Slide 1
chapter
eight
Sociology in Modules
Richard T. Schaefer
1st Edition
Stratification and Social Mobility
in the United States
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
Stratification and
Social Mobility in
the United States
8
•Module 26: Systems of Stratification
•Module 27: Stratification by Social Class
•Module 28: Poverty and Social Mobility
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
A Look Ahead
█
█
█
Is social inequality inescapable?
How does government policy affect
the life chances of the working poor?
Is this country still a place
where a hardworking person
can move up the social ladder?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 4
Systems of Stratification
█
Social inequality: Situation where
members of society have different
amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
– Ascribed status: social position assigned to
person by society without regard for the
person’s unique talents or characteristics
– Achieved status: social position
that person attains largely
through his or her own efforts
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 5
Four Forms of Stratification
█
Slavery: Individuals owned by other
people, who treat them as property
Castes: Hereditary ranks that
are usually religiously dictated
and tend to be fixed and immobile
█ Estates (feudalism): Peasants worked
land leased to them in exchange for
military protection and other services
█ Social Classes
█
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Module 26
Slide 6
Figure 26-1: The 50 States:
Contrasts in Income and Poverty Levels
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Module 26
Slide 7
Social Classes
Class system: Social ranking based
primarily on economic position
in which achieved characteristics
can influence social mobility
█ Rossides (1997) uses five-class
model to describe U.S. class system:
█
– Upper class
– Upper-middle class
– Lower-middle class
– Working class
– Lower class
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 8
Social Classes
█
Factors contributing to
shrinking size of middle class
– Disappearing opportunities for
those with little education
– Global competition and
advances in technology
– Growing dependence on
temporary workforce
– Rise of new growth industries
and nonunion workplaces
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 9
Sociological Perspectives
on Stratification
█
Sociologists hotly debate
stratification and social inequality
and reach varying conclusions
No theorist stressed
significance of class for society
more strongly than Karl Marx
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Module 26
Slide 10
Karl Marx’s View of
Class Differentiation
█
Social relations depend on who
controls the primary mode of production
– Capitalism: Means of production held largely
in private hands and main incentive for
economic activity is accumulation of profits
– Bourgeoisie: Capitalist class;
owns the means of production
– Proletariat: Working class
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 11
Karl Marx’s View of
Class Differentiation
█
█
Class consciousness: Subjective
awareness of common vested interests
and the need for collective political action
to bring about change
False consciousness: Attitude held by
members of class that does not accurately
reflect their objective position
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 12
Max Weber’s View
of Stratification
█
No single characteristic totally
defines a person’s position
within the stratification system
– Class: Group of people who have
similar level of wealth and income
– Status group: People who
have the same prestige or lifestyle
– Power: Ability to exercise
one’s will over others
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 13
Is Stratification Universal?
█
Functionalist view: Social
inequality necessary so people
will be motivated to fill
functionally important positions
Does not explain the wide disparity
between the rich and the poor
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 14
Is Stratification Universal?
█
Conflict view: Human beings prone
to conflict over scarce resources
such as wealth, status, and power
– Stratification major source of societal tension
– Leads to instability and social change
Dominant ideology: Set of
cultural beliefs and practices that
helps to maintain powerful social,
economic, and political interests
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Module 26
Slide 15
Is Stratification Universal?
█
Lenski’s viewpoint: As a society
advances technologically,
it becomes capable of
producing surplus of goods
– Emergence of surplus resources
expands possibilities for inequality
– Allocation of surplus goods and
services reinforces social inequality
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 26
Slide 16
Table 26-1: Sociological
Perspectives on Social Stratification
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Module 27
Slide 17
Stratification by Social Class
█
Objective Method: Class largely
viewed as a statistical category
•
•
•
•
Education
Occupation
Income
Place of
residence
Prestige: Respect and
admiration an occupation
holds in society
Esteem: Reputation a
specific person has
earned within
an occupation
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 27
Slide 18
Measuring Social Class
█
Gender and Occupational Prestige
– Studies of social class tended to
neglect the occupations and incomes of
women as determinants of social rank
█
Multiple Measures
– Socioeconomic status (SES):
Measure of social class based
on income, education, and occupation
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Module 27
Slide 19
Table 27-1: Prestige Rankings of Occupations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 27
Slide 20
Income and Wealth
█
Income in U.S. distributed unevenly
– Americans do not appear to be seriously
concerned about income and wealth inequality
– Wealth in the U.S. is much more
unevenly distributed than income
In 2009, wealth of the top 1
percent exceeds the collective
wealth of the bottom 90 percent
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 27
Slide 21
Figure 27-1: Mean Household Income by Quintile
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Module 27
Slide 22
Figure 27-2: Distribution of
Wealth in the United States
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Module 27
Slide 23
Research Today
█
Precarious Work
– Has the trend toward increasing reliance
on precarious work touched your family
or friends? Has anyone you know been
unemployed longer than six months?
