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Chapter 7. Class and Stratification in the United States. Questions for you…. How much is “social class” a factor in people’s lives? How many social classes are there in the United States? Is there still a “middle class,” given the economic challenges of today?
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Chapter 7 Class and Stratification in the United States
Questions for you… How much is “social class” a factor in people’s lives? How many social classes are there in the United States? Is there still a “middle class,” given the economic challenges of today? Can individuals change their social class location?
Chapter Outline What Is Social Stratification? Systems of Stratification Classical Perspectives on Social Class Contemporary Sociological Models of the U.S. Class Structure Inequality in the United States
Chapter Outline Poverty in the United States Sociological Explanations of Social Inequality in the United States U.S. Stratification in the Future
How Much Do You Know About Wealth, Poverty, and the American Dream? • True or False? • A number of people living below the official poverty line have fulltime jobs.
How Much Do You Know About Wealth, Poverty, and the American Dream? • True. • Many of those who fall below the official poverty line are referred to as the “working poor” because they work full time but earn such low wages that they are still considered to be impoverished.
How Much Do You Know About Wealth, Poverty, and the American Dream? • True or False? • About 5 percent of U.S. residents live in households whose members sometimes do not get enough to eat.
How Much Do You Know About Wealth, Poverty, and the American Dream? • True. • It is estimated that about 5 percent of the U.S. population (1 in 20 people) resides in household units where members do not get enough to eat.
Poverty in America Poverty is a standard of living below the minimum needed to for the maintenance of an adequate diet, health care and shelter. Poverty affects approximately 12% of the total American population and millions more worldwide.
Social Stratification Hierarchy of social groups based on differential control over resources. Sociologists examine social groups that make up the hierarchy in a society, to determine how inequalities persist over time.
Life Chances • Access to resources such as food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care. • Affluent people have better life chances because they have greater access to: • quality education • safe neighborhood • nutrition and health care • police protection
Polling Question • The poor are poor because the American way of life doesn't give all people an equal chance. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree
Systems of Stratification Open system - boundaries between hierarchies may be influenced by people’s achieved statuses. Closed system - boundaries between hierarchies are rigid, people’s positions are set by ascribed status. No stratification system is completely open or closed.
Slavery • Five major examples of slave societies from history: • ancient Greece • Roman Empire • United States • Caribbean and Brazil. • There are an estimated 27 million people held as slaves worldwide.
Characteristics of Slavery in the U.S. It was for life and was inherited. Slaves were considered property, not human beings. Slaves were denied rights. Coercion was used to keep slaves “in their place”.
Caste System Status is determined at birth based on parents’ ascribed characteristics. Cultural values sustain caste systems and caste systems grow weaker as societies industrialize. Vestiges of caste systems can remain for hundreds of years after they are officially abolished.
The Class System A type of stratification based on the ownership and control of resources and on the type of work people do. Horizontal mobility occurs when people experience a gain or loss in position and/or income that does not produce a change in their place in the class structure. Vertical mobility is movement up or down the class structure is.
Polling Question • If you were asked to use one of the following four names for your parents' social class, which would you say they belong in? • Upper class • Middle class • Working class • Lower class
Marxian Criteria for Class Structure Ownership of the means of production. Employing others. Supervising others on the job. Being employed by someone else.
Max Weber: Wealth,Prestige, and Power Wealth is the value of a person’s or family’s economic assets, including income, personal property, and income-producing property. Prestige is the regard with which a person or status position is regarded by others. Power is the ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others.
Socioeconomic Status (SES) A combined measure that, in order to determine class location, attempts to classify individuals, families, or households in terms of factors such as income, occupation, and education.
Weberian Model of the Class Structure Upper Class - comprised of people who own substantial income-producing assets. Upper-Middle Class - based on university degrees, authority on the job, and high income. Middle Class - a minimum of a high school diploma or a community college degree.
Weberian Model of the Class Structure Working Class - semiskilled workers, in routine, mechanized jobs, and workers in pink collar occupations. Working Poor - live just above to just below the poverty line. Underclass - people who are poor, seldom employed, and caught in long-term deprivation.
Middle Class and the American Dream • Four factors have eroded the American Dream for this class: • Escalating housing prices • Occupational insecurity • Blocked mobility on the job • Cost of living squeeze that has penalized younger workers, even when they have more education and better jobs than their parents.
Pink-Collar Occupations Relatively low-paying, nonmanual, semiskilled positions primarily held by women, such as day-care workers, checkout clerks, cashiers, and waitpersons.
Underclass Those who are poor, seldom employed, and caught in long-term deprivation that results from low levels of education and income and high rates of unemployment.
Wright’s Criteria for Placement in the Class Structure • Wright assumes that these criteria can be used to determine the class placement of all workers, regardless of race/ethnicity, in a capitalist society: • Ownership of the means of production • Purchase of the labor of others (employing others). • Control of the labor of others (supervising others on the job). • Sale of one’s own labor (being employed by someone else).
Wright’s Four Classes The capitalist class The managerial class The small-business class The working class
Income and Wealth Income - wages, salaries, government aid, and property Wealth - value of economic assets, including income and property. Wealth can generate income.
Median Household Income by Race/Ethnicity in the United States
Defining Poverty • Sociologists distinguish between absolute and relative poverty. • Absolute poverty exists when people do not have the means to secure the most basic necessities of life. • Relative poverty exists when people may be able to afford basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an average standard of living.
Official Poverty Line The federal income standard that is based on what is considered to be the minimum amount of money required for living at a subsistence level.
Feminization of Poverty • The trend in which women are disproportionately represented among individuals living in poverty. • Women bear the major economic and emotional burdens of raising children when they are single heads of households but earn 70 and 80 cents for every dollar a male worker earns. • More women than men are unable to obtain regular, full-time, employment.
Job Deskilling A reduction in the proficiency needed to perform a specific job that leads to a corresponding reduction in the wages for that job.
Functionalist Perspective: Davis-Moore Thesis Societies have tasks that must be accomplished and positions that must be filled. Some positions are more important for the survival of society than others. The most important positions must be filled by the most qualified people.
Functionalist Perspective: Davis-Moore Thesis The positions that are the most important for society and that require scarce talent, extensive training, or both must be the most highly rewarded. The most highly rewarded positions should be those that are functionally unique (no other position can perform the same function) and on which other positions rely for expertise, direction, or financing.
Meritocracy A hierarchy in which all positions are rewarded based on people’s ability and credentials.
U.S. Stratification in the Future • Many social scientists believe that trends point to an increase in social inequality in the U.S.: • The purchasing power of the dollar has stagnated or declined since the early 1970s. • Wealth continues to become more concentrated at the top of the U.S. class structure. • Federal tax laws in recent years have benefited corporations and wealthy families at the expense of middle and lower-income families.
