Extra revision Flashcards
Social class influences a person’s life chances.
W+E
- UP Income 14x higher than WC.
- Over half of top 0.1% live in london (acessing good jobs).
- UP have more job satisfaction.
WC have a weak market position because manual jobs are easy to qualify in and are not in demand im comparison to services.
HEALTH
- WC have shorter lifespans
WC are reliant on the NHS, average wait time is 10-19 days.
- Wilkinson and Pickette, social class inequalities lead to a multitude of health care issues.
SOCIAL MOBILITY
- Goldthorpe 1:2:4 rule of relative hope.
- Hecht et al, the WC are not making it to the top 1% of earners after the 1950’s.
CRIME AND DEVIANCE
- WC are more likely to be arrested because of labels (cicourel). Chambliss.
Functionalist explinations of social class inequalities
AO1 -
Parsons. Social class reflects value consensus. Some inequality is beneficial to society. Metriocracy.
AO3 -
Occupy london, protesting wealth distribution. Shows a lack of consensus. Society is not meritocratic, highest paid are not always most talented AO2, duke of westminster. ASCRIBED STATUS.
AO1 -
Davis and Moore, role allocation is based on functional dependants (how many people rely on it) and uniqueness (how many people can do it) and sacrifice (qualifications).
AO3 -
Tumin, measuring functional uniqueness and dependency is difficult. AO2, a clearner in a hospital has the same functional depencancy (if it’s not cleaned properly then patients are at risk of dying).
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AO3
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AO3
Evalutate new right explinations fo social class inequalities.
AO1 -
Saunders, inequality is needed to motivate high performance. Income tax only demotivates. Social class is a reflection of intelligence, MC are naturally more intelligent.
AO3 -
Taxes reduces the gap between rich and the poor. Cutting tax will only increase inequalities. Wilkinson and Pickette, increasing inequality = increased social and health problems.
Left wing politics.
AO1 -
Murray, social class inequalities are caused by welfare state. Dependancy culture due to poor socialisation = unemployment, wealth, and crime inequalities.
AO3 -
Demonising the underclass which is made up of societies most vulnerable. There is little evidence for the underclass culture (McDonald and Marsh) and overly negative about deviancy.
Evalutate marxist explinations of social class inequalities.
AO1 -
Marx, polarisation of social classes. Gap will widen between rich and poor. Social classes cause alienation, lack of job satisfaction = needing material satisfaction benefits capitalism.
AO3 -
Marxist prediction has not occurred, instead there has been a growing MC, especially post WW2. Revolution is very unlikely. It is an unrealistic solution to social class inequalities.
AO2, capitalism in places like china or cuba doesn’t work.
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Bowles and Gintis, myth of meritorcracy. Class backgrounds is more important than predicting outcomes.
AO3 -
Postmodernism, social class is no longer important. Beck - most people are in adequte living standards. We are now more focussed on science and tech.
Savage study - most people couldn’t put themselves into a social class.
AO1 -
Braverman, computerisation is allowing the ruling class to reduce labour costs. WC are becoming deskilled, AO2 supermarkeys no longer require someone to add up shopping.
AO3 -
Intersectionality, too focussed on class. Neo-marx and 4th wave feminist aruge that the work and employment inequalities are worse for the marginalised in the WC.
AO1 -
Gramscii - ruling class have hegemony, keeping the proletariat from revolting and obedient ithout force. Provide token benefits to the WC which maintains false class consciousness.
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Conspiracy theory, suggests there is a sinister group of billinaires brainwashing through ideology. Death of metanarrative and DFOC - independant journalists and social media.
Evalutate weberian explanations of social class inequalities. (go over)
AO1 -
Social class is not aboslute, it is relative. There are 4 classes. Class is determined by your market situations - how in demand your skill is / how hard it is to qualify.
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Marxist arguement, splitting the WC into 3 catagories = revolution less likely. Divide and conquer strategy. Weber believes in free will but this is deterministic therefore contradicory.
AO1 -
Status - impacted by class and economic capital but also other factors like lifestyle and religion. High social class = more life chances but is not the only factor.
AO3 - It is a descprition of how social class works rather than an explanation ofor the causes. Unclear where the inequality actually comes from. Marx + feminists can explain through capitalism.
AO1 -
Party / power - being member of a group can give WC more power. Examples in trade unisions / pressure groups. Accessible by all social classes, improving life chances.
AO3 -
Too optimistic - the disadvantage will slowly improve their market situation. Intersectional approach, only true for white WC males. Also unlikely the ruling class will allow this to happen.
Evalutate feminist explanations of social class inequalities.
AO1 -
Abbott - research into social class is androcentric. Eg, goldthorpes oxford mobility study was only based on men. Womens experiance of work is different to men, less social mobility due to glass ceiling + maternity.
AO3 -
Ignores the inequalities faced b WC males - most likely group to be victims of violent crimes, higher suicide rates, shortest life span, work or even die in dangerous conditions.
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Marxist feminist, benston - WC women were paid for all labour = wealth distribution.
Feely - women are socialised to be passive accepting, social mobility is less likely.
AO3 -
Sexism and opression of woman is not exclusive to capitalist societies. In USSR women still faced the dual burden, they were pushed into work but still had to look after the home. Gender roles are deeply ingrained that even a revolution would not fix.
AO1 -
Arber, measurement of females social class is androcentric. Hope goldthorpe is based on males occuption. Offers surrey scale as alternative, incrreased status of female office jobs.
AO3 -
Surrey scale is not a suitable alternative, measures class by ‘paid work’ but women are more likely to be a part time than men or take time out for maternity or childcare.
