1. Chapter Seven U.S. and Global Stratification
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2. The Bases of Stratification
Social Stratification—a system in which some people get fewer or more rewards than others. The three most important bases of stratification are wealth, power, and prestige.
Wealth –Marx divided industrial society into 2 major classes and one minor class:
Bourgeoisie- those who own the means of production.
Proletariats – the workers
Petite Bourgeoisie- small capitalists
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3. The Bases of Stratification
Power – Ability to control the behavior of others, even against their will.
Power Elite – small group of top leaders from corporations, politics, and military.
Prestige – is subjective, depending on how the individual is perceived by others.
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4. Stratification Systems: A Global View
Egalitarian System
Master-Slave System
The Feudal System
The Caste System
The Class System
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5. Stratification Systems: A Global View
Egalitarian Societies
Hunter-Gatherers are most egalitarian.
Large-scale societies without wealth accumulating opportunities tend to be more egalitarian than capitalists societies.
Master-Slave
Some people are held in servitude as someone else’s property.
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6. Stratification Systems: A Global View
Feudal System –Stratified into 2 groups:
Serfs - those who worked the land
Landlords – those who appropriated some of the produce and labor of the workers.
Caste System –A rigid system in which positions are ascribed and fixed.
Indian caste system is most prominent example.
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7. Stratification Systems: A Global View
Class System – relatively open stratification system in which people’s positions are achieved and changeable.
Kuznets Curve
Curvilinear , inverted –U relationship between development and equality.
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8. Types of Social Stratification
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9. New Approaches to Stratification
Only recently have Sociologists begun to take into account feminist and multicultural thinking when investigating social stratification.
Feminist Perspective – To feminists, gender inequality should be considered a key part of a society’s social stratification.
Social Diversity – Race and ethnicity are important to consider when analyzing stratification in a multicultural society.
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10. Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2009
The U.S. Class Structure
Social Class – category of people with the same amount of income, power, and prestige.
How do we know who is in which class?
Reputational model—asking people to rank others.
Subjective model—asking people to rank themselves.
Objective method—identifying classes through analysis of income, occupation, and education .
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11. Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2009
The U.S. Class Structure
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12. Sociological Frontier: How Social Classes Have Changed
It is harder today than 30 years ago for Americans to move from a lower to a higher social class.
Most Americans think that their own standard of living is better than their parents’ and expect their children to do even better.
Why can’t they see the increased inequality?
One reason could be the spreading of material comfort
Class still influences the lives of Americans in many ways.
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13. Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2009
Poverty in the U.S.
Strong political debate over how poverty is defined and assessed
The relative definition of poverty says that those who earn less than half of the nation’s median income are poor
By the time they are 75 years old, 70% of all Americans will have experienced a year of poverty
Feminization of poverty refers to a huge number of women living in poverty as single mothers or head of households.
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14. Explanations of Poverty
Blame-the-Poor Theories
Poor are believed to have failed to grab opportunities by not working hard.
Oscar Lewis used “culture of poverty” to explain how the poor had debilitating values and attitudes that are passed from generation to generation.
There are holes in these theories since poor people are not necessarily averse to working.
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15. Explanations of Poverty
Sociological Theories
Poverty is assumed to perform positive functions for society:
Poverty makes it possible for society’s dirty work to be done
By working as maids and servants, poor people make it easier for affluent to pursue professional careers.
Poverty creates jobs for social workers and other professionals who serve the poor.
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16. Social Mobility in the U.S.
Social Mobility – movement from one social standing to another.
Structural mobility— people can move up or down the social ladder depending on changes in society (e.g. declining manufacturing base, globalization, immigration).
Individual mobility— social mobility dependent on a person’s personal achievement. Race, gender, access to education, and individual opportunities play a part.
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17. Global Stratification
In the social system called global stratification some nations are in higher or lower classes.
The consequences are poverty, inequality, child exploitation, and slavery.
The disparity between rich and poor countries is extreme.
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Dependency Theory
Dependency Theory—rich nations exploit poor ones for power and commercial gain.
A legacy of colonialism
Western banks don’t lend enough money and when they do it’s on bad terms.
Poor countries contribute to the problem themselves through corruption.
Theory fails to explain economic boom in East Asian countries.
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19. Today’s Controversy: Is it Really Easy to End World Poverty?
Economist Jeffrey Sachs claims that 1.1 billion people in the world are extremely poor, struggling to survive with an income of less than $1 a day.
Says this extreme poverty can be eradicated through “the Big Five development interventions”
Argues that extreme poverty can end if these strategies were followed.
Critics, however, don’t think it is this easy to end global poverty.
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20. Theoretical Thumbnail: What Stratification Does to Society
Perspective
Focus
Insights
Functionalist
How stratification benefits society
The more rewarding a position is, the more motivated people are to work hard to acquire the education and skill it requires.
Conflict
How stratification harms society
Stratification limits opportunities for the underprivileged, preserves injustices, and provokes unrest.
Symbolic interactionist
How stratification influences interactions
In their interactions, higher-status people show off power while lower-status ones appear polite or respectful.
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21. Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2009
Chapter Review
What are the bases of stratification?
How equal is the distribution of wealth in the U.S?
How does social stratification vary from one society to another?
What is poverty?
What is global inequality?
Why do functionalists think that social stratification is useful to society?
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