What is social class? How is social class determined in the United States? Why does class matter?

What is power? In the United States, can you have power without having wealth? What is the relationship between wealth and power? The behavior to control the behavior of others, even against their will

What is a “meritocracy?” Is the United States “meritocratic?”

Social Stratification A relatively fixed hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have different access to resources, power and perceived social worth. In the US, social stratification is strongly influenced by class, which is in turn influenced by occupation, income, education, race, gender, age, region, ethnicity and national origin A relatively fixed hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have different access to resources, power and perceived social worth. In the US, social stratification is strongly influenced by class, which is in turn influenced by occupation, income, education, race, gender, age, region, ethnicity and national origin

Forms of Social Stratification Estate System – property and power monopolized by an elite; i.e. Feudal EuropeEstate System – property and power monopolized by an elite; i.e. Feudal Europe Caste System – One’s place in society is determined by ascribed status; often preserved through law and cultural practices; i.e. Apartheid in South Africa, Jim Crow segregation in American SouthCaste System – One’s place in society is determined by ascribed status; often preserved through law and cultural practices; i.e. Apartheid in South Africa, Jim Crow segregation in American South Class System – One’s place in society can change by individual achievement (achieved status) but is still highly dependent on birth factors (ascribed)Class System – One’s place in society can change by individual achievement (achieved status) but is still highly dependent on birth factors (ascribed)

Socioeconomic Status (SES) Derived from three main measuresDerived from three main measures –Income: Amount of money a person receives in a given period –Occupational Prestige: Subjective evaluation people give to jobs –Educational Attainment: Total years of formal education How do we measure class? Do all of the above measures carry equal weight? Are some more important than others?

Layers of Social Class Upper Upper-middle Middle Lower-Middle Lower class Determine the qualifications for each of the classes above; consider factors such as income, occupational prestige, and educational attainment in determining the qualifications

Class Consciousness Perception that a class structure exists, and the feeling of shared identification with others in one’s class False Consciousness: False Consciousness: describes the class consciousness of subordinate classes who internalize the view of the dominant class How do we learn class?

Social Mobility A person’s movement over time from one class to another; can be up or downA person’s movement over time from one class to another; can be up or down –Intergenerational –Intergenerational: occurs between generations; i.e. child rises above the class of his/her parents –Intragenerational –Intragenerational: occurs within a generation; i.e. immediate business success (upward), business disaster (downward)

Source: TIME – Pew’s Economic Mobility Project

Forbes List of the richest people in the United States

Forbes 400 Go through the 1 st 100 people on the list and create a chart describing the peoples’ physical characteristics (race, gender). Summarize your findings.Go through the 1 st 100 people on the list and create a chart describing the peoples’ physical characteristics (race, gender). Summarize your findings. Select a person from the Forbes 400 listSelect a person from the Forbes 400 list –Briefly describe the person; age, race, sex, net worth, how he/she acquired his/her wealth –What social class was the person born into (lower, lower- middle, middle, upper-middle, upper)? Explain your reasoning for placing the person into that class –Explain if this person experienced any social mobility in his/her life Should be 2-3 paragraphs (at least 5-6 sentences per paragraph)

Why is there inequality?

Karl Marx: Class and Capitalism BourgeoisieBourgeoisie –Capitalist class; those who own the means of production ProletariatProletariat –Working Class; those who sell their labor for wages –Included the petty bourgeoisie; those who were “middle class” and identified themselves with the capitalist class but did not own the means of production Marx believed that as more wealth became concentrated into fewer hands the two classes would become increasingly polarized and revolution would result

Max Weber: Class, Status and Party Class – economic dimensionClass – economic dimension Status – prestige; cultural and social dimensionStatus – prestige; cultural and social dimension Party – power; political dimensionParty – power; political dimension Held a multidimensional view of social stratification; analyzed the connections between economic, social and political aspects of social stratification What are the similarities and differences between Marx and Weber?

Inequality in America

Income v. Wealth What is the difference?

Wealth in the United States

CEO/Average worker pay ratio

Using the above federal poverty threshold ($23,050 for family of 4) as a guide, develop a monthly budget that does not exceed this income level and that accounts for all of your family’s needs. Base your budget on the actual costs of things in your locale (rent, food, transportation, utilities, clothing and so forth). What does this teach you about those who live below the poverty line?

Explanations of Poverty The Culture of Poverty:The Culture of Poverty: Contends that poverty is a way of life that is transferred, like other cultures, from generation to generation, where the major causes of poverty are welfare dependency, the absence of work values, and irresponsibility of the poor Structural Causes of Poverty: restructuring of the economy status of women in the labor marketStructural Causes of Poverty: restructuring of the economy (disappearance of manufacturing jobs, locations of jobs are typically not in poor neighborhoods…; status of women in the labor market (wage disparity between men and women)

Welfare?

Theories of Stratification Functionalist - Conflict Theory - Symbolic Interaction -

Heirs and Entrepreneurs in the Wealth Rankings One of the most striking lessons of the Forbes ranking is that, past a certain threshold, all large fortunes, whether inherited or entrepreneurial in origin, grow at extremely high rates, regardless of whether the owner of the fortune works or not. To be sure, one should be careful not to overestimate the precision of the conclusions one can draw from these data, which are based on a small number of observations and collected in a somewhat careless and piecemeal fashion. The fact is nevertheless interesting. Take a particularly clear example at the very top of the global wealth hierarchy. Between 1990 and 2010, the fortune of Bill Gates – the founder of Microsoft, the world leader in operating systems, and the very incarnation of entrepreneurial wealth and number one in the Forbes rankings for more than ten years – increased from $4 billion to $50 billion. At the same time, the fortune of Liliane Bettencourt – the heiress of L’Oreal, the world leader in cosmetics, founded by her father Eugene Schueller – increased from $2 billion to $25 billion, again according to Forbes. Both fortunes thus grew at an annual rate of more than 13 percent from 1990 to 2010, equivalent to a real return on capital of 10 or 11 percent after correcting for inflation. In other words, Liliane Bettencourt, who never worked a day in her life, saw her fortunes grow exactly as fast as that of Bill Gates, the high-tech pioneer, whose wealth has incidentally continued to grow just as rapidly since he stopped working. Once a fortune is established, the capital grows according to a dynamic of its own, and it can continue to grow at a rapid pace for decades simply because of its size. Source: Capital in the 21st Century – Thomas Piketty

Due with test – Tomorrow To what extent is the movie Pursuit of Happyness an accurate representation of social mobility in the United States? Explain. Use evidence from the movies (POH, IFA), class discussions and readings

President Barack Obama There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. US Senator Marco Rubio The United States “is the only society in history where your future is not determined by where you were born.”