Chapter 6

A RECOGNIZED SOCIAL POSITION THAT AN INDIVIDUAL

OCCUPIES

STATUS SET

ALL THE STATUSES

HELD AT ONE TIME
DANCE PARTNER
BOSS
FRIEND
HARLEY CLUB
MEMBER
SPORTS
PARTICIPANT
BUSINESSMAN

TYPE OF STATUS
ASCRIBED: INVOLUNTARY POSITIONS
ACHIEVED: VOLUNTARY POSITIONS
OFTEN THE TWO TYPES WORK
TOGETHER, WHAT WE ARE ASCRIBED
OFTEN HELPS US ACHIEVE OTHER
STATUSES

Ascribed and Achieved

Ascribed
Race
Sex
Age
Ethnicity
Physical
Characteristics
Caste

Achieved
Occupation
Education
Social class

Status Set

Master Status
A status that has special importance
for social identity, often shaping a
persons entire life.
Profession, job, family name, title,
disability, applied stigma (felon)

... THE BEHAVIOR EXPECTED OF SOMEONE WHO FILLS A PARTICULAR

STATUS

ROLE SET

A NUMBER OF
ROLES
ATTACHED TO A
SINGLE STATUS

DISCIPLINARIAN
SPORTS
AUTHORITY
DIETITIAN
BUSINESSWOMA
N
CAREGIVER
DR. MOM
KITCHEN QUEEN
PRETTY MOM

ROLES DEMAND A
PERSONS TIME AND
ENERGY

ROLE CONFLICT
INVOLVES TWO OR MORE
STATUSES

EXAMPLE : CONFLICT BETWEEN ROLE

EXPECTATIONS OF A POLICE OFFICER
WHO CATCHES HER OWN SON USING
DRUGS AT HOME MOTHER AND COP

ROLE STRAIN

INVOLVES A SINGLE STATUS

EXAMPLE : MANAGER WHO TRIES TO

BALANCE CONCERN FOR WORKERS
WITH TASK REQUIREMENTS OFFICE

Social Construction of Reality

People shape reality through social
interaction
Tomas Theorem- situations that are
defined as real are real in their
consequences
Ethnomethodology- the study of the
way people make sense of their world
People build reality from the
surrounding culture. Why?

Dramaturgical Analysis
The Presentation of Self
Presentation of self- impression
management
Performances
Nonverbal communications
Gender and performances
idealization

The social construction of feelings

Biological components
Cultural components- personal space
Language and value
Humor- contrasting the conventional to
the unconventional
Functions of humor
release of potentially disruptive sentiments
relieve tension in uncomfortable situations
humor and power; put-down jokes

Chapter 10
Social Class and Socioeconomic
Stratification
Caste and Class
Socioeconomic status and Class in the U.S.
Socioeconomic Mobility
Sociological analysis of stratification and Class
Functionalist
Conflict
Integration Distributive Systems Theory
Symbolic Interactionist

The Great Social Transformation and

Social Class
Traditional hunting and gathering societies had little
stratification
Horticultural and agrarian societies have highly
developed systems in which a small elite dominates the
masses of peasant laborers. Although there is
stratification, there is virtually no socioeconomic
mobility.
With industrialization, the rigidity of class lessens, and
there is social mobility, especially within the large
middle class, and from the lower into the middle
classes.

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
A SYSTEM BY WHICH A SOCIETY RANKS CATEGORIES
OF PEOPLE IN A SOCIAL HIERARCHY.

IT IS A TRAIT OF SOCIETY
DOES NOT REFLECT INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES,
BUT SOCIETYS STRUCTURE

IT PERSISTS OVER GENERATIONS

SOCIAL MOBILITY HAPPENS SLOWLY

IT IS UNIVERSAL
WHILE UNIVERSAL, IT VARIES IN TYPE

IT INVOLVES INEQUALITY IN BELIEF SYSTEM

IDEOLOGIES JUSTIFY EXISTENCE OF
STRATIFICATION

What is Social Class?

Social class - a large group of people who rank
closely to one another in wealth, power, and
prestige.
These elements separate people into different
lifestyles.
Social class provides people with different
chances, and different ways of viewing the
world.

Components of Social Class

Wealth - consists of
The top 20% of the
property and income.
population receives
almost half of all income
Wealth and income are
in the U.S.
not the same.
Some have wealth but The bottom 20%
receives only 4.2% of
little income.
the nations income.
Americans as a whole
The richest 20% have
are worth about $25
grown richer, and the
trillion.
bottom 20% have
grown poorer.

