Test #2 sociology
How to actually define relative poverty for NY State & NY metropolitan are:
50 percent of area's median income $72,108 (NY state's median income in 2019) $72,108*.5 = $36,054 $9,808 higher than poverty threshold of $26,246. More people in poverty if $36,054 were cutoff $83,160 (New York metro area median income) $83,160*.5 = $41,580 $15,334 higher than poverty threshold of $26,246
Explanations for Stratification: Social Conflict Approach
Argues stratification provides some people with advantages over others. Not necessary
View of race in ancient Greece/Rome
In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the idea of race did not exist as we know it today. People recognized broad physical differences between groups of people, but they did not discriminate based on those differences.
status hierarchy system
Max Weber's concept of class is based on grouping people according to the value of their property or labor in the commercial marketplace. a system of stratification based on social prestige. This prestige can be linked to different things—occupation, lifestyle, membership in certain organizations—but sociologists have most often studied occupational status.
Main programs of social safety net for non-elderly, non-disabled households with children:
Medicaid: public health insurance for low-income families (most support provided) SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program- resources to provide nutrition benefits EITC: Earned Income Tax Credit- federal tax credit for low and moderate income working people TANF: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families- time limited cash assistance to families; in NY state, it's limited to 60 months or 5 years (less utilized because least amount of support)
main programs of social safety net for elderly and disabled households:
Medicare - public health insurance for those 65 and older and also for younger people with disabilities Supplemental Security Income (SSI) - federal income supplement program designed to help aged, blind, and disabled people Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program (OASDI) - social security payments - starts at age 62 or 67 depending upon when you were born; but if you are disabled, you can collect benefits sooner
Poverty rates, by race and ethnicity
Native American- 25.4% Black- 20.8% Hispanic- 17.6% White- 10.1% Asian 10.1%
Racial/ethnic groups:
Native Americans African Americans Latinos Asian Americans Middle Eastern Americans
Percent of poor receiving public assistance
Near poverty- 3.4% Poverty- 8.2%
SCIENTIFIC RACISM:
Nineteenth-century theories of race that characterize a period of feverish investigation into the origins, explanations, and classifications of race.
Exchange mobility
Occurs when people essentially trade posterm-96itions—the number of overall jobs stays the same, with some people moving up into better jobs and others moving down into worse ones.
C. Wright Mill's view on elite-mass dichotomy system
C. Wright Mill viewed this system as dangerous and detrimental as it consolidates power in the hands of the few who will act according to their interests as opposed to the interests of the masses.
Poverty explanation: Societal-Level or Structural-Level Factors
Circumstances beyond the individual are responsible for explaining poverty - Change in nature of economy: growth in jobs that require more education - The cost of higher education has increased significantly over time, making it difficult for individuals to obtain higher education. - Health care costs rising: cause bankruptcy for many -Housing costs: eviction
Ideology
Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM:
A micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions.
SYMBOLIC ETHNICITY:
A nationality, not in the sense of carrying the rights and duties of citizenship but in the sense of identifying with a past or future nationality. For later generations of White ethnics, it is something not constraining but easily expressed, with no risks of stigma and all the pleasures of feeling like an individual.
Types of stratification systems: Closed-caste systems
A religion-based system of stratification characterized by no social mobility.
Dimensions of stratification
Economic standing:income, wealth Prestige:involves social respect, admiration, and recognition associated with particular status Power:conduct by which compel others to do what they do not wish to do
CULTURE OF POVERTY:
the argument that poor people adopt certain practices that differ from those of middle-class, "mainstream" society in order to adapt and survive in difficult economic circumstances.
ONE-DROP RULE:
the belief that "one drop" of Black blood makes a person Black, a concept that evolved from US laws forbidding miscegenation.
RACISM:
the belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal human traits.
ETHNOCENTRISM:
the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own.
TIE:
the connection between two people in a relationship that varies in strength from one relationship to the next; a story that explains our relationship with another member of our network.
EMBEDDEDNESS:
the degree to which social relationships are reinforced through indirect ties (i.e., friends of friends).
ROUTINIZATION/ INSTITUTIONALIZATION:
the final stage of a social movement, in which it is institutionalized and a formal structure develops to promote the cause.
EMERGENCE:
the first stage of a social movement, occurring when the social - problem being addressed is first identified.
RACIALIZATION:
the formation of a new racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries of difference around a formerly unnoticed group of people.
STRATIFICATION:
the hierarchical organization of a society into groups with differing levels of power, social prestige, or status and economic resources. systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.
Equality of opportunity
the idea that inequality of condition is acceptable so long as everyone has the same opportunities for advancement and is judged by the same standards. This standard of equality is most closely associated with modern capitalist society and a cornerstone of arguments made by civil rights activists in the United States in the 1960s.
