Sociology ch. 9 test

ACA

Affordable Care Act. Formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and commonly known as Obamacare. United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Reduces the cost of health insurance coverage for people who qualify.

Diverse Sources of Stratification

Class is only one basis for stratification in the United States. Age, ethnicity, race, and gender all have a tremendous influence on stratification. Analyzing class without also analyzing race and gender can be misleading. Race, class, and gender are overlapping systems of stratification that people experience simultaneously. Position in society is the result of race, class, and gender status. Class significantly differentiates group experience within given racial and gender groups. Neither class, race, nor gender, taken alone, can be considered an adequate indicator of different group experiences.

Blaming the Victim: The Culture of Poverty

Blaming the poor for being poor appeals to the myth that success requires only individual motivation and ability. Many adhere to this view and hence have a harsh opinion of the poor. This attitude is reflected in U.S. public policy concerning poverty, which is stingy compared to other industrialized nations. Cheating on welfare is probably far less common than cheating on income taxes. Yet, welfare recipients are commonly portrayed as lazy and cheating the system. Those who blame the poor for their own plight typically assume that poverty is the result of early childbearing, drug and alcohol abuse, refusal to enter the labor market, and participation in crime. This puts blame for poverty on the individual choices, not on societal problems - blaming the victim, not the society, for social problems. The culture of poverty argument contends that poverty is a way of life that is transferred, like other cultures, from generation to generation, where the major causes of poverty are welfare dependency, the absence of work values, and the irresponsibility of the poor. This argument treats poverty as its own cause. The idea that there is a culture of poverty originally came from the work of anthropologist Oscar Lewis, who saw the behaviors of the poor as an adaptation to their marginal position in capitalist, class-stratified societies. Lewis argued that a culture of poverty evolved among the poor as they adapted to their despair and hopelessness. The culture of poverty argument has been adapted by policy makers to argue that the causes of poverty are found in the breakdown of major institutions, including the family. Is there a culture of poverty?: Is poverty transmitted across generations? Children of poor parents have a 16 - 28% probability of being poor adults. Many of those who are poor remain poor for only one or two years; only a small percentage of the poor are chronically poor. More often, poverty results from a household crisis, such as divorce, illness, unemployment, or parental death. People tend to cycle in and out of poverty. The public stereotype that poverty is passed through generations is thus not well supported by the facts. Do the poor want to work?: The idea that they do not is essential to the culture of poverty thesis. The assumption is that poverty is the fault of the poor and that if they would only change their values and adopt the American work ethic, poverty would go away. A large number of the able-bodied poor do work, even if only part-time. Of all poor persons, 38% work. 11% of the poor who are of working age hold full-time jobs. Someone working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, at minimum wage will still have an income far below the poverty line. Current policies that force those on welfare to work also tend to overlook how difficult it is for poor people to retain the jobs they get. Prior to welfare reform in the mid 1990s, poor women who went off welfare to take jobs often found they soon had to return to welfare because the wages they earned were not enough to support their families. Leaving welfare often means losing health benefits, but increased expenses. The jobs that poor people find often do not lift them out of poverty. Attributing poverty to the values of the poor is both unproved and a poor basis for public policy.

Poverty

Despite the relatively high average standard of living in the U.S., poverty afflicts millions of people. Aside from imposing a grim quality of life on the poor, poverty is also the basis for many of society's problems - poor health care, failures in the education system, and crime are all related to poverty.

Welfare

Current welfare policy is covered by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act (PRWRA). This federal policy eliminated the longstanding welfare program titled Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which was created in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act. Implemented during the Great Depression, AFDC was meant to assist poor mothers and their children. It acknowledged that some people are victimized by economic circumstances beyond their control and deserve assistance. For much of its lifetime, this law supported mostly White mothers and their children, not until the 1960s did welfare come to be identified with Black families. The new welfare policy gives block grants to states to administer their own welfare programs through the program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). TANF stipulates a lifetime limit of 5 years for people to receive aid and requires all welfare recipients to find work within 2 years - a policy known as workfare. Those who have not found work within 2 months of receiving welfare can be required to perform community service jobs for free. In addition, welfare policy denies payments to unmarried teen parents under 18 years of age unless they stay in school and live with an adult. It also requires unmarried mothers to identify the fathers of their children or risk losing their benefits. These broad guidelines are established at the federal level, but individual states can be more restrictive, as many have been. The very title of the new law suggests that poverty is the fault of the poor. At the heart of welfare reform is the idea that public assistance creates dependence by discouraging people from seeking jobs. Is welfare working?: many studies are finding that low-wage work does not lift former welfare recipients out of poverty. Critics of the current policy also argue that forcing welfare recipients to work provides a cheap labor force for employers and potentially takes jobs from those already employed. In an economic downturn, those who are on aid or in marginal jobs can become even more vulnerable to economic distress, particularly given the time limits now placed on receiving public assistance. Because welfare has been decentralized to the state level, many studies of the impact of current law have had to be done on a state-by-state basis. These studies show that those who have gone into the workfare programs most often earn wages that keep them below the poverty line. Although some states report that family income has increased, it is slight and meager (lacking in quality or quantity) There has also been an increase in the number of people evicted from housing because of falling behind on rent. Families also report an increase in other material hardships, such as phones and utilities being cut off. Marriage rates among former recipients have not changed, although more now live with nonmarital partners, most likely as a way of sharing expenses. The number of children living in families without either parent increased, probably because parents had to relocate to find work. In some states, the numbers of people neither working nor receiving aid also increased.

