2. STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE9
STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE

3. Chapter Outline Understanding Stratification
Stratification by Social Class
Social Mobility
Stratification in the World System
Social Policy and Stratification: Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe

4. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Ascribed Status: A social position assigned to a person without regard for that person’s unique characteristics or talents.
Achieved Status: A social position attained by a person largely through his or her own effort.

5. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Slavery
--Slavery is the most extreme form of legalized social inequality. Enslaved individuals are owned by other people.
Castes
--Castes are hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that tend to be immobile.

6. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Social Classes
--Social classes are social rankings based on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility.
--The United States class system is based on:
an upper class
an upper-middle class
a lower-middle class
a working class
a lower class

7. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation
--Marx believed that class differentiation is the crucial determinant of social, economic, and political inequality.
--Marx viewed class struggle as the result of the conflict between owners and workers.

8. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Max Weber’s View of Stratification
--Weber insisted that no single characteristic totally defines a person’s position within the stratification system.
--Weber identified three distinct components of stratification:
Class
Status
Power

9. Understanding Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
Functionalist View
--Yes. A differential system of rewards and punishments is necessary for the efficient operation of society.
Conflict View
--Yes. Competition for scarce resources results in political, economic, and social inequality.

10. Understanding Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
Lenski’s Viewpoint
--Yes. As societies become more complex, the emergence of surplus resources expands the possibilities for inequality in status, influence, and power.

11. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives of Stratification Compared
Question
Functionalist View
Conflict View
Lenski’s View
Is stratification universal?
Yes
Is stratification necessary?
Some level of stratification is necessary in order to ensure that key social positions are filled. But slavery and caste systems are unnecessary.
Stratification is not necessary. In fact, it is a major source of societal tension and conflict.
Although stratification has been present in all societies, its nature and extent vary enormously depending on level of economic development.

12. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives of Stratification Compared
Question
Functionalist View
Conflict View
Lenski’s View
What is the basis for stratification?
Societal-held values.
Ruling class values.
Both societal-held and ruling class values.
Will there be changes over time in a society’s level of stratification?
Degree of stratification may change gradually.
Degree of stratification must be reduced so that society will become more equitable.
There will be evolutionary changes in degree of stratification.

13. Stratification by Social Class
Measuring Social Class
The Objective Method
--This method assigns class largely on the basis of:
occupation education income residence
--Occupations are ranked by prestige, the respect and admiration an occupation holds.
--Esteem refers to the reputation that a specific person has earned within an occupation.

14. Stratification by Social Class
Measuring Social Class
Gender and Occupational Prestige
--This method focuses on an individual (rather than the family or household) as the basis of categorizing a woman’s position. A woman would be classified based on her own occupational status rather than that of her spouse.

15. Stratification by Social Class
Table 9.1: Prestige Rankings of Occupations

16. Stratification by Social Class
Wealth and Income
Income and wealth in the United States are distributed unevenly.
The richest fifth of the population accounts for 50% of after-tax income.
The bottom fifth of the population accounts for only 3% of after-tax income.

17. Stratification by Social Class
Figure 9.3: Comparison of Distribution of Income and Wealth in the United States

18. Stratification by Social Class
Figure 9.4: The Growing U.S. Income Gap,

19. Stratification by Social Class
1967
1970
1973
1976
1979
1982
1985
1988
1991
1994
1997
2000
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
Income in 2000 dollars
Recession
$55,521
$45,904
$44,226
$33,447
$30,439
Asian and Pacific Islander
White, not Hispanic
Hispanic origin1
White
Black
Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1967 to 2000
Source: Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Robert W. Cleveland, and Marc L. Oemer Figure 1 in Money Income in the United States: Current Population Reports Series P Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Also accessible at

20. Stratification by Social Class
Bottom quintile
2nd quintile
3rd quintile
4th quintile
Top quintile -1 1 2 3
Growth in Mean Real Family Income by Quintile
Source: Office of the President 2000: Economic Report of the President: Transmitted to the Congress, February Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 27.

21. Stratification by Social Class
Poverty
Approximately one out of every nine people in the United States lives below the poverty line.
Sociologists distinguish different types of poverty:
--Absolute poverty is the minimum level of subsistence that no family should live below.
--Relative poverty is a standard by which people are defined as being disadvantaged when compared to the nation as a whole.
Continued…

22. Stratification by Social Class
Figure 9.5: Absolute Poverty in Selected Industrial Countries
Continued…

23. Stratification by Social Class
Poverty
Who are the poor in the United States? children women the elderly
A majority of the poor live in rural areas.

