Transcript Social Stratification

Social Stratification
Spent
• What were the hardest decisions you had to make?
• Some tough decisions had to be made about your
children (field trips, birthday parties, free lunch,
card with money). What were some that you really
believe you would make if you were actually living
in poverty?
• What were some of the things that you found easy
to “give-up” in order to survive?
• Did any of you opt out of insurance and have that
decision come back to haunt you?
What is Social Class? Discuss.
• Is it…
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… about social and/or economic position?
… about income?
… about education?
… about prestige?
… about power and control?
… about one's culture?
… about taste and lifestyle, regardless of income?
… about one's race, religion, or ethnicity?
… about one's job?
… about one's self-image and attitude about the world?
Agree or Disagree?
• United States of America is a classless and
egalitarian society.
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Think about different sociological institutions.
Think about housing in the United States.
Think about jobs/salaries/wages.
Think about the education system.
• Be prepared to share your responses/thoughts with the
class.
Dimensions of Stratification
• Social Stratification: ranking of people or groups according to
their unequal access to scarce resources
– Each layer of stratification system is a social class
– Social Class: segment of society whose members hold
similar amounts of resources and share values, norms, and
lifestyle
• Karl Marx - social class is divided between those who OWN the
means of production and those who do not
• Max Weber - social class is large group of people who rank close
to one another in wealth, power and prestige
• These three elements separate people into different lifestyles
• These groups have different opportunities to succeed
• These groups have different ways of looking at themselves
and the world
Economic Dimension
• Unequal distribution of economic resources
• Wealth: total economic resources held by a group;
consists of property and income (examples of each?)
o PROPERTY: buildings, land, animals, machinery, cars,
stocks, bonds, businesses, and back accounts
o INCOME: money received as wages, rents, interests,
royalties or the proceeds from a business
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45 million in poverty in US in 2013 ($23,850 for 4)
9.63 million millionaires; 492 billionaires
Richest 20% holds 84% of the wealth
Top 1% holds 33% of the wealth
 Americans are worth about $26 trillion—all real estate,
stocks, bonds, and business assets in the entire country
Wealth
ASSETS
owned by
1% of the
population
owned by
99% of the
population
owned by
10% of the
families
owned by
90% of the
families
Power Dimension
• Power: ability to control the behavior of others, even
against their will
– Money, ownership, knowledge, fame
– Attached to the social positions we hold
– C. Wright Mills: believed that power was
concentrated in the hands of a few known as the
power elite who make all the big decisions that affect
the lives of most Americans
• Power elite: group of like-minded individuals who share
ideologies and values—they belong to private clubs,
vacation together, socialize together
Prestige Dimension
• Prestige: recognition, respect, admiration attached to
social positions
– Defined by culture and society (mafia dons)
– Voluntarily given, not claimed
– Assign higher prestige to those with power and
wealth
• Usually connected to occupation—some jobs are given
more respect and held in higher regard than other jobs
– What jobs are prestigious?
– What jobs are NOT prestigious?
– What do the prestigious jobs have in common?
Occupation Prestige Rankings
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Astronaut
Auto Mechanic
Bagger
Business
Car dealer
College professor
Drug dealer
Engineer
Firefighter
Housewife
Janitor
Landlord
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Lawyer
Nurse
Panhandler
Plumber
Police
Principal
Sales clerk
Surgeon
Taxi driver
Teacher
Waitress
Occupation Prestige Rankings
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Surgeon – 87
Astronaut – 80
Lawyer – 75
College professor – 74
Engineer – 71
Principal – 69
Nurse – 66
Teacher – 65
Police – 61
Business – 60
Firefighter – 53
Housewife - 49
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Plumber – 43
Car dealer – 43
Landlord - 41
Auto Mechanic – 40
Sales clerk – 36
Waitress – 29
Taxi driver 28
Janitor – 22
Bagger – 18
Drug dealer – 13
Panhandler - 11
Perspectives on Stratification
• Functionalist:
– The most qualified people fill the most important
positions.
– Inequality exists because certain jobs are more
important.
• Conflict Theory:
– Inequality exists because people exploit others.
– It is based on power and class struggle.
• Symbolic Interaction:
– Children are taught that social class is the result of talent
and effort.
– You can’t really challenge the system, so you accept it.
Social Classes in America
• Group Chart: (Put your note sheets away!!!)
– What are the social classes in America?
– What are the characteristics of each social class?
Jobs, where they live, hobbies, education, salaries…
– What percentage of people make up each social class?
• Upper Class:
– 1% of the population
– Aristocracy – old money families; based on blood;
seldom marry outside of their class
– Lower-upper class – based on achievement/earned
income; may actually be better off than the aristocracy
Social Classes in America
• Middle Class:
– 40-50% of the population
– UMC: Successful in business, professions, politics;
live well; save money; educated; 14% of population
– MMC: Small busienss, farms, doctors, lawyers,
teachers, nurses, firefighters; high school education,
maybe college; $44,389 average income; 30% of
population
– LMC: AKA working class; roofers, salespeople,
clerical workers; below average income; unstable
employment; lack of benefits; 33% of population
Social Classes in America
• Working Poor:
– Low-skill jobs; manual laborers, service workers;
make less than the poverty line; lack steady
employment; 13% of population
• Underclass:
– Usually unemployed; come from families with a
history of unemployment for generations; part-time
menial jobs or on public assistance; physical/mental
disabilities; single moms
– Based on birth, old age, loss of partner; lack of
education, drugs, disability; 12% of population
• Social Mobility: movement of individuals or groups in
social position over time
Poverty in America
• Absolute Poverty: the absence of enough money to
secure life’s necessities
• Relative Poverty: based on the disparity between those at
the top and bottom; may remain alive, but poor
• Measured by poverty line set by government
• 12.7% of the population; 45 million people (2013)
• Minorities, people living in female-headed households,
children under 18, elderly, disabled make up the most
impoverished
Poverty in America: Statistics
• Race and Ethnicity
– Whites: 46% of the poor, but large % of general population
– African Americans: 20+% of the poor
– Latinos: 20+% of the poor
– African Americans and Latinos are only ¼ of the population,
but make up nearly ½ of the poor population
• Gender:
– ½ of poor households are female-headed (feminization)
– Related to that is children in poverty – most likely age group
– Women earn less, have less stable jobs, trouble finding day
care
• Age:
– 10% of people age 65+ live in poverty
Responses to Poverty
• War on Poverty (1964)
– Help poor people help themselves; self-improvement
– Not as successful as hoped; fear of people becoming dependent
on government for too long
• Welfare Reform (1996)
– Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): limits the
amount of time people able to work can receive assistance
• Reduces welfare spending
• Increases small government power to oversee welfare rules
• Adds new restrictions to welfare eligibility
– From 1996-2003 the number of people on welfare decreased
from 12 million to 5 million
– Those that left for low paying jobs have lost those jobs due to
economic turndown.