Introduction to Sociology

The Real World: Chapter 7

Social Class:

The Structure of Inequality

Introduction

• ALL societies separate members into different

groups.

• Social stratification: division of society into

groups arranged in a social hierarchy.

• What are some ways that society can

separate its members?

• Think about your class and/or group

• American: heterosexual male WASP

Social Stratification:

Four Basic Principles• It is a characteristic of society, rather than a

reflection of individual differences.

• It persists over generations.

• Different societies use different criteria for

ranking their members.

• It is maintained through common beliefs

widely shared among members of the society.

Systems of Stratification

• Slavery

• Human Trafficking

• Caste

• Enforced by religion or law

• Social Class

• Socioeconomic status (SES)

Social Class in America

• Class Activity: What defines each social class in America?

• Upper Class

• Middle Class

• Upper-Middle Class (professionals or “new money”)

• Working Class (lower middle class?)

• Working Poor

• Underclass

Social Class in America: Problems

• Status Inconsistency: serious differences among the different elements of an individual’s SES

• Teachers

• The myth of the middle class

• Most Americans belief they are middle class even though statistically speaking, this class is comprised of only 44% of society

• Roseanne versus The Middle

• The shrinking middle class: expected gain in food service, customer service, retail sales, clerical work, and private security

Theories of Social Class:

Conflict Theory

• “The history of the world is the history of

class struggle.” –Karl Marx and Frederick

Engels, The Communist Manifesto

• Karl Marx: owning the means of production is

the only basis for social relationships

• Bourgeoisie versus the proletariat

• Max Weber: Marx’s theory is too limiting;

class status is the product of wealth, power,

and prestige

Theories of Social Class:

Structural Functionalism

• Stratification is a necessary part of society

used to create interdependence among

society’s members

• Meritocracy: system in which those who are

the most “meritous” will rise to the top and

those who are less so will sink to the bottom

• Rule by those who deserve to rule

• Severing rewards from performance leads to low

productivity (anti-Communist)

Theories of Social Class:

Postmodernism

• Pierre Bourdieu: social reproduction is the tendency of social classes to remain relatively stable as social class status is passed from one generation to the next.

• Cultural Capital: children inherit tastes, habits, and expectations from their parents, and this capital either helps or hinders them as they become adults• Shapes how others view a person (“fit in”)

• There is evidence that about half of all children will wind up with the same SES as their parents

Theories of Social Class:

Symbolic Interactionism• Systems of inequality are constructed through

everyday interactions (microsociology)

• David Sudnow (1972): split-second judgments about

who people are and which social status they occupy

based on appearance

• Aaron Cicourel (1972): make inferences about the

status of others when we encounter them in different

social situations or locations

• Erving Goffman (1956): presentation of self and one’s

SES (“living room scale”)

Life Chances

• Social class is the single best indicator of

one’s life chances.

• Education

• Thinking, belief

• Social interaction (including marriage partner)

Life Choices: Family

• People tend to marry someone whose social and cultural backgrounds are similar to their own, mainly because they are more likely to encounter people like themselves.

• The average age of first marriage for women with high school diplomas is 25, while for women with graduate degrees it is thirty. The age at which people start a family and the number of children they have are also related to social class.

• Number of children reflect social class

Life Choices: Health• Those at the bottom of the social class ladder are

the least likely to obtain adequate nutrient, shelter, clothing, and health care, and are thus more prone to illness. They often cannot afford to see a doctor, fill a prescription, or go to the hospital.

• Those who occupy a higher class are more likely to simply “feel” healthier• Regardless of age, race, or gender, people with more education

were more likely to report being in “good” or “excellent” health.

• Higher class are more likely to exercise• Why?

Life Choices: Education

• Who has access to education and how good is that education?

• Schools with low-income students often receive fewer resources, have greater difficulty attracting qualified teachers, and enjoy less support from parents.

• Social class background influences attitudes toward education.

• If trends continue, there will be fewer jobs for students with only a high school education. Unfortunately, not all students are prepared or can afford higher education.

• Proprietary schools and predatory habits toward the working class.

• Rise in student loan debt to over $1 trillion at the end of 2011.

Life Choices: Work• Members of different social classes, with unequal

educational opportunities, tend to work in different types of jobs. Members of lower classes generally experience difficulties in the job market and may endure periods of unemployment or underemployment (working in a job that doesn’t pay enough to support a person’s needs, or that doesn’t make full use of his/her skills).

• Members of the working class work for wages in a variety of blue-collar jobs; they experience problems with factory shutdowns, layoffs, plant closings, and economic downturns

Life Choices: Criminal Justice

• People of lower classes are more likely to

encounter the criminal justice system,

whether as a perpetrator or victim of crime

than those in higher SES

• There are also differences in how crimes are

prosecuted

• Punishments for different classes

• Legal representation

Social Mobility

• The movement of individuals or groups within

the hierarchal system of social classes

• Closed System: little to no opportunity for

movement

• Open System: ample opportunity for movement

• No system is completely open or closed

• Most Americans believe that mobility (or lack

thereof) is largely one’s own fault

Social Mobility

• Intergenerational Mobility: movement between social classes that occurs from one generation to the next.

• Intragenerational Mobility: movement between social classes that occurs over the course of an individual’s lifetime.

• Horizontal Social Mobility: occupational movement within a social class

• Vertical Social Mobility: upward or downward mobility

Social Mobility

• Structural Mobility: changes in the social

status of large numbers of people due to

structural changes in society

• Nursing: education

• Education: gender

• Historical Events: Great Depression or Great

Recession

Poverty: Definitions

• Relative Deprivation: poverty is defined in

relation to others in society

• Absolute Deprivation: people are unable to

meet minimal standards for food, shelter,

clothing, and health care

Poverty: Federal Poverty Line

• How do we measure poverty? In America the federal poverty line (an absolute measure of annual income) is frequently used to determine who should be categorized as poor

• Created in 1964 by economist Mollie Oshanskybased on the cost of food, shelter, and clothing

• Due to the difficulty of calculating shelter and clothing, she simply took the cost of a “minimally nutritional diet” from the Department of Agriculture and multiplied the number by three (a third for food, a third for shelter, a third for clothing)

• Now the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used

2012 Poverty Guidelines for the

48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia

Persons in family/household Poverty guideline

1 $11,170

2 $15,130

3 $19,090

4 $23,050

5 $27,010

6 $30,970

7 $34,930

8 $38,890

For families/households with more than 8 persons,

add $3,960 for each additional person.

Poverty: Welfare

• Does Social Welfare help?

• “Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City

Study” showed that getting off welfare does bring

positive results, but often they are not strong

enough to serve much of an incentive

Explaining Poverty

• Personal Initiative: people are poor because

they lack ambition

• Culture of Poverty: poor children are

socialized not to strive for anything and

accept their poverty

• Structures of Inequality: poverty is caused by

national and international factor that no one

individual has any control over

• Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

The Invisibility of Poverty

• Residential Segregation

• Public housing

• Political Disenfranchisement

• Self-inflicted?

• Homelessness

• Political invisibility

• Social invisibility

The American Dream

• Meritocracy Fallacy: though we believe

that rewards are distributed based on

merit, the truth is most people will not

move from their social class, but when

movement occurs, it is more based on

ethnicity, class, or gender rather than merit

• Society of Debt

• Does the American Dream really exist?