1. Social Stratification
Chapter 8
Social Stratification
Copyright 2014, SAGE Publications, Inc.

2. Dimensions of Social Stratification
Social Stratification involves hierarchal differences associated with economic positions, social status and political power.
Social stratification has a significant effect on how valuable resources are allocated in society.
Inequality refers to those societal positions that yield the greatest benefits – money, status, and power specifically – to some and not others.

3. Dimensions of Social Stratification
Social Class: refers to economic position in the stratification system based on income.
People with similar income and wealth rank close to one another.
Marx
Upper class are the Bourgeoisie who own the means of production.
Lower class are the Proletariat, the workers.
Figure 8.1

4. Dimensions of Social Class
Status
The prestige attached to one’s position in society
Higher status---more formal education
Lower status---less formal education

5. Dimensions of Social Class
Power
The ability to get others to do what you want them to
Exists in almost every institution
Those who have lots of power rank high in the stratification system, while those with little or no power are near the bottom
Greater income is generally associated with more power
Figure 8.2

6. Dimensions of Social Class
Consistency Across Dimensions of Stratification
Similar positions are accompanied by similar rankings on all three dimensions (power, status, and power).
The manager of a department within a corporation is likely to have a middle-class salary, mid-range wealth, and middling prestige.

7. Economic Inequality
The stratification in the United States (and most of the world) is based on money.
In a social structure where money is defined as valuable and desirable, the occupational structure is characterized by a payment system in which those in higher-level positions are rewarded with higher pay.

8. Economic Inequality Income Wealth
The amount of money a person earns (job, business, returns on assets)
Usually measured year to year
Wealth
Total amount of a person’s financial assets, less total liabilities

9. Economic Inequality Income Inequality Politically charged issue
Since the 1970s there has been a substantial increase in income inequality in many countries, including in the U.S.
In 1979, the top 1% of Americans earned 9% of all income; in 2007 the top 1% earned 23.5% of all income.
The Occupy Wall Street social movement, begun in 2011, was a response to the income disparity in the United States.
Figure 8.3

10. Economic Inequality
Reasons for Income Inequality - the consequences of a “winner-take-all” society:
Deindustrialization
Technological advances
Political climate
Tax cuts, and shift in tax policies to favor long-term capital gains
Cuts to federal benefits
Incomes for executives and superstars in sports and entertainment have skyrocketed.

11. Economic Inequality Wealth Inequality
Much greater than income inequality
Great wealth brings great advantages
It can be invested to generate more wealth.
It can purchase material comforts.
The wealthy can achieve a high level of material security.
Wealth purchases freedom and autonomy.
Figure 8.4
Figure 8.5

12. Wealth Inequality
Wealth is an important factor in gaining similar positions in the other dimensions of stratification.
The wealthy have access to many forms of power and control that are not accessible by others:
They control charities and other philanthropic organizations.
They can manipulate the political sphere.
They can use their money to directly gain control of political offices.

13. Wealth Inequality
Wealth and upper-class position is passed from one generation to another, which makes wealth self-perpetuating.
A lack of wealth is also self-perpetuating because there is nothing to pass to the next generation to spur a rise from poverty.

14. Economic Inequality Poverty
A great concern in society due to the many problems associated with it (poor health, lower life expectancy, etc.).
The great disparity between the rich and the poor is considered by many to be a moral problem for society as a whole.
Some argue that the poor are a drag on society, others that the poor are the victims of a system that impoverishes them.

15. Economic Inequality
Analyzing poverty: The sociological perspective is that larger social forces create and perpetuate poverty for 3 basic reasons:
Poverty is built-in to the capitalist system
Competition between social classes encourages those with power to enhance their position by limiting others’ access to opportunities, resources and rewards.
Government actions to reduce or ameliorate poverty are generally limited both by policy and by American ideology (hard work = success and riches).

