Sociology Chapter 7
social inequality
The unequal access to and distribution of income, wealth, and other valued resources. Sociologists draw on 3 perspectives to explain social inequality and to understand how it manifests in everyday life 1. Functionalism 2. Conflict 3. Symbolic Interaction
fueling economic growth through debt [2]
Since the 1970's credit has helped drive the US and global economy by lending people monies to spend beyond their means. Debt- Money owed o another party Loans, Credit cards Often the borrowers who are least able to afford credit and to pay it off each month are subject to the highest interest rates.
inner-city poor
Urban underclass (also known as ghetto poor or inner-city poor): diverse groups of families and individuals who reside in the inner city. are on the fringes of the American occupational system. are in the most disadvantaged position of the economic hierarchy. Ex. Closing of automobile other manufacturing plants in cities like Detroit and Chicago has crippled inner city life for residents left behind
increase foreign aid
the united states, the richest country as measured by its gross domestic product, must increase its current level of foreign aid from 34.5 billion to 119 billion 22 richest countries, combined GDP of 36.7 trillion, increase foreign aid from 102.6 to 256 billion. to date the richest countries have not met this commitment
critical social theory
A sociological perspective that: examines human-constructed categories and institutional practices. aims to shed light on the central issues, situation, and experiences of groups placed within different "specific political, social, and historic contexts characterized by injustice" (Collins 2000). No social category is homogenous The categories to which someone belongs places them in a complex system of domination and subordination The effects of the categories a person occupies does not simply add up to some grand total.
system of oppression
A system that empowers and privileges some categories of people while disempowering other categories. The act of marginalizing, silencing or subordinating another We often have little difficulty identifying how we have been victimized but often fail to see how our own thoughts and actions uphold someone else's subordination. When have you felt constrained by a social category, empowered?
studying inequality
Across countries: sociologists identify a valued resource and estimate the chances of achieving or acquiring it by country. Ex. Infant mortality rates (chances babies survive the 1st yr of life) Singapore highest- Angola worst. (See page 236) Within countries: sociologists look within countries to consider how wealth, income, and other valued resources are distributed. Ex- What percentage of population lives in poverty? Compare Taiwan (1%) to Zambia (86%)-See page 238
systems of stratification
Caste system: people are ranked according to ascribed statuses- no control over and cant change- lower caste inferior, higher caste superior Class system: people are ranked on the basis of their achievements related to merit, talent, ability, or past performance Social mobility: movement from one social class to another
penalties and privileges
Collins suggests that each of us derives varying amounts of penalty and privilege from the multiple systems of oppression that frame our lives. Penalties: constraints on a person's opportunities and choices, and the price paid for engaging in behaviors or activities defined as inappropriate Privileges: special, often unearned advantages or opportunities
sociological focus
In assessing global inequality - Sociologists look to see how wealth, income, and other valued resources are distributed among the 6.6 billion people living in the approximately 243 countries around the world. This distribution is marked by extreme poverty and wealth.