Structural Causes of Poverty

From a sociological point of view, the causes of poverty lie in the economic and social transformations taking place in the U.S. Careful scholars do not attribute poverty to a single cause. There are many causes. Two of the most important are: 1. the restructuring of the economy, which has resulted in diminished earning power and increased employment. and 2. the status of women in the family and the labor market, which has contributed to the over-representation of women among the poor. Add to these underlying conditions the diminished social support for the poor in terms of welfare, public housing, and job training and it is little wonder that poverty is so widespread. The restructuring of the economy has caused the disappearance of manufacturing jobs, traditionally an avenue of job security and social mobility for many workers, especially African American and Latino workers. The working class has been especially vulnerable to these changes. Economic decline in blue-collar sectors of the economy where men have historically received good pay and good benefits has meant fewer men are able to be the sole provider for their families - most families now need two incomes to achieve a middle class way of life. The new jobs that are being created fall primarily in occupations that offer low wages and few benefits. They also tend to be filled by women, especially women of color, leaving women poor and men out of work, with little chance to get out of poverty. They are typically located in neighborhoods far away from the poor, creating a mismatch between the employment opportunities and the residential location of the poor. These changes fall particularly hard on young people, women, and African Americans and Latinos, who are the groups most likely to be among the working poor. The high rate of poverty among women is strongly related to women's status in the family and the labor market. For White women, divorce can result in poverty. This is less true for minority women because they are more likely than White women to be poor even within the marriage. Women's responsibility for child care also makes working outside the home on a marginal income very difficult. Affordable child care is hard to come by for single mothers who want to work, especially since these women earn wages too law to pay for good quality care. Even though child care workers receive low wages, the cost of child care consumes a significant proportion of the income most women earn. Many women with children cannot manage to work outside the home because it leaves them with no one to watch their children. Wages in the U.S. are also shaped by the family wage system. A wage structure historically based on the assumption that men are the breadwinners for families. Ignores a fundamental change taking place in the economy - men are no longer the mainstay of family income. More women are now dependent on their own earnings, as are their children and other dependents. Thus, whereas unemployment is considered a major cause of poverty among men, for women, wage discrimination is a major cause. The median income for all women is well below the poverty line. Poverty has numerous consequences in society, not just for the poor, but also for others. It increases tensions between classes and racial groups. William Julius Wilson, one of the most noted analysts of poverty and racial inequality, has written "the ultimate basis for current racial tensions is the deleterious effect of basic structural changes in the modern American economy on Black and White lower-income groups, changes that include uneven economic growth, increasing technology and automation, industry relocation, and labor market segmentation." - This demonstrates the power of sociological thinking by placing the causes of both poverty and racism in their societal context.

The Distribution of Wealth and Income

In the U.S. class structure, there is enormous class inequality and it is growing. Elites control an enormous share of the wealth and exercise tremendous control over others. The gap between the rich and the poor is increasing, while much of the middle class finds its class standing slipping. In recent years, the income growth has been greatest for those at the top end of the population, regardless of race. For everyone else, income growth has remained flat. The top fifth of the population receives a larger share of total income than the bottom fifth. High compensation for CEO's of major companies contributes to this gap - the average CEO makes 475 times the salary of the average blue-collar worker. Income gains have also been augmented (greater in size) by tax reforms that have provided breaks for the highest earners. The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. As the classes become more polarized, the myth that the U.S. is primarily a middle-class society could become weakened. The upper class remains overwhelmingly white and protestant. These elites travel in exclusive social networks that tend to be open only to those in the upper class. They tend to marry other elites, their children are likely to go to private schools, and they spend their leisure time in exclusive resorts. Race has a significant influence on the pattern of wealth distribution in the United States. For every dollar of wealth held by White Americans, Black Americans have only 26 cents. At all levels of income, occupation, and education, Black families have lower levels of wealth than similarly situated White families. Government policies such as discriminatory housing policies, bank lending policies, tax codes, etc. have disadvantaged Black Americans - have impaired Black Americans in the past from being able to accumulate wealth, resulting in the differing assets Whites and Blacks in general hold now. Even though many of these discriminatory policies have ended, many also continue, and their effects result in what is called - "The sedimentation of racial inequality" The ability to draw on assets during times of economic stress means that families with some resources (even small assets, such as home ownership or savings account) are better able to withstand difficult times than are those without assets. Money and status alone do not tell the whole story of the significance of elites in the United States. Elites wield enormous influence over the political process by funding lobbyists, exerting their social and personal influence on other elites, and contributing heavily to political campaigns. Those without great wealth are at a huge disadvantage in financing political campaigns. Elites are often politically quite conservative. Even as the elite class becomes more diverse, with more women and minorities in positions of power, those who make it to top positions have perspectives and values that do not differ significantly from the White men who predominate. Many factors have contributed to the declining fortunes of the lower and middle classes in the U.S., including the profound effects of national and global economic change. Economic restructuring concentrates the wealth in the hands of only a few. Reductions in state and federal spending have eliminated many government jobs. Job layoffs have left many people out of work or sent former employees into jobs with lower pay, less prestige, and perhaps no employee benefits. The workers come to expect these circumstances, given their levels of education and experience. The new economy has had mixed results for different groups. Income levels for women have increased, but at the same time have decreased for men, except for the top 20% of earners. The tax structure has also distributed benefits unevenly, leading to discontent among the middle class and resistance to social programs. Corporations benefit the most from the tax structure, as corporate taxes have decreased dramatically in recent years. People at the upper end of the class system have also been able to take advantage of numerous tax benefits and loopholes, reducing their tax burden, while the burden on the middle classes has increased.

Intergenerational Mobility

Occurring between generations, as when a daughter rises above the class of her mother or father

Upper Class (U.S.)

Owns the major share of corporate and personal wealth. Includes those who have held wealth for generations as well as those who have recently become rich. Only a very small proportion of people, but they control vast amounts of wealth and power. Those in this class are elites who, in Marxist terms, own the means of production. They exercise enormous control throughout society. Most of their wealth is inherited. Members with newly acquired wealth are known as the nouveau riche. Like the old rich, the new rich live lavish lifestyles, often being even more ostentatious (designed to impress) than those with old money. They are often not accepted into "old rich" circles where wealth is not the sole defining characteristic of the upper class - social connections and family prestige can be as important as money. The best predictor of future wealth is the family into which you are born.

Indicator

Something that represents a concept. By assessing indicators, you can examine concepts that are too abstract to be measured directly.

Both Marx & Weber

Understood the importance of the economic basis of stratification, and knew the significance of class for determining the course of one's life.

Status

a socially defined position in a group or society.

Lower Middle Class

also known as the working class, includes blue collar workers (those in skilled trades who do manual labor), low-income bureaucratic workers, and many service workers such as secretaries, hairdressers, waitresses, police, and firefighters. Medium to low income, lower educational attainment, and lower occupational prestige. The term "lower" refers to the group's position in the stratification system, but it has a pejorative (disapproval) sound to many people, especially to members of this class. They are unlikely to refer to themselves as lower middle class, and often prefer working class or middle class.

