1. power Defined in chapter one: capability of groups or individuals to make their own interests count, even if others resist (16). Supported by ideology: ideas which justify power Many dimensions: certainly gender, class, and race

2. Class Systems of stratification Class in the modern societies Stratification theories

3. stratification Geological stratification

4. Social stratification Structured inequality in terms of access to material or symbolic rewards

5. Systems of stratification Stratification systemPrimarily maintained by: SlaveryCoercion CasteTradition, religion, ideology ClassEconomic power

6. Class

7. Giddens has an agenda “A social class is a large group of people who occupy a similar economic position in the wider society.” (p. 162) Okay, broad enough definition…but: “The concept of life chances, introduced by Max Weber, is the best way to understand what class means.” (ibid; my emphasis)

8. Weber: class Class situation: –Possession of goods (wealth) –Opportunities for income This has to do with amount of power “to dispose of goods or skills for the sake of income” Class is a group of people in the same class situation (311-312) “Class situation is…ultimately market situation.” (313)

9. Weber: life chances and status Weber adds dimensions to Marx’s notion of class, like skills and status Wealth (and its benefits) contribute to a person’s life chances – access to opportunities, goods, and services in markets (commodity and labor)

10. Weber: life chances and status Status is the amount of prestige or social honor accorded to the members of a group Note that this is a subjective evaluation by others Most commonly associated with occupation in modern societies

12. Weber: life chances and status Status can also be applied in negative way Pariah groups subject to discrimination based on their negative status Examples?

13. Giddens’ agenda: Class boundaries are “fluid” Class is “achieved” status (at least partly) Class is economically based Class is a macro structure (“large scale and impersonal”)

14. Giddens agenda allows him to: See class at least partly as a matter of “cultural factors such as lifestyle and consumption patterns” This results in categories that are indeed “fluid” and largely subjective and arbitrary

15. What class?

18. So, what is class? “cultural factors such as lifestyle and consumption patterns” somewhat subjective and arbitrary; can someone change their class status by “living beyond their means”? But Giddens (and Weber) say class is an economic category, based on ability to acquire things in markets How do we measure that ability?

19. Class as economic category: income wages or salaries from occupations and/or payments on wealth (interest, dividends, profits, etc.)

20. Figure 8.2 Trends in shares of aggregate income by quintile: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/img/incpov03/fig11.jpg http://www.faireconomy.org/research/income_charts.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/img/incpov03/fig12.jpg

21. Figure 8.1 Kuznets Curve

22. Income used to rank Classes: –Upper (>$145,099) –Middle (UM: $83,500-$154,498; LM: $33,314- $83,499) –Working? ($17,970-$33,300) –Lower (<$17,000) –Underclass? (“new urban poor”) Income boundaries (e.g., those defined by Giddens: 167-172) are necessarily arbitrary

23. “When Americans are asked to identify their social class, the large majority claim to be middle class.” (Giddens, et. al., 168) A middle class society?

24. What would a “middle class” society look like? Note varied ranges in each category. (source: Census Bureau 2000 income report)

25. Where is the “middle class?” Categories reformatted toward more equivalent ranges by Shafer.

26. Class as economic category: wealth Wealth: all the material assets owned by an individual; net worth (assets minus debts) Wealth even more unequally distributed than income: Richest get most of their income from wealth: top 10% own 90% stocks, 95% bonds http://www.faireconomy.org/research/wealth_charts.html http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/Courses/so11/stratification/income&wealth.htm

27. Wealth inequality Wealth also unequally distributed by race and ethnicity: Linked to discrimination in home ownership Recent study: this gap has increased for both Black and Hispanic households

29. Other theories of stratification Marx: relations of production Davis and Moore: functions of meritocracy Erik Olin Wright: contradictory class locations Frank Parkin: social closure

30. Marx: relations of production A mode of production (type of society) has as its base the forces (means) of production and the relations of production Relations of production are based on ownership and control of the means of production

31. Marx: relations of production Capitalism: means of production are capital, owned by capitalists But labor (working class) is the source of all wealth (“value”) The wage (tends toward mere subsistence) is less than the value produced The difference is surplus value, source of profits See http://www.walterjensen.net/HO-Surplus_value.pdf http://www.walterjensen.net/HO-Surplus_value.pdf Capitalism: means of production are capital, owned by capitalists But labor (working class) is the source of all wealth (“value”) The wage (tends toward mere subsistence) is less than the value produced The difference is surplus value, source of profits See http://www.walterjensen.net/HO-Surplus_value.pdf http://www.walterjensen.net/HO-Surplus_value.pdf

32. Marx: relations of production Therefore, capitalist relations of production are exploitation Capitalist societies maintain a level of poverty and unemployment to keep wages low (reserve army of unemployed)

33. Marx: relations of production What about the fact that First World workers are better off? –Marx notes that class struggle results in unions, some demands of workers are met –Leninists say that First World (imperialist) workers benefit from superexploitation of developing world workers

34. Davis and Moore: functions of meritocracy Some positions more important than others Rewards are offered to attract most qualified people to those positions People therefore tend to land in those positions for which they are best qualified: meritocracy Therefore, stratification is functional for modern societies

35. Davis and Moore: Tumin’s critique Tumin found significant flaws in the argument: –Rewards don’t match importance –Stratification interferes with opportunity, therefore limits meritocratic selection

36. Erik Olin Wright: contradictory class locations Synthesis of Marx and Weber Domination can occur without exploitation Capitalists exploit workers (dominate and profit) Supervisors dominate (boss) but don’t exploit This is a contradictory class location

37. Globalization and inequality According to Giddens, et. al., industrial and information revolutions break down caste systems, replace with class But development is uneven: –Capital is freer to move, labor is not; profits up, wages down –Internal inequality increases Among classes of developed nations Among classes/castes in developing nations