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55 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Social Differentiation
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The breaking down of economic functions to show the differences of tasks performed (lawyer, teacher, gardener, etc)
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Social Stratification
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The ranking of persons and groups on the basis of various social and sometimes physical characteristics.
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Stratification Dimensions
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three:
Wealth Prestige Power inequalities in all three are closely related |
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Wealth
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economic resources, people's market capacity
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Prestige
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Status, or the deference that people are given by others, social esteem. derived from one's occupation
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Power
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Underlies all forms of inequality. Refers to people's authority in groups and organizations.
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Structured Inequality
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Stratification is not random, social institutions such as govt, the economy and education operate to assure the position of various groups
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Inequality of Condition
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variations in people's actual living standards or life conditions. produced by the uneven distribution of social resources
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Inequality of Opportunity
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Differences in people's chances of acquiring social resources.
Life chances>Weber's term for these chances of social resource acquisition |
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Legitimation
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Process of people seeing the differences in power and wealth as natural and socially beneficial, which in turn makes social inequality legitimate and the groups at the top do not need to resort to coercion to maintain their power and privilege
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Ideology
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A set of beliefs and values that explains and justifies a society's system of power and privilege, (structured inequality).
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Individual Mobility
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ability to change position in a social heirarchy. Usually limited to one's economic class. The idea is seemingly unlimited, in reality there are barriers
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Equity
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distribution of the society's rewards in a just manner
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Liberty
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Freedom to pursue one's interests as one desires and reap the benefits of one's efforts
(produces inequality) |
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Distributive Justice
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A just, fair distribution of the society's valued items
Protect individual? or Protect the collective? |
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Theory
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Framework within which to organize observations, insights and data
Focus on 2 basic issues: Why is there inequality in societies? Is inequality inevitable? |
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Marx Theory of Social Inequality
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Class stratification, sees societies as a total, not isolating a single aspect of the society
Economic foundation is the basis for determining the culture of a society superstructure of noneconomic institutions >family, religion education etc |
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Mode of Production
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Marx> system of production by which people provide for their material existence
societies economic foundation |
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Means of Production
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Control of productive resources, the things necessary to supply the societies economic needs
one element of the population owns these resources, the other can only offer human labor in exchange for these material needs -bourgeoisie & proletariat |
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Ruling Class
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The class that controls the gov't
even if they aren't in the key governmental positions, they are represented by those who act in their interests |
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False Consciousness
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Lacking class consciousness, unaware of their own class interests, members of proletariat regard ruling class as normal, making the inequality seem just and fair for all parties
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Class Conflict
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Power struggle between classes that produces social change
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Political Economy
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Perspective linking economics and politics forcing us to recognize the meshing of these two basic institutions in modern societies and the manner in which they operate to create and sustain the class system
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Wright's Neo-Marxist Theory
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Classes delineated on basis of control of economic resources, not on class stratification
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Contradictory Class Locations
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In between the 3 classes are those who can control some though not all aspects of production
i.e. doctor, lawyers etc. |
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Max Weber
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Influenced by Marx's ideas,
elaborate multidimensional model of class stratification class position based upon relation to means of production but also on interdependent variables class status and party |
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Class
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Those who stand in a similar position with regard to their opportunities to acquire the society's economic rewards
Weber idea of class is based off of occupation not ownership |
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Status
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Refers to differences in prestige that derive from a particular lifestyle, not from purely economic factors
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Status Communities
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people who have similar cultural and social interest and common consumer patterns
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Party
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Denotes political rank, one's standing in a collectivity, or organization whose action is oriented toward the acquisition of social power, and influencing a communal action
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Weber on Power
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The possibility of imposing ones will upon the behavior of other persons
base of all forms of inequality organizational power is most critical |
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Bureaucracy
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enables vast numbers of people playing specialized roles to blend into a cohesive well functioning unit
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Authority
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By virtue of their position in the organization they have the capacity to impose their will over others
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Legal-Rational Authority
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groups organized on basis of specific functions to perform or objectives to meet
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Traditional Systems of Authority
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People obey out of a sense of tradition
i.e. monarchy |
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Charismatic Authority
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People obey certain individuals who assume and maintain their positions on the sheer strength of personal appeal
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Michel's Oligarchy Theory
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Assumed that a craving for power and recognition is an inherent human psychological trait
means of the administration not of the production that are most critical in modern societies |
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Oligarchy
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rule of the many by the few
seen as inevitable, assert a need for power in order to make decisions for the masses |
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Order vs Conflict Theorists
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Order: society is held together through collectively shared ideals and values
Conflict: people abide by rules of society because they are coerced into doing so |
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Functionalist
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society has roles that need to be filled in order for the society as a whole to function. inequalities must be there
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Conflict Theorists and Inequality
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based off of who holds the power within society,
no assurances that the most qualified people occupy the key societal roles, based off of family wielded power |
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Social Class
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very diverse in definitions
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Economic Dimension of Social Class
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groupings of people who share roughly similar incomes and wealth
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Socioeconomic Status
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The intertwining of the three aspects of economic social class
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Lifestyles
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Similarities of people with similar lifestyles is another way to determine class standing
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Class Consciousness
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understanding of how social class has an impact on peoples lives and how the political economic and social interests of different classes conflict.
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Upper Class
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derive income from mainly investment returns (capitalist class)
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Upper-Middle Class
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"runners" of the society (if upperclass "owns" the society)
education sets this class apart college level is understood |
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Lower-Middle Class
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hardest to define
middle managers, semiprofessionals, education is definitely highschool, many also go to college |
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Working Class
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"blue collar">>"service jobs"
semi skilled, low wages, HS diploma, some college |
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Working Poor
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fall below
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Underclass
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chronically in poverty
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Family Income
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Family: 2 or more ppl living in same housing unit related by marriage or blood
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Income Quintiles
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division of income into fifths arranging from highest to lowest
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Wealth
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value of ones assets or property.
major forms are stocks, bonds wealth generates wealth nothing to inhibit the process |