Lower Class

comprised primarily of the displaced and poor. Little formal education and are often unemployed or working in minimum wage jobs. People of color and women make up a disproportionate part of this class. The poor includes the working poor; 38% of the poor hold jobs and 11% of them work full-time

Underclass

includes those with little or no opportunity for movement out of the worst poverty. These people have been left behind by contemporary economic developments and are likely to be unemployed. Often must turn to public assistance or crime for economic support. Without work and unable to sustain themselves in an economy that has discarded them, these groups form a growing underclass.

Income

the amount of money a person receives in a given period. The amount of money brought into a household from various sources (wages, investment income, dividends, and so on). Measures of income are based on annually reported U.S. census data drawn from a sample of the population.

Educational Attainment

typically measured as the total years of formal education. The more years of education attained, the more likely a person will have a higher class status. The prestige attached to occupations is strongly tied to the amount of education the job requires.

Social Mobility

A person's movement over time from one class to another. Can be up or down, although the American dream emphasizes upward movement. Can also be either intergenerational or intragenerational. Societies differ in the extent to which social mobility is permitted: Closed class systems: movement from one class to another is virtually impossible. Caste system: mobility is strictly limited by the circumstances of one's birth. Open class systems: placement in the class system is based on individual achievement, not ascription. There are relatively loose boundaries, high rates of class mobility, and weak perceptions of class difference. The class system in the U.S. is popularly characterized as an open class system where individual achievement, not birth, is the basis for class placement. The vast majority will say that people have a good chance of improving their standard of living. Most parents also think that their children will be better off than they are - a good indication of the belief in upward mobility. Many also immigrate to the U.S. with the knowledge that their life chances are better here than in their country of origins. There is a general belief in the U.S. that anyone can, by his or her own labor, move relatively freely throughout the class system. There has been a long-standing argument that Americans are not very conscious of the class system because of the strong cultural belief that upward mobility is possible. Images of opulence (richness) also saturate popular culture, making it seem that such material comforts are available to anyone. Many working class and middle class Americans focus on getting ahead individually and have little concern for organizing around class interests. The faith that upward mobility is possible ironically perpetuates inequality - if people believe that everyone has the same chances of success, then they are likely to think that whatever inequality exists must be fair.

Class Consciousness

Awareness! The perception that a class structure exists, along with the feeling of shared identification with others in one's class - others with whom one perceives common life chances. Class consciousness in the U.S. has been higher at certain times than others - a significant labor movement in the 1920s and 1930s rested on a high degree of class consciousness. But now the formation of a relatively large middle class and a relatively high standard of living mitigate (make less severe) against class discontent. Racial and ethnic divisions also make strong alliances within various classes less stable. The recent trends of growing class inequality could result in greater class consciousness. Researchers find that people in the U.S. do recognize class divisions and believe that classes are organized around opposing interests. Class inequality in any society buttressed (strengthened) by ideas that support (or actively promote) inequality. Beliefs that people are biologically, culturally, or socially different can be used to justify the higher position of some groups. If people believe these ideas, the ideas provide legitimacy for the system. Karl Marx used the term "false consciousness" to describe the class consciousness of subordinate classes who internalized the view of the dominant class. Marx argued that the ruling class controls the subordinate classes by infiltrating their consciousness with belief systems consistent with the interests of the ruling class. If people accept these ideas, which justify inequality, they need not be overtly coerced into accepting the roles designated for them by the ruling class. The amount that people identify with their class location varies among different classes. The upper class is class conscious in the sense that its members are a cohesive group (more so than other class groups) who are well aware of one another and are protective of their common interests. These are the people who hold institutional power. The working class is more class conscious than the middle class; working class people are more likely to perceive that their lives are controlled by others in the higher status classes. Sociologists have found that the single most important determinant of where one sees oneself in the class system is whether one does mental or manual labor.

Class and Cultural Diversity

Classes are distinguishable not just by access to money, prestige, and power, but sometimes by cultural behaviors and values. These are not uniform within a class, but how you eat, speak, and dress, among other things, can vary by class. Of course, some of these things result from the resources available to class groups. The different cultures and ways of life found among different classes represent a more subjective aspect of class, stretching from friendships and recreation to how different classes communicate. Dress is a marker that people use to make class distinctions. Classes also differ in their language. The cultural dimensions of social class are especially obvious if you think about the experiences of entering a class setting from your own background: you are likely to feel out of place. Unfortunately, the politics of class often lead those in the upper and middle classes to make disdainful judgments about the lifestyle of the working class and poor. The dominant culture supports White middle class lifestyles and values more than other class values. As a result, succeeding in the middle class world usually means abandoning (at least publicly) working class mannerisms and habits. The U.S. calls itself the "melting pot," but its dominant culture is distinctively White and middle class. The dominant culture projects the notion that people in the upper classes have more ability, making the entire class system seem legitimate even as it robs people in the working and lower classes of dignity. This is called "the hidden injuries of class"

The Conflict Perspective on Inequality

Conflict theory also sees society as a social system, but unlike functionalism, conflict theory interprets society as held together through conflict and coercion. Society includes competing interest groups, some with more power than others. Different groups struggle over societal resources and compete for social advantage. Those who control society's resources also hold power over others. The powerful are likely to act to reproduce their advantage, and try to shape societal beliefs to make their privileges appear to be legitimate and fair. Emphasizes the friction in society rather than the coherence and sees society as dominated by elites. Derived largely from the work of Karl Marx, conflict theorists see social stratification as based on class conflict and blocked opportunity. Stratification is a system of domination and subordination in which elites rule while they exploit and control others. The unequal distribution of rewards reflects the class interests of the powerful, but not the survival needs of the whole society. Inequality provides elites with power to distribute resources, make and enforce laws, and control value systems. Elite uses these powers in ways that reproduce inequality. Others in the class structure, especially the working class and the poor, experience blocked mobility. The more stratified a society, the less likely that society will benefit from the talents of all its citizens. Inequality limits the life chances of those at the bottom and prevents their talents from being discovered and used, wasting creativity and productivity. If people believe that anyone can get ahead by ability alone, they will tend to see the system of inequality as fair and accept the idea that there should be a differential reward system.

