Sociology Quiz Chapter 8

Front 1

Social Stratification

Back 1

inequalities among individuals and groups within human societies. 3 key aspects: class, status and power

Front 2

Systems of stratification

Back 2

1. people who share common characteristics w/o necessarily interacting with each other. (wealthy vs. poor, men vs. women)
2. People's life experiences and opportunities depend heavily on how their social category is ranked.
3. The ranks of different social categories tend to change very slowly over time.

Front 3

caste societies

Back 3

different social levels are closed so that all individuals must remain at the social level of their birth throughout life.

Front 4

Endogamy:

Back 4

Puirty of a caste is maintained through endogamy, marriage within one's social group as required by custom/law.

Front 5

Life chances

Back 5

Weber: Best way to understand class. Life chances: the opportunities you have for achieving economic prosperity.

Front 6

Four Class Systems

Back 6

1. Fluid: no formal restrictions: religion or legal.
2. Achieved: not assigned at birth.
3. economically based: economic differences b/w groups or individuals.
4. large scale and impersonal: inequalities expressed in personal relationships of duty or obligation, higher and lower caste individuals.

Front 7

Kuznets curve

Back 7

formula showing that inequality increased during the early stages of capitalist development then declines, and eventually stabilizes at a relatively low level.

Front 8

Income

Back 8

wages and salaries earned from paid occupations plus earned money from investments.

Front 9

Wealth

Back 9

all assets individuals own: cash, savings and checking accounts, investments.

Front 10

Status

Back 10

prestige that goes along with one's social positions.

Front 11

Upper class

Back 11

very wealthiest Americans. 5% of Americans. 145,099

Front 12

Middle class

Back 12

diverse group,people who earn stable and sometimes substantial incomes at white collar jobs.

Front 13

Upper middle class

Back 13

relatively high income professionals, midlevel corporate managers, own/manage small businesses and retail shops. 83,500- 154,498`

Front 14

Lower middle class

Back 14

trained office workers, teachers, nurses, skilled services. 33,314-83,499.

Front 15

Working Class

Back 15

20% of American households. blue collar jobs. 17970-33300

Front 16

Lower class

Back 16

includes those who work part time or not at all 17,000

Front 17

Underclass

Back 17

beneath the class system in that they lack access to the world of work and mainstream patterns of behavior. African Americans.

Front 18

Social Mobility

Back 18

movement of individuals and groups b/w different class positions as a result of changes in occupation, wealth or income.

Front 19

2 ways of studying social mobility

Back 19

Intra-generational mobility: how far they move up or down the socialeconomic scale in their working lives.
Inter-generational mobility: mobility across generations.

Front 20

Exchange mobility

Back 20

exchange of positions, more talented people in each generation moving up while less talented moving down.

Front 21

Structural mobility

Back 21

upward mobility made possible by an expansion of better paid occupations at the expense of more poorly paid ones.

Front 22

Industrialism hypothesis

Back 22

societies become more open to movement b/w classes as they become more technologically advanced.

Front 23

Ascription

Back 23

societies become more industrial, workers jobs become based on achievement rather then ascription: placement in particular social status based on characteristics such as family of origin, race and gender.

Front 24

Education and social stratification

Back 24

Increase demand for and wages paid to educated workers.

Front 25

Class location

Back 25

Individuals class location is evaluated in terms of economics and employment as well as cultural factors such as lifestyle and consumption patterns.--> which is influenced by wealth income.

Front 26

wealth gap

Back 26

between rich and poor, and white and black

Front 27

Vertical mobility

Back 27

Blau and Duncan: movement along the socioeconomic scale, between occupational position quite close to one another.

Front 28

Short-range downward mobility

Back 28

moves from one job to another that are similar routine jobs. Psychological problems or anxieties.

Front 29

Absolute poverty

Back 29

can't get enough to eat, possibly die, undernourished.

Front 30

Relative poverty

Back 30

a measure of inequality, being poor compared with the standards of living of the majority.

Front 31

Poverty Line

Back 31

US, income equal to 3x the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet.

Front 32

Working poor

Back 32

people who work but whose earning are not high enough to lift them above the poverty line

Front 33

feminization of poverty

Back 33

increase of the poor who are female. Single mothers, not well educated or qualified for higher paying jobs. Not able to raise themselves out of poverty.

Front 34

Culture of poverty

Back 34

Lewis; poverty is not a result of individual inadequacies. poor children are socialized from an early age to see little point in aspiring to something more.

Front 35

dependency culture

Back 35

Murray: poor people who rely on the government welfare provision rather then entering the labor market. Subculture that undermines personal ambition and the capacity of self-help

Front 36

Welfare dependency

Back 36

people who become dependent on the very programs that are meant to allow an independent and meaningful life.

Front 37

Social exclusion

Back 37

new sources of inequality- ways in which individuals may become cit off from involvement in the wider society.

Front 38

Processes

Back 38

Mechanisms of exclusion: poor may be denied opportunities for self-betterment that most people in society receive.

Front 39

Social exclusion at the top

Back 39

wealthy exclude themselves from the rest of society- gated communities, private health care.

Front 40

Homeless

Back 40

Growing homeless. elderly or alcoholic men, now young single men and families.

Front 41

Marx production and class

Back 41

means of production: how individuals gain a livelihood.
2 classed: those who own production and those who work for them.
Workers produce more then owners give back.
Surplus value: source of profit, which capitalist put to their own use.

Front 42

Pariah groups

Back 42

Weber: subject to discrimination that prevents them from taking advantage of opportunities open to others.

Front 43

Contradictory class locations

Back 43

Able to control some aspects of production but are denied control over others. White collar in b/w blue collar and capitalist.

Front 44

Social closure

Back 44

groups try to maintain exclusive control over resources by limiting access to them.
Usurption: attempts by the less priviledged to acquire resources previously monopolized by others. ex: Blacks struggle to become apart of the union.