Sociology

Subjective method of measuring social class

a system in which people are asked to state the social class to which they belong

Social Structure

Physical and social characteristics of communities; Social inequality

Robert Michel's Iron Law of Oligarchy

"Democratic" organizations are oligarchies, where a few strong-willed people make the decisions. They aren't democratic as there are a few powerful people in the organization who control it and make the decisions. Ex: Unions are "supposedly" democratic yet there are a few powerful figures within the Union who emerge and run the union. Whatever decisions they make, everyone else in the union goes along with.

Tenets of Conflict Perspective on Stratification

Conflict: • Stratification results from the rich exploiting the poor o Wealthy create a sense of false consciousness (opposite of class consciousness) among the poor rather than class consciousness (realizing their class's exploitation by the rich) One of their tools is religion so that the poor does not revolt against them

Systems of Stratification

Slavery Estate System: • Back in the Middle Ages, nobles had land farmed by serfs Caste System • People are assigned to certain groups in society and cannot leave those groups • Ex: Apartheid South Africa; Blacks and Whites were divided into different groups on a social hierarchy; Once a member of a group, always a member of that group. So, whites were treated in a certain way as members of their group and blacks were treated another way as members of their group • Closed society Class System: • People are divided into groups called classes • Open society. Ex: US Class System Classless society: • Society where everyone's income is equal • Marx's ideal world

Vertical mobility. Types?

Vertical Mobility: • Intergenerational: Being of a different social class than your parents into adulthood. (Ex: Bill Gates being wealthy whereas his father is middle class) • Intragenerational: Moving between social classes within one's lifetime (Ex: Rags-to-riches stories)

White collar crime. Relate it to my life.

Crime committed by people in the course of their occupations. If an accountant were to engage in fraudulent accounting practices at his company, that would be white collar crime.

Group size impact on stability and emotional bonding of group members.

A bigger group means more stability, but less emotional bonding because a bigger group means that if a member (or more) leaves, it will still exist. However, since there are so many members in the group, members have to divide their time to spend time with many group members rather than a few (like in smaller groups), preventing close, emotional bonds from being formed. A smaller group means the opposite of all this. Ex: A marriage is less stable than a football team as one person leaving it kills it. However, a marriage enables the two spouses to develop close bonds with one another compared to a football team with many players.

Groupthink

A group member does not want to stand out, so he or she suppresses his or her good judgments in favor of what the rest of the group wants.

Milgram Experiment

A series of psychological experiments which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Found that people are easily obedient to authority.

status Ascribed? Achieved? Master?

A social position that a person holds; Ex: I am a College Democrats secretary, a student, a brother, a resident of Mt. Olive, a Walmart employee and much more Ascribed Status (Status that people are born with and have no control over): Race, sexual orientation, child, grandchild, sex etc. Achieved Status (Status people earn or choose). Ex: College graduate, Physician, Burglar, Spouse, Volunteer Master Status: Most important status for a person. Ex: Obama is the President of the United States, In Jim Crow, for blacks, it was being black, Michael Jordan is a basketball player and basketball champion

Agricultural societies. How high is wealth and gender inequality? How much trade occurs with other societies?

Agricultural Societies: Societies with an economy based on agricultural production • Lots of trade with other societies • High wealth and gender inequality

What is each class in the American class system?

American Class System • Upper Class (Wealthy) o Upper-upper class: People in families who have been wealthy for generations o Lower-upper class: People who don't have money that run through generations like the upper-upper class, but still have money acquired through other means • Middle Class ($50,000 to $199,000) o Upper Middle-class ($150,000 to $199,000) (Ex: Doctors, Lawyers, Bankers) o Lower Middle-class ($50,000 to $74,999) (Ex: Teachers and Nurses) • Working Class ($25,000 to $49,999) (Ex: Construction, factory workers) • Lower Class (Poor) (Under $25,000)

What causes higher divorce, marriage and serial monogamy rates in US compared to Europe

American idealization of Romantic Love (Americans go into relationships with high expectations; then realize, romantic love fades quickly and are unhappy with marriages), emphasis on individualism and independence (If a marriage isn't good for a person, he or she will not mind ending it)

Deviant subcultures theory

Asserts that some groups develop their own attitudes, values, and perspectives that support criminal activity. Ex: Albert Cohen stated that young poor males joined gangs since their self-esteem was threatened by schools promoting middle-class values. Some sociologists have argued that poor males are part of subcultures that promote values that foster deviance such as cleverness, toughness and much more. Some sociologists argue that the poor are part of subcultures that promote violent responses to being insulted.

