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Differential Access to
Wealth
Power
Prestige
On What bases is Differential Access Based
Gender
Race
Age
Ethnicity
Religion
Kinship
Egalitarian Societies
Ranked Societies
Stratified Societies
Egalitarian societies
Eg. Hadza of Tanzania, !Kung
bushmen of the Kalahari, and Batek
of Malaysia
!Kung
bushmen
of the
Kalahari
Foragers recognize individuals
with special skills, but those who
possess them are not seen superior
in other respects
Leaders have influence, but no
authority
The people possess norms that
emphasize sharing and ideals of
interpersonal equality.
Simple Horticultural Societies
surplus gives rise to
resources privileges
ranked societies
people are divided into
hierarchically ordered groups that
differ in terms of prestige and
status
but not significantly in terms of
access to resources (wealth) or
power.
it is possible to identify persons
we can label as chiefs whose
inherited position has prestige
This is often linked to the
Little Big Man
redistribution of goods. Tribe : Oglala Lakota )
With ranked societies
comes the need to
organize labor beyond
the household level and
the potential for major
construction projects
(cooperative labor)
Individuals can
achieve power and
prestige
Agricultural Societies
agricultural tools
increase surplus,
reduce labour.
slavery is possible,
private property,
inheritance.
Industrial Societies
depend on
educated workers
Consumerism
more democracy
less equality.
Stratified Societies
Societies divided into horizontal
layers of equality and inequality.
Marked inequalities in access to
wealth, power, and prestige
passed on from generation to
generation.
Has a significant effect on
individuals life chances. (Weber)
Found almost exclusively within
complex societies with centralised
political systems and large populations
Ranked divisions are called strata.
Stratification systems
vary in
the number of
ranked groups,
the degree to which
there is agreement
regarding their
hierarchical placement
the size of the strata
The ability of
individuals to move
within strata
frequently, such
cultures are
symbolized not by the
handshake, which
reflects equality, but
by different forms of
bowing, symbolizing
inequality
Comparative Systems
Sweden
U. S. U. S. China
1970 1999
Mexico
Asante Kotoko
Control of wealth and
power in the hands of a few.
The original Sanskrit for the caste system was "varna", which
means color.
Some believe that the caste system was originally based upon
color lines between the conquering Aryans and the darker,
native Dravidians.
The first three castes may have originated with the classes of
Aryan society who used the darker, native population as their
servants.
The invading white
skinned Aryans referred to
the conquered Indians as
"Dasyu" - the "dark ones"
or slaves.
the Vedas are full of
stories of war against the
Indian actress Indian actor
Dasyu, and reflected the
Preety Zinta Aamir Khanall
stark racial divisions
between the Aryans and the
Indians.
Despite centuries of
mixing the upper castes,
tend to be lighter than the
lower castes and Daljits
the four varnas are ranked in
descending order of importance,
prestige, and purity.
Brahmin (priests) scholars,
philosophers - rewarded with honor
Kshatriya (warriors), rulers
administrators and organizers -
rewarded with power )
Vaishya (The People) merchants,
farmers, traders, artisans,
engineers - rewarded with wealth
Shudra. (servants) servants, hired
Untouchables, also known hands, unskilled laborers, factory
workers, manual laborers -
as Harijans or Dalits, fall
rewarded with freedom from
outside of the caste system all
responsibility
together.
Twice born
"twice born." This has nothing to do with
reincarnation since everyone gets reincarnated.
A person who is "twice born" is born once as a baby
and then goes through a coming-of-age ceremony to
become an adult.
A person who has passed through this ritual, called
an upanaya, receives a sacred thread that he wears
looped over one shoulder and across the torso.
Because Neither the Sudras nor the untouchables
are twice-born their members may never learn the
sacred Sanskrit language or study the holy Veda texts
by themselves.
Brahmin
Brahmins are seen as
mediators between the
human and divine worlds
Historically, The
Kshatriya has
contained most of
the political Rajput Landowner and his family on their
leaders and kings, land Smoking a hooka, or water pipe.
landowners
Vaishya
landless group of
merchants, shopkeepers
and artisans.
Most closely
resembles the middle
class
Also
Construction of false genealogies,
name changing,
moving localities
conversion to Buddhism and
Christianity.
Each caste must observe certain
rules and rituals involving notions
of purity and impurity such as
food habits .
for example, what kind of boiled
vegetables they might share and
with whom without pollution since
substances such as hair, sweet,
saliva and other secretions that
can be transferred to people
through food and water are
polluting
thus the rules of how people of
different caste are supposed to
relate to one another to avoid
pollution
Jati
Each varna is subdivided into many subsections or Jati
Jatis are local ranking systems and are at least partly ordered
in a continuum of ritual pollution and purity
Jatis are many in number and vary from region to region
Traditionally each jati was associated with a particular
occupation such as blacksmith, farmer, shoemaker, etc.
