1. Social Stratification Vocabulary

2. Social Stratification
A system by which a society ranks categories of people in a social hierarchy

3. Social Stratification
It is a trait of society—it does not reflect individual differences, but society’s structure
It persists over generations—social mobility happens slowly
It is universal—while existing in every society, it varies in type
It involves a justifying belief system—ideologies justify the existence of stratification

4. Status
The degree of honor or prestige attached to one’s position in society

5. Ascribed Status A position that is neither earned nor chosen; assigned
Daughter, son, mother, father

6. Achieved Status A position that is earned or chosen
Teacher, coach, doctor, husband, wife

7. Status Set
All of the statuses that a person occupies at any particular time
Student and daughter and sales clerk and soccer player and friend and sister and aunt

8. Class System
System (in theory) based on individual achievement (merit—not ascribed status)
Characteristics:
Inequality exists as in a caste system, but to a lesser degree
Social mobility is possible (though becoming less probable)
Access to education, job opportunities, an “even playing field”
Meritocracy (idea of you get what you deserve)
Open System
Example: United States (???)

9. Vertical Mobility
Movement from one social class to another, upward or downward
Example: from bank teller to bank president

10. Horizontal Mobility Movement within the same social class
Example: from policeman to firefighter

11. Intergenerational Mobility
Social class movement between generations, upward or downward
Example: your father was construction worker, you become an architect

12. Endogamy vs. Exogamy Endogamy: marriage within one’s social class
Exogamy: marriage outside of one’s social class

13. Bifurcation
Idea that America is splitting into 2 classes only—rich and poor
Middle and working classes shrinking

14. Greed Video
Fill in movie guide as we watch.

15. Bell Ringer

16. Levels of Classism
Individual Classism: (example) A middle class person calls second-hand clothes “tacky”
Institutional Classism: (example) A hospital keeps a Medicaid patient for fewer days than a privately insured patient with the same condition because the amount paid to the hospital is less
Cultural Classism: (example) The commercial for peanut butter, “Choosy moms choose Jiff,” implies that if you buy a store/generic brand you care less about your kids

17. Classism
set of practices and beliefs that assign different values to people according to their socioeconomic class

18. Karl Marx: Two Social Classes
Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat
Bourgeoisie: those who own the means of production
Proletariat: those who work for wages
Theory that capitalism would be overthrown during revolution by proletariat.

19. Caste System
Social Stratification based on ascribed status (social position based on birth)
Birth determines social position in 4 ways:
Occupations limited
Endogamy (marriage within same social class) is practiced
Social life restricted
Lack of social mobility (Closed system)
Example: India

20. Class Indicator
A factor that reflects an individual’s class

21. Class Identity One’s predominant class experience
for example: working class

22. Ruling Class
The level (stratum) of people who hold positions of power in society

23. Owning Class/Rich
The level of families who own income-producing assets to the extent that paid employment is not necessary

24. Upper-Middle Class
The portion of the middle class with higher incomes due to professional jobs and/or investment income

25. Middle Class
The level of families for whom the main earners’ higher education and/or specialized skills brings higher income and more security than working-class people have

26. Lower-Middle Class
The portion of the middle class with lower and less stable incomes due to lower-skilled or unstable employment

27. Working Class
The level of families whose income depends on hourly wages for labor, or on other work that does not require higher education

28. Poverty Class
The level of families with incomes persistently insufficient to meet basic human needs

29. Old money vs. New money
Old money: money AND social status is passed down through generations
New money: called “nouveau riche”
Example: winning the lottery

30. People Like Us Video

31. Comparison of Poverty
Poverty in Calcutta, India

32. Comparison of Poverty
Poverty in Detroit, Michigan

33. Cultural Capital
The forms of knowledge, skill, education, and any advantages a person has that give her or him higher status in society

34. How much does money/capital influence social class?

35. Social Capital
Resources based on group membership, relationships, networks of influence and support

36. Internalized Classism
Internalized Subordination
Acceptance and justification of classism by working-class and poor people
For example: feelings of inferiority to higher-class people or hostility toward other poor people
Internalized Dominance
Feelings of superiority to people lower on the class spectrum
For example: a sense of entitlement