– Looking forward to your own career,
can you think of a strategy for
avoiding precarious work, frequent job
loss, and long-term unemployment?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 24
Poverty
█
█
Absolute poverty: Minimum
level of subsistence that
no family should live below
Relative poverty: Floating
standard by which people
at the bottom of a society
are judged as being
disadvantaged in comparison
to the nation as a whole
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 25
Poverty
█
Feminization of poverty
– Since W. W. II, increasing proportion
of poor in U.S. have been women
Underclass: long-term poor
who lack training and skills
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 26
Poverty
█
Not a static social class
– Gans: poverty and the poor satisfy positive
functions for many non-poor groups
•
•
•
•
•
Society’s dirty work performed at low cost
Creates jobs that serve the poor
Upholds conventional social norms
Guarantees higher status of more affluent
Absorb costs of social change
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Module 28
Slide 27
Figure 28-1:
Poverty in Selected Countries
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Module 28
Slide 28
Table 28-1: Who are the Poor in the United States?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 29
Sociology in the
Global Community
█
It’s All Relative: Appalachian
Poverty and Congolese Affluence
– If you ever traveled to a foreign country
where income and living standards were
very different from those in the U.S., what
differences between the living standards
stand out in your mind?
– Should the poverty level be the same
everywhere in the world?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 30
Life Chances
█
Max Weber saw class closely
related to people’s life chances
– Life chances: Opportunities to
provide material goods, positive living
conditions, and favorable life experience
Digital divide: Poor, minorities,
and those in rural communities not getting
connected at home or work
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Module 28
Slide 31
Social Mobility
█
Social mobility: Movement of individuals
or groups from one position in a
society’s stratification system to another
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 32
Open Versus Closed
Stratification Systems
█
█
Open system: Position of
each individual influenced
by the person’s achieved status
Closed system: Allows little
or no possibility of moving up
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 33
Types of Social Mobility
█
Horizontal mobility: Movement
within same range of prestige
Vertical mobility: Movement from one
position to another of a different rank
█ Intragenerational mobility: Social
position changes within person’s adult life
█
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 34
Social Mobility
in the United States
Occupational Mobility
█ The Impact
of Education
█ The Impact
of Race and Ethnicity
█ The Impact
of Gender
█
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 35
Figure 28-2 Intergenerational Income Mobility
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 36
Sociology on Campus
█
Social Class and Financial Aid
– How important is financial aid to you
and your friends? Without these
types of aid, would you be able
to cover your college expenses?
– Aside from a reduction in individual
social mobility, what might be the
long-term effects of the shortage
of need-based financial aid?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 37
Rethinking Welfare in
North America and Europe
█
Understand the Issue
– Governments in all parts of the world are
searching for the right solution to welfare
– How much subsidy should they provide?
– How much responsibility should
fall on shoulders of the poor?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 38
Rethinking Welfare in
North America and Europe
█
Understand the Issue
– 1996: Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act passed in U.S.
– Ended long-standing federal guarantee
of assistance to every poor family
that meets eligibility requirements
– Other countries vary widely in
commitment to social service programs
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 39
Rethinking Welfare in
North America and Europe
█
Applying Sociology
– Many sociologists view debate over
welfare from conflict perspective
• Backlash against welfare recipients
reflects deep fears and hostility toward
the nation’s urban and predominantly
African-American and Hispanic underclass
• Corporate welfare: Tax breaks,
direct payments, and grants
government makes to corporations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 28
Slide 40
Rethinking Welfare in
North America and Europe
█
Initiating Policy
– It is too soon to see if “workfare” will succeed
• Prospects for hard-core jobless
faded as boom passed and
economy moved into recession
– European governments encountered
same citizen demand—keep taxes low
• In North America and Europe, people
are turning to private means for support
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.