Class Conflict

Derived from the conflict theory, this analysis emphasizes power relations in society, interpreting inequality as a result of the unequal distribution of power and resources in society. This perspective sees classes as facing off against each other, with elites exploiting and dominating others. The key idea in this model is that class is not simply a matter of individual levels of income and prestige. Instead, class is defined by the relationship of the classes to the larger system of economic production. Classes are "collectivities of individuals and families with comparable resources over time". Those at the top have stable and relatively secure resources, those at the bottom are less secure but also dominated by those at the top. From a conflict perspective, the position of the middle class in society is unique. Members of this class have substantial control over other people, primarily through their authority to direct the work of others, impose and enforce regulations in the workplace, and determine dominant social values. As Marx argued, the middle class is itself controlled by the ruling class, yet members of this class tend to identify with the interests of the elite. Like elites, people in this class have some control over others, but like the working class, they have minimal control over the economic system. As capitalism progresses, according to conflict theory, more and more people in the middle class drop into the working class. Classes have become more polarized, with the well-off accumulating even more resources and the middle class seeing their median income falling. Levels of debt in the middle class also mean that many have a fragile hold on this class position. The loss of a job, a family emergency (ex. death of a working parent), divorce, disability, or a prolonged illness can quickly leave a family with few resources. At the same time, corporate mergers, tax policies that favor the rich, a decline in corporate taxes, and sheer greed continue to concentrate more wealth in the hands of a few. Marx defined the working class as people who sell their labor for wages. This includes blue collar workers and many white collar workers. Members of the working class have little control over their own work lives. Instead, they have to take orders from others. Includes secretaries, salespeople, nurses - any group that works under the rules imposed by managers or elites. The working class often has little power to challenge decisions of their supervisors. Except they can organize collectively in unions, strikes, or other work actions. Conflict theorists see the poor as under assault by society, in a system of inequality where they are especially vulnerable. Poor through no fault of their own, the poor are still blamed for their own poverty, especially because of belief systems propagated by the elite and middle class.

Conflict criticism of Functionalism

Functionalism assumes that the most highly rewarded jobs are the most important for society. Conflict theorists argue that some of the most vital jobs in society - those that sustain life and the quality of life, such as farmers, domestic workers, trash collectors, etc. - are usually the least rewarded. Conflict theorists criticize functionalists for assuming that the most talented get the greatest rewards. They point out that systems of stratification tend to devalue the contributions of those left at the bottom and underutilize the diverse talents of all people. Those who prefer the conflict view of the stratification system are more likely to advocate programs that emphasize public responsibility for the well-being of all groups and to support programs and policies that result in more of the income and wealth of society going toward the needy.

The Functionalist Perspective on Inequality

Functionalist theory views society as a system of institutions organized to meet society's needs. The functionalist perspective emphasizes that the parts of society are in basic harmony with each other. Society is characterized by cohesion, consensus, cooperation, and stability. Different parts of the social system complement one another and are held together through social consensus and cooperation. To explain stratification, functionalists propose that the roles filled by the upper class - governance, economic innovation, investment, and management - are essential for a cohesive and smoothly running society. Hence, the upper class is rewarded in proportion to their value to the social order. Social inequality serves an important purpose in society: it motivates people to fill the different positions in society that are needed for the survival of the whole. Functionalists think that some positions in society are more important than others and require the most talent and training. Rewards attached to those positions (such as higher income and prestige) ensure that people will make the sacrifices needed to acquire the training for functionally important positions. Social mobility thus comes to those who acquire what is needed for success (such as education and job training). Functionalists see inequality as based on a rewards system that motivates people to succeed. The functionalist perspective is well illustrated by Herbert Gans's analysis of the functions of poverty. No one typically thinks of poverty as a "good" thing, but Gans delineates how poverty sustains an overall social system. Poverty, no matter how unwanted, has both economic and social functions in society. Poverty ensures that society's "dirty work" will be done, by relegating menial jobs to the poor. Poverty benefits the affluent (wealthy), by providing a source of cheap domestic labor and clientele for various illegal activities (drugs, cheap alcohol, prostitution) that benefit wealthy illegal entrepreneurs. Social mobility for some may also be financed at the expense of the poor, such as in the case of slumlords or business owners in poor communities. The poor buy or use goods that others do not want, such as secondhand clothes, old automobiles, and surplus food - without the poor, society would need a different way of disposing of such goods. Having a large poor population creates jobs for those in social services and charitable foundations and creates a reserve labor force, such as the immigrants who often take society's worst jobs. Poverty produces social deviants - people whose existence can be used to uphold the legitimacy of mainstream social norms. By labeling people as the poor indolent (lazy) or unworthy, others uphold a definition of themselves as socially valuable. The poor provide the basis for status comparisons. The wealthy may congratulate themselves for their charity, even though it may benefit themselves more than those to whom their philanthropy is directed (in the form of tax deductions and social recognition.) Gan's presentation of the functions of poverty makes a strong point: poverty creates problems for society but it is also functional for society because it contributes to society's overall stability. Functionalist theorists might object to the presence of poverty in society, nonetheless, they see its unintended effects.

Functionalist criticisms of Conflict

Functionalists contend that the conflict view of how economic interests shape social organization is too simplistic. Conflict theorists respond by arguing that functionalists overstate the degree of consensus and stability that exists.

The Extent of Social Mobility

How much social mobility exists in the U.S.? Social mobility is much more limited than people believe. Success stories of social mobility do occur, but research finds that experiences of mobility over great distances are rare, certainly far less than believed. Most people remain the same class as their parents, and many drop to a lower class. The social mobility that does exist is greatly influenced by education. African Americans, as well as immigrant groups, are often strongly committed to social mobility through education; increases in educational attainment for African Americans account for a considerable portion of the gains they have made. What mobility does exist is typically short in distance. Social mobility is much more likely to be influenced by factors that affect the whole society than by individual characteristics. Thus, most mobility can be attributed to changes in the occupational system, economic cycles, and demographic factors, such as the number of college graduates in the labor force. Social mobility is much more limited than the American dream of mobility suggests.

Who Are the Poor?

