Guided Notes for Social Stratification
Sociology
These will be all the notes you will need to keep for the test
1. Dimensions of stratification:
a. Economic
b. Power
c. Prestige
2. Social Stratification:
a. Wealth, Income, Power, and Prestige
3. Social Class:
a. In technologically developed countries there are generally three broad
classes
i.
b. In developing countries there tend to be two
i.
4. Karl Marx and Max Weber:
a. Karl Marx:
b. Max Weber:
5. The Economic Dimension:
a.
b. Predicted that capitalist societies would ultimately form two social
classes.
c. Those who owned the means of production (the bourgeoisie) would rule
and exploit the working class (the proletariat)
d. What did Max believe?
e. Economist look at the difference between income and wealth.
i. Income:
ii. Wealth:
6. The Power Dimension:
a. What is Power?
b. Marx believed that those who own and control capital have power in
society
c. Weber argued that economic success and power are not the same
d. What are some important resources for power?
e. What is power attached to?
f. Characteristics attributed to people with power, such as intelligence, help
them gain prestige whether they possess these characteristics or not
7. The Prestige Dimension
a. What is Prestige?
b. Distribution of Prestige:
c. People achieve prestige because of their occupations
8. Functionalist Theory of Stratification
a. ___________________________ assures that the most ______________________ people
fill the most important ________________________, that these qualified people
preform their tasks competently, and that they are _______________________
for their efforts.
9. Conflict Theory of Stratification
a. Inequality exist because of?
b. From their perspective, ________________________ is based on force rather
than on people ________________________ agreeing to it.
c. Those who own the means of productions are able to spread what and
through what?
10. Symbolic Interactionism and Stratification
a. According to this perspective, American children are taught that a
person’s social class is the result of talent and effort
b. Those “on the top” go there how?
c. Those “on the bottom” go there because?
d. People in the ______________ social classes tend to suffer from _____________
self-esteem.
e. People in the _________________ social classes tend to have _________________
self-esteem.
f. People’s self-concepts also help preserve the status quo.
11. Social Classes in America
a. What is Class Consciousness?
b. The Upper Class
i. Divided into the upper-upper class and the lower-upper class
ii. Who is in the upper-upper class?
iii. Who is in the lower-upper class?
c. The Middle Class
i. What percent of Americans are in the middle class?
ii. Who is in the upper-middle class?
iii. Who is in the middle-middle class?
d. The Working Class
i. What percent of the population is working class?
e. The Working Poor
i. What percent of Americans are in the working poor?
ii. What type of work do they do in the class?
f. The Underclass
i. Who is in the underclass?
ii. What do they lack?
g. What are the similarities between the working poor and underclass?