Episodic Poverty

Being poor for at least two consecutive months

patrilineal, matrilineal, bilateral descent

Bilateral descent: In some societies, wealth is passed down to children of both genders. Children are thought to be related to both, mother and father's relatives. Patrilineal: In some societies, wealth is passed down only to sons. Children of family are thought to only be related to father's relatives. Matrilineal: In some societies, wealth is passed down only to daughters. Children of family are thought to be only related to mother's relatives.

Biological v Cultural Explanations of Human Behavior. Relate it to what you already know.

Biological: Seeks to explain human behavior by looking at human biology. Ex: Some may argue that biology affects behaviors such as altruism. Cultural: States that human behavior is explained by culture. Ex: In specific situations, they way people in different cultures behave differs.

How do black people v whites feel about the death penalty? Relate it to myself.

Blacks are less likely to support it than whites.

Sociological Imagination. Relate it to what you already know.

C. Wright Mills said for a lot of problems in society, it is not the victims' fault, so much as it is the social structure and culture of society. Ex: Poor people are blamed for their woes. However, social inequality (vertical social structure) ought to be blamed such as the fact that poor people are less likely to graduate from high school than their richer counterparts. This closes decent employment opportunities.

"Third Wave" experiment

California teacher made students act like Nazis without realizing it.

Social category Social aggregate Social group

Collection of people who shares similar characteristics even if they do not necessarily interact with one another. Ex: Women, Asians, Liberals Social aggregate: Collection of people who are together in one place, but do not necessarily interact with one another (Interact with one another)

Nonverbal Communication. Give examples.

Communication without speaking. Ex: facial expressions, body language, gestures, personal space

Solomon Asch Experiment and its implications

Conformity occurs because people do not want to alienate others and because they see their perceptions wrong in comparison to their group members' perceptions. Solomon divided his sample into groups. He asked each group to identify what line out of three lines was similar to another line. He purposely told members of each group to give the wrong answer. The final students gave the wrong answer, too. Why? Because they started doubting their visual perceptions even if they knew the other group members were wrong.

Social Ecology Theory of Crime

Crime in certain areas occurs due to physical and social characteristics of those areas such as dilipidated buildings, high poverty, high concentrations of single mothers, high residential mobility and high population density.

social control theory

Crime is prevented by the following: Attachment: How attached people are to social institutions and receptive to the opinions of people in them. Ex: How loyal are people to their local schools are care about their teachers' opinions. Commitment: How involved people are in conventional activities such as getting an education or working Involvement: How much people value their involvement in conventional activities Belief: Acceptance of society's norms

Victimless Crime

Crimes with no unwilling victims. Ex: prostitution, illegal sale of drugs (While drug purchasers may be victims due to addiction and other health issues, they were willing victims as they wanted to purchase drugs, same with victims of prostitutions who get STIs from having sex)

Cultural Relativism v. Ethnocentrism. Relate it to what you already know.

Cultural relativism is not judging another culture by one's own culture whereas ethnocentrism is. Ex: Me judging the sexist cultural practices of the Arab World is ethnocentrism. Cultural relativism would be my friend telling me that I should be judging the Arab world by the standards of Western culture.

Democratic v. Authoritarian v. Laissez-faire leadership

Democratic: leaders make decisions consulting other members of group Authoritarian: Leaders are focused on achieving group goals and ensuring compliance with group rules Laissez-faire: Laidback leadership. Leader does not lead the group at all, and lets it function on it own.

In the US, what negative impact can children have on the emotional well-being of their parents?

Depression, Emotional Distress and other negative emotions

Deviance, Crime, Social control. Relate it to what you already know.

Deviance is the breaking of social norms such as sneezing on someone. Crime is deviance that involves breaking the law such as stealing. Social control is the means by which deviance is mitigated such as getting dirty looks for sneezing on someone and policing crime.

What happens when people display insincere emotions in a specific situation?

Displaying insincere emotions can risk social disapproval. Ex: Pretending to be sad at a funeral.

