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Sociology in the Fastlane
The Mechanisms of Social Reality
WHAT IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?
• Social stratification is defined as a system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy
•Four fundamental principles of stratification: 1. Social stratification is a characteristic of
society
2. Social stratification persists over generations
SOCIAL MOBILITY
• Most societies allow some sort of social mobility or changes in people's position in a system of social stratification 1. Social mobility may be upward, downward, or horizontal
2. Intragenerational Social Mobility A change in social position occurring during a person’s lifetime
3. Intergenerational Social Mobility Upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to
their parents
4. Structural social mobility A shift in the social position of large numbers of people due
more to changes in society than to individual efforts
OPEN AND CLOSED SYSTEMS
• Sociologists distinguish between:
•Open Systems (Class Systems)
• Permit much more social mobility
• Closed Systems (Caste Systems)
• Allow little change in social position
CLASS SYSTEMS (OPEN)
• Social stratification based on both birth and individual achievement
• Schooling and skills lead to social mobility
• Work is no longer fixed at birth but involves some personal choice
• Meritocracy
• Social stratification based on personal merit
• Status Consistency Inconsistency
• The degree of consistency in a person’s social standing across
various dimensions of social inequality
CASTE SYSTEM
• Social stratification based on ascription or birth
• Little or no social mobility
• Caste position determines life from birth
• The caste guides everyday life by keeping people in the company of their “own kind”
• Typically agrarian because agriculture demands a lifelong routine of work
IDEOLOGY
• Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality •Every culture considers some type of inequality fair • Ideology changes with a society’s economy and technology •Historically, challenges to status quo always arise
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF STRATIFICATION
1. Social stratification is a characteristic of society
2. Social stratification persists over generations
3. Social stratification is universal but variable
4. Social stratification involves both inequality and beliefs
PATTERNED INEQUALITY
• Saying that inequality is patterned indicates that the differences occur: 1. on a wide-scale basis
2. with regularity
3. and along lines of certain specific, identifiable characteristics
THREE PREMISES
1. Power: the ability to impose one’s will on others
2. Property: forms of wealthy
3. Prestige: the respect given by others
OCCUPATIONAL PRESTIGE
• Generates income and is an important source of prestige
• High prestige given to occupations that require extensive
training and generate high income
• Less prestigious work pays less and requires less ability
and schooling
• In any society, high-prestige occupations go to privileged
categories
LIFE CHANCES
• Opportunities that individuals do or do no
have to engage in certain activities
• Opportunities that they do or do not have to
accomplish certain goals
EXPLANATION FOR STRATIFICATION
• The Davis-Moore Thesis (Functionalist Approach)
1. Social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society
2. The greater the functional importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it
3. Any society can be egalitarian, but only to the extent that people are willing to let anyone perform any job
4. Positions a society considers crucial must offer enough rewards to draw talented people away from less important work
EXPLANATIONS FOR STRATIFICATION
• Karl Marx: Class Conflict (Conflict Approach)
•Social stratification is rooted in people’s relationship to the means of production
• Capitalists/Bourgeoisie: People who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profit
• Proletariat: Working people who sell their labor for wages
CLASS, STATUS AND POWER
• Max Weber identified three distinct dimensions of stratification: class, power, and status
• Social standing consists of three parts:
•Class: Determined mainly by economic standing or wealth
•Party: Which was equivalent to political power
•Status: Social prestige and honor
SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS (SES)
• A composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality
1. Education
2. Wealth Assets
Income
3. Occupational Prestige
EXPLANATIONS FOR STRATIFICATION
• Micro-level analysis (Symbolic Interactionism)
• Social standing affects everyday interaction
• People with different social standing keep their
distance from one another
• Conspicuous consumption
• Buying and using products with an eye to the “statement”
they make about social position
POVERTY
• Relative Poverty
• The deprivation of some people in relation to those who have more
• Absolute Poverty
• A life-threatening deprivation of resources
• Poverty Line
•Government determination of what poverty is
• $20,614 for a family of four
EXPLAINING POVERTY
• Blame the poor: The poor are responsible for their own poverty
• Culture of Poverty
• A lower-class subculture that can destroy people’s ambition to improve their
lives
• Blame society: Society is primarily responsible for poverty
• Primary cause is loss of jobs in inner cities
• Government should fund jobs and provide affordable child care for low-income
mothers and fathers
• The Working Poor
• The Truly Disadvantaged (W.J. Wilson)
• This group consists of people who live predominantly in the inner city and
who are trapped in a cycle of joblessness, deviance, crime, welfare
dependency, and unstable family life.