In 2002, there were about 34.6 million poor people in the U.S., representing 12.1% of the population. Since the 1950s, poverty has declined in the U.S., although it fluctuates depending on the state of the economy. Although the majority of the poor are White, disproportionately high rates of poverty are also found among Asian Americans, Native Americans, Black Americans, and Hispanics. Among Hispanics, Puerto Ricans have been most likely to suffer increased poverty, probably because of their concentration in the poorest segments of the labor market and their high unemployment rates. Homelessness: For many people, the image of poverty may be the homeless they see on urban streets. Among the poor are thousands of homeless people. It can be difficult to estimate the number of homeless people. Depending on how you define and measure homelessness, estimates vary widely. Whatever the actual number, homelessness has substantially increased over the past 2 decades. Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. The homeless also includes battered women; elderly, poor men; the disabled; veterans; and AIDS victims. There are many reasons for homelessness: The great majority of the homeless are on the streets because of unemployment and/or eviction. Reductions in federal support for affordable housing have left many with no place to live. Coupled with eroding work opportunities (particularly in jobs with decent benefits) and inadequate housing for low-income people, many people have no choice but to live on the street. Add to that the problems of inadequate health care, domestic violence, and addiction. The diversity of the homeless population makes it impossible to alleviate homelessness with a single solution. Some of the homeless are mentally ill; the movement to get mental patients out of institutional settings have left many without the mental health resources that might help them. Public policy responses to homelessness need to consider the different needs of the various homeless populations. Because homelessness, like other forms of poverty, has social structural causes, simple solutions that target homeless people as deviants are unlikely to have good results.

Wealth & Income

In contrast to the vast amount of wealth and income controlled by elites, a very large proportion of Americans have hardly any financial assets once debt is subtracted. Nearly one third have net worth of less than $10,000. Another 18% have zero or negative net worth. The American dream of owning a home, a new car, taking annual vacations, sending one's children to good schools, and saving money for a comfortable retirement - cannot be attained by many people. Wealth allows you to accumulate assets over generations, giving advantages to subsequent generations that they might not have had on their own. A vast amount of income and wealth is controlled by a small segment of the population. Despite the prominence of rags-to-riches stories in American legend, wealth in society is usually inherited. Some individuals make their way into the elite class by virtue of their own success, but this is rare.

Gender and Class

In the past, women were though to derive their class position from their husband or father, but sociologists now challenge this assumption. Measured by their own income and occupation, the vast majority of women would likely be considered working class. The median income for women, even among those employed full-time, is far below the national median income level. The vast majority of women work in low-prestige and low-wage occupations, even though women and men have comparable levels of educational attainment. Measuring women's class status is complicated. Many women who have little or no income of their own consider themselves middle class by virtue of their husband's class status. The class status of a household may actually differ from an individual woman's class status - something that becomes abundantly clear following a divorce, when women's income typically drops significantly, while men's increases. However hard to measure, class differences between women are highly significant. The problems faced by professional and managerial women are simply not the same as those experienced by women in low-wage, low-prestige work, even though both groups may encounter sexism in their lives. Women tend to: get paid less than men, get promoted less often, more likely to gain custody of children, hurt by divorce (in terms of financial standings), more likely to be in poverty, called "the feminization of poverty)

Upper Middle Class (U.S.)

Includes people with high incomes and high social prestige. They tend to be well educated professionals or business executives. Their earnings can be high. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many people fall into this group because of the difficulty of drawing lines between the upper, upper middle, and middle class. Ex. large home full of top-quality furniture, modern appliances, 2 or 3 luxurious cars, vacations every year, a vacation home, high-quality college education for one's children, and a fashionable wardrobe.

Layers of Social Class

Many sociologists describe the class system in the U.S. as divided into several classes: upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle, and lower class. Each class is defined by characteristics such as income, occupational prestige, and educational attainment. The different class groups are arrayed along a continuum with those with the most money, education, and prestige at the top and those with the least at the bottom.

Max Weber: Class, Status, and Party

Max Weber agreed with Marx that classes were formed around economic interests, and he agreed that material (economic) forces have a powerful effect on people's lives. But, he disagreed with Marx that economic forces are the primary dimension of stratification. Weber saw 3 dimensions to stratification: 1. Class - the economic dimension 2. Status (Prestige) - the cultural and social dimension 3. Power / Party - the political dimension Weber defined class as the economic dimension of stratification - this would include things such as income, property, and other financial assets. He understood that a class has common economic interests and that economic well-being was the basis for one's life chances. However, he thought that stratification was more than a matter of economics because people are also stratified based on their status and how much power they hold. Prestige: the judgment or recognition given to a person or group. Status (prestige) refers to the social dimension of stratification. Weber understood that class distinctions are linked to status distinctions: those with the most economic resources tend to have the highest status in society. Prestige is related to economic standing but may be independent of income. Ex. ministers and priests are accorded high prestige, but they do not typically earn high incomes. Power / Party: the political dimension of stratification. It is the capacity to influence groups and individuals even in the face of opposition. Power is also reflected in the ability of a person or group to negotiate their way through social institutions. Ex. a business executive accused of corporate crime can afford expensive lawyers and may go unpunished, or if found guilty, will likely serve a relatively light sentence in pleasant, minimum security facilities. Compare this to the experience of a poor, African American or Latino man wrongly accused of a crime who will not have much power to negotiate his way through the criminal justice system. Weber had a multidimensional view of social stratification because he analyzed the connections between economic, social, and political dimensions of stratification. He pointed out that these different dimensions of stratification are usually related but not necessarily. A person could be high on one or two dimensions, but low on another. Ex. a major drug dealer: high wealth (economic dimension) and power (political dimension), but low on prestige (social dimension) Stratification does not rest solely on economics - political power and social judgments are important components of social stratification. Saw people's position in the stratification system as the result of economic, social, and political forces.

Explanations of Poverty

Most agree that poverty is a serious social problem. Far less agreement exists on what to do about it. Two points of view prevail: Some blame the poor for their own condition - popular with the public and many policy makers, poverty is caused by the cultural habits of the poor, behaviors such as crime, family breakdown, lack of ambition, and educational failure generate and sustain poverty - a syndrome to be treated by forcing the poor to fend for themselves. Some look to social structural causes to explain poverty - popular with sociologists, seeing poverty as rooted in the structural view of society, not in the morals and behaviors of individuals.

Upward Mobility

Moving up the class system. People who are upwardly mobile are often expected to distance themselves from their origins. This may mean creating some distance from their community of origin and can result in many conflicts with family, friends, and even within themselves. Studies of upward mobility find that mobility is not just about individual effort, although that clearly plays a role. Most of the time people who are upwardly mobile got help along the way - a willing family, a teacher or mentor, and sometimes just plain luck. Mobility is not just an individual process, but also a collective effort that involves kin (family and relations) and sometimes community.

