Chapter 7: Social Class and Classism Flashcards
A way of designating rank and power
Social class
A comparative measure of class standing based on a combination of educational attainment, income level, and occupational prestige
Socioeconomic status (SES)
Based on the sum of the person’s assets minus the sum of her or his liabilities
Net worth
A condition in which a person’s liabilities significantly outweighs his or her assets or the person is unable to meet basic requirements for well-being
Poverty
A substantial surplus net worth; the sum of one’s assets significantly outweigh the sum of one’s liabilities
Wealth
Having negative biases about, and discriminatory behaviors toward, individuals or groups based on their perceived or actual SES
Classism
Unexamined class biases that shape our beliefs about ourselves and our relative merit in our families, peer groups, and community
Internalized classism
Social and institutional practices that discriminate on the basis of SES
Structural classism
Refers to ways of thinking and behaving that are used by privileged groups to justify and distance themselves from their role in socioeconomic injustice
Psychological distancing
How individuals explain poverty
Poverty attribution
People are poor or wealthy because of their personal values, work ethic, or other personal characteristics; people are personally responsible for their economic status
Individual causation
Individual wealth or poverty is best explained by socioeconomic and political factors; people are poor because of discriminatory social policy, oppression, or other institutional forms of exclusion
Structural causation
United States rooted in the belief of equal opportunity for all
Classless society
Groups of people who owned the mechanisms and materials of production
Upper class
Those who provided the labor and were minimally paid
Working class
