Society Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is meant by ‘class’ in the context of social structures?
Class refers to groups of people who are economically stratified, often in terms of ownership of resources and ability to labour.
How did Karl Marx define the main classes in capitalist society?
He defined the capitalist class (owners of factories, land) and the working class (owners of only their labour).
Why do capitalist societies experience instability, according to Marx?
Due to conflicting interests: capitalists aim to keep wages low, while workers must sell their labour to survive.
What is the global division of labour and how does it obscure exploitation?
It spreads production across distant factories, making it harder to see exploitative working conditions.
How does consumption relate to class inequality?
Our consumption of food, clothes, and shelter is often sustained by exploited workers in other parts of the world.
What is gentrification?
It’s the process where wealthier people move into poorer areas, increasing rents and displacing lower-income residents.
What is Neil Smith’s rent gap theory?
Gentrification happens when there’s a gap between current and potential rental income that capitalists seek to exploit.
How did Neil Smith link gentrification to class struggle?
He argued it was part of capitalist restructuring of urban space, not just a cultural change.
What is reproductive labour?
Unpaid work done mostly by women such as cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing, essential for sustaining life.
What is capitalist patriarchy?
A system where men perform waged labour and women are expected to do unwaged reproductive labour.
What is the ‘second shift’ in feminist theory?
The unpaid domestic work women do after returning from their paid jobs.
What did the UK Office for National Statistics report about unpaid household work?
In 2016, it was valued at £1.24 trillion, equal to 63% of GDP, with women doing more than twice as much as men.
How does the scale of the home reinforce gender roles?
Women are often associated with private domestic spaces, reinforcing their expected role in reproductive labour.
What is the significance of kitchenless homes and collective dining halls?
They were early 20th-century efforts to challenge the isolation of housewives in domestic roles.
What did Linda McDowell argue about postwar urban planning?
It reflected patriarchal assumptions, isolating women in suburban neighbourhoods with limited autonomy.
How did colonialism contribute to the rise of capitalism?
Through the imperial theft of land, labour, and raw materials, especially via slavery and plantations.
Why is race considered a social construct?
It is based on arbitrary physical traits like skin colour, which are incorrectly assumed to indicate fundamental differences.
What is environmental racism?
The disproportionate impact of environmental degradation on minority communities.
How does racism appear in public monuments?
Statues honouring colonists reveal societal values and have been challenged by movements like Black Lives Matter.
How did segregation persist in the US and South Africa?
Through Jim Crow laws and apartheid, which legally enforced racial separation in housing and public spaces.
What is intersectionality?
A framework that examines how overlapping identities (race, gender, class) produce unique experiences of oppression.
Who coined the term ‘intersectionality’?
Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989.
How did Black feminists critique mainstream feminism?
By arguing it often reflected only the experiences of white middle-class women, ignoring Black women’s roles as paid labourers.
What do poststructural geographers argue about identity?
Identity is not fixed but performed in context; social categories are constructed and changeable.
