Gilbert

chief executive officer (CEO)

highest-ranking executive in a corporation

upper-middle class

in the Gilbert-Kahl model, the class below the capitalist class and above the middle class, consisting of well-paid, university-trained managers and professionals

capitalist class

in the Gilbert-Kahl model, the very small top class composed of people whose income is largely derived from return on assets. in Marx, same as bourgeoisie

downsizing

large-scale layoffs by corporations to lower costs and boost profits. notable in the United States since the 1980s

strata, social

levels in a stratified hierarchy, especially those based on prestige

social stratification

ranking of individuals or families based on characteristics such as occupation, income, wealth, and social prestige. the hierarchy may be continuous or divided into a series of discrete social classes, consisting of people of roughly equal rank. thus, class is a special case of stratification

wealth

the value of assets owned by an individual or family at a point in time. typical forms of wealth are homes, automobiles, bank accounts, and business or financial assets, including commercial real estate, small enterprises, stocks, and bonds. an important distinction is made between wealth held for personal use, such as a home, and wealth held in the form of income-producing assets such as stocks or commercial real estate.wealth is typically measured as next worth, the value of assets owned less the amount of debt owned

lower class

the working poor and underclass

life chances

aspects of an individual's future possibilities that are shaped by class membership, from the infant's chances for decent nutrition o the adult's opportunities for worldly success. first used by Max Weber to emphasize the extent to which economic position shapes each person's chance of attaining the good things in life

outsourcing

corporate strategy to lower labor costs by purchasing services, components, or finished products from low-wage companies at home and abroad. especially common among large American companies since the 1980s

mean

the mathematical average

aid to families with dependent children (AFDC)

the means-tested cash assistance program designed to aid needy, typically female-headed, families with children. replaced in 1996 by temporary assistance for needy families (TANF)

entitlement

a government benefit program, available to all who meet specified prerequisites and supported by open-ended government funding. entitlements can either be means-tested, such as the food stamp program, or available to people at any income level, such as Social sEcurity

political action committee (PAC)

a group formed, under the provisions of the campaign finance laws, to raise and contribute money for the campaigns of political candidates

social class

a large group of families approximately equal in rank and differentiated from other families with regard to characteristics such as occupation, prestige, or wealth

median

a measure of central tendency used o compare groups or measure change in a particular group over time

gross assets

a measure of wealth that is equal to the total value of the assets someone owns,without regard to debt

majority classes

the middle class and the working class

Age of Shared Prosperity

the years from the end of World War II to the early 1970s, when incomes at all levels grew at a healthy pace and economic and social inequalities were declining. Contrasted with the subsequent Age of Growing Inequality

new middle class/old middle class

C. Wright Mills's distinctions between an old middle class of small entrepreneurs, farmers, shopkeepers, and independent professionals and a new middle class of salaried white-collar workers, including managers, employed professionals, office workers, and salespeople. the first is distinguished by tis dependence on entrepreneurial property,t he second by its dependence on salaried employment. they have long coexisted, but the first has been shrinking since the late nineteenth century, while the second has been growing. changes in the economy after the initial stage of industrialization favor the growth of the new middle class

mode of production

Marx's term for a society's basic socioeconomic system. encompasses both the technology with which the society meets its economic needs and the social organization of production. feudalism and capitalism are distinctive modes of production

bourgeoisie

Marx's term for the class that owns the means and production and controls the superstructure in a capitalist society

superstructure

Marx's term for the dominant political institutions and ideology of a society. the means by which the ruling class controls a society. Marx distinguished between the superstructure and the socioeconomic base or foundation of a society

proletariat

Marx's term for the working class, defined as people who must sell their labor power to business owners to survive in a capitalist society

correlation, simple

a coefficient indicating how accurately he value of one variable can be predicted from another. a coefficient of 0.0 indicates that there is no relationship between the variables. a coefficient of +1.0 or -1.0 indicates that the value of one variable can be perfectly predicted by knowing the value of the other, because the two values move up and down (or in opposite directions) in unison. in the social sciences, most correlations are intermediate.

