Sociology Chapter 7

Tumin's Critique of Davis and Moore

If stratification worked as Davis and Moore described, society would be a meritocracy; that is positions would be awarded on the basis of merit or ability.

Marx defines social class as:

one of two groups; capitalists who own the means of production or workers who sell their labor.

Property

can be a building, land, animals, stocks, bonds, or bank accounts. Wealth or net worth is the total value of everything someone owns, minus their debts. Income is money you receive from a job, business, or personal assets.

Structural mobility is described as:

movement up or down the social class ladder that is due more to changes in the structure of society than to the actions of individuals.

Social Class

A class system is a form of social stratification based primarily on the possession of money or material possessions. A major characteristic of the class system, is its relatively fluid boundaries. Social mobility is possible in a class system, as individuals are able to move up or down the social class ladder through accomplishments or failures. It is important to note that in all societies, gender is consistently observed as a basis for social stratification.

Caste

A form of social stratification in which people's statuses are determined by birth and are lifelong

The Working Class

About 30% of the population belongs to this class of relatively unskilled blue-collar and white-collar workers. Compared with the lower middle class, they have less education and lower incomes.

The Lower Middle Class

About 34% of the population are members of the lower middle class. They often follow orders given by members of the upper middle class. With their technical and lower-level management positions, they can afford a mainstream lifestyle.

The Functionalist View: Motivating Qualified People

According to functionalists, the patterns of society that are not functional will disappear, while those that are functional will continue. Therefore, social inequality exists as a way to help societies survive.

Immanuel Wallerstein

As a result of Industrialization the world was divided into four separate groups of nations. (A) The first group were known as the core nations or the countries that industrialized first. (B) The second group was known as the semi periphery. The economies of these nations, located around the Mediterranean, stagnated because they grew dependent on trade with the core nations. (C) The third group is known as the periphery or fringe nations. These nations were eastern European and sold cash crops to the core nations. (D) The external area, composed of mostly African or Asian countries, were left out of the development of capitalism.

Power elite

C. Wright Mills: people who make the big decisions.

The Conflict Perspective:

Class Conflict and Scarce Resources Conflict, not function, is the reason for social stratification.

Karl Marx

Concluded that social class depends on a single factor; people's relationship to the means of production.

Economist John Galbraith

Culture of poverty

Davis and Moore's Explanation

Davis and Moore, two functionalists, concluded that societal stratification was necessary because: Some of a society's positions are more important than others. The more important positions must be filled by the more qualified people. To motivate the more qualified people to fill these positions, they carry greater rewards.

Causes of Slavery

Debt, crime, war.

Slavery

In its simplest form, it is defined as some individuals owning other individuals.

Conditions of Slavery

In some places, slavery was temporary. In most instances, however, slavery was a lifelong condition. Slavery was not necessarily inheritable. In the U.S., the children of female slaves were slaves by birth. Slaves were not necessarily powerless and poor. Among some societies, slaves were able to acquire property and even own slaves.

The Working Poor

Members of this class, about 15% of the population, work at unskilled, low-paying, temporary and seasonal jobs. Most have dropped out of high school. Many are functionally illiterate, finding it difficult to read even the want ads.

Marx's Argument:

One part is small groups of people use their power in order to control society's resources to benefit themselves. The other part is the oppressed groups that are trying to overcome that domination.

The Upper Middle Class

Out of all the social classes, the upper middle class is the one most shaped by education. Almost all members of this class have a t least a bachelor's degree, and many have postgraduate degrees. These people manage the corporations owned by the capitalist class, run their own businesses, or pursue professions. About the 15% of the population belong to this class.

Prestige

Prestige is defined as: respect or regard.

Max Weber

Property, Power, and Prestige

Slavery in the New World

Slavery in the new world did not initially began on a platform of racial superiority. African slaves were viewed as being sub-human and mentally inferior to whites. This ideology of racial superiority enabled slavery to remain an institution in the new world for approximately 245 years in the U.S. To make slavery even more profitable, slave states passed laws that made slavery inheritable or babies born to slaves became the property of the slave owners. To strengthen their control, slave states passed laws making it illegal for slaves to hold meetings or to be away from the master's premises without carrying a pass. Jim Crow became the law after the abolishment of slavery following the Civil War. Under Jim Crow, laws were in place that separated blacks from whites.

Slavery Today

Slavery wasn't banned in several African countries until the 1980s, with the country of Niger banning slavery in 2003. Children are now enslaved on a global scale for their labor and sexual exploitation

World System Theory

The concept that economic and political connections that tie the world's countries together. As a result of Industrialization the world was divided into four separate groups of nations.

Endogamy

The practice of marrying within one's own group

Colonialism

The process by which one nation takes over another nation, usually for the purpose of exploiting its labor and natural resources.

The Capitalist Class

The top 1% consists of a powerful, wealthy, and prestigious elite. This 1% of the population is financially worth more than the entire bottom 90% of the country. Power and influence are characteristics associated with this class. They have direct access to top politicians, own our major media and entertainment outlets, and control the boards of directors of our most influential college and universities. The capitalist class can be divided into "old" and "new" money. The longer that wealth has been in a family, the more it adds to the family's prestige. At the lower end of the capitalist class are the nouveau riche or people with new money. Many members of the capitalist class are philanthropic. They establish foundations and give huge sums to "causes."

Social Mobility

There are three basic types of social mobility: intergenerational, structural, and exchange.

The Underclass

This class occupies the lowest rung of the class ladder. They have little to no chance of achieving upward social mobility. You will often find this class concentrated in the inner city and they have little or no connection with the job market. Their means of support are primarily welfare, food stamps, and food pantries. About 5% of the population will fall into this class.

Current Applications of Conflict Theory

Today's conflict sociologists are currently analyzing global stratification and global capitalism, looking at power relations among nations, examining the ways in which nation elites work to control workers, and power shifts as capital is shuffled among nations. Other conflict sociologists are currently examining conflict wherever it occurs.

Historian Gerda Lerner

Women were the first people to be enslaved. Women slaves were exploited for sexual purposes, reproductive capabilities, and their potential labor.

A global superclass

a small group of people who make the major decisions that affect the rest of the world

Ideology

beliefs about the way things ought to be that justify social arrangements.

Culture of Poverty

claimed that the cultures of the Least Industrialized Nations hold them back. He argued that some nations are crippled by a culture of poverty or a way of life that perpetuates poverty from one generation to the next.

Intergenerational mobility

is defined as: the change that family members make in social class from one generation to the next. Two sub-types of social mobility can occur under intergenerational mobility: (a) upward social mobility or movement up the social class ladder and (b) downward social mobility or movement down the social class ladder.

Exchange mobility

is seen when around the same number of people are moving up and down the social class ladder, to such a degree that the social class system shows little change.

Sociologist reject the culture of poverty because

it places blame on the nations not their exploitation

According to Weber

social class is: a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power and prestige.

Power

the ability to carry out your will even over the resistance of others

The globalization of capitalism

the adoption of capitalism around the world, which has created extensive ties among the world's nations. A side effect of technology, is the interconnectedness of societies on a global scale.

Social Stratification

the division of large numbers of people into layers according to their relative property, power, and prestige; applies to both nations and to people within a nation, society, or other group. Every society stratifies its members, with inequality being present in them all as well. Three examples are: Slavery, caste, and class.