determining social class
Is there an objective way to assess the distribution of material inequality? How do we categorize class( upper, middle, low) How do we measure social class- wealth or income Wealth: the combined value of a person's income and other material assets (stocks, real estate, savings)minus debt Income: the money a person earns on an annual basis through salary and wages Average after tax income of richest 20% is 11times that of poorest 20% How much income or wealth qualifies someone to be upper, middle, or lower class? Little agreement on what amount of income or wealth distinguishes the social classes Some suggests annual household income between $44,620- $89,241 is middle class Others set upper limit at about $250,000
define positively privileged property class
those who monopolize the purchase of the highest-priced consumer goods, have access to the most socially advantageous kinds of education, control the highest executive positions, own the means of production, and live on income from property and other investments
conflict perspective
tumin and simpson challenge the functionalist assumption that social inequality is a necessary device societies use to attract the best-qualified people for functionally important occupations some positions command large salaries even though their functional importance is questionable tumin and simpson ask why some employees earn a lower salary than others for doing the same job, just because they are of a certain race, age, sex, or national origin. employees are performing the same job, so functional importance is not the issue comparable worth conflict theorists also ask if dramatic differences in pay are really necessary to make sure that someone takes the job of CEO over, say, the job of a factory worker. probably not. not-withstanding the CEO's skills, conflict theorists would argue that the financial success of Starbucks can be largely attributed to the fact that 95,000 baristas who work for the company earn between 7.50 and 10.00 an hour arguing that specialization and interdependence make every occupational category necessary. to judge that physicians are functionally more important than sanitation workers is to not consider the historical importance of sanitation relative to medicine advances in medical technology had little influence on death rates until the turn of the 20th century - after improvements in nutrition and sanitation had caused dramatic decreases in deaths due to infectious diseases
define status symbols
visible markers of economic and social position and rank
define finance aristocracy
according to marx, that class of people who live in obvious luxury among masses of starving, low-paid, and unemployed workers; includes bankers and stockholders seemingly detached from the world of work. marx described the finance aristocracy's source of income as "created from nothing - without labor and without creating a product or service to sell in exchange for wealth" gained
define status group
an amorphous group of persons held together by virtue of a lifestyle that has come to be "expected of all those who wish to belong to the circle" and by the level of social esteem and honor others accord them
define class system
an antagonism between exploiting and exploited classes
caste systems
caste - any form of stratification in which people are categorized and ranked using ascribed characteristics over which they have no control and that they usually cannot change clear association between caste rank and life chances lower castes seen and portrayed as innately inferior in intelligence, morality, ambition, and many other traits higher castes superior in such traits treated as if it is absolute and unalterable. heavy restrictions on interactions
functionalist perspective
davis and moore argue that social inequality is the device by which societies ensure that the best-qualified people fill those occupations considered to be the most functionally important society need not offer extra incentives to entice people to work as garbage collectors because that job requires few skills and little training. does have to offer extra incentives to entice the most talented people to undergo the long, arduous training to become skilled physicians the stratification system's ability to attract the most talented and qualified people is weakened when: capable people are overlooked, some categories of people are deemed ineligible to apply, and factors other than qualifications are involved in filling positions systematic discrimination weaken a stratification system's ability to attract the most talented and qualified people society eventually corrects the problem. medical schools eventually admitted people from categories once denied access
poverty and wealth
difficult to define what it means to live in poverty, except to say that it is a situation in which people face great hardship in meeting basic needs for food, shelter, and clothing in absolute or relative terms
economic restructuring
what happens to people when a factory or business closes? how does this loss affect the surrounding communities where the employees worked and where businesses once thrived serving them? this kind of restructuring and downsizing was on the mind of wiliam julius wilson - structural changes in the U.S. helped create what he termed the "ghetto poor" now referred to as the urban underclass - diverse groups of families and individuals living in the inner city who are "outside the mainstream of the american occupational system and consequently represent the very bottom of the economic hierarchy" economic transformations include: the restructuring of american economy from manufacturing based to service and information based; the rise of a labor surplus marked by the entry of women and the large "baby boom" segment of the population into the labor market; a massive exodus of jobs from the cities to the suburbs; the transfer of manufacturing jobs out of the united states; and the transfer of customer service and knowledge jobs out of the united states over the past decade job losses, along with an out-migration of stably employed working-class and middle-class families attracted by new housing opportunities in the suburbs, profoundly affected the daily life of people left behind in the inner cities most significant consequence was disruption to "networks of occupational contacts that are so crucial in moving individuals into and up job chains" fewer "parents, friends, and acquaintances" who were stably employed and could serve as bridges to employment opportunities "by telling them about a possible opening" and coaching them about how to apply for jobs and retain them
inequalities across countries
when studying inequalities across countries, sociologists identify a valued resource and estimate the chances of achieving or acquiring it by country parents everywhere want their children to survive pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. chances that a baby will survive the first year of life by country. infant mortality = key indicator of the overall well-being of a nation, reflects maternal health, socioeconomic conditions, and quality of and access to medical care. startling examples of how life chances vary across countries emerge when we compare the least and most safe countries to become a mother
define wealth
the combined value of a person's income and other material assets such as stocks, real estate, and savings, minus debt
poverty in the united states
1 in 8 people-35 million people in US are classified as living in poverty. Poverty threshold -$21,100 or household of 3 50% of households living in poverty have incomes that are less than ½ the poverty threshold How do poverty rates vary in the US (See pg 254) The inner-city poor are the most visible and publicized underclass. Suburban and rural poor have also felt the effects of economic restructuring.
