Transcript Class

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.
A 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
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/ceo-pay-ratios/
RATIO OF CEO COMPENSATION TO EMPLOYEE PAY
Top 10 of Forbes 400 Wealthiest in 2012
http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:_
filter:All%20industries_filter:All%20countries_filter:All%20states
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eimh45igdg/1-dustin-moskovitz/
Youngest Billionaires 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/national/class/
****SOCIAL CLASS MATTERS
 Professionals and Managers
 Executives
 Managers
 Well-educated
▪ College or postgraduate degrees
 “White collar” workers
 Broad range of incomes
 Lost Decade of Middle Class

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/08/22/videolost-decade-of-the-middle-class/
 “Blue-collar” or service
industry workers
 Less likely to have college
degrees
 “Working poor”
▪ Unemployed
 Typically have lower levels of literacy
 Minimum wages by state
 http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-
chart.aspx

Income for household with 2 people working 40 hours/week at
minimum wage jobs.


$2494.00/month
$29,928/year

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/21/p
overty-rises-despite-end-ofrecession_n_1023946.html

The original version of the federal poverty
measure, which was developed by Mollie
Orshansky of the Social Security
Administration in the 1960s.

Updated each year by the Census Bureau, the
thresholds are used mainly for statistical
purposes.




The other version of federal poverty measure.
Issued every year, by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Guidelines are a simplification of the poverty
thresholds
Created for administrative use, such as
determining financial eligibility for certain
federal programs.
2013 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR THE 48
CONTIGUOUS STATESAND THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
Persons in
Poverty guideline
family/household
For families/households with more than 8 persons,
add $4,020 for each additional person.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
$11,490
15,510
19,530
23,550
27,570
31,590
35,610
39,630
http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-povertyguidelines.html
 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
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
 Education
 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

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/
01/us/government-incentives.html

Average American Families Pays $6K a Year
in Big Business Subsidies
http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/24/averageamerican-family-pays-6k-a-year-in-subsidiesto-big-business/

 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