Ch9: social inequality in Canada Flashcards

1
Q

habitus

A

defined by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu as the deeply seated schemas, habits, feelings, dispositions, and forms of know-how that people hold due to their specific social backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences

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2
Q

social inequality

A

used to describe the unequal distribution of valued resources, rewards, and positions in a society

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3
Q

social differentiation

A

does not necessarily imply a division of individuals into a hierarchy of rank, privilege, and power

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4
Q

social stratification

A
  • refers to an institutionalized system of social inequality
  • refers to situations in which the divisions and relationships of social inequality have solidified into a system that determines who get what, when, and why
  • society-wide system that makes inequalities apparent
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5
Q

equality of opportunity

A

everyone has an equal chance at success

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6
Q

equality of condition

A

everyone in a society has a similar level of wealth, status, and power

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7
Q

factors that define stratification

A

differences in wealth, income, power, and status

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8
Q

wealth

A

the net value of money and assets a person has

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9
Q

income

A

a person’s wages, salary, or investment dividends

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10
Q

power

A

how many people a person must take orders from versus how many people a person can give orders to

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11
Q

status

A

the degree of honour or prestige one has in the eyes of others

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12
Q

status consistency

A

used to describe the consistency of an individual’s rank across the four factors

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13
Q

two types of systems of stratification

A

closed and open systems

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14
Q

closed systems

A

accommodate little change in social position

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15
Q

open systems

A

are based on achievement, allow movement and interaction between layers and classes

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16
Q

the caste system

A

close stratification system in which people can do little or nothing to change their social standing, people are born into their social standing and remain there their whole lives

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17
Q

ascribed status

A

a status one receives by virtue of being born into a category or group (hereditary position, race, gender)

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18
Q

achieved status

A

a status one receives through individual effort or merits (occupation, educational level, moral character)

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19
Q

endogamous marriage

A

means marriage between castes is forbidden

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20
Q

exogamous marriage

A

a union of people from different social categories

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21
Q

class system

A

based on both social factors and individual achievement, partially open system

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22
Q

class

A

consists of a set of people who have the same relationship to the means of production or productive property (the things used to produce the goods and services needed for survival)

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23
Q

bourgeoisie

A

the capitalist class who live from the proceeds of owning or controlling productive property

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24
Q

proletariat

A

working class who live from selling their labour to the capitalists for a wage

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25
Q

petite bourgeoisie

A

shopkeepers, farmers, and contractors who own some property employing a few works but still rely on their own labour to survive

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26
Q

lumpenproletariat

A

those who are chronically unemployed or irregularly employed who are in and out of the workforce

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27
Q

social inequality in a class system

A

it is structural, meaning that it is “built in” to the organization of the economy

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28
Q

standard of living

A

the level of wealth available to acquire the material necessities and comforts to maintain one’s lifestyle (based on factors such as income, employment, class, poverty rates, and affordability of housing)

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29
Q

absolute poverty

A

a severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information (marginalized and socially excluded)

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30
Q

relative poverty

A

refers to the minimum amount of income or resources needed to be able to participate in the ordinary living patterns, customs, and activities of a society

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31
Q

meritocracy

A

an ideal system in which personal effort or merit determines social standing

32
Q

gini index

A

a measure of income inequality in which zero is absolute equality and one is absolute inequality

33
Q

gini index of Canada

A

increased by 5% between 1980 and 2005

34
Q

Marx’s definition of social class

A
  • rested on one variable: a group’s relation to the means of production
  • two dominant classes in capitalism – the working class and the owning class
  • any divisions within the classes are less important than the tendency toward the increasing separation and polarization of these classes
35
Q

Weber’s definition of social class

A
  • defined as “life chances” to acquire rewards one share in common with others by virtue of one’s possession of property, goods, or opportunities for income
  • whether a person owns property/capital or not is still the basic variable that defines one’s class
  • value of one’s products or skills determines whether one has greater or lesser life chances
36
Q

class stratification

A

determined not only by a group’s economic position but also the prestige of the group’s occupation, education level, consumption, and lifestyle

37
Q

socio-economic status (SES)

A

Weberian approach that mixes status categories with class categories, their social positions relative to other based on income, education, and occupation

38
Q

material quality

A

relating to a group’s structural position within the economic system

39
Q

social quality

A

relating to the formation of status graduation, common subjective perceptions of class, political divisions in society, and class-based lifestyle and consumption patterns

40
Q

three components of social class

A

Marxist and Weberian models
- a group’s position in the occupational structure and authority structure
- a group’s position in a property structure (ownership of capital)
- subjective component that related to recognitions of status, distinctions of lifestyle, and how people perceive their place in the class hierarchy