structural "need" for poverty-wage labor
1. people who do the unskilled, dangerous, temporary, dead-end, undignified, menial work of society earn low wages 2. the united states economy depends on cheap labor from around the world and within its borders 3. affluent people contract out and pay low wages for many time-consuming activities 4. the poor often volunteer for over-the-counter and prescription drug tests 5. many businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations exist to serve those in poverty 6. those counted as poor use goods and services that would otherwise be discarded a part of society that everyone agrees is problematic and should be eliminated remains intact: it contributes to the supposed stability of the overall system economic system as we know it would be seriously strained if we completely eliminated poverty; industries, consumers, and occupational groups that benefit from poverty would be forced to adjust
millennium development project
A plan by the United Nations to redistribute wealth from the riches countries to the poorest ones. Targets include: Halve the proportion of people whose income is less than a dollar a day Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger Reduce by ¾ the maternal mortality rate Commitment from world's richest countries to Increase foreign aid End subsidies, tariffs and quotas
dependency theory
Dependency Theorists- reject the basic tenets of modernization theory Poor countries are poor because they have been, and continue to be, exploited by the world's wealthiest countries and by the global and multinational corporations headquartered in those wealthy countries. This exploitation is an extension of colonialism. Colonialism: a form of domination in which a foreign power uses superior military force to impose its political, economic, social and cultural institutions on an indigenous population so it can control their resources, labor, and markets. Decolonization: The process of gaining political independence from a colonizing power. During the 20th century, 130 countries and territories gained political independence from their colonial masters. Can be peaceful- 2 parties negotiate for independence Can be violent- involved armed struggle Some argue that the Americas (US, Canada, Central and South America) are technically still colonized lands- Those who took power simply continued colonizing and exploiting the land and resources once belonging to indigenous peoples Gaining political independence does not mean that a former colony no longer depends on its colonizing country. 90.4% of African continent that were once controlled by colonial powers extract, process, and produce primary products for the West. This continued economic dependence on former colonial powers is call neocolonialism Neocolonialism: a new form of colonialism where more powerful foreign governments and foreign-owned businesses continue to exploit the resources and labor of postcolonial peoples.
poverty and wealth [3]
Extreme wealth: the most excessive form of wealth A very small proportion of people in the world have money, material possessions, and other assets in great abundance. A small fraction of one person's extreme wealth could provide adequate food, water, sanitation, and health care for the 1 billion poorest people on the planet. See table 7.3 - Global distribution of wealth The richest 1% holds 40% of the world's wealth 50% of the world's adult population -1.9 billion people- possess less than 1% of the world's wealth
characteristics of modernization
High proportion of population lives in or near city Energy source comes from inanimate sources- i.e. burning oil Goods and services widely available People have voice in economic and political affairs Literacy and scientific orientation Mass communication Large scale institutions to reduce dependence on family for child care and education People of have sense of loyalty to country instead of extended family or tribe
2 perspectives on chronic poverty
Modernization theory- Poor countries are poor because they have yet to develop into modern economies and that their failure to do so is largely the result of internal factors. Dependency Theory- holds that for the most part countries are poor because they are products of a colonial past.
how do people see the class structure and how do they go about locating themselves and others in that structure?
Objective measures usually do not correspond with people's self assessment of their class location Ex. Based on income guidelines only 35% of households would qualify as middle-class; however, over 53% identified as middle class in a survey. People possess symbols of middle class life- cars,designer clothes etc. but work low wage jobs, live in low rent apts. and/or have high credit card debt to afford these items.
modernization theory
Poor countries fail to modernize because they reject free market principles and lack the cultural values that drive entrepreneurship. Modernization is a process of economic, social and cultural transformation in which a country 'evolves' from an underdeveloped to a modern society. Modernization Theorists- suggest modernization involves a transformation of cultural beliefs/values emphasizing fatalism and group orientation to those emphasizing work ethic, deferred gratification, future orientation, ambition, and individualism- traits of free market economy or capitalism
the functions of poverty
Poverty serves many purposes, including: Filling unskilled and dangerous occupations. Providing low-cost labor for many industries. Serving the affluent. Volunteering for drug trial tests. Sustaining organizations and employment. Purchasing products that would otherwise be discarded. Even problematic aspects of society, such as poverty, serve purposes. Poverty contributes to the stability of the overall system. If poverty were to be eliminated completely, it would disrupt social order and the economic system as we know it.