24. Stratification by Social Class
Table 9.2: Who Are the Poor in the United States?

25. Stratification by Social Class
1959
1964
1969
1974
1979
1984
1989
1994
2000 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Numbers in millions, rates in percent
Recession
Number in poverty
Poverty rate
31.1 million
11.3 percent
Note: The data points represent the midpoints of the respective years. The latest recession began in July 1990 and ended in March 1991.
Number of Poor and Poverty Rate: 1959 to 2000
Source: Figure 1 in Joseph Dalaker Poverty in the United States: Current Population Reports Series P Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Also accessible at

26. Stratification by Social Class
1959
1964
1969
1974
1979
1984
1989
1994
2000
22.1 percent
21.2 percent
10.8 percent
9.4 percent
7.5 percent 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Percent 50 55 60
Recession
Black
White
Hispanic
White non-Hispanic
Asian and Pacific Islander
Note: The data points represent the midpoints of the respective years. The latest recession began in July 1990 and ended in March Data for blacks are not available from 1960 to Data for the other race and Hispanic origin groups are shown from the first year available. Hispanics may be of any race.
Poverty Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2000
Source: Figure 3 in Joseph Dalaker Poverty in the United States: Current Population Reports Series P Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Also accessible at

27. Stratification by Social Class
Life Chances
Weber’s Analysis
--Life chances are opportunities to obtain material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences.
--Occupying a higher position in a society improves your life changes and brings greater access to social rewards.

28. Social Mobility
Social mobility: Movement of individuals or groups from one position of a society’s stratification system to another.

29. Social Mobility Open versus Closed Stratification Systems
Open and closed stratification systems indicate the amount of social mobility in a society.
Open Stratification Systems
--In open systems, individual position is influenced by achieved status.
--Open systems encourage competition among members of society.

30. Social Mobility Open versus Closed Stratification Systems
--Closed systems present little or no possibility of moving up.
--In closed systems, individual position is based on ascribed status.

31. Social Mobility Types of Social Mobility
Horizontal Mobility: Horizontal mobility is movement within the same range of prestige.
Vertical Mobility: Vertical mobility is movement from one position to another of a different rank, and this movement can be upward or downward.

32. Social Mobility Types of Social Mobility
Intergenerational Mobility: Intergenerational mobility refers to changes in the social position of children relative to their parents.
Intragenerational Mobility: Intragenerational mobility refers to changes in social position within a person’s adult life.

33. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
Occupational Mobility
--Occupational mobility is more common among males.
--60 to 70 percent of sons are employed in higher- ranking occupations than their fathers.
--Most movement covers a “short distance.”
--Mobility among African Americans remains limited due to racial discrimination.

34. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
The Impact of Education
--The impact of formal schooling is a significant means of intergenerational mobility.
--Three-fourths of college-educated men achieved some upward mobility compared with 12% of those receiving no schooling.

35. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
The Impact of Race
--Sociologists have documented the fact that the class system is more rigid for African Americans than it is for member of other racial groups.
--The cumulative disadvantage of discrimination plays a significant role in the disparity between African Americans and whites.

36. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
The Impact of Gender
--Women are more likely than men to find several factors affecting their upward mobility, including poorer salaries than men, a greater preponderance of lower-level jobs, limited prospects for advancement, and lack of financing for self-employment ventures.

37. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
Colonialism occurs when a foreign power maintains political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over a people for an extended period of time.
Neocolonialism is a developing country’s dependence on more industrialized nations for managerial and technical expertise, investment capital and manufactured good.

38. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
According to the dependency theory, even as developing countries make economic advances, they remain weak and subservient to core nations and corporations within an increasingly intertwined global economy.
Globalization is the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and exchange of ideas.

39. Stratification in the World System
Multinational Corporations
Functionalist View: The combination of skilled technology and management provided by multinationals and the relatively cheap labor available in developing nations is ideal for global enterprise.
Conflict View: Emphasizes that multinationals exploit local workers to maximize profits. Conflict view concludes that, on the whole, multinational corporations have a negative social impact on workers in both industrialized and developing nations.

40. Stratification in the World System
Modernization
The far-reaching process by which peripheral nations move from traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies.

41. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and
Europe
The Issue
--Governments in all parts of the world are searching for the right solution to welfare.
--How much subsidy should they provide?
--How much responsibility should fall on the shoulders of the poor?

42. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and
Europe
The Setting
--In 1996, a historic “workfare” act was passed in the United States that ended the long-standing federal guarantee of assistance to every poor family that meets eligibility requirements. It required that all able-bodied adults work after two years of benefits.
--Other countries vary widely in their commitment to social service programs.

43. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and
Europe
Sociological Insights
--Many sociologists view the debate over welfare from a conflict perspective.
--From a conflict perspective, the backlash against welfare recipients reflects deep fears and hostility toward the nation’s urban and predominantly African American and Hispanic underclass.
--Tax breaks and other “corporate welfare” granted by the government for corporations should also be examined closely.

44. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and
Europe
Policy Initiatives
--There are some success stories in the new “workfare” program of the United States.
--However, it is too early to see how a dipping economy and prospects for the hard-core jobless will affect the program in the long run.
--Medical coverage and child care remain issues for the the working poor.
--In North America and Europe, solutions are often left to the private sector while government policy initiatives at the national level all but disappear.

45. Social Policy and Stratification
Country
Percent
United States
4.0
Australia
6.6
Canada
5.8
France
9.5
Germany
7.9
Italy
10.5
Japan
4.7
Sweden
5.9
Unemployment Rates by Country, 2000
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census Statistical Abstract of the United States Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Table 1353 on p Also accessible at