Sociology Chapter 7

Medicare

A program under the U.S social security administration that reimburses hospitals and physicians for medical care provided to qualifying people over 65 years old

Working class

A social class broadly composed of people working in blue-collar, or manual, occupations. Income ranges from $29,000-$49,000. Income is just enough to pay rent, put food on table, and perhaps save for a summer vacation. Includes hotel workers, sales clerks, factory workers. Earn a modest weekly paycheck at a job that offers little control over the size of one's income or working condition. Low priced car, kids most likely will not go to college but will look for job

Middle class

A social class composed broadly of those working in white-collar and lower managerial occupations. Can be divided into two groups: Upper-middle class and the lower-middle class

Feminization of poverty

An increase in the proportion of the poor who are female. Growing rates of divorce, separation, and single parent families have placed women at a particular disadvantage; it is extremely difficult for for unskilled or semiskilled, low income, poorly educated women to raise children by themselves while they hold jobs. the percent of women in poverty is too high. If they are in poverty, so are their kids.

Leading causes of homelessness for homeless individuals

substance abuse, lack of affordable housing, and mental illness.

A group of workers in a clothing factor produces a hundred suits per day. Selling half the suits provides enough income for the manufacturer to pay the workers wages. Income fro the sale of the remainder of the garments is taken as profit. This is an example of

surplus value

power

the ability of individuals or the members of a group to achieve aims or further the interests they hold. Power is a pervasive element in all human relationships. Many conflicts in society or struggles over this, because how much of this an individual or group is able to obtain governs how far they are able to put their wishes into practice.

Agency

the ability to think, act, and make choices independently and to use free will

endogamy

the forbidding of marriage or sexual relations outside one's social group. (ex: for a caste system)

means of production

the means by which they gain livelihood. the means whereby the production of material goods is carried on in a society, including not just technology but the social relations among producers.

Absolute poverty

the minimal requirements necessary to sustain a healthy existence. A person or family simply can't get enough to eat. These people are undernourished and, in situations of famine, may starve to death. Inability to clothe, feed, or shelter themselves. Same everywhere

social reproduction

the process whereby societies have structural continuity over time. It is an important pathway through which parents transmit or produce values, norms, and social practices among their children.

status

the social honor or prestige that a particular group is accorded by other members of a society. Status groups normally display distinct styles of life-patterns of behavior that the members of a group follow. This can be positive or negative.

blaming the system

this explains poverty by emphasizing larger social processes that produce conditions of poverty that are difficult for individuals to overcome. Structural forces within society like class, gender, ethnicity, occupational position, education attainment-shape the way in which resources are distributed. They think they need to distributed income and resources more equally thought society.

surplus value

The value of a worker's labor power left over when an employer has repaid the cost of hiring the worker. It is the source of profit, which capitalists are able to put to their own use. Marx.

Class systems differ from slaver and castes in 4 main respects:

1. Class systems are fluid. classes are not established by legal or religious provisions. Boundaries between classes are never clear-cut. There are not formal restrictions on intermarriage between people from different classes 2. Class positions are in some part achieved. Individual's class is not simply assigned at birth. Social mobility (movement upward and downward in the class structure is relatively common) 3. Class is economically based. Classes depend on inequalities in the possession of material resources. 4. Class systems are large scale and impersonal. In other types of stratification systems, inequalities are expressed primarily in personal relationship of duty or obligation-between slave and master or lower-and higher-caste individuals. Class systems, by contrast, operate mainly through large-scale, impersonal associations such as pay or working conditions.

Percent of families in poverty by marital status and sex of householder

1. Female household has the most percentage in poverty 2. Then male householder 3. married couple

Difference between Marx and Weber

1. For Weber, position in a stratification system was not based on economics alone: social status was also significant. Ex: doctors and lawyers have high prestige and status. Pariah groups are negatively privileged status groups subject to discrimination that prevents them from taking advantage of opportunities open to others. 2. Class divisions derive not only from control or lack of control of the means of production but from economic differences that have nothing directly to do with property. Those in professional occupations earn more and enjoy more favorable conditions at work, for example, than people in blue-collar jobs. The qualifications they possess-such as degrees, diplomas, and the skills they have acquired-make them more "marketable" than others without such qualifications 3. Weber recognized that social classes also differ with respect to their power, or ability to enact change, command resources, or make decisions. 4. Basically Weber says that besides class there are other dimensions of stratification that influence people's lives

Three systems (models) of stratification

1. Slavery 2. caste 3. class

3 characteristics of socially stratified systems

1. The rankings apply to social categories of people who share a common characteristics such as gender or ethnicity. Systems of inequality are organized around groups with shared characteristics. (ex: wealthy from poor, women from men) 2. People's life experiences and opportunities depend heavily on how their social category is ranked. The social location of a group is significant in terms of the life chances of members. (being male or female, upper class or working class makes a big difference in terms of your life chances-often as big a difference as personal effort or good fortune) 3. The ranks of different social categories tend to change very slowly over time

What is social class? It is a mixture of:

1. Wealth 2. Income 3. Education 4. Occupation

Three aspects of social stratification

1. class 2. status 3. power

Two explanations of poverty

1. theories that see poor individuals as responsible for their status. "Blame the victim". The people had lack of skills, moral or physical weakness, no motivation, or ability to succeed in society. 2. Theories that view poverty as produced and reproduced by structural forces in society. "blame the system"

Stats of poverty

6.6 percent of U.S population live in extreme poverty: they live at near starvation levels.