poverty and wealth [2]
Poverty: a situation in which people have great hardship meeting basic needs Absolute poverty: people lack resources to satisfy the basic needs (food, water, shelter, etc.) no person should be without World Bank= US$1.25 per day United Nations= US$1.00 per day (approx 1.1 billion people live at this state of absolute poverty) Relative poverty: measured by comparing a particular situation against an average or advantaged situation (inability to afford a computer, cell phone, etc.)
criteria used in stratification
Statuses Ascribed statuses: acquired at birth (i.e. Race, gender) Achieved statuses: attained through some combination of skills, effort and ability Social prestige: level of respect or admiration for a status ( esteem- reputation someone occupying a status has acquired based opinion Status value: people possessing one characteristic are regarded or treated as more valuable than people who possess a different characteristic
intersectionality
The interconnections among race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, nationality, and disability status. These are interlocking categories of analysis that "cultivate profound differences in our personal biography" (Collins 2000).
social stratification [2]
The systematic process of categorizing and ranking people on a scale of social worth such that one's ranking affects life chances in unequal ways. Sociologists seek to examine: How wealth, income, and other valued resources are distributed unequally among people (Social inequality) How the inequality came to be The effects inequality has on life chances The probability a person's life will follow a certain path and turn out a certain way.
types of social mobility
Vertical: a change in a person's social situation that involves a gain or loss in social status Horizontal: a change in a person's social situation that does not involve a gain or loss in social status Intragenerational: within a generation- a loss or gain of social status over the course of a person's lifetime Intergenerational: a loss or gain in social status in comparison to another generation
social class
Weber(1948) suggests: A uniform class situation prevails only among the negatively privileged" property class. There is Not a uniform class situation in the Positively privileged" property class and those in between because class standing is complicated by: Status groups: an unstructured group of people held together by virtue of a lifestyle expected of the group and the level of social esteem and honors others accord them Power: The probability that one can exercise his/her will in the face of resistance. Results from social class, social status and/or affiliation with political party(NRA, AARP, NOW)
define life chances
a critical set of potential opportunities and advantages, including the chance to survive the first year of life, to grow to a certain height, to receive medical and dental care, to avoid a prison sentence, to graduate from high school, to live a long life, and so on
define social prestige
a level of respect or admiration for a status apart from any person who happens to occupy it
define social class
a person's overall economic and social status in a system of social stratification
define absolute poverty
a situation in which people lack the resources to satisfy the basic needs no person should be without. absolute poverty is usually expressed as a living condition that falls below a certain threshold or minimum
define status value
a situation in which people who possess one characteristic are regarded and treated as more valuable or worthy than people who possess other characteristics
define relative poverty
a situation that is measured not by some essential minimum but rather by comparing a particular situation against an average or advantaged situation
define caste system
a system of stratification in which people are ranked according to ascribed statuses
define penalties
constraints on a person's opportunities and choices, as well as the price paid for engaging in certain activities, appearances, or choices deemed inappropriate for someone in a particular category
global inequality
in assessing global inequality, sociologists look to see how wealth, income, and other valued resources - including access to water - are distributed among the 7.2 billion people living on planet earth
max weber and social class
defined a social class as being composed of those who hold similar life chances, determined not just by income but also by marketable abilities, access to consumer goods and services, and ability to generate investment income very top social class "positively privileged" property class; monopolize the purchase of the highest-priced consumer goods, access to the most socially advantageous kinds of education, occupy the highest-paying positions, live on income from property and other investments between the top and the bottom of this social-status ladder is a series of rungs. a "uniform class situation prevails only among the negatively privileged property class" status groups to which people belong complicate matters people with similar income and wealth can belong to very different status groups status group - people held together by a lifestyle "expected of all those who wish to belong to the circle" and by the level of social esteem accorded to those circles people in the same social class are accorded different levels of social esteem depending on the status groups to which they belong, a particular talent, their race, gender, and so on power adds another dimension to any analysis of social class position power - probability that someone can exercise his or her will in the face of resistance derives in part from political parties, organized to represent the interests of their members include exerting force, engaging in nonviolent protest, securing votes, bribery, investing money, and running media campaigns people derive power from positions they hold that give them the authority to rule and influence others
