Chapter 7: Social Classes in the United States Stratification in a Modern Society Pgs

Social Stratification is the ranking of people and the rewards they receive based on an objective criteria, often including wealth, power, and/or prestige Income ▪Refers to how much $$ you bring home with your paycheck ▪Refers to the $$ you make due to investments in CD, bonds and/or stocks ▪Amount is based on occupation and education Wealth ▪Refers to all your goodies that you buy with your income – House – Car – Plane – Jewels – Computer – Phone – Clothes

United States Income Distribution 5 Different Groups for Income Distribution. Pg. 122 for definitions Very unequal Based on wages…most are not adjusted for standard of living

Wealth Distribution in United States

In a more “perfect” world….

Types of Poverty in United States Transitional Poor for a short time Example: loss of job Marginal Work is sporadic…seasonal Migrant worker, landscaper Residual Multi-generational and chronic Creates a cycle of poverty

Types of Poverty in United States Absolute Extreme poverty Difficult to survive Darfur, Sudan Relative Not really poverty Compare ourselves to others and compare material wealth Near Poor People who are just above the poverty live, but live in poverty

Poverty Line in the United States ▪The poverty line was set for 2012 at $23,050 for a family of four ▪Statistics say 58.5% of Americans will spend at least 1 year BELOW that line between the ages of ▪Toledo is the 8 th highest metropolitan area with poverty with 20.2%.

Who’s Got the Power?? Power: the ability to carry out your will and impose it on others Not everyone has power. It has been delegated to them for some reason C. Wright Mills believed in the power elite. Included 3 groups: political officials, govt leaders & military leaders

P-R-E-S-T-I-G-E…WHAT’S THAT SPELL?? ▪Level of esteem associated with our status and our social standing ▪This prestige can influence the type of interaction we have with others. ▪One prominent type of prestige is occupational prestige. We hold certain occupations to a higher standard and have more respect for them. These are occupations that we aspire to have.

Class Structure in the United States Upper/Elite Class: Only 1% of population; membership is based on occupation, family name; education Upper Middle Class: High-income, but don’t fit into elite because they don’t have exclusive membership; around 15% of population Middle Class: moderate incomes; lower paid white-collar jobs; well-paid blue collar workers; incomes vary Working Class: have HS diploma; low level of education; manual labor; hourly wage Lower Class: live paycheck to paycheck Urban Underclass: really poor; substandard housing; gov’t assistance; low $$ jobs

What else is a factor?? Neighborhoods ▪Poor tend to live around the poor…not because they want to, but because they HAVE to ▪Middle Class & Wealthy tend to move out of the cities to more rural or suburban areas to escape crime, drugs, dirt, etc. ▪Leaves little to no chance of improvement for those who are “left” behind Education ▪Urban schools usually lack basic supplies; lack of teachers; substandard buildings; crime; drugs; low test scores; low to no parental support ▪Suburban schools usually have more modern buildings, supplies and technology; higher qualified teachers; high parental support ▪Urban students are more at risk but receive less $$. Creates cycle of poverty. ▪Also can influence who goes to college and who doesn’t

Social Mobility….the ability to change social classes Same status Take new Social Studies job in Tiff in Horizontal Move up a status or a few Get Masters and become principal at Ottawa Hills High School $$$ Vertical Climbing the corporate ladder during course of career Start as a cook at a fast food restaurant, but you move up to management and then you open your own franchise Intragenerational

Social Mobility….the ability to change social classes Change of status from one generation to another per family Dad is a janitor, Mom is a school teacher, you become a doctor Impacts the poor more negatively than middle or higher-income families Intergenerational Impacts a large number of people Usually during economic booms…higher more workers. Structural Believes that each social class only has so many spots..so if one group goes up, then someone or some have move down Exchange

3 Perspectives and Social Stratification Functionalist -Meritocracy argument -Some jobs have better rewards, but must put in more time. Conflict Theory -Societal importance does not always get the reward ($$) -Those in power will “fix” the rules so the wealth is not equally distributed Symbolic Interactionism -How do people see poverty & wealth? -Our current social class impacts how we view other classes -Those views are usually opinion based…

Social Policies in the United States… Welfare ▪1996 President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act ▪Created the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program ▪Put time limit on welfare benefits-5 yrs in lifetime. No more than 2 yrs in a row. Prevents “living on the system:” ▪Pushed the requirement for job-training ▪Didn’t fix problem due to lack of education for those recipients Taxes & Social Insurance ▪Progressive & regressive taxes ▪Regressive hits those in poverty harder ▪A bigger percentage of income goes to taxes: social security, gas, sales tax ▪The poor really don’t have a lot of income to start with and then regressive taxes hit them hard ▪Makes it almost impossible to get above the poverty line