path analysis

a method of causal analysis that uses formal path diagrams and related calculations to sort out the influences of a series of variables on one anther and on an ultimate dependent variable. used especially to examine the factors responsible for career success or failure. such a model might be used to explore how a variety of social background variables and education influence each other and ultimate occupational achievement

dividend

a portion of a company's profits periodically paid to its shareholders in proportion to he number of shares each owns

earned income tax credit (EITC)

a provision of the federal tax code reducing the taxes for low-income families with job earnings. those who qualify, but owe little or no federal income tax, may receive the credit as a cash payment. an important supplement to the incomes of many poor families

quintile

a ranked fifth of the population being studied. comparisons of earnings, income, and wealth are often made among quintiles of households, ranked from the richest quintile to the poorest

chain of causation

a series of successive causal influences, especially in occupational achievement. for example, father's education may influence son's education, which in turn influences son's occupation

working rich

a small stratum at the top of the upper-middle class, consisting of very successful professionals (notably, lawyers, doctors, dentists), workers in finance, small-business owners, and ranking (but not top) corporate executives, with incomes typically in the hundreds of thousands. distinguished from members of the capitalist class because their incomes are largely dependent on salaries, professional fees, or small business profits rather than rents, interest, dividends, and so forth, from assets. like the working poor, they depend on their jobs

occupation

a social role that describes the major work that a person does to earn a living. an individual's occupation or that of a family's main income earner is a key determinant of class position

postindustrial society

a society in which most workers are employed in the service producing sectors, like law, education, finance, and retail, rather than the goods producing sectors of the economy. the united states has evolved from an agricultural society, in which most workers were farmers; to an industrial society, in which the majority of workers were employed in manufacturing or related fields such as mining, transportation, and utilities; to a postindustrial society

progressive tax

a tax that takes higher proportions of income at higher income levels. the federal income tax, with its escalating marginal tax rates, s the most important progressive tax

regressive tax

a tax that takes higher proportions of income at lower income levels. the retail sales tax, though charged at a flat rate, is a regressive tax because low-income households, unlike high-income households, spend virtually all their income on retail items

class perspective

a theoretical approach based not eh idea that power is usually concentrated in the hands of the class that dominates the economy

pluralist perspective

a theoretical perspective that regards power as typically diffused rather than concentrated. pluralists find multiple bases of power representing the interests of competing groups, such that no powerful minority can easily impose its will. contrasted with he elite perspective that emphasizes the power of a ruling minority, and the class perspective, which associates power with a dominant social class, such as the capitalist class

elite

a top-ranked group, especially one that exercise power by virtue of organizational position; for example, the military elite and the corporate elite. properly used as a collective noun referring to a group, rather than to individual members of a group. an elite perspective on power makes a sharp distinction between an organized minority that rules and an unorganized majority that is ruled

poverty standards, absolute and relative

absolute poverty standards define poverty as not having enough food, adequate housing, and so on. they represent a fixed material standard. relative standards define poverty as having significantly less than the average member of the society. they change over time as a society's standard of living changes.t he official poverty measure is an absolute standard. a commonly proposed relative standard is half the median family income. critics of the official standard who favor a relative poverty standard see absolute standards as irrelevant o an affluent society like the United States.

social clique

according to w.Lloyd Warner, an intimate nankin group with no more than 30 members. Warner found that most social cliques are composed of people of the same or adjacent classes

capitalism

an economic system based on private ownership of business (capital) and controlled by markets in which capital, labor, goods, and services are freely bought and sold

variance explained

an indicator of the accuracy with which a series of antecedent variables can predict the values of a dependent variable. for example, how accurately can a son's occupation be predicted from knowledge of his education, his father's occupation, and his father's education? stated as a percentage of total variance. because outcomes are always affected by chance factors that are difficult to take into account and our measurements are never perfectly accurate, the variance explained seldom exceeds 50 percent. the difference between 100 percent and the variance explained is the unexplained variance

establishment, the

an informal network of wealthy, powerful men drawn from the upper class. during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, members frequently filled important government positions and influenced national policy, especially in international and economic affairs

multiple causal pathways

causation through two or more channels. for example, father's occupation may influence daughter's education, which in turn influences her own occupation. but father's occupation may also influence daughter's occupation later on, in a separate way, when he father directly influences the daughter's chance of finding a good job

