Sociology in the Fastlane

The Mechanisms of Social Reality

WHAT IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?

• Social stratification is defined as a system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy

•Four fundamental principles of stratification: 1. Social stratification is a characteristic of

society

2. Social stratification persists over generations

SOCIAL MOBILITY

• Most societies allow some sort of social mobility or changes in people's position in a system of social stratification 1. Social mobility may be upward, downward, or horizontal

2. Intragenerational Social Mobility A change in social position occurring during a person’s lifetime

3. Intergenerational Social Mobility Upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to

their parents

4. Structural social mobility A shift in the social position of large numbers of people due

more to changes in society than to individual efforts

OPEN AND CLOSED SYSTEMS

• Sociologists distinguish between:

•Open Systems (Class Systems)

• Permit much more social mobility

• Closed Systems (Caste Systems)

• Allow little change in social position

CLASS SYSTEMS (OPEN)

• Social stratification based on both birth and individual achievement

• Schooling and skills lead to social mobility

• Work is no longer fixed at birth but involves some personal choice

• Meritocracy

• Social stratification based on personal merit

• Status Consistency Inconsistency

• The degree of consistency in a person’s social standing across

various dimensions of social inequality

CASTE SYSTEM

• Social stratification based on ascription or birth

• Little or no social mobility

• Caste position determines life from birth

• The caste guides everyday life by keeping people in the company of their “own kind”

• Typically agrarian because agriculture demands a lifelong routine of work

IDEOLOGY

• Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality •Every culture considers some type of inequality fair • Ideology changes with a society’s economy and technology •Historically, challenges to status quo always arise

FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF STRATIFICATION

1. Social stratification is a characteristic of society

2. Social stratification persists over generations

3. Social stratification is universal but variable

4. Social stratification involves both inequality and beliefs

PATTERNED INEQUALITY

• Saying that inequality is patterned indicates that the differences occur: 1. on a wide-scale basis

2. with regularity

3. and along lines of certain specific, identifiable characteristics

THREE PREMISES

1. Power: the ability to impose one’s will on others

2. Property: forms of wealthy

3. Prestige: the respect given by others

OCCUPATIONAL PRESTIGE

• Generates income and is an important source of prestige

• High prestige given to occupations that require extensive

training and generate high income

• Less prestigious work pays less and requires less ability

and schooling

• In any society, high-prestige occupations go to privileged

categories

LIFE CHANCES

• Opportunities that individuals do or do no

have to engage in certain activities

• Opportunities that they do or do not have to

accomplish certain goals

EXPLANATION FOR STRATIFICATION

• The Davis-Moore Thesis (Functionalist Approach)

1. Social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society

2. The greater the functional importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it

3. Any society can be egalitarian, but only to the extent that people are willing to let anyone perform any job

4. Positions a society considers crucial must offer enough rewards to draw talented people away from less important work

EXPLANATIONS FOR STRATIFICATION

• Karl Marx: Class Conflict (Conflict Approach)

•Social stratification is rooted in people’s relationship to the means of production

• Capitalists/Bourgeoisie: People who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profit

• Proletariat: Working people who sell their labor for wages

CLASS, STATUS AND POWER

• Max Weber identified three distinct dimensions of stratification: class, power, and status

• Social standing consists of three parts:

•Class: Determined mainly by economic standing or wealth

•Party: Which was equivalent to political power

•Status: Social prestige and honor

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS (SES)

• A composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality

1. Education

2. Wealth Assets

Income

3. Occupational Prestige

EXPLANATIONS FOR STRATIFICATION

• Micro-level analysis (Symbolic Interactionism)

• Social standing affects everyday interaction

• People with different social standing keep their

distance from one another

• Conspicuous consumption

• Buying and using products with an eye to the “statement”

they make about social position

POVERTY

• Relative Poverty

• The deprivation of some people in relation to those who have more

• Absolute Poverty

• A life-threatening deprivation of resources

• Poverty Line

•Government determination of what poverty is

• $20,614 for a family of four

EXPLAINING POVERTY

• Blame the poor: The poor are responsible for their own poverty

• Culture of Poverty

• A lower-class subculture that can destroy people’s ambition to improve their

lives

• Blame society: Society is primarily responsible for poverty

• Primary cause is loss of jobs in inner cities

• Government should fund jobs and provide affordable child care for low-income

mothers and fathers

• The Working Poor

• The Truly Disadvantaged (W.J. Wilson)

• This group consists of people who live predominantly in the inner city and

who are trapped in a cycle of joblessness, deviance, crime, welfare

dependency, and unstable family life.