41
Q

the owning class

A
  • Canada’s top, power elite
  • people of old money firmly situated in the upper class for generations, have held high prestige, socialized to know the customs, norms, and expectations with wealth
  • new money are not oriented to the customs and mores of the elite, have not gone to most exclusive schools, not established old-money social ties
42
Q

the middle class

A
  • divided into upper and lower subcategories based on gradations of status defined by education, occupation, cultural capital, lifestyle afforded by income
  • upper-middle-class tend to hold bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees in business, management, law, or medicine that lead to occupations in the professions
  • lower-middle-class hold bachelor’s degrees or associate’s degrees from two-year community or technical colleges that lead to various types of white collar, service, administrative, or paraprofessional occupations
43
Q

professions

A

occupations that claim high levels of specialized technical and intellectual expertise and are governed and regulated by autonomous professional organizations

44
Q

the traditional working class

A
  • referred to as part of the lower class
  • divided into subsets: working class, working poor, and underclass
  • traditional working class have less of an educational background and usually equated with blue-collar types of jobs (smaller incomes)
45
Q

blue collar

A

comes from the traditional blue coveralls worn by manual labourers

46
Q

working poor

A
  • unskilled, low-paying employment
  • jobs rarely offer benefits such as retirement planning, positions are often seasonal or temporary
47
Q

living wage

A

the amount needed to meet a family’s basic needs and enable them to participate in community life

48
Q

underclass or lumpenproletariat

A
  • lowest tier in Canada
  • unemployed or underemployed
49
Q

social mobility

A

refers to the ability to change positions within a social stratification system

50
Q

high degree of social mobility (upwards or downwards) suggests

A

that the stratification system of a society is open

51
Q

upward mobility

A

refers to an increase or upward shift in social class

52
Q

downward mobility

A

indicates the lowering of one’s social class

53
Q

intergenerational mobility

A

explains a difference in social class between different generations of a family

54
Q

intragenerational mobility

A

describes a difference in social class between different members of the same generation

55
Q

structural mobility

A

occurs when societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder

56
Q

class traits

A
  • “class markets”, the typical behaviours, customs, and norms that define each class
  • indicate the level of exposure a person has to a wide range of cultural resources
57
Q

global statification

A
  • compares the wealth, economic, stability, status, and power of countries across the world
  • sociologists analyze economic comparison between nations based on income, purchasing power, and wealth, also compares the quality of life
58
Q

Walt Rostow

A

suggest that disparity results from power differences

59
Q

global capitalism

A

an economic system characterized by constant change, so too is the relationship between global capitalism and national state policy

60
Q

neoliberalism

A
  • used to define the new rationality of government, which abandons the interventionist model of the welfare state to emphasize the use of “free market” to regular society
  • a set of policies in which the state reduces its role in providing public services, regulating industry, redistributing wealth, and protecting the commons
  • addressing the “inefficiency of big government”
  • a way to attract increasingly fickle global capital making entire market more competitive
61
Q

empire

A

the changing configuration of global capitalism and politics

62
Q

functionalism perspective on social inequality

A
  • different aspects of society exist because they serve a needed purpose
63
Q

Davis-Moore thesis (functionalist)

A
  • argues some social stratification is a social necessity
  • argued that the greater the functional importance of a social role, the greater must be the reward
  • posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different work
64
Q

Melvin Tumin’s counterpoint of Davis-Moore thesis

A

he believed social stratification prevented qualified people from attempting to fill roles

65
Q

critical sociology perspective on social inequality

A
  • deeply critical of social inequality, asserting that it benefits only some people not all of society
  • draw on the work of Karl Marx, who saw workers experience deep exploitation, alienation, and misery resulting from class power
66
Q

proletarianization

A

the process in which the work conditions of the middle class increasingly resemble those of the traditional, blue collar working class

67
Q

interpretive sociology perspective on social inequality

A
  • examines stratification from a micro-level perspective
  • people interact with others who share the same social standing in communities
  • note that people’s appearance reflect their perceived social standing
68
Q

Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital

A
  • suggests that cultural assets such as education and taste are accumulated and passed down between generations in the same manner as financial capital or wealth
  • sense of an investment, as it is expensive and difficult to attain while providing access to better occupations
69
Q

conspicuous consumption

A

what Thorstein Veblen described as the tendency of people to buy things as a display of status rather than out of need (buying certain products to make a social statement)

70
Q

primogeniture

A

a law sating that all property passes to the firstborn son

71
Q

For Marx, which class is driven by the desire to accumulate capital and increase profit at any cost?

A

the bourgeoisie

72
Q

Which of the following concepts refers to the mechanism through which people acquire similar ‘skillsets’ and ‘tastes’ as others from the same class backgrounds?

A

habitus

73
Q

What two variables differentiate Weber’s conception of social and class inequality from Marx’s structural class position perspective?

A

status; power

74
Q

Contemporary approaches to social inequality suggest what three variables make up one’s social position in a hierarchical society?

A

income, education, and occupation

75
Q

Which of the following is an example of how the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) differs from that of welfare or unemployment benefits?

A

UBI provides more flexibility to participants.

76
Q

A “mobility springboard” refers to

A

A geographical area where intergenerational class mobility is more likely to occur.