Sociology Chapter 8

Front 1

social stratification

Back 1

System by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy, takes two general forms: caste systems and class systems. Is a trait of society

Front 2

social mobility

Back 2

Change in position within the social hierarchy

Front 3

caste system

Back 3

Social stratification based in ascription or birth

Front 4

class system

Back 4

Social stratification based on both birth and individual achievement

Front 5

meritocracy

Back 5

Social stratification based on personal merit

Front 6

status consistency

Back 6

Degree of uniformity in a person's social standing across various dimensions of social inequality

Front 7

structural social mobility

Back 7

Shift in the social position of large numbers of people die more to changes in society itself than to individual efforts

Front 8

ideology

Back 8

Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality

Front 9

Davis-Moore thesis

Back 9

Functional analysis claiming that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society

Front 10

structural functional theory

Back 10

Points to ways social stratification helps society operate

Front 11

social-conflict theory

Back 11

Claims that stratification divides societies in classes, benefiting some categories of people at the expense of others and causing social conflict

Front 12

capitalists

Back 12

People who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profits

Front 13

proletarians

Back 13

People who sell their labor for wages

Front 14

alienation

Back 14

Experience of isolation and misery resulting from powerlessness

Front 15

blue collar occupations

Back 15

Lower prestige jobs that involve mostly manual labor

Front 16

socioeconomic status (SES)

Back 16

Composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality

Front 17

three distinct dimensions of social stratification

Back 17

Economic class, social status or prestige, and power. Identified by Max weber

Front 18

wealth

Back 18

The total value of money and other assets, minus outstanding debts

Front 19

intragenerational social mobility

Back 19

Change in social position occurring during a person's lifetime

Front 20

symbolic interaction theory

Back 20

Micro level analysis that explores how inequality shapes everyday life, explains that we size people up by looking for clues to their social standing

Front 21

absolute poverty

Back 21

Lack of resources that is life threatening

Front 22

culture of poverty thesis

Back 22

States that poverty is caused by shortcomings in the poor themselves as stated by Oscar Lewis: blame individuals

Front 23

blame society

Back 23

Poverty is caused by society's unequal distribution of wealth and lack of good jobs as stated by William Julius Wilson, society more than individual is main cause of poverty

Front 24

intergenerational social mobility

Back 24

Upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to their parents

Front 25

social stratification involves:

Back 25

Income, wealth, power, occupational prestige, schooling, family, ancestry, race, ethnicity, and gender

Front 26

feminization of poverty

Back 26

Trend of women making up an increasing proportion of the poor

Front 27

income

Back 27

Earnings from work or investments

Front 28

social class positions in society

Back 28

Upper class-5%, middle class-40% to 45%, working class-30% to 35%, lower class-20%.

Front 29

conspicuous consumption

Back 29

Buying and using products because of the statement they make about social position

Front 30

relative poverty

Back 30

Lack of resources of some people in relation to those who have more

Front 31

hunting and gathering to postindustrial

Back 31

Gerhard lie ski explains that advancing technology initially increases social stratification, which is most intense in agrarian societies. Industrialization reverses the trend, reducing ss. Then increases in PI.

Front 32

white collar occupations

Back 32

Higher prestige jobs that involve mostly mental activity

Front 33

global stratification

Back 33

Patterns of social inequality in the world as a whole

Front 34

high income countries

Back 34

Nations with the highest overall standards of living

Front 35

middle income countries

Back 35

Nations with a standard of living about average for the world as a whole

Front 36

low income countries

Back 36

Nations with a low standard of living in which most people are poor

Front 37

colonialism

Back 37

Process by which some nations enrich themselves through political and economic control of other nations

Front 38

neocolonialism

Back 38

New form of global power relationships that involves not direct political control but economic exploitation by multinational corporations

Front 39

multinational corporation

Back 39

Large business that operates in many countries

Front 40

modernization theory

Back 40

Model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of technological cultural differences between nations

Front 41

dependency theory

Back 41

Model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich ones