SOCIAL CAPITAL:
the information, knowledge of people, and connections that help individuals enter, gain power in, or otherwise leverage social networks.
MEDIATOR:
the member of a triad who attempts to resolve conflict between the two other actors in the group.
TERTIUS GAUDENS:
the member of a triad who benefits from conflict between the other two members of the group.
Income
the money received by a person for work or via investments
SOCIAL MOBILITY:
the movement between different positions within a system of social stratification in any given society. Can be either horizontal or vertical and can take place on the individual or group level.
NATIVISM:
the movement to protect and preserve indigenous land or culture from the allegedly dangerous and polluting effects of new immigrants.
Equality of outcom
the notion that everyone in a society should end up with the same rewards regardless of his or her starting point, opportunities, or contributions. This standard of equality is most closely associated with Communist ideology, and critics argue that without greater incentives to work hard and be productive, people will slack off and social progress will be stymied in what is termed as the free rider problem.
"STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES"
the notion that relatively weak ties often turn out to be quite valuable because they yield new information. (Mark Granovetter)
ABSOLUTE POVERTY:
the point at which a household's income falls below the necessary level to purchase food to physically sustain its members.
DIVIDE ET IMPERA:
the role of a member of a triad who intentionally drives a wedge between the other two actors in the group.
COALESCENCE:
the second stage of a social movement, in which resources are mobilized (i.e., concrete action is taken) around the problems outlined in the first stage.
NARRATIVE:
the sum of stories contained in a set of ties.
MISCEGENATION:
the technical term for interracial marriage, literally meaning "a mixing of kinds"; it is politically and historically charged, and sociologists generally prefer the term exogamy or outmarriage.
DRAMATURGICAL THEORY:
the view (advanced by Erving Goffman) of social life as essentially a theatrical performance, in which we are all actors on metaphorical stages, with roles, scripts, costumes, and sets. - Impression management: goal is not just to make the best impression on others; we often actively work to ensure that others will believe they are making a good impression as well - Front and backstage arenas: in public and in private behavior
PREJUDICE:
thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial group, which lead to preconceived notions and judgments (often negative) about the group
Net worth
total assets minus total debts
SOCIAL EQUALITY:
a condition in which no differences in wealth, power, prestige, or status based on nonnatural conventions exist.
SMALL GROUP:
a group characterized by face-to-face interaction, a unifocal perspective, lack of formal arrangements or roles, and a certain level of equality.
LARGE GROUP:
a group characterized by the presence of a formal structure that mediates interaction and, consequently, status differentiation.
TRIAD:
a group of three.
DYAD:
a group of two.
REFERENCE GROUP:
a group that helps us understand or make sense of our position in society relative to other groups
PARTY:
a group that is similar to a small group but is multifocal.
RELATIVE POVERTY:
a measurement of poverty based on a percentage of the median income in a given location.
SOCIAL NETWORK:
a set of relations—essentially, a set of dyads—held together by ties between individuals.
MERITOCRACY:
a society where status and mobility are based on individual attributes, ability, and achievement. Vilfredo Pareto thought that the masses were better off in such a system, where the most skilled and talented people would reach the governing elite.
caste system
a system of stratification based on hereditary notions of religious and theological purity and generally offers no prospects for social mobility. The varna system in India is the most common example today of a caste system.
MIDDLE CLASS:
a term commonly used to describe those individuals with nonmanual jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line—though this is a highly debated and expansive category, particularly in the United States, where broad swaths of the population consider themselves middle-class.
UPPER CLASS:
a term for the economic elite.
COLLECTIVE ACTION:
action that takes place in groups and diverges from the social norms of the situation.
The Asch Test
an experiment developed in the 1940s that shows group conformity, or how much people are influenced by the actions or norms of a group.
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS:
an individual's position in a stratified social order.
IN-GROUP:
another term for the powerful group, most often the majority.
OUT-GROUP:
another term for the stigmatized or less powerful group, the minority.
Monogenists :
believed humans were one species, created equally (known as ontological equality)
Polygenists:
believed that races were each different species
POVERTY:
can be defined as a condition of deprivation due to economic circumstances that is severe enough that the individual cannot live with dignity in his or her society.
RACE:
can be defined as a group of people who share a set of characteristics—usually physical ones—and are said to share a common bloodline is a social construct that changes over time and across different contexts. To be white in America, for example, changed from being a somewhat inclusive category in the late eighteenth century to being much more narrowly defined in the mid-to-late nineteenth century and then shifted back to a broader definition in the mid-twentieth century. All these changes were in response to social realities.
contagion theory
collective action arises because of people's tendency to conform to the behavior of others. This theory downplays individual agency and does not explain the inconsistency of group action.
convergence theory
collective action happens when people with similar ideas and tendencies gather in the same place. This theory does not explain the inconsistency of group action—why collective action sometimes happens under such circumstances and other times does not.
mass collective action
collective action in which close physical proximity is not necessary, such as a letter-writing campaign.