16. Economic Inequality There are two broad types of poverty:
Absolute poverty: a measure of what people need in order to survive, remains constant over time
Relative poverty: defined by people’s impressions that they are poor relative to others (not an objective standard)

17. Economic Inequality Poverty in the United States:
Poverty line: households who fall below a specific threshold are considered to not have access to enough to survive.
Figured by the Social Security Administration by multiplying the cost of a “nutritionally adequate food plan” by 3.
2012: $23,050 for a family of 4 and $11,170 for a single adult; 46.2 million people lived below the poverty line.
Figure 8.6
Figure 8.7

18. Economic Inequality Poverty
The Femininzation of Poverty means that those living in poverty are increasingly more likely to be women than men.
Women are more likely to live alone.
Women have lower average earnings than men.
More children are being born to unmarried women.
Figure 8.8

19. Social Mobility
Social mobility refers to the ability or inability for society members to change their position in the hierarchy.
Types of social mobility:
Intergenerational: the difference between parents’ social class position and the position achieved by their children
Intragenerational: movement up or down the stratification system in one’s lifetime
Occupational: changes in work either across or within generations
Structural: effect of changes in the larger society on the position of individuals in the stratification system

20. Social Mobility
Positions based on achievement – or the accomplishments and/or merit of the individual – are characteristic of open stratification systems.
Positions based on ascription – being born with or inheriting certain characteristics such as race, gender, caste, or wealth – are characteristic of closed systems of stratification.
Figure 8.9

21. Social Mobility
Caste is an extreme stratification system associated with ascription where individual mobility is severely restricted, and there is very little possibility for changing status of the group as a whole.
Slavery is an extreme stratification system associated with ascription where people are defined as property, involuntarily placed in perpetual servitude, and not given the same rights as the rest of society.

22. Theories of Social Stratification
Structural/Functional (Macro-level approach)
All societies need to be stratified.
Certain positions require more education and expertise and have more responsibility.
For society to fill such positions, more wealth and prestige have to be attached to them.
The implication is that without high rewards, high-level positions would remain understaffed or unfilled.
Copyright 2014, SAGE Publications, Inc.

23. Theories of Social Stratification
Conflict/Critical (Macro-level approach)
Argue that stratified social structures promote inequality
Focus on the control that those in the upper levels exercise over culture, and how the deployment of cultural ideals (hard work) serve to perpetuate an unequal system
Question whether lower higher-level positions are less pleasant than lower-level positions

24. Theories of Social Stratification
Conflict/Critical
Accept that some positions (lawyer) require more education than others (garbage collector), but argue the some lower level positions (garbage collector) are more important than some higher level positions (lawyer)
Feminists focus on gender as the determinant of social stratification
Critical theories of race argue that race is the determinant of position in the system of stratification

25. Theories of Social Stratification
Symbolic Interactionist
Social stratification is a function of micro-level actions and interactions.
Stratification involves interaction between people who occupy different positions.
People struggle over things that are symbolically important at various positions in the stratification system.
A fluid process, in particular focus on the struggle over symbols of success and status.

26. Consumption and Social Stratification
Different positions in the system involve differences in consumption.
Stratified Consumption
Those in higher levels of the stratification system seek to distinguish their consumption from those below them (fashion is an example).
Conspicuous Consumption
People wanting others to see what they consume, which communicates an elite status.

27. Globalization and Stratification
The Global North and South
The global north (northern hemisphere) nations are the wealthiest and most powerful, and they dominate, control, and oppress the nations in the global south (southern hemisphere).
The Bottom Billion
Have incomes of only about one fifth of those in other developing countries
Low life expectancy, high infant mortality rate, high malnutrition
Figure 8.1

28. Globalization and Stratification
The Race to the Bottom
Those near the bottom of the global system must offer lower prices than the competition, which are gained by reducing costs, which negatively impacts their own workers.
The Global Digital Divide
Many people in the world do not have access to computers, PDAs, high-speed internet, or the English language.