Transcript Social class indicated by

Chapter 8
 The unequal distribution of:
 Wealth
 Power
 Prestige

Due to meritocracy or social stratification
 Social hierarchy
 Division of society into groups
 Upper
 Middle
 Lower
 Criteria for Stratification:
 Race
 Class
 Gender
 Age
 Whatever is socially important.
1.
Characteristic of society
2.
Persists over generations
3.
All societies stratify their members
4.
Maintained through beliefs (ideology)



Divine right of kings
White man’s burden
Work hard and you will achieve
1. Slavery
2. Caste system
3. Social class
 Most extreme form of
stratification
 People are property
 Can be bought and sold
 Provide labor
 Status determined by heredity (birth)
 Religious
 Economic
 Political
 Physical characteristics
 Cannot be changed
▪ Apartheid in South Africa (1948-1991)
 4 official
groups:
 Black
 White
 Indian
 Coloured


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2dScTlvOQ
System based on access to resources:
 Wealth
 Property
 Power
 Prestige

Sociologists refer to it as socioeconomic status
(or SES).
 Upper class:
 Wealthiest people in U.S.
 About 1% of the U.S. population
 Most of the wealth of the country
 How the very rich live
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDPBxN9Ez1o&feature=related
 Playhouses
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feApzG9FUuY&feature=related
Top 10 of Forbes 400 Wealthiest in 2012
 Professionals and Managers
 Executives
 Managers
 Well-educated
▪ College or postgraduate degrees
 14% of the U.S. population
 “White collar” workers
 Broad range of incomes
 About 30% of U.S. population
 “Blue-collar” or service
industry workers
 Less likely to have college
degrees
 30% of the U.S. population
 “Working poor”
▪Unemployed
 Typically have lower levels of
literacy
 20% of U.S. population
Social institution: Organizes
society’s
 Production,
 Distribution, and
 Consumption of goods and
services
Goods: Commodities
(products)
Services: Activities that
benefit people
 Production: Which goods and services
 Consumer goods:
▪ Food
▪ Shelter
▪ Clothing
 Producer goods: Resources to create goods
▪ Cotton
▪ Steel
▪ Water
 Educational
 Communication
 Transportation
 Health
Transportation
Packaging
Storage
Advertising
 Purchase and Use of goods &
services by households
 Major determinants Consumption
Income
Price
 HENRY FORD: It is customers, not
employers, who really pay workers’
wages; employers merely look after
the cash.
 Economies do best when workers
can afford to buy the goods that
they make.
 Drives 70% of the U.S. economy
 We are all consumers
 Things we buy every week:
 Groceries, gasoline, clothing
 Create the demand that keeps
companies making products
Capitalism
Socialism
No nation completely
one or the other
1.
Private ownership of means
of production
2.
Production based on profit
3.
Competition
4.
Self-interest
5.
Limited government
influence
1.
Public ownership of
the means of
production
2.
Production based
on human needs
3.
Equality of all
people
4.
Democracy
5.
Common good
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U.S. considered a Capitalist system
Most businesses are privately owned
Government: Large role in the economy
 Public Ownership:
 Schools
 Highways
 Parks
 Museums
 Sets minimum wage levels
 Workplace safety standards
 Provides farm price supports
 Negotiates trade policies
 Karl Marx: Two main social classes in
capitalist societies:
1. Capitalists (or bourgeoisie)
 Own the means of production
2. Workers (or proletariat)
 Sell their labor for wages
 Max Weber: Social Class has 3
components:
1.
Class (Wealth: money, investments)
2.
Status (Prestige)
3.
Party (Power)
Social Prestige of Selected Occupations in U.S.
Social Prestige of Selected Occupations in U.S.
White Collar
Score
Blue Collar
White Collar
Score
Blue Collar
Erving Goffman: Social class indicated by:
 Clothing
 Speech
 Gestures
 Possessions
 Friends
 Activities
 Motivates people to achieve
 Allocates people into jobs
 Poor provide jobs for others
 Social service
Theory in Everyday Life
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
 Life Chances
 Consequences of belonging to a
certain social class:
 Education
 Employment
 Medical care (health)

Social mobility: Movement within the
hierarchal system of social classes
 Move up or move down
 Closed system little opportunity to move
from one class to another
 Open system opportunities to move
from one class to another

How to marry rich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvibi2Cph-E&feature=related
 Intergenerational mobility
 Movement between social classes
 From one generation to the next
 Intragenerational mobility
 Movement between social classes
 Over an individual’s lifetime
 Horizontal social mobility
 Occupational movement within a
social class
 Vertical social mobility
 Upward or Downward movement
 Structural mobility: Changes in social
status due to structural changes in society
Example: Creating new kinds of jobs
 Industrialization—Improved social status
 Increases in education
 New technology

▪ Computers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQwTS-K6jI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxbmjDngois
 For a family of 4, 2012
official
poverty line was an annual income of
$23,050
 2012: 46.2 million people in poverty
 15% of the population poverty
 Income before tax deductions
 Excludes:
 Capital gains
 Accumulated wealth
 Home ownership
 Social Security lifted roughly 14.5
million seniors above the poverty
line.

Without SS, the number of people
ages 65+ in poverty would have
increased five-fold
 Top 1 % of wage earners had a 6 %
increase in income over last year
 Income at the bottom 40%
basically unchanged

1. How do sociologists understand
poverty?

2. Is inequality a problem?

3. Is poverty a problem?

4. Can we reduce poverty?