SOCIAL MOVEMENT:
collective behavior that is purposeful and organized (but not ritualized) and that seeks to challenge or change one or more aspects of society through institutional and extra-institutional means.
Poverty explanation: Individual-Level Factors
Poor primarily responsible for their own poverty - Lack of education - Lack of job experience or qualifications - Language barriers (for foreigners) - Do not want to work and do not have a job (cultural element)
Reasons for group conformity
Reasons for group conformity: Personality Cultural differences Status differences Group norms
Bell curve thesis
Richard Hernstein and Charles Murray (biological argument): poverty is directly related to people having "bad genes," lower IQs, and bad parenting, which is directly related to the aforementioned factors
STRAIGHT-LINE ASSIMILATION: (Robert Park)
Robert Park's 1920s universal and linear model for how immigrants assimilate: they first arrive, then settle in, and achieve full assimilation in a newly homogenous country. Robert Park's 1920 model of this involved four stages—contact, competition, accommodation, and assimilation
Explanations for Stratification: Structural Functionalist Approach
Social stratification is inevitable and plays a vital part in the operation of society
The Davis-Moore Thesis
Stratification benefits all through specialization and progress. How? - Society must make sure positions/occupations filled - Some positions more important than others - More important positions must be filled by more qualified people - To motivate people and get those that are more qualified in such positions, society must offer greater rewards - Assumes social position based entirely on merit
Karl Marx: Class Conflict
Stratification is rooted in people's relationships to the means of production Capitalists: People who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuits of profits Proletariat: Working people who sell their labor for wages - Stratification is a reflection of unequal distribution of power in society - Stratification system serves needs of those at top and not entire society - Class system is not open or based on merit - "False consciousness": promotes idea that people are lower in the stratification system because of individual abilities (or lack thereof). Used to maintain power and prevent uprising
FACE:
The esteem in which an individual is held by others.
wealth
The family or person's net worth or entire asset value.
Criticisms of absolute poverty line
The formulation for the absolute poverty line has not changed since it was introduced, but it has been heavily criticized for not evolving to reflect broad changes in people's circumstances over the past 40 years. Food is no longer 1/3 of people's income, housing is.
Mark Granovetter
developed the concept of the strength of weak ties to explain that relatively weak ties can actually be quite valuable because they are more likely to provide new opportunities than a strongly embedded tie.
class system
economically based system of stratification characterized by somewhat loose social mobility and categories based on roles in the production process rather than individual characteristics.
Emergent norm theory
emphasizes the influence of leaders in promoting norms that members of a group then follow. This theory does not explain why particular people become leaders or why some actions emerge as norms within a group and others do not.
Value-added theory
establishes six conditions that are required for a movement to coalesce and achieve a successful outcome. First, there must be a social strain present that existing power holders are unable or unwilling to alleviate Second, people must be able to agree on a definition of the problem. Third, people must be free to act on their grievance. Fourth, there must be a spark that ignites the controversy. The fifth requirement is mobilization for action: People need to gather together in an organized fashion. The sixth requirement is the failure of social control by established power holders. - Black Lives Matter
Karl Marx
felt that society was divided strictly into two classes: the proletariat, or working class, and the bourgeoisie, or employing class.
Social groups
form the building blocks for society and for most social interaction.
SECONDARY GROUPS:
groups marked by impersonal, instrumental relationships (those existing as a means to an end).
DISCRIMINATION:
harmful or negative acts (not mere thoughts) against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category, without regard to their individual merit.
Erving Goffman
his dramaturgical theory views social life as a theatrical performance in which we are all actors on metaphysical stages with roles, stages, scripts, costumes, and sets, all in the service of face, which is the esteem in which others hold us.
SOCIAL CONSTRUCT:
idea that has been created and accepted by people of a society
C. H. Cooley
identified two main types of groups: primary groups and secondary groups. Other "group types" include in-groups, out-groups, and reference groups.
STRAIGHT-LINE ASSIMILATION: (Milton Gordon)
in 1964, Milton Gordon offered up a variation on Park's model, one that involved seven stages that immigrants could pass through or become stuck in. Gordon did not assume that full assimilation was always the outcome.
PLURALISM:
in the context of race and ethnicity, refers to the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society
group conformity
individuals are compliant with the group's goals, even when the group's goals may be in direct contrast to the individual's goals
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM:
institutions and social dynamics that may seem race-neutral but actually disadvantage minority groups.
Government spends more to help_________________________
middle/upper class in retirement incentive than on EITC
Structural mobility
mobility that is inevitable from changes in the economy such as the expansion of high-tech jobs in the past 20 years.
