as socioeconomic status (or SES).

The Role of Social Class in the

“Pursuit of Happiness”

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/05/07/us/1194840031120/defining-the-american-dream.html

Land of Opportunity Rags to Riches

Anyone can become rich, famous, powerful

Jobs & education available to all

Born to poor Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York. First member of his family to attend college. Worked his way up from a salesperson for XeroxBecame CEO of Starbucks, and oversaw its rapid growth, leaving him a net worth of $1.6 billion by 2013.

Grew up in tough South Boston.Dropped out of school at age 14.Pursued a life of petty crime and drugs. Wake up call after serving time for assault, and decided to turn his life around. Estimated net worth of $165 million

Raised by grandmother in poor rural Mississippi

Became a millionaire at age 32 when her talk show went national

Current net worth estimated to be $2.7 billion

Richest people in U.S. keep getting richer. Harder to join ranks of 400 wealthiest

AmericansPrice of entry to The Forbes 400 this year is

$1.55 billion Highest since Forbes started tracking American

wealth in 1982

Last year it took $1.3 billion to score a spot. Bar so high, 113 U.S. billionaires didn’t make the

cut

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2014/09/29/inside-the-2014-forbes-400-facts-and-figures-about-americas-wealthiest/

Core of “American Dream”

Movement of families up and down the economic ladder

WEALTH Valued possessions: cash, land, buildings,

property Passed generation to generation Income=Money from employment, shares etc.

POWER Ability to carry out one’s will, even if opposed

by others PRESTIGE

Respect given to people with valued positions or resources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhvYeQPOcE

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/08/22/video-lost-decade-of-the-middle-class/

Upper class: Wealthiest people in U.S. About 1% of the U.S. population Most of the wealth of the country How the very rich live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDPBxN9Ez1o&feature=related Playhouses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feApzG9FUuY&feature=related

People’s opportunities to provide themselves with:

Material goods,Positive living conditions, and

Favorable life experiences.

(Gerth and Mills 1958)

Life chances are reflected in measures such as:

Housing

Education

Health

Occupying a higher social class improves your life chances and

Brings greater access to social rewards

In contrast, people in the lower social classes are:

Forced to devote a larger proportion of their limited resources

To necessities of life

Relative deprivation is a measure of poverty based on living standards

People are considered poor if their standard of living is less than that of other members of society.

(Subjective measure)

In the U.S., the federal poverty line (an absolute measure)

Used to determine who should be categorized as poor

An objective measure of poverty defined by the inability to meet minimal standards for:

FoodShelterClothingHealth care

http://vimeo.com/84062548

http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/zq2rpw/-poor--in-america

What are the characteristics of the “poor”?

http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/who-poor-basic-characteristics-poor

Karl Marx: Two main social classes in capitalist societies:

Capitalists (or bourgeoisie), who own the means of production

Workers (or proletariat), who sell their labor for wages

Max Weber: Social Class has 3 components:

1.Class (Wealth: money, investments)

2.Status (Prestige)

3.Party (Power)

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective The way we use status differences to

categorize ourselves and others Erving Goffman: Social class

indicated by: Clothing Speech Gestures Possessions Friends Activities

Functions:

Motivates people to achieve

Allocates people into jobsPoor provide jobs for others

Theory in Everyday Life