Anthro Chapter 11

Caste

A closed system of stratification in a society. It organizes members of a culture into hierachically ranked groups with unequal access to the rewards and privileges of society.

Eqalitarian society

A group based on the sharing of resources to ensure success with a relative absence of hierarchy and violence

Ranked societies

A group in which wealth is not stratified but prestige and status are

Class

A system of power based on wealth, income, and status that creates an unequal distribution of a society's resources

Class is a ____ status

Achieved

Intersectionality

An analytic framework for assessing how factors such as race, gender, and class interact to shape individual life chances and societal patterns of stratification Certain parts of identity, like class, cannot be studied in isolation but must be considered together with race and gender as interlocking systems of power

Life chances

An individuals opportunities to improve quality of life and achieve life goals. Determined by access not only to financial resources but also to social resources such as education, health care, food, clothing. Class position determines access to these resources.

Karl Marx theory of class

As the Industrial revolution swept through the area, government policies restricted poor rural families' use of common village lands. Deprived of access to land, they migrated to the urban centers to seek jobs. Marx's analysis of the increasing inequalities in the emerging capitalist economy distinguished between 2 distinct classes. The bourgeoise and the proletariat. The proletariat were unable to make their own living, so they sold their labor to capitalits in return for wages. Capitalists increased their wealth by extracting the surplus labor value from the workers (forcing workers to work faster, longer, for lower wages). Recognition of these 2 different positions within the economy was essential to Marx's understanding of power relations in culture

Caste is a ____ status

Ascribed

Moynihan Report

Attempted to trace the root causes of poverty in African American communities to cultural patterns despite the evident structural causes of inequality and discrimination built into Jim Crow and segregation laws

US workforce has become more polarized

Between highly-educated professionals and managers and under-educated workers who struggle with low pay, no benefits, and little job security

Habitus

Bourdieu's term to describe the self-perceptions and beliefs that develop as part of one's social identity and shape one's conceptions of the world and where one fits in it. So deeply encultured that it becomes an almost instinctive sense of one's potential. Life decisions are an example that is made on the basis of the family's habitus. How does habitus influence your choice of friends and marriage partner?

Example in the US

Children are split around 6th grade for math tracks that will lead either to AP calc or regular math.

Potlach:

Elaborate redistribution ceremony practiced among the Kwakiutl of the Pacific NW

Newman

Explores the economic and psychological struggles of families who strive to maintain their class position in US culture. She traced their vulnerability to moving down the economic ladder as a result of job losses, relocation of jobs overseas, and divorce.

What 2 factors did Bourdieu find worked against the meritocratic idea (and support social reproduction of class)?

Habitus and cultural capital

In what cases can poverty not be changed by attitudes and values?

If there are no jobs, inadequate education and health care, and systematic failure to incest in the infrastructure of impoverished neighborhoods and communities, then poverty cannot be changed by changing attitudes and values. What are often considered to be characteristics of a culture of poverty

Bourgeoise

Marxist term for the capitalist class that owns the means of production

Proletariat

Marxist term for the class of laborers who own only their labor.

Redistribution ceremony famous in anthropology

Potlatch

Weber's Class theory

Prestige and life Chances. In analyzing the emerging structures of stratification, Weber added consideration of power and prestige to Marx's concern.

Poverty as a Structural Economic Problem

Proponents of poverty as a structural problem trace its roots to dysfunctional aspects of the economic system. These theories place more responsibility on the failure of government to address fundamental economic patterns that have forced people into poverty and not provided a means out

Group members offer gifts of tribute to the chief, but these are not kept and hoarded. Instead, the chief redistributes the tribute to group members. This is called

Redistribution: A form of exchange in which accumulated wealth is collected from the members of the group and reallocate in a different pattern.

Anthropologists problems with Marx's theory

Small business owners and farmers now own the means of production, technically making them part of Marx's bourgeoise, but do not possess the same access to capital as others in that class. The working class is divided with conflicts along the lines of race, gender, and ethnicity. Middle class of professionals and managers (white collar workers) has emerged between capitalists and the working class (blue coller). But others who take a more strict Marxist view argue that white collar workers are part of the proletariat, they may have more power but still sell their labor.

Achieved status

Social position established and changeable during a person's lifetime

Ascribed status

Social position inherited, assigned at birth, and passed down from generation to generation with enforced boundaries

Cultural capital

The knowledge, habits, and tastes learned from parents and family that individuals can use to gain access to scarce and valuable resources in society. Example) family wealth can be cultural capital for children. With enough money, parents can provide their children with the opportunity to travel abroad, learn multiple languages, join clubs, etc. These opportunities build social skills, networks, sense of power, and confidence, crucial Schools reward cultural capital, which reproduces social class advantage.