outflow mobility table/inflow mobility table

cross tabulations of father's occupation int he past and son's or daughter's current occupation. the outflow table conceptually groups fathers into occupational categories and examines the occupational distributions in percent of their sons or daughters. for example, such a table might include a row showing the occupations of all sons or daughters of upper white-collar men. an outflow table suggest the extent to which careers are influenced by class background. the inflow table groups sons or daughters into occupational categories and examines the corresponding percentage distributions of their fathers. inflow tables indicate the diversity of class origins among people in each occupational category. the outflow table asks, "where did they go?" the inflow table asks, "Where did they come from" outflow tables typically show percentages across the rows; inflow tables, down the columns

service sectors

economic sectors, including retail, finance, law, hotels, health care, and education,that produce services. contrasted with goods-producing scots like agriculture, manufacturing, and construction. the service-producing sectors grow rapidly in a postindustrial society

means-tested programs

government benefits available only to people with incomes and/or assets below a specific level

working poor

in Gilbert-Kahl model, the class below the working class and above the underclass, consisting of people who hole low-wage, low-skill, often insecure jobs typically involving menial blue-collar, sales, or service work

alienation

in Marx, a sense of powerlessness experienced when human beings lose control of their own creations and even become subject to them. one aspect of this is alienation at work-for example, the factory worker who repetitively assembles part of something that someone else designed and someone else will use, working according to a pattern determined by others

means of production

in Marx, the implements and physical structures that are necessary for production such as land, machines, mines, or factories. Marx argued that person's social relationship to the means of production defines his or her class position. he defined the bourgeoisie as the class that owns the means of production in a capitalist society and the proletariat as the class of workers compelled to sell their labor to the owners in order to survive

household

in studies of income, a domestic unit consisting of families, individuals residing alone, r unrelated persons residing together

family

in studies of income, two or more related individuals residing together. the most common type of household

real income

income adjusted for inflation so that comparisons over long periods cane made. always denominated in dollars of a specific year. similar to conversion of prices from one national currency into another. for example, incomes from he 1970s restated in 2000 dollars would be several times higher while representing the same purchasing power

wage-setting institutions

institutions, such as labor unions, internal labor markets within corporations, and minimum wage legislation, that shield workers from market forces by influencing decisions that would otherwise be determined by supply and demand

lifestyle

introduced by Weber to describe distinctive patterns of social interaction, leisure, consumption, dress, language, and so on, associated with a social group-in particular, a prestige class or, in WEber's terminology, a "status group"

blue-collar worker

manual workers, including craft workers, operatives, and laborers. sometimes used as shorthand for the working class. distinguished from white-collar workers and service workers

segregated marital relationships

marital relationship in which there is clear differentiation of concerns and responsibilities that minimizes the husband's involvement with household matters and the wife's with the world of the husband's work. segregated marital relationships are most common at lower class levels

joint marital relationships

marital relationships that focus on companionship and emphasize the sexual division of labor. husbands and wives in joint relationships share the planning of family affairs, carry out many household duties interchangeable, and value common leisure activities. more frequent at higher class levels

endogamy

marriage between partners drawn from he same social group. class endogamy tends to preserve class differences in customs, values, and attitudes

structural mobility

mobility made possible by changes in the occupational structure. a relative expansion of middle- or upper-level jobs, for example, would allow upward mobility from lower positions

circulation mobility

mobility made possible by movement within the existing occupational structure. for example, if some offspring of men with high-status jobs take lower-status jobs, they create opportunities for the offspring of lower-status jobholders to move up

earnings

money received as wages or salary or a job or as profit from a small business or professional practice. one of the components of income

in-kind benefits

non cash government benefits, such as health care, food stamps, and subsidized housing

pink-collar occupations

occupations that are largely female. with important exceptions, these fields offer lower pay, less prestige, and slimmer opportunities for advancement than male-dominated occupations requiring similar levels of education and training

white-collar workers

office workers, including the traditional U.S. Census categories of managers, professionals, clerical workers, and sales workers. sometimes used to refer to the middle class

working class

one of the two largest classes in the Gilbert-Kahl model. located below the middle class and above the working poor. composed of low-skill manual workers, clerical workers, and retail salespeople. commonly, the term is used to refer to the lower portion of the class structure or all blue-collar workers