CLASSICAL MODEL:
model of social movements based on a concept of structural weakness in society that results in psychological disruption of individuals. - Occupy Wall Street social movement: OWS was a movement started by people who felt deprived after the 2008 Great Recession
RESOURCE-MOBILIZATION THEORY:
model of social movements that emphasizes political context and goals but also states that social movements are unlikely to emerge without the necessary resource: Leadership/ organizational strength, Knowledge, Time/Money, Labor. - Civil Rights movement
POLITICAL PROCESS MODEL:
model of social movements that focuses on the structure of political opportunities. When these are favorable to a particular challenger, the chances are better for the success of a social movement led by this challenger. - Woman Suffrage movement
Ascription
occurs when social class or stratum placement is primarily hereditary. In other words, people are placed in positions in a stratification system because of qualities beyond their control. Race, sex, age, class at birth, religion, ethnicity,
ETHNICITY:
one's ethnic quality or affiliation. It is voluntary, self-defined, nonhierarchical, fluid and multiple, and based on cultural differences, not physical ones per se.
estate system
politically based system of stratification characterized by limited social mobility that is best exemplified in the social organization of feudal Europe and the pre-Civil War American South.
Equality of condition
The idea that everyone should have an equal starting point from which to pursue his or her goals. Belief in this standard of equality has led to policies, such as affirmative action, that try to compensate social actors for differences in their conditions or starting points.
Strong ties
The more embedded a tie is, the stronger it is. That is, compared to a relationship with someone whom only you yourself know, a tie to someone who also knows your mother, your best friend, and your teacher's daughter is more likely to last. It may feel less dramatic and intimate, but it's robust and more likely to endure simply by virtue of the fact that it's difficult to escape
Absolute poverty - Mollie Orshansky
The official poverty line in the United States is calculated using a formula developed in the 1960s by Mollie Orshansky that estimates food costs for a variety of family types based on U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations for minimum food requirements and then applies a multiplier.
ELASTIC TIES:
social connections that display the repeated interactions characteristic of strong ties while maintaining a degree of protective social distance (i.e., not knowing more than a first name, if that).
PRIMARY GROUPS:
social groups, such as family or friends, composed of enduring, intimate face-to-face relationships that strongly influence the attitudes and ideals of those involved.
REFORMATIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:
social movements that advocate for limited social change across an entire society.
REVOLUTIONARY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:
social movements that advocate the radical reorganization of society.
ALTERNATIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:
social movements that seek the most limited societal change and often target a narrow group of people.
REDEMPTIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:
social movements that target specific groups but advocate for more radical change in behavior.
Bridging
social movements try to align their goals within existing frames
elite-mass dichotomy system
system of stratification that has a governing elite—a few leaders who broadly hold the power of society.
Crowd collective action
takes place when members of a group are face-to-face.
Pew report middle class definition
"Middle-income" households are defined as those with an income that is two-thirds to double that of the U.S. median household income, after incomes have been adjusted for household size. "Middle-income" households are defined as those with an income that is two-thirds to double that of the U.S. median household income, after incomes have been adjusted for household size. The gaps in income and wealth between middle- and upper-income households widened substantially in the past three to four decades
George Simmel
According to him, when a third person joins a dyad, that person can fill the role of mediator, tertius gaudens ("the third that rejoices"), or divide et impera ("divide and conquer"). came up with three categories: small groups, parties, and large groups
Types of stratification systems: Open-class systems
An economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility.
contradictory class locations
Erik Olin Wright developed the concept of contradictory class locations, which is the idea that people can occupy locations in the class structure that fall between the two "pure" classes defined by Marx.
poverty rates by family type
Married couple: less poverty More poverty if husband not present rather than wife not present
EUGENICS
Literally meaning "well born"; a pseudoscience that postulates that controlling the fertility of populations could influence inheritable traits passed on from generation to generation. - Backers of eugenics claimed that traits could be traced through bloodlines and bred into (for positive traits) or out of (for negative traits) populations. This thinking influenced immigration policy in the early twentieth century, when undesirable populations were kept out of the country so they wouldn't pollute the "native" (i.e., white) population. - supports polygenism
Other programs of social safety net for non-elderly, non-disabled households with children:
Unemployment Insurance (UI): state-provided insurance when loss of job; does not cover people who quit their jobs, are self-employed, or are fired. Subsidized housing - federal government only provided assistance in housing to 5 million households, even though 10 million households fell below poverty Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) - supplemental nutrition assistance for women, infants and children Free meal programs-National School Lunch Program (NSLP)/ School Breakfast Program (SBP) - federally assisted meal programs operating in public and nonprofit private schools
Vilfredo Pareto's view on elite-mass dichotomy system
Vilfredo Pareto thought that the masses were better off in such a system, called a meritocracy, where the most skilled and talented people would reach the governing elite.