Social mobility

The movement of one's class position upward, or downward, in stratified societies.

Social reproduction

The phenomenon whereby social and class relations of prestige or lack of prestige are passed from one generation to the next

Prestige

The reputation, influence, and deference bestowed on certain people because of their membership in certain group.s Thus, a certain occupation may hold higher or lower prestige in a culture (doctors vs farm workers). Prestige can affect life chances, and the way individuals are treated in social situations and their access to wealth and power.

Culture of Poverty: Poverty as Pathology

Theories of poverty as pathology trace ongoing poverty to the personal failings of the individual, family, or community. Such theories see these failings as stemming from a combination of dysfunctional behaviors, attitudes, and values that make and keep poor people poor

Pierre Bourdieu theory

Throughout much of the world, education is considered the key to upward social mobility within stratified societies. Theoretically, the meritocracy of education (students are deemed succesfull on the basis of their individual talent and motivation) should provide all students an equal opportunity. Instead, Bourdieu's research uncovered social reproduction. The education system helped reproduce the social relations that already exist by passing class position from generation in family. Found that 2 key factors worked agains the meritocratic idea. Habitus and cultural capital.

Income equality narrowed after

WWII as an economic boom spurred a growing middle class, particularly among european american's, and gov benefits such as the GI bill created opportunities for a new segment of the population to attend college and own homes.

Many people in the US believe that urban poverty is a result of

a lack of motivation, welfare dependency, and a poor work ethic

Chief's status and rank are reinforced through

accumulation of wealth and reciprocity

Newman found that many people do not

blame the failure of the economic system, but themselves

What are often considered to be characteristics of the culture of poverty are actually

characteristics of poverty itself, they have nothing to do with the attitudes, values, and life choices of those forced to live in poverty.

Marx noted that it was extremely difficult for workers to develop

class consciousness, a political awareness of their common position in the economy that would allow them to unite to change the system. This was because their continuous struggle simply to make ends meet, as well as the creative means the bourgeoisie used to keep the proletariat divided, work against the unified challenge to the stratification of society.

Example of egalitarian society

hunter gatherers

Systems of class stratify

individuals life chances and affect their possibilities of social mobility

Potlach can also be reciprocity, because

it puts an expectation of reciprocity to the chief to give back. favor for a favor.

In these societies, positions of high prestige, such as chief, are...

largely hereditary

The growth of globalization and the expansion of global capitalism has

launched an economic restructuring in which high-paying, blue-collar manufacturing jobs are shipped overseas as companies search for cheaper, labor, lower taxes, and fewer environmental restrictions

Chiefs lifestyle and standard of living

may not vary significantly from those of any other member of the group

What is the truth about social mobility in the US?

one's life chances are heavily influenced by the class position of one's family, the financial and cultural resources passed from generation to generation. OWS- pointed to the increasing inequality in the US and the growing advantages of the wealthiest.

According to Newman, the main determinant of class position and social mobility is not

one's work ethic, but structural barriers that have created an increasing gap between the life chances of the well educated and highly skilled and those of high school drop outs

As the young nation's territories spread westward...

opportunities for upward social mobility were plentiful for certain portions of the population but not for Native Americans, blacks, and most women. Access to wealth, power, prestige, and the resources of US society were stratified not only by race and gender but also by class.

US myth of social mobility

our national myth tell of the US as a "classless" society with open access to upward social mobility for those who are hardworking and talented, including the potential rise from rags to riches in a single generation.

Goode and Maskovsky challenge the culture of poverty by

questioning its focus on poor communities as isolated spheres.

The social rank of the society is

set regardless of the skills, wisdom, or efforts of other members

Founding fathers started stratification by class

signed the declaration of independence and drafted the US constitution were the richest men in the thirteen colonies

reciprocity

the exchange of resources, goods, and services among people of relatively equal status; meant to create and reinforce social ties. example) sharing notes with someone who will pay you back at a later date

Downward mobility is

the hidden dimension of our society's experience because it simply dose not fit into our cultural universe

Right now, class is maintained by

the wealth and income gap.

Instead, they

trace the roots of new poverty in the US to the impact of global economic processes on the nation's economy, particularly the effects of flexible accumulation and uneven development.