Chapter 7, Stratification
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Structures of Inequality
Inequality in the United States
Explanations of Inequality
Chapter 7, Stratification
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The Determinants of Social Class Position
Variations on a Theme: The Rich, the Middle
Class, the Working Class, and the Poor
The Future of Inequality: Public Policy in the
United States
Types of Stratification Structures
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Caste systems - dramatically represented in
India. Mates, occupations, and social place
are determined by one’s caste.
Class systems permit social mobility through
the attainment of achieved rather than ascribed
statuses.
Marx
Two classes:
 Bourgeoisie control wealth.
 Proletariat are used by them as a labor supply.
Weber
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Class is a relationship to the means of
production.
Status is related to lifestyle.
Power is the ability to compel other people’s
behavior.
Measuring Social Class
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Self-identification asks people to report their
social class. Most people identify themselves
as middle class.
Socioeconomic status, or SES, is determined
by looking at measures of education,
occupation, and income.
Economic Inequality
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Especially pronounced in the United States.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
The richer 20% currently hold 84% of all
wealth.
Structural-functional
Explanation of Inequality
Rewards are distributed based on:
1. The social importance of the task.
2. The pleasantness of the task.
3. The scarcity of the talent and ability
necessary to perform the task.
Conflict Explanation of Inequality
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Statuses and scarce resources are distributed
on the basis of class struggle.
Social inequality is rooted in the private
ownership of the means of production.
Modern conflict theory considers noneconomic factors.
Synthesis of Conflict and
Structural-functional Theory
Leonard Beeghley:
1. Power is the main determinant of the
distribution of scarce resources.
2. Distribution is socially structured.
3. Individual qualities, like achievement
motivation and intelligence can alter the
relationships of power.
The Rich, the Middle Class, the
Working Class, and the Poor
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Upper class - (5% of the population) make
more than $130,000 per year.
Middle class - hold relatively stable jobs and
have access to benefits.
Working class - values and lifestyles are
dissimilar to the middle class, but income
levels may be higher.
Distinctions of Working Class
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Education is not valued as an end in itself.
Lower job security and less access to benefits
like health insurance.
Leisure is valued above work, since work is
seldom pleasant.
Traditional gender roles are more often
accepted and adhered to.
Who Are the Poor?
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Homeless - former mental patients, drugabusers, and alcoholics, 25% are women with
children.
Disadvantaged, unemployed, unemployable,
and caught in lives of misery.