Caste System

One's place in the stratification system is an ascribed status, meaning it is a quality given to an individual by circumstances of birth. Closed system (born into). The hierarchy of classes is rigid in caste systems and is often preserved through formal law and cultural practices that prevent movement between classes. Ex. traditional caste system of India - membership in an Indian caste group was determined by birth, each group was restricted to certain occupations. Ex. Jim Crow segregation in the American South. Black Americans in the South were strictly segregated from Whites. These demeaning social practices defined the group status of Black Americans as inferior and secondary to White Americans.

Karl Marx: Class and Capitalism

Owners vs. Workers. Marx provided a complex and profound analysis of the class system under capitalism. Marx's class analysis, developed more than 150 years ago, continues to inform sociological analyses and has been the basis for major world change. Marx was specifically interested in how classes formed within the economic system of capitalism. He defined classes in terms of their relationship to the means of production. In Marx's analysis, two primary classes exist under capitalism: the capitalist class (those who own the means of production) and the working class (those who sell their labor for wages). The petty bourgeoisie: small business owners and managers whom you might think of as middle class. They identify with the interests of the capitalist class, but do not own the means of production. The lumpenproletariat: those who have become unnecessary as workers and have become discarded by the economic system. (homeless and permanently poor people) Marx thought that with the development of capitalism, the capitalist and working class would become increasingly antagonistic, referred to as class struggle. As class conflicts became more intense, the two classes would become increasingly polarized, with the petty bourgeoisie deprived of their property and dropping into the working class. A growing gap between the "haves" and the "have nots," with the rich getting richer and the everyone else getting worse off. Much of Marx's analysis boils down the the consequences of a system based on the pursuit of profit - if goods were exchanged at the cost to produce them, no profit would be generated. Capitalist owners want to sell commodities for more than their actual value - more than the cost of production, including materials and labor. Capitalists extract profit by keeping the cost of labor down, so Marx saw capitalists profiting via the exploitation of workers. Marx thought that as profits became increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few capitalists, the working class would become increasingly dissatisfied, leading to the working class revolting and overthrowing the rule of the capitalist class. Class conflict between workers and the middle class would inevitably lead to revolution. Marx saw the middle class as dependent on the capitalist class but also exploited by it, because the middle class did not own the means of production. He saw the middle class as identifying with the interests of the capitalist class, but failing to work in their own best interest because the bourgeoisie falsely believe that they benefit from capitalism. He thought that in the long run, the middle class would pay for their misplaced faith when profits became increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, and more of the middle class dropped into the working class. Marx's theory did not foresee the emergence of the large and highly differentiated middle class we have today. Still, his analysis provides a powerful portrayal of the forces of capitalism and the tendency for wealth to belong to a few, while the majority work just to make ends meet. Saw people as acting primarily out of economic interests.

Middle Class

Probably the largest group in the class system. Includes people who fall within the given range above and below the median income figure. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact income bracket that defines the middle class since many people think of themselves as middle class even when their income and lifestyle may differ quite dramatically. One reason the middle class is so difficult to define in the U.S. is that being "middle class" is more than just an economic position. Because the U.S. is an open-class system, many do not want to recognize class distinctions, even though they are real and pervasive in society. Many who think of themselves as middle class also have a tenuous (weak) hold on this class position.

The Feminization of Poverty

Refers to the fact that such a large proportion of the poor are women and children. This results from several factors, mostly the growth of female headed households and wage inequality between women and men. One-quarter of single-parent, female-headed households were poor; half of poor families are headed by women. The number of poor children is alarmingly high. The decline in marriage rates among teen mothers, the high divorce rate, and the lack of child support provided by men means that women heading their own households are less likely to have any income from men. Reduction in federal support programs for the poor also contributes to the feminization of poverty - only 29% of the poor receive food stamps; only 20% are in public housing; less than half (46%) receive Medicaid, which is federal healthcare for the poor. Welfare reform has also reduced support for poor women and their children, even though welfare is viewed by some as overly generous and producing dependence. One marked change in poverty is the growth of poverty in suburban areas (now 8% of all poverty). 40% of the poor live inside central cities. Within cities, poverty rates are highest in the most racially segregated neighborhoods; the income gap between Latino and Anglos is higher in the metropolitan areas that have the highest levels of residential segregation. But the focus on urban poverty should not cause us to forget that 20% of the poor live in rural areas.

Class Systems

Stratification exists, but one's location and rank can change according to individual achievements, even though class is still strongly determined by one's social background. Open system (based on merit, achievements), U.S. today. Class is to some degree achieved, that is, earned by the acquisition of resources and power, regardless of one's origins. Class systems are more open than caste systems, because position does not depend strictly on birth. Classes are less rigidly defined than castes, because the divisions are blurred by individuals moving between one class and another. Despite a potential for movement from one class to another, placement in a class system is still highly dependent on one's social background. Ascribed status (according to birth) is not the basis for social stratification in the U.S., yet the class a person is born into has major consequences for that person's life. One's likelihood of achievement is shaped by patterns of inheritance, access to educational resources, and the financial, political, and social influences of one's family. There is no formal obstacle to movement through the class system, yet achievement is very much influenced by an individual's class of origin.

poverty line

The amount of money needed to support the basic needs of a household, as determined by government. The federal government has established an official definition of poverty used to determine eligibility for government assistance and to measure the extent of poverty in the U.S. Below this line, one is considered officially poor. To determine the poverty line, the Social Security Administration takes a low-cost food budget (based on dietary information provided by the Department of Agriculture) and multiplies by three, assuming that a family spends approximately one-third of its budget on food. The poverty line is adjusted slightly each year for increases in the cost of living. The poverty line varies by family size and household composition. The poverty line can be misleading. A person or family earning $1 above the cut-off point is not officially categorized as poor. A cutoff point is necessary to administer anti-poverty programs.

Downward Mobility

The attention people in the U.S. give to upward mobility has obscured the experience of downward mobility - the movement down in the class system. Downward mobility is becoming more common. As income distribution is becoming more skewed toward the top, many in the middle class are experiencing mobility downward. For the first time in American history, many in the middle class are experiencing a decline: levels of real income (that is, income measured controlling for the value of the dollar) are falling and the cost of living is increasing, especially the cost of housing. Adding to this is the fact that fewer workers are covered by job benefits (health insurance, pension, etc.) so that total compensation levels have also fallen. Doing better than one's person has long been a hallmark of the American dream - a goal that many people achieved in the 20th century as the economy of the U.S. grew. Today, many young people worry that they will be unable to match the lifestyle of their parents. Moreover, many families are finding that just staying in place requires extra effort. Thus, families that are keeping pace with median income are generally those in which wives are working longer hours. Without the greater workload that is falling on women, downward mobility would likely be greater than it is. Married-couple families have increased their total working hours an additional 6 weeks per year since 1989.

