1. SOCIOLOGY: A Brief Introduction
Richard T. Schaefer
SOCIOLOGY: A Brief Introduction
Sixth Edition
McGraw-Hill
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE9
STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE
Understanding Stratification
Stratification by Social Class
Social Mobility
Stratification in the World System

3. STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE9
STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE
Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
Social Policy and Stratification: Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe

4. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Ascribed Status: social position assigned to person without regard for that person’s unique characteristics or talents
Achieved Status: social position attained by person largely through his or her own effort .

5. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Slavery
Most extreme form of legalized social inequality; Enslaved individuals are owned by other people
Castes
Hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that tend to be fixed and immobile
Estates
Estate System: Feudalism; required peasants to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection .

6. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Social Classes
Class System: social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility .

7. Understanding Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Social Classes
Rossides (1997) uses five-class model to describe U.S. class system:
Upper class
Upper-middle class
Lower-middle class
Working class
Lower class .

8. Understanding Stratification
Figure 9.1: Household Income in the United States, 2002

9. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation
Social relations depend on who controls the primary mode of production .

10. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation
Capitalism: economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits
Bourgeoisie: capitalist class; owns the means of production .

11. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation
Proletariat: working class
Class Consciousness: subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about change
False Consciousness: attitude held by members of class that does not accurately reflect their objective position .

12. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Max Weber’s View of Stratification
No single characteristic totally defines a person’s position with the stratification system
Status Group: people who have the same prestige or lifestyle
Class: group of people who have similar level of wealth and income
Power: ability to exercise one’s will over others

13. Understanding Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Interactionist View
Interactionists, as well as economists, interested in the importance of social class in shaping a person’s lifestyle
Veblen noted those at the top of social hierarchy typically spend part of their wealth on conspicuous consumption or conspicuous leisure

14. Understanding Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
All societies maintain some form of social inequality among members
Functionalist View
Social inequity is necessary so people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions. .

15. Understanding Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
Conflict View
Human beings are prone to conflict over scarce resources such as wealth, status, and power
Stratification will inevitably lead to instability and to social change
Dominant Ideology: set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests .

16. Understanding Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
Lenski’s Viewpoint
As a society advances technologically, it becomes capable of producing surplus goods
Emergence of surplus resources greatly expands the possibilities for inequality in status, influence, and power
Allocation of surplus goods and services controlled by those with wealth, status, and power reinforces social inequality .

17. Understanding Stratification
Figure 9.2: Around the World: What’s a CEO Worth?
Source: Towers Perrin in A. Bryant 1999:Section 4, p.1

18. Understanding Stratification.

19. Stratification by Social Class
Measuring Social Class
The Objective Method
Class largely viewed as a statistical category based on
Occupation
Education
Income
Place of residence .

20. Stratification by Social Class
Measuring Social Class
The Objective Method
Prestige: respect and admiration an occupation holds in society
Esteem: reputation specific person has earned within an occupation .

21. Stratification by Social Class
Measuring Social Class
Gender and Occupational Prestige
Focus on individual as the basis of categorizing a woman’s position.
Woman classified based on her occupational status rather than that of her spouse
Multiple Measures
Advances in statistical methods and computer technology have multiplied factors used to define class .

22. Stratification by Social Class
Continued…
Source: J. Davis et al .

23. Stratification by Social Class
Continued… .

24. Stratification by Social Class
Wealth and Income
Income in U.S. distributed unevenly
Wealth in U.S. much more unevenly distributed .

25. Stratification by Social Class
Poverty
Absolute poverty: minimum level of subsistence that no family should live below
Approximately 1 out of every 9 people in the U.S. lives below poverty line
Relative poverty: floating standard by which people at the bottom of a society are judged as being disadvantaged in comparison to the nation as a whole .

26. Stratification by Social Class
Figure 9.3: Comparison of Distribution of Income and Wealth in the U.S.
Source: Income data (household) are from Bureau of the Census (DeNavas-Walt et al. 2004:4). Data on wealth are from Wolff 2002. .

27. Stratification by Social Class
Poverty
Who Are the Poor?
Not a static social class
Majority of poor live in rural areas
Since World War II, increasing proportion of poor of the U.S. have been women
Known as feminization of poverty
Underclass: long-term poor who lack training and skills .

28. Stratification by Social Class
Continued… .

29. Stratification by Social Class
Continued… .

30. Stratification by Social Class
Poverty
Explaining Poverty
Herbert Gans identified social, economic and political functions that poor perform
Menial jobs at low cost
Creates jobs for those that serve poor
Punishment of the poor as deviants upholds the legitimacy of conventional social norms
Existence of poor guarantees the higher status of the more affluent
Poor often absorb the costs of social change

31. Stratification by Social Class
Poverty
Life Chances
Class closely related to people’s life chances—their opportunities to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions and favorable life experiences
In times of danger, affluent and powerful have best chance of surviving
Class position affects people’s day-to-day health

32. Stratification by Social Class
Figure 9.5: Health Status of the Poor and Non-poor, 2000
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2002:192.