Occupations were hereditary services and rights known as
jajmani system
Ideally endogamous.
Continue to maintain an active existence
Ideology
Hindus did not question the varna
system. Its simply the way the universe
works.
In order to be assured of a good life in
one's next reincarnation, a person must do
everything he or she can to live up to the
expectations of his or her varna and jati.
A Sudra should work hard;
a Brahmin should study religious texts and
pray hard.
English Algerians
French Native Americans
Jews Inuit
Gypsies Italians
Norwegians Australian aborigines
Saudi Arabians Egyptians
Ukranians South Africans
Koreans Chinese
What race is this man?
ddPaternal ddMaternal
Grandparents Grandparents
1 White 2 Chinese
1 Native American 2 Thai
2 Black
Father Mother
What assumptions
lie behind the
designation of Tiger
Woods as an
African American?
Life chances
Where you live
How you are treated
Access to wealth, power and prestige
Access to education, housing, and other
valued resources
Life expectancy
Health Disparity
The U.S. Census Bureau has been gathering data by race
since 1790 because the Constitution specified that a slave
counted as three-fifths of a white person, and because
Indians were not taxed.
More recently, the way in which information
regarding race is collected has been hotly debated.
Some social scientists and interested citizens have been
working to add a multiracial category to the census.
This multiracial category has been opposed by the
NAACP and the National Council of La Raza because
both groups feel that the communities they represent will
lose access to funding, resources, and jobs if their
numbers as counted by the census go down.
The choice of some other race has more than
doubled from 1980 and 2000.
This represents an imprecision in and dissatisfaction
with the existing categories.
Also, the number of interracial marriages and
children is increasing.
Some people argue that since race has no biological
existence, the U.S. government should cease collecting
data about race
the American Sociological Association asks Would
Race Disappear if the United States Officially Stopped
Measuring It?
As long as Americans routinely sort each other into
racial categories and act on the basis of those
attributions, research on the role of race and race
relations in the United States falls squarely within [a]
scientific agenda...As the United States becomes
more diverse, the need for public agencies to
continue to collect data on racial categories will
become even more important. The continuation of
the collection and scholarly analysis of data serves
both science and the public interest. --American
Sociological Assoc.
Statistics Canada
Collects information on
1. Visible minorities
persons who are identified according to the Employment
Equity Act as being non-Caucasian in race or non-white in
colour
Aboriginal persons are not considered to be members of
visible minority groups
2. Ethnicity
includes aspects such as race, origin or ancestry, identity,
language and religion, culture, the arts, customs and beliefs
and even practices such as dress and food preparation.
It is also dynamic and in a constant state of flux. It will
change as a result of new immigration flows, blending and
intermarriage, and new identities may be formed.
There are fundamental three ways of measuring
ethnicity: origin or ancestry, race and identity.
Race refers to the genetically imparted
physiognomical features of a person
The change in format to an open-ended question
in 1996 likely affected response patterns, especially for
groups who had been included as mark-in response
categories in 1991.
In addition, the presence of examples such as
"Canadian", which were not included in previous
censuses, may also affect response patterns.
Ethnic
Each of us has an ethnicity
- frequently confused with race
Shared cultural characteristics of a group
Includes: national origin, language,
traditions, customs, religious beliefs/practices,
etc. as well as racial category
The American Anthropological Association
has recommended that the Census Bureau
eliminate the term "race" and replace it with
"ethnic origins," noting that many Americans
confuse race, ethnicity and ancestry.
A Brief History of race
Race did not exist until the European expansion and exploration
beginning around 1500
The ancient Greeks, for example,
saw themselves as first among civilized
nations around the Mediterranean
But the Greeks did not link physical
appearance and cultural attainment.
They granted civilized status to the
Nile Valley Nubians who were among
the darkest skinned people they knew
They did not grant it to European
barbarians to the north who were
lighter skinned than they were
People were divided on the basis of
religion, class or language or status
The distribution of human skin color before A.D. 1400
Slavery
Before the 1400s slavery was widespread in
state societies
A Women of
Color with her
African Slave.
1804
What struck explorers most forcefully were differences in physical
appearance particularly skin colour
An early distinction emerged between those who had black skin as
opposed to had white skin.
This characterisation was important because
of the way in which the colours black and white
were emotionally loaded concepts in European
languages especially English
The contrasts denoted polar opposites
white represented good, purity and virginity
black symbolized death, evil and debasement
Africans, native Americans, and colonised
Asians were devalued, intermarriage was
prohibited and persons of mixed ancestry were
denied same entitlements as those of solely
European ancestry
evident in all European colonial societies by the late 1600s
The Scientific basis of race
Malayan Blumenbach
(1752-1840)
Ethiopian,
American
Mongolian,