Class, stratification, and inequality II Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is social stratification?
The existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards.
While all societies involve some forms of stratification, only with the development of state-based systems did wide differences in wealth and power arise.
The most distinctive form of stratification in
modern societies is class divisions
Systems of stratification: slavery, caste, class
Slavery- where people are owned by other people
Caste- assigns people to permanent social strata from birth with strict separations between castes
Class- based on economic differences due to income, wealth, education, occupation.
Class and life chances
Class is a large scale grouping of people who share common economic resources which influence the lifestyle they are able to lead. Unlike slavery and caste systems, class is not fixed for life
The concept of life chances (Max Weber) refers to the probability of an individual’s opportunities and the likelihood of them achieving success and improving their social standing. It focuses on how social factors like class, gender, and ethnicity influence access to valued resources like education, income, and health. It examines the uneven distribution of resources and how this affects individual outcomes.
Income vs. wealth
Income is money earned through salary or investments, and wealth is money or material possessions held by someone(net worth).
The “Great U-Turn”
Refers to a shift in the long-term trend of income inequality in some industrialized nations. Specifically, it describes the reversal of a pattern of decreasing inequality, followed by an increase in inequality, often beginning around the 1970s.
Racial wealth gap
The disparity of cumulative assets across races and ethnicities.
This disparity results from differences in income and the historical accumulation of assets across generations. This gap highlights the unequal accumulation of wealth across racial lines, rooted in systemic inequalities and historical injustices.
Redlining and discriminatory lending
Redlining, a discriminatory lending practice, is the act of denying access to credit, especially mortgage loans, to individuals or communities based on their race, color, or national origin, rather than their creditworthiness. This practice, historically outlawed, continues to have significant impacts on wealth inequality and housing stability
Education and social mobility
Education is one of the best predictors of income, wealth, and occupation later in life. Those with college degrees have more opportunities for upward social mobility
Occupation and social status
In sociology, occupation and social status are intertwined, as an individual’s job and the prestige associated with it significantly influence their position in the social hierarchy. Occupation is a primary indicator of social class, alongside income, wealth, and education
Social mobility (intragenerational, intergenerational)
Refers to an individual’s ability to move up or down the social ladder within their lifetime (intragenerational mobility) or across generations (intergenerational mobility).
Intragenerational mobility examines changes in social status within a single person’s life, while intergenerational mobility focuses on how social status shifts between generations, comparing parents to their children.
Poverty and political decisions
Poverty’s relationship with political decisions, according to sociology, highlights how political systems and policies can either exacerbate or alleviate poverty, often reflecting societal beliefs about the causes of poverty.
What is stratification?
Inequalities among individuals in society based on factors like gender, age, ethnicity, race on religious association. (With a focus on structural inequalities)
Class system
A system of social hierarchy that allows individuals to move among
classes. The chief bases of class are income, ownership of wealth,
education, occupation, and lifestyle
Life chances
A term introduced by Max Weber to signify a person’s opportunities
for achieving economic prosperity.
Kuznet’s Curve
A formula showing that inequality increases during the early stages of capitalist development, then declines, and eventually stabilizes at a relatively low level; advanced by the economist Simon Kuznets.
culture of poverty
The thesis, popularized by Oscar Lewis, that poverty is not a result of individual inadequacies but instead the outcome of a larger social and cultural atmosphere into which successive generations of children are socialized. The culture of poverty refers to the values, beliefs, lifestyles, habits, and traditions that are common among people living under conditions of material deprivation.
intersectionality
A sociological perspective that holds that our multiple group memberships affect our lives in ways that are distinct from single
group memberships. For example, the experience of a Black woman may be distinct from that of a White woman or a Black man.
Means of production
The means whereby the production of material goods is carried on in a society, including not just technology but also the social relations between producers
status
The social honor or prestige a particular group is accorded by other members of a society.
Status groups normally display distinct styles of life—patterns of behavior that the members of a group follow. Status privilege may be positive or negative.
pariah groups
Groups who suffer from negative status discrimination—they are looked down on by most other members of society.
contradictory class locations
Positions in the class structure, particularly routine white-collar and lower managerial jobs, that share characteristics with the class
positions both above and below them.
dependency culture
A term popularized by Charles Murray to describe individuals who rely on state welfare provision rather than entering the labor market
.
The dependency culture is seen as the outcome of the “paternalistic”
welfare state that undermines individual ambition and people’s
capacity for self-help