Functionalist approaches

Argued that stratification has beneficial consequences for society. Claimed that certain positions or roles in society, such as brain surgeons, are functionally more important than others, and these positions require special skills for their performance. However, only a limited number of individuals in any society have the talents or experience appropriate to these positions. To attract the most qualified people rewards need to be offered, such as money, power, and prestige. Because the benefits of different positions in any society must be unequal, then all societies must be stratified.

Who has the highest income of any group?

Asian Americans

Trends of household income and poverty rates by Race and Ethnicity

Asians do the best income, then whites, then hispanics, then blacks. The people in the most poverty are hispanic and blacks

Who are experiencing the most poverty rates?

Blacks and latinos. They experience 3 times the poverty rate that whites experience.

This theory says that social stratification and social inequality are functional for society because they ensure that the most qualified people, attracted by lucrative rewards, fill the roles that are most important to a smoothly functioning society.

Davis and Moore Functionalist approach

dependency culture

Describes individuals who rely on state welfare provision rather than entering the labor market. Seen as the outcome of the "paternalistic" welfare state that undermines individual ambition and people's capacity for self-help.

Graph of % living below poverty line

Female household heads are the most living below the poverty line, then people under 18, then all people, then old people.

Occupation

Important indicator of one's social standing. This type of status depends heavily on one's level of educational attainment. The most "prestigious" jobs were ranked most highly with the jobs that needed the most education

Elderly in Poverty

Income based primarily on social security and private retirement programs. This and Medicare have helped life many elderly people out of poverty.

Life chances

It means where you are in society. The people with good neighbors, nice house, good job have more of this.

Which racial women have the most poverty?

Latino women.

life chances

Made by Max Weber. They are the opportunities you have for achieving economic prosperity.

Marx and class conflict

Marx believed that the maturing of industrial capitalism would bring about an increasing gap between the wealth of the capitalist minority and poverty of the large proletarian population. Wages of the working class could never rise far above subsistence level, while wealth would pile up in the hands of those owning capital.

The biggest thing about this theories is that he focused on inequalities and how different classes fight over resources. He said class was determines solely by one's relation to the means of production.

Marx/ Class conflict

When americans are asked to identify their social class, the majority claim to be this class. This is because few people want to be identified as being too rich or too poor.

Middle class

Wealth

Money and material possessions held by an individual or group. Refers to all assets individuals own: cash; savings and checking accounts; investments in stocks, bonds, and real estate properties. Wealth can be inherited.

intergenerational mobility

Movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy from one generation to another

proletariat

One type of main class in modern society. People earn their living by selling their labor to the capitalists. People who sell their labor for wages, according to Marx.

bourgeoisie

One type of main class in modern society. These are people who own companies, land, or stocks (shares) and use these to generate economic returns, according to Marx. They are capitalists who own the means of production

Income

Payment, usually derived from wages, salaries, or investments. Wages and salaries earned from paid occupations, plus unearned money (or interest) from investments.

Working poor

People who work but whose earnings are not enough to lift them above the poverty line. Many Americans are this. Their earnings from working are not high enough to lift them above the line. disproportionately nonwhite and immigrant.

Relative poverty

Poverty defined according to the living standards of the majority in any given society. Essentially is the measure of inequality. It means being poor as compared with the standards of living of the majority.

Culture of Poverty

Poverty is not a result of individual inadequacies but is instead the outcome of a larger social and cultural atmosphere into which successive generations of children are socialized. Refers to the values, beliefs, lifestyle, habits, and traditions that are common among people living under conditions of material deprivation. This is transmitted across generations because young people from an early age see little point in aspiring to something more.

Social exclusion

Refers to new sources of inequality- ways in which individuals may become cut off from involvement in the wider society. the outcome of multiple deprivations that prevent individuals or groups from participating fully in the economic, social, and political life of the society in which they live. ex: insurance company might reject an application based on an appliance personal history and background

Race and Wealth

Research shows that nonwhites generally have less wealth and education than other social groups. Nonwhites are also much more likely to experience discrimination when buying homes

sex trafficking, sweatshop, coerced prostitution are examples of what system of stratification?

Slavery

Lower class

Social class composed of those who work part time or not at all and whose household income is typically low. Income range is lower than $29,000. Jobs are probably part time and highly unstable, without benefits such as medical insurance, disability, or social security. Many live in poverty. Very few own their own homes, most rent.

Negatives of the Functionalist approach

Teachers and social workers are important but they don't get paid enough. Justin Bieber sings and he gets paid a lot.

Social stratification

The existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. This inequality may be based on economics, gender, race, religion, age, wealth/property. Basically ranking of people from top to bottom based on a criteria.