Class Structure of the United States

The class structure of the U.S. is elaborate, arising from the interactions of old wealth, new wealth, intensive immigration, globalization, and the development of new technologies. One can conceptualize the class system as a series of layers, with different class groups arrayed up and down the rungs of the class ladder, each rung corresponding to a different level in the class system. People are relatively high or low on the ladder depending on the resources they have, whether those are education, income, occupation, etc. This laddered model of class suggests that stratification in the U.S. is hierarchical, but somewhat fluid. Different gradients exist in the stratification system, but they are not fixed as they might be in a society where one's class is solely determined by birth. In a relatively open class system, such as the U.S., people's achievements do matter, although the extent to which people rise rapidly and dramatically through the stratification system is less common than popularly believed - some people begin from modest origins and amass great wealth and influence. Some people also move down in the class system, but most people remain relatively close to their class of origin. When people do rise or fall in the class system, the distance they travel is usually relatively short. The image of stratification as a laddered system, with different gradients of social standing, emphasizes that one's socioeconomic status (SES) is derived from certain factors: income, occupational prestige, and education are among the 3 main measures of socioeconomic status.

Race and Class

The interaction between race and class can be seen in noting the growth of both the Latino and African American middle class. In the 20th century, the Black middle class expanded to include people who obtained an education and became established enough in industry, business, or a profession to live comfortably or affluently. The Black middle class was a class of its own - not comparable to the White middle class, but distinct. Still, wages for Black middle class and professional workers never matched those of Whites in the same jobs. Despite their status within Black communities, members of the Black middle class have been excluded from White schools, clubs, and social settings. In recent years, both the African American and Latino middle class have expanded, primarily as the result of increased access to education and middle class occupations for people of color. This is the result of civil rights legislation, as well as affirmative action policies. The persistence of racial discrimination and the recent arrival of racial groups in the middle class means that their hold on middle class status is more tenuous (weak) than that of many middle class Whites. During periods of economic recession or political conservatism, when there is considerable pressure to reduce federal spending, the eliminated jobs are likely to cause a significant thinning in the ranks of the Black and Latino middle class. Although middle class Blacks and Latinos may have economic privileges that other Black and Latinos do not have, their class standing does not make them immune to the effects of race. Asian Americans also have a significant middle class, but they have been stereotyped as the most successful minority group because of their presumed educational achievement, hard work, and thrift. This stereotype is referred to as "the myth of the model minority" - a myth that understates the significant obstacles Asian Americans encounter and obscures the high rates of current poverty among many Asian American groups. Mary Pattillo-McCoy's research on the Black middle class shows the dangers associated with this status. Despite recent successes, many in the Black middle class have a tenuous hold on this class status. She points out that the Black middle class remains as segregated from Whites as the Black poor. Because of continuing racial segregation in neighborhoods, Black middle class neighborhoods are typically located next to Black poor neighborhoods, exposing those in the middle class to many of the same risks as those in poverty. Middle class Black and Latino parents also have to teach their children to avoid victimization by racism. This is not to say that the Black middle class has the same experiences as the poor, but McCoy's research challenges the misleading view that the Black middle class "has it all" Race affects: likelihood to graduate from high school, going to college, more likely to be in poverty as a minority, get paid less as a minority.

Estate System

The ownership of property and the exercise of power is monopolized by an elite who have total control over societal resources. Historically, such societies were feudal systems where classes were differentiated into 3 basic groups - the nobles (controlled the land and the resources used to cultivate the land, as well as all the resources resulting from peasant labor), the priesthood, and the commoners (peasants, small merchants, artisans, domestic workers, and traders). Landowners and workers. Most common in agricultural societies. Although such societies have been largely supplanted by industrialization, a few societies still exist that have a small but powerful landholding class ruling over a population that works mainly in agricultural production. Contemporary estate systems of stratification display the influence of international capitalism. Ex. the noble class - international capitalists or local elites who control the labor of a vast and impoverished group of people, such as in some Latin American societies where landholding elites maintain a dictatorship over peasants who labor in agricultural fields.

Welfare Debate

The public debate about welfare rages on, often in the absence of informed knowledge from sociological research and almost always without input from the subjects of the debate, the welfare recipients themselves. Although stigmatized as lazy and not wanting to work, those who have received welfare actually believe that it has negative consequences for them, but they say they have no other viable means of support. They typically have needed welfare when they could not find work, or had small children and were without child care. Most were forced to leave their last job because of layoffs or firings, or because work was only temporary - few have left their jobs voluntarily. Welfare recipients also say that the welfare system makes it hard to become self-supporting because the wages one earns while on welfare are deducted from an already minimal subsistence level. There is not enough affordable day care for mothers to leave home and get jobs. The biggest problem they face in their minds is lack of money. Contrary to the popular image of the conniving (immoral, illegal) "welfare queen", welfare recipients want to be self-sufficient and provide for their families, but they face circumstances that make this very difficult to do. Other beneficiaries of government subsidies have not experienced the same kind of stigma. Social Security supports virtually all retired people, yet they are not stereotyped as dependent on federal aid, unable to maintain stable family relationships, or insufficiently self-motivated. Spending on welfare programs is also a pittance (very small amount) compared with the spending on other federal programs. Sociologists conclude that the so-called welfare trap is not a matter of learned dependency, but a pattern of behavior forced on the poor by the requirements of sheer economic survival.

Social Class (or class)

The social structural position groups hold relative to the economic, social, political, and cultural resources of society. Class determines the access different people have to these resources and puts groups in different positions of privilege and disadvantage. Each class has members with similar opportunities and who tend to share a common way of life. Class also includes a cultural component in that class shapes language, dress, mannerisms, taste, and other preferences. Class is not just an attribute of individuals; it is a feature of a society. Class is strongly related to political and social attitudes (those from higher income brackets are more likely to be Republican than Democrat). Even friendships are influenced by class because friendships arise more frequently within class groups than across them. Class is a structural phenomenon - it cannot be directly observed. Sociologists cannot isolate and measure social class directly; therefore, they use other indicators to serve as measures of class. Prominent indicators of class are income, wealth, education, occupation, and place of residence - these do not define class by themselves, but they are a good measure of class standing. Ex. a good income or family wealth can make it possible to afford a house in a prestigious neighborhood and an exclusive education for one's children.

