Flashcards in Chapter 8 Deck (14):
1
The Six-Class Model of Society
(1) Upper Class
(2) Upper Middle
(3) Lower Middle
(4) Working
(5) Working Poor
(6) Nonworking Poor
2
The American Class Structure
(1) Upper Class
(2) Upper Middle Class
(3) Middle-Middle Class
(4) The Lower Middle/Working Class
(5) The Lower Class
3
social class
a category of people who share similar opportunities, similar economic and vocational positions, similar lifestyles, and similar attitudes and behaviors
-most researchers feel that there are two dimensions to a social class: an economic dimension and a behavioral dimension
4
economic component
as an economic concept class refers to:
(1) what people know (education)
(2) what people do (occupation)
(3) what people have (income)
-the combination of these three variables is often referred to as socioeconomic status (SES)
5
social class
can be thought of as groupings in which people share not only similar occupations, incomes and levels of education but also similar lifestyles
6
lower class
-the working poor: working full time, but unable to lift themselves out of poverty
-the underclass: remain in poverty for long periods of time
7
current poverty line
takes the cost of a basic low cost nutritionally adequate diet, then multiples this number by three, because at the time that it was established, it was thought that food accounted for one third of a family's expenses
-using this formula, there has been little change in the poverty rate since the 1970s
8
class system of stratification
a system of stratification that includes several social classes and permits social mobility
9
upper class
a U.S. social class characterized by corporate ownership, elite schools, upper-echelon politics, and a higher educaiton
10
upper-middle class
a U.S. social class characterized by professional and technical occupations and college and graduate-school training
11
lower-middle class
a U.S. social class that compromises skilled and semiskilled laborers, factory employees, and other blue-collar workers
12
lower class
a U.S. social class characterized by unskilled labor, service work, farm labor, and little interest in education or high-school completion
13
functionalist theory
an explanation for the existence of social classes based on the idea that to attract talented individuals to each occupation, society must set up a system of differential rewards
14