37. Class Privilege
Tangible or intangible unearned advantages of higher-class status
For example: good childhood health care, inherited money

38. Gentrification
The change in an urban area associated with the movement of more affluent individuals into a lower-class area

39. Redlining Discriminatory practice
When banks and/or insurance companies refuse or limit loans/insurance within certain geographic areas (i.e. inner-city neighborhoods)

41. Social Structure
The underlying patterns of relationships in a group

42. Reference Group
Group used for self-evaluation and the formation of attitudes, values, beliefs, and norms

43. Class Consciousness
Identification with the goals and interests of a social class

44. False Consciousness
Adoption of the ideas of the dominant class by the less powerful class
Example: working class family buying designer clothing

45. Affluence
Richness, abundant wealth

46. Four Determinants of Class:
Power: the degree to which a person can control others
Prestige: degree of respect or importance of an individual
usually associated with occupation
Income
Money received for goods and services (usually in one pay period)
Wealth: objects or symbols owned by people which have value attached to them
amount and source
Total assets accumulated

47. Other Factors . . . Personal Performance: Education Occupation
Awards and Achievements

48. Social Orientation
Interactions
Class Consciousness
Value Orientation

49. Class Structure in the US
Two Upper Classes
Upper Upper (old money)
Lower Upper (new money/nouveau riche)

50. Three Middle Classes Upper Middle (professional)
Middle Class (white collar & entrepreneurs)
Working Class (blue collar)

51. Two Lower Classes Upper Lower (unskilled laborers)
Lower Lower (socially and economically disadvantaged)

52. Poverty Stations PPT

53. US Poverty Article
Will make questions

54. Inequality in the US
Wealth still remains highly concentrated in the upper class—a very small percentage of the population still controls over half of the corporate stock
The law favors the rich—the “average” American cannot use the legal system to the same extent as the rich

55. Poverty—figured by taking what it costs to feed a family and multiplying that times a factor of three: $18,850 today for a family of four

56. Groups hit hardest by poverty
Children and the elderly—over 25% of America’s children go to bed hungry, live in poor housing, and suffer more from disease
Elderly women—hardest hit, fastest growing group of poor: “Feminization of poverty”
Racial and ethnic minorities—1/3 of blacks and Hispanics live in poverty

57. Statistics: Wealth & Poverty in US
Median household income
$40, 816

58. Definition of middle class in terms of income
$32, $48, 979

59. Percentage of children living in poverty
20%

60. Percentage of adults who live in poverty
12%

61. Percentage of single mothers living in poverty
37.4%

62. Median hourly wage of a former welfare recipient
$6.61

63. Bill Gates’ average hourly wage
$650,000 per hour

64. Statistics: Education and Wealth & Poverty
Mean Verbal SAT score
Children in households with incomes below $10,000 – 427
Children in households with incomes above $100,000 – 559

65. Mean Math SAT score
Children in households with incomes below $10,000 – 446
Children in households with incomes above $100,000 – 572

66. Statistics: Class, Race, & Gender
Median net worth of a white American: $81,700
Median net worth of an African American: $10,000

67. Number of white people living in poverty: 21,922,000
Number of black people living in poverty: 8,630,000

68. Percentage of men earning poverty level hourly wage: 19.5%
Percentage of women earning poverty level hourly wage: 31.1%

69. Males: White Collar: average hourly wage = $22.20 Service: $10.92
Blue Collar: $13.71

70. Females:
White Collar: $14.90
Service: $8.17
Blue Collar: $9.94

71. Median Income by Household
Married Couples: $56,827
Female householder, no husband: $26,164
Male householder, no wife: $41,838

72. Attitudes & Class
36% of people who earn $15,000 a year call themselves middle class
49% who earn between $35,000 and $49,999 consider themselves middle class

73. 71% of people who earn more than $75,000 a year consider themselves middle class

74. Interesting . . .
Percentage of death row inmates who could not afford to hire a lawyer: 90%

75. Nickel and Dimed
Read and Answer questions