33. Social Mobility
Social Mobility: Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society’s stratification system to another .

34. Social Mobility Open versus Closed Stratification Systems
Open and closed stratification systems indicate the amount of social mobility in a society
Open System: position of each individual influenced by the person’s achieved position
Closed System: allows little or no possibility of moving up .

35. Social Mobility Types of Social Mobility
Horizontal Mobility: movement within same range of prestige
Vertical Mobility: movement from one position to another of a different rank
Movement can be upward or downward
Intragenerational Mobility: changes in social position within a person’s adult life .

36. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
Occupational Mobility
Common among males
Although great deal of mobility in U.S., much of it is minor .

37. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
The Impact of Education
Education plays critical role in social mobility
Represents an important means of intergenerational mobility .

38. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
The Impact of Race
Class system is more rigid for African Americans than for other racial groups
The cumulative disadvantage of discrimination plays a significant role in this disparity.
African American middle class grew over last few decades
Downward mobility significantly higher for Blacks than Whites

39. Social Mobility Social Mobility in the United States
The Impact of Gender
Women’s employment opportunities more limited than men’s
Women whose skills far exceed jobs offered to them are more likely than men to withdraw from paid labor force .

40. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
Colonialism: when a foreign power maintains of political, social, economic, and cultural domination over a people for an extended period of time
Neocolonialism: continued dependence on more industrialized nations for managerial and technical expertise by former colonies

41. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
Wallerstein’s World Systems Analysis
Unequal economic and political relationships in which certain industrialized nations and their global corporations dominate core of the system
Dependency Theory: even as developing countries make economic advances, they remain weak and subservient to core nations and corporations

42. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
Globalization: worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas
Multinational Corporations: commercial organizations headquartered in one country doing business throughout the world

43. Stratification in the World System
Figure 9.6: Gross National Income per Capita, 2002

44. Stratification in the World System
Figure 9.7: World Systems Analysis at the Beginning of the 21st Century

45. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
Functionalist View
Multinational corporations can actually help developing nations
Through international ties, multinational corporations make nations of the world more interdependent

46. Stratification in the World System
The Legacy of Colonialism
Conflict View
Multinational corporations exploit local workers to maximize profits
Some research shows that foreign investment by multinationals initially contributes to host nation’s wealth but eventually increases economic inequality within developing nations

47. Stratification in the World System

48. Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
Mexico’s Economy
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened U.S. consumer market
Collapse of peso and competition from China undercut benefits
Although Mexico is unquestionably a poor country, gap between its richest and poorest citizens is one of the widest in the world .

49. Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
Race Relations in Mexico: The Color Hierarchy
Law on Indian Rights and Culture
Allows 62 recognized Indian groups to apply own customs in resolving conflicts and electing leaders
Social class linked to appearance of racial purity .

50. Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
The Status of Women in Mexico
Constitute 42% of labor force
More mired in lowest-paying jobs than counterparts in industrial nations
Often not recognized as active and productive household members even whey they work outside the home
Have begun to organize .

51. Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
The Borderlands
Recognition of borderlands reflects increasingly close and complex relationship between Mexico and U.S.
From Mexican point of view, U.S. too often regards Mexico as a reserve pool of cheap labor .

52. Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
The Borderlands
Many Mexicans who have come to U.S. send some part of their earnings back, called remittances
Estimated at a minimum of $15 billion a year .

53. Social Policy and Socialization
Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe
The Issue
Governments in all parts of world searching for right solution to welfare.
How much subsidy should they provide?
How much responsibility should fall on shoulders of poor? .

54. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe
The Setting
In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was passed in the United States
Ended long-standing federal guarantee of assistance to every poor family that meets eligibility requirements .

55. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe
The Setting
Other countries vary widely in their commitment to social service programs .

56. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe
Sociological Insights
Backlash against welfare recipients reflects deep fears and hostility toward the nation’s urban and predominantly African American and Hispanic underclass.
Tax breaks and other “corporate welfare” granted by the government for corporations should be examined closely.
Many sociologists tend to view debate over welfare from conflict perspective .

57. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe
Policy Initiatives
There are some success stories in the new “workfare” program of the United States.
Prospects for hard-core jobless faded as boom passed and economy moved into recession .

58. Social Policy and Stratification
Rethinking Welfare in North America and Europe
Policy Initiatives
European governments encountered same citizen demand as in North America—keep taxes low
In North America and Europe, people are beginning to turn to private means to support themselves .