Wealth
The value of a person’s or family’s economic assets, including income, personal property, and income producing property
Prestige
The regard with which a person or status position is regarded by others
Power
Ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others
Power elite
A small groups of top leaders from corporations, politics, and military
Social mobility
The movement ff individuals or groups from one lever in a stratification system to another
Intergenerational mobility
The social movement experienced by family members from one generation to the next
Intragenerational mobility
Social movement of individuals within their own lifetime
Open system
Boundaries between hierarchies may be influenced
Closed system
Boundaries between hierarchies are rigid, people’s position are set by ascribed status
Master-Slave system
An extreme form of stratification in which some people are owned by others and is a closed system
Caste system
Relatively rigid stratification system in which people’s position are ascribed and fixed and is a closed system
Class system
Relatively open system in which people’s position are achieved and changeable
Horizontal mobility
Occurs when people experience a gain or loss in position and or income that does not produce a change in their place in the class structure
Vertical mobility
Movement up or down in the class structure
Reputational method
Method of identifying social classes by selecting a group of people and asking them to rank others
Subjective method
Asking people to rank themselves
Objective method
Method of identifying social classes using income, occupation, and education to rank people
Upper Class
Comprised of people who own substantial income producing assists
Upper middle class
Consists of people in highly profitable careers based on university degrees and authority on the job
Middle class
Made up of people with a minimum of a high school diploma or a community college degree
Working class
Consist of primarily of those who have little education and whose jobs are manual and carry little prestige
Lower class
Characterized by poverty and joblessness
Life chances
Refer to the likelihood of a good, long, successful life in a society
Absolute poverty
Refers to the lack of minimum food and shelter necessary for maintaining life
Relative poverty
Refers to the state of deprivation resulting from having less that the majority of the people
Feminization of poverty
Refers to huge number of women bearing the burden of poverty, mostly as single mothers or heads of families
Blame the poor theories
The poor are believed to have failed to grab opportunities by not working hard
Modernization theory
A model of economic and social change that explains global inequality in terms of differing levels of the technological development among societies
Dependency theory
States that rich nations exploit poor ones for power and commercial gain, thereby perpetuating poverty, underdevelopment, and dependency on rich nations
Dominant group
One that is advantages and has superior resources and rights in a society
Subordinate group
One whose members are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal treatment by the dominant group and who are regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination
White privilege
Rights or immunities granted to people as a particular benefit or favor simply because they are white
Race
Socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important
Ethnicity
A shared cultural heritage. Share common ancestry and or cultural religious customs
Symbolic ethnicity
An emphasis on such concerns as ethnic food or political issues rather than on deeper ties to one’s ethnic heritage
Social construction of race
The process by which people come to define a group as a race based in part on physical characteristics, but also an historical, cultural, and economic factors
Prejudice
A negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial group
Stereotype
Unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to assume that one’a own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others
Racism
Belief that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior
The function aggression hypothesis
States that people who are frustrated in their efforts to achieve a highly desired goal will respond with a pattern of aggression toward others
The object of their aggression becomes the scape goat
Authoritarian personality
Personality type characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, intolerance, insecurity, a high level of superstition, and rigid, stereotypic thinking
Exploration theory
States that racism keeps members of subordinate groups in low paying jobs, thereby supplying the capitalist ruling class with cheap labor
Racial profiling
Arbitrary action initiated by an authority based on race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than a person’s behavior
Contact hypothesis
States that interracial contact between people of equal status who are engaged in a cooperative task will cause them to become less prejudiced and to abandon precious stereotypes
Discrimination
The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups based on some type of arbitrary bias
Action or practice
Isolate discrimination
Harmful action taken by a member of the dominant group against a member of the subordinate group. This occurs without the support of other group members
Small group discrimination
Harmful action intentionally taken by a limited number of dominant group members against members of subordinate groups
Direct institutionalized discrimination
Norma set by organizations or communities that have a negative impact on members of subordinate groups
Indirect institutionalized discrimination
Practices that may have a harmful effect on subordinate group members even though these norms or regulations were initially established with no intent to harm
Glass ceiling
Refers to an invisible barrier that blocks promotion of a qualified individual in a work environment because of the individuals gender, race, or ethnicity
Affective action
Refers to the positive efforts to recruit members of subordinate groups or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities
Social stratification
Refers to a system in which some people get fewer or more rewards than others