1. Social Stratification

2. Social Stratification
Structured social inequality or, more specifically, systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.
(Conley)

3. Social Mobility
Downward Mobility
Upward Mobility

4. Why is Stratification Universal?
The Functionalist View:
Society’s positions must be filled.
Some positions are more important than others.
The more important positions are filled by qualified people.
Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon

5. Why is Stratification Universal?
The Conflict View:
No society can exist unless it is organized.
Leadership means inequalities of power.
Human nature is self-centered.

6. How Do Elites Maintain Stratification?
The keys lie in controlling ideas and information.
The divine right of kings
Social networks
Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon

7. Forms of Stratification

8. Slavery Occurs in every continent in the world except Antarctica.
ALBANIA: Teenage girls are tricked into sex slavery and trafficked by organized crime rings
BRAZIL: Lured into the rainforest, families burn trees into charcoal at gunpoint
BURMA: The ruling military junta enslaves its own people to build infrastructure projects, some benefiting US corporations.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Haitians are rounded up at random, taken across the border, and forced to cut cane in sugar plantations
GHANA: Families repent for sins by giving daughters as slaves to fetish priests
INDIA: Children trapped in debt bondage roll beedi cigarettes 14 hours a day
IVORY COAST: Child slaves forced to work on cocoa plantations
MAURITANIA: Arab-Berbers buy and sell black Africans as inheritable property
PAKISTAN: Children with nimble fingers are forced to weave carpets in looms
SUDAN: Arab militias from the North take Southern Sudanese women and children in slave raids.
THAILAND: Women and children become sex slaves for tourists
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Bangladeshi boys are transported and exploited as jockeys for camel racing
UNITED STATES: The CIA estimates that 50,000 people are trafficked as sex slaves, domestics, garment, and agricultural slaves

9. Caste System Brahmins--priests Kshatryas--warriors Vaishyas--traders
Shudras--laborers
The Untouchables

10. Religion: Hindu.
Gender: Man
Age: 23 Years
Currently lives in: Madhya Pradesh, India
Age range of desired match: Between 18 and 23 Years.
Currently has children: No
Height:5ft 8in - 172cm
Caste: Kayastha
Ethnicity: Indian
Body type: Average (weight & height proportional)
General cultural values: Eastern
Family origin: India
Immigration Status:Citizen
Living Status: Live with friends
Astrological sign:Capricorn
Marital history:Never Married
Spiritual Values are: Highly important to me How religious are you?Very religious .
Drinks alcohol?No
Smokes? No
Diet: I eat meat occasionally
Educational Background: On the job learning
Educational Degrees: Masters
Occupation: Unspecified

11. Class System
Economically based system of stratification …
Conley

12. Consequences of Social Class
Divorce
Education
Religion
Politics
Physical health
Mental health
Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon

13. Socioeconomic status (SES)
An individual’s position in a stratified social order.
Occupation
Income
Wealth i.e.net worth
Education

14. Components of Social Class
The top 20% of the population receives almost half of all income in the United States.
The bottom 20% receives only 4.2% of the nation’s income.
Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon

15. Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon
Copyright © 2004 by Allyn and Bacon

16. What are your life chances?
The “good things” in life

17. Rags to Riches?
Carnegie study found that a child's future to be largely determined by social status, not brains.
1979

18. Consider Bobby and Jimmy
Second-graders
Both pay attention in the classroom, do well, and have nearly identical I.Q.s.
Bobby is the son of a successful lawyer
Jimmy's father works infrequently as custodial assistant.
Despite their similarities, the difference in the circumstances to which they were born makes it
27 times more likely that Bobby will get a job (in his 40s) that pays him an income in the top tenth of all incomes in this country.
Jimmy had about one chance in eight of earning even a median income.

20. Relative Poverty

21. Absolute Poverty 2009: 1 person under 65, $11,161
2009: 2 adults & 2 children, $21,765

22. Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon
Who Are the Poor?
There is a clustering of poverty in the South.
Race and ethnicity.
Only 11% of whites are poor, but 26% of African Americans and Latinos are poor.
Education
1 out of 4 or 5 people who drop out of high school are poor.
Children are most likely to be poor.
Copyright (c) 2004 by Allyn & Bacon

23. The Feminization of Poverty
Women are more apt to be poor than men

24. Why are People Poor?

25. Institutionalized Inequality
Features of society deny some people access to education or job skill training.
Socially-defined categories of persons are unevenly rewarded for their social contributions.
Social worthiness of individuals are judged and discriminations made, such as the classifications of
Gender
Ethnicity
Race
Age
Generation.

26. Culture of poverty
Poor people adopt certain practices which differ from those of middle-class.
Characteristics of individuals such as dropping out or early child rearing contribute to poverty