Chapter 7
Class and Stratification
July 12, 2010
Class Up-date
• 3 more “instructional” classes:
July 12th
July 14th NO CLASS! WORK ON PROJECTS
Email me project info / article.
July 19th
July 21st
---------------------------------------------------------------July 26th – We present projects in class.
July 28th - Final Exam (Critical Issues on Wiki)
Defining Class
• Following the Industrial Revolution
Class is the division of people into large groups
having similar economic assets.
Upper class: consists of those who control the
means of producing goods and services
Middle class: those who possess education and/or
technical skills
Lower or working class: posses manual labor skills.
Ideal Cutlure
• Values women and children first.
• Reference Titanic chart: What do you notice?
Titanic Facts
• In order to allow 1st class passengers enough
room to walk the deck - # of life boats were
reduced.
• Lifeboats were kept on the deck – close to 1st
class cabins
What impact does your social class have on
your life chances?
What is Social Stratification?
– social stratification
– structured inequality
• wealth and power
• belief systems
– structure of social mobility
– Every society has a ranking system
• Why Do We Have Social Stratification?
– creates interdependence (Durkheim)
– oppression and exploitation (Marx)
Social Class
• Theories of Social Class
– Marx and Class
• bourgeoisie
• proletariat
– Weber and Class
• Class position
• Status
• Power
– socioeconomic status (“SES”)
Karl Marx
• Social Class is a core theme in Marx’s writings
– Class means all members of a group who share
the same ties to the means of production
– 2 main primary classes:
• Capitalists (or bourgeoisie) – Own or direct the means
of production & accumulate profit
• Working class (proletariat) – make living by selling labor
to Capitalists
Class Conflict
• Relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat is
ground in their dependence on one another & class
conflict.
• Capitalism: economic system that concentrates
ownership of the means of production in the hands of
the few and is coupled with a network of wage labor
provided by many.
• Capitalists invest money in production of goods and
services to generate private profit.
• Surplus Value: Marx describes this as the source of the
exploitation of the working class by the capitalist elite.
Max Weber
Like Marx – believe that major class divisions
were rooted in who owned the means of
production.
He believed individuals were assigned different
market values for their skills
BUT he believed that POWER played a role.
Not just economics
ie… Bill Gates vs. Supreme Court Justices
Social Conflict
• Conflict is unavoidable b/c of scarcity or
unequal distribution of valued good and
services
• Some classes have power and control over
these resources than other do.
Emile Durkheim
• Social class was a product of the division of
labor.
• It is common to all organizations b/c it is
required for a smooth operation.
Structural Functionalists
• Stratification satisfies a need to slot
individuals to various positions for the division
of labor
• Motivates people to accomplish their goals
• Most competent people = more important
tasks
• Inequality of strata = rewards must be
unequally distributed b/c not all jobs are not
equally pleasant or important.
Social Class
• Socioeconomic Classes in the
United States
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Upper Upper Class
Lower Upper Class
Upper Middle Class
Middle Middle Class
Working Class
Lower Class
Underclass
Theories of Stratification
• Biological Deficiency
– Social Darwinsim (“Survival of the Fittest”)
•
•
•
•
People are poor b/c they are biologically unfit
Some are born healthier and more intelligent
Some end up with “more” b/c they are superior
Today his beliefs appear in writings of THREE
contemporary theorists.
Poverty
Table 1
Diverging classes
Median family income by income, 1979 and 2008, 2008 dollars
1979
2008
Low income
$26,709
$19,011
Middle income
$74,244
$64,465
Professional
$137,547
$147,742
Source:Heather Boushey and Jeff Chapman’s analysis of Miriam King, Steven Ruggles, Trent Alexander, Donna Leicach, and Matthew Sobek.
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Current Population Survey: Version 2.0. [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis, MN:
MinnesotaPopulation Center [producer and distributor], 2009.
Table 2
Women in the workforce
Stay-at-home married mothers, by family income, in the late 1970s and the late 2000s
1977–1979
2006–2008
Low income
55%
60%
Middle income
35%
23%
Professional
35%
20%
Source: Heather Boushey and Jeff Chapman’s analysis of Miriam King, Steven Ruggles, Trent Alexander, Donna Leicach, and Matthew Sobek.
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Current Population Survey: Version 2.0. [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota
Population Center [producer and distributor], 2009.
US Census Data
• Poverty Table 2001 – 2003 (wiki ref.)
• US Dept. of Health and Family Services (wiki)
Poverty
• Concentrated in three groups:
– Racial Minorities
– Women
– Children of the poor
*The book shows most of the poor are white.
But median income in AA households is 61.9% of
white income.
Hispanic income is 70.6% of white income. (2003)
Women
• 2003:
–
–
–
–
Female head of household median income: $29, 307
Male head of household (w/o wife): $41,959
Female head of households (w/o husband) bottom 35%
¼ of female H of H (w/o husbands) live below poverty
– 1996 over 50% of all poor were female H of H (w/o husbands)
Children
• 1:5 children in poverty
• Nearly half of all AA children in poverty
• 1/3 of all poor do not get food stamps
• ¾ receive no housing assistance
•
•
•
•
1.5 million children w/o a permanent roof over head.
