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Chapter 8
Social Stratification
Basic Principles
• A trait of society– Doesn’t reflect individual differences, but
society’s structure
• Persists over generations– Social mobility happens slowly
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Basic Principles
• Universal but variable– While universal, it varies in type
• Involves not just inequality, but beliefs– Ideologies justify existence of social
stratification
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The Caste System
• Birth determines social position in four ways:– Occupation– Marriage within caste– Social life is restricted to “own kind”– Belief systems are often tied to religious
dogma
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Class Systems
• Social mobility for people with education and skills
• All people gain equal standing before the law
• Work involves some personal choice
• Meritocracy: Based on personal merit
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Class Systems
• Status consistency–Degree of uniformity in a person's social standing across various – Dimensions of social inequality
• A caste system has limited social mobility and high status consistency
• The greater mobility of class systems produces less status consistency
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Caste and Class Systems
• Aristocratic England: Caste-like system of aristocracy
• First estate: Church leaders– Second estate: Aristocracy– Third estate: Commoners
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Caste and Class Systems
• The United Kingdom Today– Caste elements still evident– Commoners control the government– Mixed caste elements and meritocracy
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The Caste System
• Many of the world’s societies are caste systems
• Caste system is illegal, but elements survive
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Classless Societies?
• Former Soviet Union– The Russian Revolution– The Modern Russian Federation
• China– Economic change– A new class system
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Ideology
• Plato– Every culture considers some type of
inequality just
• Marx– Capitalist society keep wealth & power for few
• Historical Patterns of Ideology
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The Davis-Moore Thesis
• The greater the importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it
• Egalitarian societies offer little incentive for people to try their best
• A society considered more important must reward enough to draw talented people
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Economic Inequality in Selected Countries, 2010Many low- and middle-income countries are marked by greater economic inequality than the United States. But the United States has more economic inequality than most high-income nations.Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (2011) and World Bank (2011).
Karl Marx: Class and Conflict
• Most people have one of two relationships with the means of production– Bourgeoisie own productive property– The proletariat works for the bourgeoisie
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Karl Marx: Class and Conflict
• Capitalism creates great inequality in power and wealth
• Oppression would drive working majority to organize and overthrow capitalism
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Why No Marxist Revolution?
• Fragmentation of the capitalist class
• Higher standard of living
• More worker organizations
• More extensive legal protections
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Was Marx Right?
• Wealth remains highly concentrated.
• White-collar jobs offer no more income, – Security, or satisfaction than factory work did
a century ago
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Was Marx Right?
• Current workers’ benefits came from struggle– Workers have lost benefits recently
• Ordinary people still face disadvantages that the law cannot overcome
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Max Weber: Class, Status, and Power
• Socioeconomic status (SES)– Composite ranking based on various
dimensions of social inequality
• Status
• Power
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Max Weber: Class, Status, and Power
• Inequality in history
• Class position– Viewed classes as a continuum from high to
low
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Stratification and Interaction
• Differences in social class position can affect interaction
• People interact primarily with others of similar social standing
• Conspicuous consumption– Buying & using products because of the
"statement" they make
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Stratification and Technology: A Global Perspective
• Hunting and gathering societies
• Horticultural, pastoral, & agrarian societies
• Industrial societies
• The Kuznets curve– Greater technological sophistication generally
• Is accompanied by more pronounced social stratification
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Social Stratification and Technological Development: The Kuznets Curve
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Income Inequality in Global Perspective
Stratification and Technology: A Global Perspective
• Inequality in the United States
• Income, Wealth, and Power
• Occupational Prestige
• Schooling
• Ancestry, Race, and Gender
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Distribution of Income and Wealth in the United States, 2010Income, and especially wealth, are divided unequally in U.S. society.Sources: Income data from U.S. Census Bureau (2011); wealth data based on Keister (2000), Bucks et al. (2009), Wolff (2010), and author estimates.
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Social Classes in the United States
• The Upper Class– Upper-Uppers– Lower-Uppers
• The Middle Class– Upper-Middles– Average-Middles
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Social Classes in the United States
• The Working Class– About 1/3 of the population (sometimes called
Lower-middle class)
• The Lower Class– 20% of our population
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The Difference Class Makes
• Health
• Values and Attitudes
• Politics
• Family and Gender
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Social Mobility
• Intergenerational social mobility
• Intragenerational social mobility
• Research on Mobility
• Social mobility over the past century has been fairly high
• Within a single generation, social mobility is usually small
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Social Mobility
• The long-term trend in social mobility has been upward
• Since the 1970s, social mobility has been uneven
• Mobility by Income Level
• Mobility: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
• Mobility and Marriage
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Median Annual Income, U.S. Families, 1950–2010Average family income in the United States grew rapidly between 1950 and 1970. Since then, however, the increase has been smaller.Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2011).
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Mean Annual Income, U.S. Families, 1980–2010 (in 2010 dollars, adjusted for inflation)Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2011).
Social Mobility
• The American Dream: Still a Reality? – For many workers, earnings have stalled– More jobs offer little income– Young people are remaining at home
• The Global Economy and the U.S. Class Structure
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Poverty in the United States
• The Extent of Poverty
• Who Are the Poor?– Age– Race and Ethnicity– Gender and Family Patterns– Urban and Rural Poverty
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Poverty across the United States, 2010
Poverty in the United States
• Explaining Poverty– One View: Blame the Poor– Another View: Blame Society
• The Working Poor
• Homelessness
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Increasing Inequality, IncreasingControversy
• Are the Very Rich Worth the Money?– People doubt that the highest paid individuals
are really worth what they are receiving
• Can the Rest of Us Get Ahead?– Average people who work hard have been
struggling to hang on to what they have
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Share of All Income Earned by theRichest1 Percent,1913–2009
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