middle class

one of the two largest classes in the Gilbert-Kahl model. located below the upper-middle and above the working class. composed of lower managers, semiprofessionals, crafts workers, foremen, and nonmetal salespeople. a higher level of skill or knowledge and independence required on the job distinguishes the middle class from the working class below. more loosely, middle class is sometimes used to refer to the upper part of the class hierarchy in contrast to the working class or lower part

association

patterns of interpersonal contact, such as leisure activities, friendship, and marriage, especially among members of the same class. class subcultures, marked by common values and lifestyles, can emerge when people of similar class position associate more often with one another than with persons of lower or higher classes

government transfers

payments to individuals, such as social security, veterans benefits, and public assistance, that are not directly in exchange for goods or services provided

soft money

political contributions not subject to federal regulation because they are putatively for party-building activities, voter registration, and so on, but not for the campaigns of individual federal candidates. in practice, the distinction is almost meaningless. with soft money, individuals, corporations, unions, and other organizations have been able to make political contributions on a scale that would normally be prohibited by federal law. a 2002 law attempted to place strict limits on the use of soft money

class position, objective

position in the class structure as determined by objective economic criteria such as occupation, wealth or income selected by the analyst. contrasted with the subjective consciousness individuals have of their own class position

temporary assistance for needy family (TANF)

replaced aid to families with dependent children (AFDC) in 1996 as the income assistance program for impoverished children and their families. different from AFDC in that TANF is not an entitlement. Under TANF, families generally may not receive aid for more than a lifetime total of five years and adults benefiting from TANF must start some sort of work within two years after assistance begins

prestige

social esteem or honor. expressed in attitudes of respect or deference in social interaction. sometime used interchangeably with status. when a group of people or families in a community share a common position of prestige, they may be described as a prestige class

socioeconomic status (SES)

social standing or prestige, especially as measured by the occupational prestige scores

privileged classes

the capitalist class and upper-middle class

poverty standard, federal (official)

standard established int eh 1960s to measure poverty rates and numbers of poor people or poor households. originally based on the cost of feeding an average family and the proportion of the family budget devoted to nonfood expenses. takes household size into account. the federal standard is an absolute poverty measure. it is adjusted annually for inflation, but not for changes in the general standard of living

status

synonym for social prestige. also, used more generally in sociology to refer to any distinctive asocial condition or position. Weber wrote about "status groups," which he described as social communities of people who share a common position of social honor (or dishonor). Weber distinguished status groups from economically defined classes. his use of the concept established the idea of separate social and economic dimensions of stratification systems

ideology

term used by Marx to refer to the dominant ideas of a society, especially those that justify the status quo, including the privileges and power of the ruling class. ideology may be explicitly political or subtly, even unconsciously, embedded in the conceptions of religion, the family, education, law, and so forth. marx argued that a society's ideology is controlled by the dominant class through its power over the institutions that create and disseminate ideas, such as schools, mass media, churches, and courts

winner-take-all markets

term used by economists Frank and Cook to describe markets in which the rewards are heavily concentrated in the hands of a few top performers who are just slightly better than their closet competitors. common in entertainment and professional sports but, according to these authors, also increasing across the economy. important example: rise of corporate CEO compensation to multimillion-dollar levels in recent years

Gilbert-Kahl Model of Class structure

the author's model of the American class structure. based on economic distinctions, particularly source of income (assets, jobs, and government transfers) and occupation, rather than on prestige distinctions. the model divides the American class system into six classes: the capitalist class, the upper-middle class, the middle class, the working class, the working poor, and the underclass

underclass

the bottom class in the Gilbert-Kahl model. low-income families with a tenuous relationship to the job market, whose incomes often depend on government programs. the term is sometimes used in a negative sense to refer to a class of people who are impoverished and mired in habits and circumstances that are assumed to prevent them from ever joining the mainstream

power

the capacity of individuals or groups to carry out their will even over the opposition of others, especially in broad political and economic contexts. for example, the power of the capitalist class over national economic priorities

class identification

the class label people choose for themselves, particularly in response to some variant of the standard survey question: do you consider yourself upper class, middle class, working class, or lower class? responses consistent with objective class position are indicative of an important aspect of class consciousness

ranking consistency

the degree of community consensus about rankings in a hierarchy of individuals, families, or occupations. studies show greater consensus about rankings than about division of the hierarchy into classes.