Homeless persons

The fastest growing group of homeless people economists of families with children who make up as much as a third of the homeless.

Why intergenerational mobility (from working to upper middle class) is rare

The key factor is educational attainment. A child's education is influenced by family social status; this, in turn affects the child's social position later in life. The connection between family background and education attainment occurs because parents, teachers, and friends influence the educational and career aspirations of the child and that these aspirations are reproduced from generation to generation because parents and children share the social location and asocial ties that my shape one's aspiration

Education

They agree that the number of years of schooling is an important dimension of social stratification. How much of this one receives is often influenced by the social class of one's parents.

Children in Poverty

They are the principal victims of poverty in the U.S. It is the highest poverty rates in the industrial world.

The class where they own large suburban homes, drive expensive cars, fly first class, private schools and colleges.

Upper class

Underclass

a class of individuals situated at the bottom of the class esteem often composed of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. They lack access to the world of work and mainstream patterns of behavior. Poorest of the poor.

Slavery

a form of social stratification in which some people are owned by others as their property. Ownership of certain people. Deprived of almost all rights, almost impossible to move up a class

Social security

a government program that provides economic assistance to persons faced with unemployment, disability, or old age

Caste System

a social stratification system in which one's social status is determined at birth and set for life. In this system, social status is based on personal characteristics (like race, ethnicity, skin color parental religion/caste)

Caste society

a society in which different social levels are closed, so that all individuals must remain at the social level of their birth throughout life. This is a special type of class society- in which class position is ascribed at birth rather than achieved through personal accomplishment.

Poverty line

an official government measure to define those living in poverty in the United States. Calculates it as an income equal to three times the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet. It is based on an income three times the cost of monthly groceries.

Why is education important?

because the more schooling/education you get, the better earnings you get. A bachelors degree will earn a lot more than high school grad.

India had this type of social stratification where people were in different classes by birth

caste system

Upper-Middle class

consists of highly educated professionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers, and professors), mid-level corporate managers, people eh own or manage small businesses and retail shops, and some large-farm owners. Make around $178-$300,000. Most likely college educated with advanced degrees. Jobs are secure and provide retirement and health benefits. Own comfortable homes, drive expensive late model cars, have some savings and investments.

Wealthier families are able to afford to send their kids to better schools, an economic advantage that benefits the children's social status as adults. Parents from upper middle class will more likely be involved in their kids education (reading to them, helping with homework, purchasing books and learning materials). Working class parents are concerned with their kids education, but they lack the economic and _____ to make a difference

cultural capital

refers to the cultural advantages that coming from a "good home" confers". You have to have the right tastes to be in the upper class, like teaching your kids what foods to like, movies to watch..etc

cultural capital

Rather than orienting themselves toward the future and striving to achieve a better life, those on this are content to accept handouts.

dependency culture

This is one of the strongest predictors of one's occupation, income, and wealth later in life.

education

Pariah groups

groups that suffer from negative status discrimination-they are looked down on by most other members of society.

Lower-Middle class

includes office workers, elementary/high school teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters. Range from $50,000-$178,000. May own a modest house, late model cars, almost all have high school education, some college degrees

_____ has not been distributed evenly across all groups

income

blue- and pink-collar jobs

jobs that typically pay low wages and often involve manual or low-skill labor. Blue-collar jobs are typically held by men like factory worker, whereas pink are typically held by women like clerical assistant.

leading causes of homelessness among families.

lack of affordable housing, poverty, and unemployment

social class

large group of people who occupy a similar economic position int he wider society

A person from a humble background has less chance of ending up wealthy than someone from a more prosperous one. And the best chance an individual has of being wealthy is to start off as wealthy in the first place. This is an example of

life chances

social mobility

movement of individuals or groups among different social positions as a result of changes in occupation, wealth, or income.

intragenerational mobility

movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy within the course of a personal career. How far they move up or down the socioeconomic scale in the course of their working lives

Cultural capital

noneconomic or cultural resources that parents pass down to their children such as language or knowledge. These resources contribute to the process of social reproduction. parents can provide cultural advantages to their children

The "untouchables" cast in India is an example of a:

pariah group

When someone moves from one job to another that is similar in pay and prestige this is an example of

short-range downward mobility

Upper class

social class broadly composed of the more affluent members of society, especially those who have inherited wealth, own businesses, or hold large numbers of stocks/shares. Earn more than $311,000 (5% of all american households)

This can happen from people excluding themselves from aspects of mainstream society like drop out of education, turn down a job opportunity, abstain from voting.

social exclusion

When rural communities are cut off from many services and opportunities or in inner city neighborhoods marked by high crime rates and substandard housing. This is an example of:

social exclusion

Downward mobility

social mobility in which individuals wealth, income, or status is lower than what they or their parents once had. Less common than upward mobility.

short-range downward mobility

social mobility that occurs when an individual moves from one position in the class structure to another of nearly equal status.

When parents pass down to their children a range of resources, including both financial and cultural capital, this is called:

social reproduction

Class

social stratification where You earn your place in society. They don't fix people for life in specific social positions