Both laddered perspective AND class conflict perspectives of class

U.S. is a hierarchy. Class position gives people different access to jobs, income, education, power, and social status - all of which bestow further opportunities on some and deprive others. People sometimes move from one class to another, but the class structure is a system with built-in boundaries and judgments of class conflict, such as is reflected in the tax system. The middle and working classes shoulder much of the tax burden for social programs, which produces resentment toward the poor. At the same time, corporate taxes have declined while tax loopholes for the rich have increased - an indication of the privilege that is perpetuated by the class system. Sociologists see class stratification as a dynamic process - one involving the interplay of access to resources, group judgments about other groups, and the exercise of power.

Age and Class

Unlike race and gender, age changes over the course of one's life. Still, age is a significant source of stratification in the U.S. with different age groups experiencing different locations in the stratification system. Just being born in a particular generation can have a significant influence on one's life chances. The current fears of young, middle class people that they will be unable to achieve the lifestyles of their parents show the effect that being in a particular generation can have on one's life chances. The effect of one's age on life chances is also dependent on the effect of race or gender. Children are the age group most likely to be poor. Under 20s are a large percentage in poverty today. Elderly persons are more likely to be in poverty than their middle-aged counterparts. In the past, the aged were the most likely to be poor. Now, many elderly people are poor, but far fewer in this age category are poor than was the case not many years ago. This shift reflects the greater affluence of the older segments of the population. Age also interacts with other sources of stratification, particularly race, gender, and marital status. Women earn between 70 and 81 % of men's retirement income. The biggest gap in income is between married and unmarried people. Because social security is based on earnings over one's lifetime, these data show how differences in wage prior to retirement accumulate over time, affecting the well-being of people long after they have left the labor force.

Social Stratification

a relatively fixed, hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have different access to resources, power, and perceived social worth. How society is layered, a hierarchy. Economic status, power, wealth, prestige. A system of structured social inequality. All societies seem to have a system of social stratification, although they vary in the degree and complexity of stratification. Some societies stratify only along a single dimension, such as age, keeping the stratification system relatively simple. Most contemporary societies are more complex, with many factors interacting to create social strata. In the U.S., social stratification is strongly influenced by class, which in turn is influenced by matters such as one's occupation, income, and education, along with race, gender, and other influences such as age, region of residence, ethnicity, and national origin. Ex. sports. Owners control the resources of the team. Players earn high salaries, yet do not control the team resources and have less power than the owners and managers. Sponsors provide the resources on which this system of stratification rests. Fans provide revenue by purchasing tickets to watch the teams play. Sports are a system of stratification where various groups within a sports organization are hierarchically arranged, with some having more resources and power than others. Stratification systems can be broadly categorized into 3 types: estate systems, caste systems, and class systems.

Intragenerational Mobility

occurring within a generation, as when a person's class status rises as the result of business success or falls with a disaster.

Layers of Class

power, occupational prestige, education, wealth, income, race, gender, religion, ancestry.

Social Class

the common position groups hold in a status hierarchy. Indicated by factors such as levels of income, occupational standing, and educational attainment.

Median Income

the midpoint of all household incomes. Half of all households earn more than the median income; half earn less. In the laddered model of class, those bunched around the median income level are considered middle class.

Life Chances (Max Weber)

the opportunities that people have in common by virtue of belonging to a particular class. Max Weber described the consequences of stratification in terms of life chances. Include the opportunity for possessing goods, having an income, and having access to particular jobs. Reflected in the quality of everyday life - whether you dress in the latest style or wear another person's tossed out clothes, have a vacation in an exclusive resort, take your family to the beach for a week, or have no vacation at all - these life chances are the result of being in a particular class. To sociologists, life chances stem from social structural arrangements (class matters). Class standing determines how well one is served by social institutions. Ex. health care is particular inadequate for poor and working-class people, who are less likely than others to enjoy private care or have good health insurance (if they have any at all). Class influences access to a high-quality education, critically important because education provides credentials and social networks that pay off over a lifetime. Ex. a family with an income of $100,000 per year has more access to the resources of a society than a family living on an income of $40,000 per year.

Social Differentiation

the process by which different statuses develop in any group, organization, or society. All groups and societies exhibit social differentiation. Ex. sports organization - the players, owners, managers, fans, cheerleaders, sponsors, etc. all have a different status within the organization. Together, they constitute a whole social system, one marked by social differentiation.

Status Attainment

the process by which people end up in a given position in the stratification system. Describes how factors such as class origins, education level, and occupation produce class location. Describes the extent to which people are able to move throughout the class system.

Occupational Prestige

the subjective evaluation people give to jobs. To determine, sociological researchers typically ask nationwide samples of adults to rank the general standings of a series of jobs. Ratings provide information about how people perceive the worth of different occupations. These rankings do not reflect the actual worth of people who perform these jobs, but reflect the judgments made about these jobs and their value to society. Ex. High ranking prestige: supreme court justice, physician, professor, lawyer, scientist. Middle rankings: electrician, newspaper columnist, insurance agent, police officer. Lowest prestige: farm laborer, maid or servant, garbage collector, janitor, shoe-shiner

Means of Production

the system by which goods are produced and distributed.

Wealth

the total monetary value of everything one owns, minus one's debts. It is calculated by adding all financial assets (stocks, bonds, property, insurance, value of investments, and so on) and subtracting all debts. Unlike income, wealth is cumulative; that is, its value tends to increase through investment, and it can be passed on to the next generation, giving those who inherit wealth a considerable advantage in accumulating more resources. Wealth (even if modest) matters: it gives one person an advantage. Reliable data on the distribution of wealth are difficult to acquire. The top 1% owns almost half of all stocks and 38% of all net worth. There has been a sharp increase in the concentration of wealth since the 1980s, the concentration of wealth in the U.S. is higher than in any other industrialized nation.

Achieved Status

those attained by virtue of independent effort. Ex. most occupational statuses, such as police officer, pharmacist, or boat builder, are achieved statuses.

Ascribed Status

those occupied from the moment a person is born. Ex. your birth sex or race