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 ( )

 4 official groups:  Black  White  Indian  Coloured

  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   Playhouses 

RATIO OF CEO COMPENSATION TO EMPLOYEE PAY

Top 10 of Forbes 400 Wealthiest in 2012

filter:All%20industries_filter:All%20countries_filter:All%20states Youngest Billionaires ****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  lost-decade-of-the-middle-class/ lost-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  chart.aspx chart.aspx  Income for household with 2 people working 40 hours/week at minimum wage jobs.  $ /month  $29,928/year

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 The original version of the federal poverty measure, which was developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration in the 1960s.original version of the federal poverty measure  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 family/household Poverty guideline For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,020 for each additional person. 1$11, , , , , , , ,630

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 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.  E conomies do best when workers can afford to buy the goods that they make.

 Drives 70% of the U.S. economy 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

Two General Economic Models  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 41

U.S. considered a Capitalist system Most businesses are privately owned Government: Large role in the ec onomy  Public Ownership:  Schools  Highways  Parks  Museums

 Sets minimum wage levels  Workplace safety standards  Provides farm price supports  Negotiates trade policies

 01/us/government-incentives.html 01/us/government-incentives.html  Average American Families Pays $6K a Year in Big Business Subsidies  american-family-pays-6k-a-year-in-subsidies- to-big-business/ american-family-pays-6k-a-year-in-subsidies- to-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.

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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