cutting consistency

the degree of community consensus about the points at which a hierarchy of individuals, families, or occupations should be divided into social classes. studies have shown there is greater consensus about rankings than division into classes

elite cohesion

the degree to which members of a hypothesized elite band together in pursuit of common objectives and in opposition to other groups. the greater the degree of elite cohesion, the more likely it will be able to impose its will on others

social mobility

the extent to which people move up or down in the class system, typically measured by occupational status. intergenerational mobility is the movement of individuals relative to their parents' position. social succession is the inheritance of parents' position. intragenerational mobility is movement in the course of an individuals own career

capital

the funds, goods, machinery, and, and so on, invested in an enterprise by its owners. Bourdieu extended this traditional conception to encompass three forms of capital: economic capital (the basic monetary form, institutionalized as property rights), cultural capital (knowledge in its broadest sense, institutionalized as educational credentials, but encompassing such matters as table manners and how to swing a tennis racket), social capital (mutual obligations embodied in social networks such as kinship, friendship, and group membership)

poverty threshold

the income below which a household of a given size is classified as poor. federal poverty statistics are calculated using a series of such thresholds, which are based not he federal poverty standard, periodically adjusted for inflation. also referred to as the poverty line

income

the inflow of money over a period of time. the primary source of income for most households is job earnings. others include government transfers, such as Social Security benefits and public assistance; interest on bank accounts or bonds; dividends from corporate stock shares; profits from a business or professional practice; and profits from the sale of assets

minimum wage

the legal minimum that employers in most fields can pay. important because the earnings of low-wage workers who receive more than the minimum are influenced by it. set every few years by federal legislation, but has tended, especially since the 1980s, to lag behind inflation and thus lose purchasing power

service workers

the occupational category of workers who provide a service, including waiters, janitors, child care workers, domestic servants, police, and fire-fighters-generally, but not always, low-skill, low-pay occupations. employment in service occupations expands in a postindustrial society. not all service workers are employed int he service sector of the economy (there are janitors in manufacturing) not all service sector jobs are performed by service workers (doctors and lawyers work in service sectors but are not considered service workers)

poverty rate

the percentage of people, families, households, or members of a specified group who are poor by some standard. also referred to as the risk of poverty

Age of growing inequality

the period beginning in the mid-1970s when inequality rose on multiple dimensions, including wages, income, and wealth. the growing inequality of this period is contrasted with the egalitarian tendency of the preceding Age of Shared prosperity

two-tier wage systems

the practice of paying new employees less than employees with longer job tenure. used by some American corporations to reduce labor costs, especially since the 1980s

socialization

the process through which people learn the skills, attitudes, and customs needed to participate int e life of the community. class-specific socialization reinforces distinctive class attitudes and lifestyles and encourages individuals to assume the class position of their parents

effective tax rates

the proportion of household income lost to the combined effect of all taxes (income tax, payroll taxes, estate tax, and so on). typically used in connection with federal taxes. since taxes vary considerable in their incidence at different income levels, effective tax rates provide a useful measure of class differences in total tax burden. often, effective tax rates are computed for each income quintile and the top 1 percent of households

occupational structure

the proportional distribution of workers in the different occupational categories. the occupational structure shifts with changes in the economy. for example, when the United States changed from an agricultural society to an industrial society, the proportion farmers decreased and the proportion of operatives increased

class consciousness

the recognition by the members of a class of their common identity and shared interests. Marx saw class consciousness as a precursor to class conflict and revolution. modern social scientists are more interested in class consciousness as an influence on political opinion, electoral preferences, and labor militancy

occupational prestige

the status or respect accorded an occupation. measured by occupational prestige scores derived from opinion surveys. occupational prestige influences personal prestige, especially when peopled not have detailed knowledge of each other's income, family background, lifestyle, associations, and so on

wealth classes

three classes, conceptualized by the authors, that describe the distribution of wealth int eh Untied sTates. the nearly propertyless class, about 40 percent of the population, has little or even negative net worth. the nest-egg class, about 50 percent of the population, typically has significant equity in homes and cars, plus a thin cushion of interest-earning assets, much as bank accounts, and modest holding of stock or mutual funds. the investor class, 10 percent of the population, owns most of the privately held investment assets and typically controls large diversified portfolios