Components of Social Class

Power - the ability to
carry out your will despite
resistance.
The power elite - those
who make the big
decisions in U.S. society.
Power lies in the hands of
the few.

Prestige - respect or
regard
Class ranking is
persistent across
cultures and time.
People display
prestige through
status symbols.

Status
Status - our social ranking.
Ordinarily, a person has a similar rank in all
three dimensions of social class: wealth, power,
and prestige = status consistency.
Status inconsistency - when a person has a
mixture of high and low ranks.
Individuals with status inconsistency are likely to
confront one frustrating situation after another.
Snoop Dogg; Jerry Seinfeld; Gangsters; ???

Caste and Class

A Caste system consists of a fixed arrangement of
strata from the most to the least privileged, with a
persons position determined unalterably at birth.
Mobility between castes is rare.
Traditional caste systems still exist, as in India,
however social forces are at work to weaken the
rigidity of this system
A caste system may be based upon many ethnic and
cultural factors; ethnicity, nationality, religion, skin
color, heredity, and in many ways, gender.

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION BASED

ON ASCRIPTION

BIRTH DETERMINES SOCIAL

POSITION IN FOUR DISTINCT WAYS

OCCUPATIONS
ENDOGAMY IS PRACTICED
SOCIAL LIFE IS RESTRICTED
BELIEF SYSTEMS ARE OFTEN TIED TO
RELIGIOUS DOGMA

LACK OF MOBILITY I am Dalit

Caste and Class

In a Class system social standing is determined by
factors over which people can exert some control,
and mobility does take place. Typically classes are
divided in to the upper class, middle class, and lower
class.
Marx felt that a persons position in the economic
system dictated class. Weber added party (political
power) and status (social prestige) as factors.

This portion of the site was created to aid in the dismantling of the
oppressive political and social category to which Black people are
subject. This caste system, to which power and privilege are organized,
is an outgrowth of colonialism and slavery. The system known as
'racism' in America, was created to justify the oppression and
exploitation of American citizens of African descent.

Caste and Class

Currently social scientists use several social
dimensions related to those identified by Marx and
Weber:
Education education can provide esteem, a
pathway to wealth, and a prestigious occupation.
Historically these benefits have not been shared
equally, demonstrating the operation of power
exercised for the benefit of those who wield it
Occupational Prestige - some occupations are
valued by a society more than others
Wealth assets and income

Consequences of Social Class

In family life, the capitalists place emphasis on family
tradition.
Divorce is most common among the lower social
classes.
Education increases as one moves up the social
class ladder.
In religion, certain classes tend to cluster in different
denominations.
In politics, the rich tend to vote Republican while the
poor tend to vote Democratic.

WHY?

Caste and Class

Class in America
Upper class the elite with great wealth who own the
means of production, or who otherwise dominate the
economic system
Lower upper class recently ascended to the upper
class, but do not have the established pedigree;
nouveau riche
Middle class professionals with high paying jobs in
respected occupations (upper-middle class), and the
skilled who work in moderately compensated
occupations, and who own few assets (lower-middle
class).

THE AMERICAN CLASS

SYSTEM OF STRATIFICATION
BASED ON INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT, NOT ASCRIPTION

Caste and Class

Class in America
Lower class working class (what does this mean today?)
who do not earn enough to accumulate wealth, but who
may be able to purchase a home and vehicle etc The
lower-lower class is made up of those who are not
educated (college and sometimes high school) and live
in the less desirable parts of the community because of
low costs of rent. They typically do not own a home.
The lowest of the poor live at subsistence level or
below, are chronically unemployed, and are sometimes
homeless.

Caste and Class

Class, Race, and Gender interact in order to produce
a persons place in society, and their self identity. Race
and gender represent ascribed status and carry with
them cultural stereotypes and values which individuals
and groups must confront and challenge; intersection
theory page 342. Though an ascribed status is difficult
to change, the social meanings of a status can be
modified or changed through social action. In
capitalistic democracies class status is somewhat fluid
and subject to modification by the individual.

Socioeconomic Mobility
Social Mobility - Movement of individuals or groups
within a stratification structure
Intra-generational mobility movement within a
career of an individual
Inter-generational mobility mobility of groups from
one generation to another
Horizontal mobility a change from one
occupation to another at the same general status
level
Vertical mobility upward or downward movement of
occupational or social class

Socioeconomic Mobility
Determinants of mobility
Steepness of the socioeconomic pyramid only very few
positions at the top; how many people can be President?
Starting position on the socioeconomic ladder some
persons start closer to the top than others; it is easier to
become President if you are already elected to higher office
Structural mobility the movement of entire categories of
people due to changes in society itself; correctional officers
have moved up the occupational status ladder from security
guards to professionals in terms of both income and prestige.
Why?

