Chapter 8

The unequal distribution of:WealthPowerPrestige

Due to meritocracy or social stratification

Social hierarchy Division of society into groups

UpperMiddleLower

Criteria for Stratification:RaceClassGender AgeWhatever is socially important.

1. A 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) Religious Economic Political Physical characteristics

Cannot be changed ▪ Apartheid in South Africa (1948-1991)

4 official groups:

BlackWhiteIndianColoured

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2dScTlvOQ

System based on access to resources: Wealth Property Power Prestige

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

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=relate

d Playhouses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feApzG9FUuY&feature=related

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/ceo-pay-ratios/RATIO OF CEO COMPENSATION TO EMPLOYEE PAY

Top 10 of Forbes 400 Wealthiest in 2012

http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:_filter:All%20industries_filter:All%20countries_filter:All%20states

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eimh45igdg/1-dustin-moskovitz/Youngest Billionaires 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/national/class/****SOCIAL CLASS MATTERS

Professionals and ManagersExecutivesManagersWell-educated

▪College or postgraduate degrees

“White collar” workersBroad range of incomesLost Decade of Middle Class

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/

2012/08/22/video-lost-decade-of-the-

middle-class/

“Blue-collar” or service industry workers

Less likely to have college degrees

“Working poor”▪Unemployed

Typically have lower levels of literacy

Minimum wages by state http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-

minimum-wage-chart.aspx

Income for household with 2 people working 40 hours/week at minimum wage jobs.

$2494.00/month $29,928/year

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/21/poverty-rises-despite-end-of-recession_n_1023946.html

The original version of the federal poverty measure, which was developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration in the 1960s.

Updated each year by the Census Bureau, the thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes.

The other version of federal poverty measure.

Issued every year, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds

Created for administrative use, such as determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs.

2013 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATESAND THE DISTRICT

OF COLUMBIAPersons in

family/householdPoverty guideline

For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,020 for each

additional person. 1 $11,4902 15,5103 19,5304 23,5505 27,5706 31,5907 35,6108 39,630

http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-poverty-guidelines.html

Social Security lifted roughly 14.5 million seniors above the poverty line.

Without SS, the number of people ages 65+ in poverty would have increased five-fold

Social institution: Organizes society’s

Production, Distribution, and Consumption of goods and services

Goods: Commodities (products)

Services: Activities that benefit people

Production: Which goods and services Consumer goods:

▪ Food ▪ Shelter▪ Clothing

Producer goods: Resources to create goods▪ Cotton▪ Steel▪ Water

Education

Communication

Transportation

Health

TransportationPackagingStorageAdvertising

Purchase and Use of goods & services by households

Major determinants Consumption

IncomePrice

HENRY FORD: It is customers, not employers, who really pay workers’ wages; employers merely look after the cash.

Economies do best when workers can afford to buy the goods that they make.

Drives 70% of the U.S. economy

We are all consumersThings we buy every week:Groceries, gasoline, clothingCreate the demand that keeps companies making products

CapitalismSocialism

No nation completely one or

the other

1. Private ownership of means of production

2. Production based on profit

3. Competition

4. Self-interest

5. Limited government influence

1. Public ownership of the means of production

2. Production based on human needs

3. Equality of all people

4. Democracy

5. Common good 41

U.S. considered a Capitalist system

Most businesses are privately owned

Government: Large role in the economy

Public Ownership: Schools Highways Parks Museums

Sets minimum wage levels

Workplace safety standards

Provides farm price supports

Negotiates trade policies

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/01/us/government-incentives.html

Average American Families Pays $6K a Year in Big Business Subsidies

http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/24/average-american-family-pays-6k-a-year-in-subsidies-to-big-business/

Karl Marx: Two main social classes in capitalist societies:

1.Capitalists (or bourgeoisie) Own the means of

production

2.Workers (or proletariat) Sell their labor for wages

Max Weber: Social Class has 3 components:

1.Class (Wealth: money, investments)

2.Status (Prestige)

3.Party (Power)

Social Prestige of Selected Occupations in U.S.

Social Prestige of Selected Occupations in U.S.

White Collar Blue CollarScore White Collar Score Blue Collar

Erving Goffman: Social class indicated by: Clothing Speech Gestures Possessions Friends Activities

Motivates people to

achieve

Allocates people into jobsPoor provide jobs for othersSocial service

Theory in Everyday Life

The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd EditionCopyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company