1. Roderick Graham Social Stratification

2.  Defined as:  A system by which a society ranks and categories of people in a hierarchy

3. Four Basic Principles  Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences  Social stratification carries over from generation to generation  Social Mobility  A change in position within the social hierarchy  Social stratification is universal but variable  Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well

4.  Sociologists distinguish between  Closed Systems – Caste Systems  Allow little change in social position  Open Systems – Class Systems  Permit much more social mobility

5. The Caste System  Social stratification based on ascription, or birth  Little or no social mobility  AN ILLUSTRATION: INDIA  Four major casts or Varna  Sanskrit, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Sudra  Caste position determines life from birth  Caste guides everyday life by keeping people in the company of their “own kind”

6. The Class System  Social stratification based on both birth and individual achievement  Schooling and skills lead to social mobility  Work is no longer fixed at birth but involves some personal choice  MERITOCRACY  A concept that refers to social stratification based on personal merit  Includes knowledge, abilities, and effort  Pure meritocracy has never existed

7.  STRUCTURAL SOCIAL MOBILITY  A shift in the social position of large numbers of people due more to changes in society than to individual efforts

8. Ideology: the Power Behind Stratification  Ideology  Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality  Our cultural belief in a meritocracy allows us to ignore inequality between rich and poor

9. Meritocracy as Ideology

10. The Davis Moore Thesis - social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society  The greater the functional importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it  Positions a society considers crucial must offer enough rewards to draw talented people away from less important work

11.  Micro-level analysis of social stratification  People’s social standing affects their everyday interaction  People with different social standing keep their distance from one another  Conspicuous consumption  Buying and using products with an eye to the “statement” they make about social position

12.  INCOME  Earnings from work or investments  The richest 20% received 48.1% of all income  Bottom 20% received only 4.0%  While a small number of people earn very high incomes, majority make do with far less  WEALTH  The total value of money and other assets, minus outstanding debts  Wealth is distributed more unequally than income

13.  POWER  In the US, wealth is an important source of power  Small proportion of families that control most of the wealth also has the ability to shape the agenda of the entire society  Sociologists argue:  Such concentrated wealth weakens democracy  The political system serves the interests of the rich

14.  SCHOOLING  Industrial societies have expanded opportunities for schooling, but some receive much more than others  Affects occupation and income  Most better-paying, white-collar jobs require a college degree and other advanced study  Blue-collar jobs  Require less schooling  Bring lower income and less prestige

15.  OCCUPATIONAL PRESTIGE  Generates income and is an important source of prestige  High prestige given to occupations that require extensive training and generate high income  Less prestigious work pays less and requires less ability and schooling  In any society, high-prestige occupations go to privileged categories  Dominated by men  Lowest prestige jobs commonly performed by people of color

16.  ANCESTRY, RACE, AND GENDER  Nothing affects social standing as much as birth into a particular family (Ancestry)  Has strong bearing on future schooling, occupation, and income  (Race) is linked closely to social position in the U.S.  Social ranking also involves ethnicity  Both men and women are found in families at every social level (Gender)  On average, women have less income, wealth, and occupational prestige than men  Single parent families headed by women are three times more likely to be poor than those headed by men

17.  Four general rankings  Upper class  Middle class  Working class  Lower class

18. The Upper Class  Top 5% of the U.S. population  General rule:  The more a family’s income comes from inherited wealth, the stronger the family’s claim to being upper-class  Richest 374 people in the U.S.  “Capitalists”  The owners of the means of production and most of the nation’s wealth  Historically, composed of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants  Less true today

19.  UPPER-UPPERS  Less than 1% of U.S. population  Membership is by ascription (birth)  Possess enormous wealth primarily inherited  “Old Money”  Live in exclusive neighborhoods  Children typically attend private schools with similar others  Complete formal education at prestigious universities and colleges  Volunteer at charitable organizations  Help community and build networks that broaden their power

20.  LOWER-UPPERS  Known as the “working rich”  Get money by earning it rather than inheritance  3 to 4% of U.S. population  Live in expensive neighborhoods  Vacation homes near water or in mountains  Children attend private schools and good colleges

21. Upper-Upper vs. Lower Upper Upper-Upper Lower-Upper

22. The Middle Class  40 to 45% of U.S. population  Tremendous influence on U.S. culture  Commercial advertising directed at this group  Contains far more ethnic and racial diversity than upper- class

23. The Working Class  1/3 rd of population sometimes called lower-middle class  Forms the core of the industrial proletariat  Have little or no wealth  Vulnerable to financial problems  Jobs provide little personal satisfaction  Half own their own homes  1/3 rd of children go to college

24. The Lower Class  Remaining 20% of U.S. population  Low income makes their lives insecure and difficult  37 million or 12.6% are classified as poor by federal government  Hold low prestige jobs  ½ complete high school; 1 in 4 reaches college  Society segregates lower class, especially if minorities

25.  HEALTH  Children in poor families three times more likely to die during first year of life  On average, rich live seven years longer  VALUES AND ATTITUDES  “Old Rich” have strong sense of family history  Upper-uppers favor understated manners and tastes  Affluent people more tolerant of controversial behavior  Working-class grow up in an atmosphere of supervision and discipline

26.  POLITICS  Higher Classes:  More liberal on social issues  Likely to vote and join political organizations because they are better served by the system  Lower Classes  Economic liberals  More conservative on social issues

27.  FAMILY AND GENDER  Higher social standing  Pass on a different “culture capital” to children  Teach individuality and imagination  More egalitarian – sharing more activities and expressing greater intimacy  Friendships likely to share interests and leisure pursuits  Lower class families  Families larger than middle class  Earlier marriage and less use of birth control  Encourage children to conform to conventional norms and respect authority  Divide responsibilities according to gender roles  Serve as sources of material assistance

28. Four general conclusions–Social Mobility 1. Social mobility over the course of the past century has been fairly high. 2. The long-term trend in social mobility has been upward. 3. Within a single generation, social mobility is usually small. 4. Social mobility since the 1970s have been uneven.

29. Mobility: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender  Whites always in a more privileged position  1980s and 1990s  More African Americans became wealthy  Overall income, however, has not changed in three decades  Latinos  Average income in 2005, 64% that of whites  Women have less chances because of the type of jobs they hold  Earnings gap between men and women is narrowing

30. Mobility and Marriage  Marriage has an important effect on social standing  Married people accumulate about twice as much wealth compared to single and divorce  Compared to singles, married men and women work harder and save more  Divorce makes social standing go down  Divorced couples support two households  Men earn more than women  Divorced women lose income and benefits

31.  Relative Poverty  The deprivation of some people in relation to those who have more  12.6% or 37 million of U.S. population – are classified as poor  Absolute Poverty  A deprivation of resources that is life-threatening

32. Who Are The Poor?  AGE  Burden of poverty falls most heavily on children  35% of the U.S. poor are children  RACE AND ETHNICITY  2/3rds of all poor are white  25% are African American  Three times likely as whites to be poor  High rates of child poverty among people of color  34.5% African American children  28.3% Hispanic children  10.0% White children

33. Explaining Poverty  Two opposing explanations  One View: Blame the Poor  The poor are primarily responsible for their own poverty  Culture of Poverty  A lower-class subculture that can destroy people’s ambition t improve their lives  Another View: Blame Society  Society is primarily responsible for poverty  Primary cause is loss of jobs in inner cities  Government should fund jobs and provide affordable child care for low-income mothers and fathers