THE DAVIS-MOORE PERSPECTIVE

THESIS
STRATIFICATION HAS BENEFICIAL CONSEQUENCES (ITS
FUNCTIONAL) FOR THE OPERATION OF THE U.S..

KEY POINTS
MEMBERS OF SOCIETY HAVE NEEDS
SOME STATUSES IN SOCIETY ARE MORE IMPORTANT
THAN OTHERS WHEN IT COMES TO SEEING TO NEEDS
TO ATTRACT THE BEST QUALIFIED AND TO GIVE OF
THEIR TIME, EFFORT, AND ENERGIES, REWARDS MUST BE
SUFFICIENT IN NATURE (INCOME, PRESTIGE, POWER)
KEY CONCEPT
MERITOCRACY AND GETTING WHAT YOU DESERVE
DOES EVERYONE IN AMERICA GET WHAT THEY DESERVE?

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
KARL MARX BELIEVED THAT CAPITALIST SYSTEMS OF
STRATIFICATION WOULD ALWAYS BENEFIT A FEW AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MANY

ONES PLIGHT IN LIFE IS TIED TO

A PERSONS RELATIONSHIP TO
THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION
A PERSON EITHER CONTROLS
MONEY AND EQUIPMENT, OR WORKS
FOR THOSE WHO DO

THROUGH INHERITENCE LAWS,

SOCIAL CLASSES THEN
REPRODUCE THEMSELVES OVER
GENERATIONS
EVENTUALLY, YEARS OF CLASS
OPPRESSION WOULD LEAD TO
CAPITALISMS DEMISE
SOCIALISM REPLACES CAPTIALISM

Ideological Support for Inequality

There exists in the beliefs of people explanations

which justify or legitimize a particular societal
structure. There will always be, in the minds of
those who are privileged in a society, the desire
to justify their good fortune as being a result of
personal qualities such as hard work.* The social
scientist, however, looks for structural reasons for the
patterns of the distribution of wealth, for admission to
and graduation from the best universities, and the
securing of the best jobs.
* self-serving bias

Ideological Support for Inequality

Marx argued that the class(es) in power impose their

ideology on the entire society, and that false
consciousness occurs when people without power
accept an ideology that is contrary to the interests of
that people as a class.
Marx further suggested that this false consciousness
will exist until the exploited class develops a sense of
class consciousness, at which time the people will
unite in the pursuit of their collective interests and
challenge the power classes.
The history of racial minorities!!!!!!!!

Sociological Analysis of Stratification

and Class

Functionalist Perspective
The lower class provides a pool of inexpensive laborers that help
keep prices down
The poor buffer the lower-middle class from economic changes
People have different skills and knowledge and will always seek
different opportunities

Conflict Perspective
Stratification and class are the results of the inequality in the
distribution of the wealth, which is sustained by the exertion of
power

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

People are socialized to accept inequality
People in the subordinate classes often adopt the value systems of
those in power and see themselves as unworthy; Marx?

Relative versus Absolute Poverty

Relative Poverty:
An uneven distribution of wealth where some people lack
resources that are taken for granted by others

Absolute Poverty:
A situation in which the lack of resources is lifethreatening

Relative versus Absolute Poverty

Poverty and Women:
In poor countries men own 90% of the
land.
70% of the worlds 1 billion people living
near absolute poverty are women

Slavery
Chattel slavery one owns another
Child slavery- children used to beg,
steal, or work
Debt bondage- workers are not paid
enough to pay for their expenses
Servile forms of marriage- women are
sold off into marriage or prostitution

Global Power Relationships

Colonialism the process by which
some nations enrich themselves through
political and economic control of other
nations
Neocolonialism a new form of power
relationship that involves economic
exploitation by multinational
corporations

Global Stratification
Modernization Theory explains global
inequality in terms of technological and
cultural differences between nations
stages of modernization p. 318

Dependency Theory explains global

inequality in terms of the historical
exploitation of poor nations by powerful
ones
see matrix on page 326

Wallersteins Capitalist World

Economy
Rich nations = core
Low-income = periphery
Middle-income = semi-periphery
resources are funneled into rich nations through
colonialism, which uses cheap labor to mine or
harvest raw materials; both the low and middleincome countries become markets for products.

3 Factors include 1. narrow export markets; 2.

lack of industrialization capacity; and, 3.
foreign debt