define urban underclass
diverse groups of families and individuals residing in the inner city who are on the fringes of the american occupational system and as a result are in the most disadvantaged position of the economic hierarchy
social mobility in the united states
factors that predict mobility - both upward and downward. seek to identify the factors that predict intragenerational mobility - upward or downward mobility over the course of a person's lifetime - and those that predict intergenerational mobility - children's upward or downward mobility relative to their parents' status status is based on more than income. increases or decreases in income large enough to place someone in a lower or higher income bracket as measures of upward or downward mobility probability of moving from the lowest to the highest or from the highest to the lowest income categories is actually quite low considerable mobility in the united states, as 61 percent of children from the top 20 percent of household incomes dropped to a lower household income category lowest income category, 58 percent as adults lived in households in a higher income category. almost 9 percent of those who lived in the lowest income households as children went on to live in a household in the top 20 percent as adults parents do not simply pass on their economic advantages or disadvantages to their children
define achieved statuses
human-created social categories and characteristics acquired through some combination of personal choice, effort, and ability
define ascribed statuses
human-created social categories and characteristics to which people are assigned and/or with which they identify that are the result of chance in that people exert no effort to obtain them. birth order, race, sex, and age typically qualify as ascribed statuses
class systems
inequality is in theory based on differences in talent, ability, and past performance true class system, achieve a desired education, income, or other outcome through personal effort can raise their class position - children's class position can differ from their own. movement from one social class to another is termed social mobility as the middle class declines in size relative to upper and lower classes, questioning whether merit and hard work are enough to achieve success and point to other factors
creative destruction and turbulent unpredictability
karl marx and friedrich engels wrote about the creative destruction and turbulent unpredictability that characterized capitalism "restless, anxious, and competitive world of today's global economy" capitalism as a system that destroys as it creates new products and ways to produce and distribute them "constant revolutionizing of production, the uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, and everlasting uncertainty and agitation" destroys the old to make way for the new, introduces life and death changes to nations, states, cities, workers, and families [how will we survive? how to make a living now?] turbulence and unpredictability manifests itself in job losses - firings, layoffs, downsizings, restructurings, and business closings fueling the size of unemployment lines and ranks of the chronically unemployed and underemployed often accompanied by the emergence of new kinds of occupations and career paths "new normal" expanded beyond agricultural and manufacturing sectors to include "all levels of the occupation hierarchy" prompts a response from government and other agencies to reduce risk for investors, to bail out companies considered too big to fail, to assist the unemployed / underemployed, retrain workers, and offer compensation
fueling economic growth through debt
lending people money to spend beyond their means unmanageable levels of debt, division in society between the debt-free and the indebted. debt - money owed to another party fuel economic growth. credit puts money in the hands of consumers to purchase goods and services credit cards, payday loans, and other financial arrangements [two years same as cash, equity loans] temporarily frees borrowers from their financial constraints, it can severely constrain their life chances if it becomes unmanageable often the borrowers least able to afford credit and to pay off credit card debt each month are subjected to the highest interest rates americans who are late making credit card payments pay an estimated 15 billion in penalty fees a year one in every five credit card holders carries over debt each month and pays interest rates of 20 percent or more responsibility not to use credit cards to live beyond their means. credit-granting businesses "hook us with the promise of low rates while keeping the right to raise those rates at any time for any reason," even on past purchases made when the interest rate was at a certain level
inequalities within countries
look within countries to consider how wealth, income, and other valued resources are distributed how does the income of the richest 10 percent compare with that of the poorest 10 percent?