Nearly 5 million children experience hunger
1/3 eat only one meal per day or less
Only ¼ eat 3 meals a day
Grim Rule of Three
• Poor children 3x more likely to live in sub-standard
housing
• 3 x more likely to go w/out heat or electricity
• 3 x more likely to be exposed toe damp, molding
housing and lead to higher rates of asthma and other
respiratory illnesses
• 3x more likely to live with cockroaches and mice
(allergies, bites, health issues form animal waste.)
• 3 x more likely to experience overcrowding and lead
poison
• 3x more likely to die from house fire b/c 3 x more likely
to live in mobile homes
Theories on Racial Inequality
• Deficiency Theories:
– Lies in genetics
– Early theories – whites were mentally superior
– Achievements and dominance were a matter of
natural selection
– Resurfaced in 1969 (Arthur Jensen) and Richard
Herrnstein (1973)
– Few scientists accept these theories.
Arthur Jensen
• Link between IQ and innate intelligence
– 80% inherited
– 20% environmental
Fasten your seatbelts!!!!!
– Suggested IQ between AA and whites
– Used IQ tests and performance in school
Richard Herrnstein
•
•
•
•
Integrated Jensen’s views
Professor of Psychology at Harvard University
Hereditary caste system
Intelligence is inherited
– Lower intelligence – people will fall behind
The Bell Curve (written with Charles Murray) 1994
Debate over intelligence and class structure
Controversial Conclusion: (Reference J.Mc)
“Going on welfare really is a dumb idea, and that is why
women who are low in cognitive ability end up there.”
Culture of Poverty
• Once culture of poverty comes into existence
– perpetuates from generation to generation
b/c of the effect on the children.
• By the time “slum children” are 6 or 7 yrs. Old
– they have absorbed basic values and
attitude s of subculture.
(Reference Mom/ Chris D.)
Reading Ability
• # of words – vocabulary level
• 4 yr. olds vs. poverty mothers
• Busy talk vs. “talking” with children
Edward Banfield
(Advisor to Republican Presidents 1974)
• Non-Poor:
– Put off gratification of immediate needs or desire for
future gain
– In school ex. : willing to invest time, energy, and
money in obtaining degrees that lead to….
• Poor tend to:
– Present time orientation (live for the moment)
– Ex. More willing to spend time, energy, and money on
gaining their immediate wants / desires.
Opportunity Theory
• Alternative to Genetic Theories
• Focuses on changes post WWII
• Thesis is the isolation of the AA underclass
from the opportunity structure created
• Believes class has more of an effect on job
placement than race.
**Pursuit of Happiness – Will Smith**
Institutional Discrimination
• Michael Harrington (Book: The Other America)
– Contemporary poor in US are those who for
reasons beyond their control cannot help
themselves.
– Real reason why poor – made the mistake of being
born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of
the country, in the wrong industry or tin the
wrong racial or ethnic group.
William Ryan
Situational Constraints within
Institutional Discrimination
• Author of blaming the victim
• The influence of the culture of poverty on
poverty is relatively small. “The simplest and
at the same time, the most significant
proposition in understanding poverty is that it
is caused by lack of money.”
Institutional Discrimination
•
Occurs when the accepted ways of doing things work to the disadvantage of the
poor and to the advantage of the non-poor.
Example:
•
To get ahead = one needs education
•
To succeed in education – one needs parents with the experience and expertise to
guide their children through the vast educational network and to have high
expectations.
•
Most jobs leading to social mobility = require college education
•
Poor experience low expectations of teachers, poor quality of schools, lack of
support services, and can not afford college tuition = self-fulfilling prophecy of
failure.
Welfare
Walter Williams' PBS documentary Good Intentions based on his book, The State Against Blacks (1982). The documentary
was very controversial at the time it was released and led to many animosities and even threats of murder.
In Good Intentions, Dr. Williams examines the failure of the war on poverty and the devastating effect of well meaning
government policies on blacks asserting that the state harms people in the U.S. more than it helps them. He shows how
government anti-poverty programs have often locked people into poverty making the points that:
- being forced to attend 3rd rate public schools leave students unprepared for working life
- minimum wages prevent young people from obtaining jobs at an early age
- licensing and labor laws have had the effect of restricting entrance of blacks into the skilled trades and unions
- the welfare system creates perverse incentives for the poor to make bad choices they otherwise would not
Dr. Williams presents the following solutions to these problems:
Failing Public Schools - Give parents greater control over their children's education by setting up a tuition tax credit or
voucher system to broaden competition in turn revitalizing both public and non-public schools
Minimum Wages - Remove the minimum wage from youngsters to give more young people the chance to learn the world of
work at an early age instead spending their free time idle an possibly falling into the habits of the street
Restrictive Labor Laws, Jobs Programs - Eliminate government roadblocks that prevent new entrepreneurs from starting
their own business
Welfare Programs - Enact a compassionate welfare system such as a negative income tax which would remove dependency
and dis-incentives for the poor to get themselves out of poverty
Scholars interviewed in the documentary include Donald Eberle, Charles Murray, and George Gilder.
Welfare Reform
• 1996 President Clinton signed:
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
Eliminated: AFDC: Aid to Families with Dependent Children
Changed: TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
1. Max. of 60 months (some states 2 years)
2. Requires able-bodied people to work hours per week to maintain