define social mobility
movement from one social class to another
responses to global inequality
one obvious way to reduce global inequality is to redistribute wealth by transferring some of it from the wealthiest to the poorest no plan in the works to take from specific rich people per se, since 2000 a plan known as the Millennium Declaration has been in place to redistribute wealth from the redistribute wealth from the richest countries to the poorest ones two major commitments from the world's 22 richest countries: 1. to increase current levels of foreign aid to seven-tenths of 1 percent of GDP, and 2. to develop an open, nondiscriminatory trading system
define political parties
organizations that try to acquire power to influence social action. parties are organized to represent people of a certain class or social status or with certain interests
define negatively privileged property class
people completely lacking in skills, property, or employment, or who depend on seasonal or sporadic employment; they constitute the very bottom of the class system
karl marx and social class
rise of factories and mechanization created a fundamental class divide between those who owned the means of production and the largely propertyless workers who sell their labor to the bourgeoisie the key variable in determining social class is source of income three classes: wage laborers, capitalists, and land-owners. incomes "flow from the same common resources" for wage laborers, the source is wages; for capitalists, the source is profit from the labor of others; for landowners, the source is ground rent fourth class, the finance aristocracy, who lived in obvious luxury among masses of starving, low-paid, and unemployed workers bankers and stockholders seemingly detached from the world of work. "created from nothing - without labor and without creating a product or service to sell in exchange for wealth" "while speculation has this power of inventiveness, it is at the same time also a gamble and a search for the 'easy life'; as such it is the art of getting rich without work" financial aristocracy gains income "without giving anything... in exchange; it is the cancer of production, the plague of society and of states"
symbolic interactionist perspective
seek to understand the experience of social inequality; specifically, they seek to understand how social inequality shapes interactions and experiences "low-wage workers are no more homogeneous in personality or ability than people who write for a living, and no less funny or bright. anyone in the educated classes who thinks otherwise ought to broaden their circle of friends" many ways inequality is experienced. ehrenreich tells of a colleague who becomes "frantic about a painfully impacted wisdom tooth and keeps making calls from our houses [we are cleaning] to try and locate a source of free dental care" the act of changing jobs means "a week or possibly more without a paycheck" the colleague making 7.00 per hour at K-Mart thinking about trying for a 9.00-per-hour job at a plastics factory
define privileges
special taken-for-granted advantages, immunities, and benefits enjoyed by a dominant group relative to other groups
social class and status
status symbols, visible markers of economic position and social rank social class to designate a person's overall economic and social status in a system of social stratification social class is difficult to determine
social stratification
systematic process of categorizing and ranking people on a scale of worth one's ranking affects life chances in unequal ways probability that a person's life will follow a certain path and turn out a certain way applies to virtually every aspect of life every society in the world has a stratification system. almost any criterion can and has been used to rank people from most valued to least valued ascribed or achieved. ascribed statuses assigned on the basis of attributes people possess through no fault of their own; inherited, develop as a result of time, or be otherwise possessed through no personal effort achieved statuses attained through some combination of choice, effort, and ability. must act in some way to acquire an achieved status various achieved and ascribed statuses hold social prestige, level of respect or admiration for a status apart from any person who occupies it status value - social worth of a status relative to others such that people who possess one characteristic are regarded and treated as more valuable or worthy than people who possess other characteristics stratification systems fall somewhere on a continuum between two extremes: a caste system, in which people are ranked according to ascribed statuses, and a class system, in which people are ranked on the basis of their achievements related to merit, talent, ability, or past performance
define brain drain
the emigration from a country of the most educated and most talented people, including those trained to be hospital managers, nurses, accountants, teachers, engineers, political reformers, and other institution builders
define intersectionality
the interconnections among the various categories people occupy, including race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age [generation], nationality, and disability. the various categories people occupy are interlocking and when taken together "cultivate profound differences in our personal biography" and in experiences with others as we move through the world
define income
the money a person earns, usually on an annual basis through salary or wages
define extreme wealth
the most excessive form of wealth, in which a very small proportion of people in the world have money, material possessions, and other assets [minus liabilities] in such abundance that a small fraction of it, if spent appropriately, could provide adequate food, safe water, sanitation, and basic health care for the 1 billion poorest people on the planet
define power
the probability that an individual can achieve his or her will, even against opposition
define social stratification
the systematic process of categorizing and ranking people on a scale of social worth where one's ranking affects life chances in unequal ways
define social inequality
the unequal access to and distribution of income, wealth, and other valued resources