Endogamy v Exogamy

Endogamy: Person within same social group. Ex: same race, same class, same religion etc. Exogamy: Person marrying outside same social group. Ex: different race, different, different religion

Are there societies without nuclear families?

Ex: Nayar society in India. Women have sex with many men. When they have children, the father has no responsibility of taking care of the children. The families are fatherless. In West Indies, many families are sort of nuclear. The father often lives far away from the mother and children while providing for the family.

Describe some gender differences in making eye contact.

Men are more likely than women to stare at others Women are more likely than men to make eye contact with people they are interacting with

Methods of measuring crime. Criticisms of each? Relate it to myself.

FBI's Uniform Crime Report: Police departments report crimes to the FBI. Problem with this is many police departments may not report crimes that have occurred to the FBI, victims do not report it to the police, and corporate crime is not counted. NCVS: Surveys households on whether members have victims of crime. It is not completely accurate as it does not count the homeless. Self-report survey: Ask people whether they have committed crimes

examples of social institutions

Family, Government, Economy, Religion, Medicine, and Education

emotion work

Forcing oneself to display emotions that one does not feel like displaying to avoid social disapproval. Ex: Feeling somber at a funeral

formal organization

Formal Organization: Group of people that follows certain rules and procedures to achieve specific goals and tasks. Ex: Businesses, Bureaucracies

Bureaucracy

Formal organizations with certain organizational features designed to achieve goals in the most efficient and effective way possible. Ex: Government agencies, Colleges and Universities

Sociological Perspectives of Family

Functionalist: Families serve many functions: Socializing children, Providing practical and emotional support for members (necessities and support during tough times), teaching norms regarding sex, give social identity to children (such as the parents' race, social class, religion etc.) Conflict: Families contribute to social inequality (gender and economic). Families have become more patriarchal, benefiting men at the expense of women. Wealthy children receive lots of money from their parents whereas poor children do not, affecting life chances. Families are also a source of violence and emotional cruelty for its members. Symbolic Interactionism: Wives and husbands have different styles of communication, and social class affects the expectations that spouses have of their marriages and of each other. Romantic love is the common basis for American marriages and dating relationships, but it is much less common in several other contemporary nations. Ex: Arranged marriages in India; Middle class wives want their husbands to be more forthcoming about their feelings than working class women do. Working class women only expect their husbands to go to work and not drink too much.

What factors determine how fearful of crime one is. Relate it to myself.

Gender (Being a woman) and Race (being black)

PRIMARY GROUP SECONDARY GROUP REFERENCE GROUP

Groups characterized by intimate bonds and lots of interaction. Ex: Groups of friends, Family Groups not characterized by intimate bonds, but formed for a purpose. Ex: Classes, Teams working on a project Groups that serve as a reference for how people should behave and their attitudes. Ex: Family's influencing political views, Friend groups influencing how you dress

Groups and Conformity

Groups ensure their members conforms to their values and norms.

Roles (Statuses)

How people with a status are expected to behave in a society. Ex: Students are expected to work hard, pay attention in class, and get good grades etc., Mothers are expected to look after their children if no one else is available to do so, Police officers are expected to do their job in keeping communities safe and not abusing their authority

Dramaturgical approach

Humans are actors. They act differently based on who they are around. Ex: I act differently around my boss than when I am around my friends

Symbolic Interactionism. Relate it to what you already know.

Humans give meaning to symbols and objects. Ex: The middle finger means "f**k you". The cross symbolizes "Christianity".

Gender roles in hunter-gathering, and horticultural and pastoral societies. Impact on family in horticultural and pastoral societies, according to Sociology textbook?

Hunter-gathering: Women gather crops while men hunt. Horticultural and Pastoral: Men herded whereas women did not, leading to more patriarchal families in these societies.

Labeling Theory

If a person is treated as or considered by others to be deviant, he or she will act deviant. Ex: Ex-convicts, despite trying to change their lives around, are still seen as deviant. They may go back to crime as a result.

In the US, the divorce rate is _____________. Why? What is a questionable reason?

Increasing; Women have gained the economic independence they need to leave bad marriages by working. States made it easier to obtain divorce by changing marriage laws. Questionable: Social approval of divorce has declined

Family Life (incl. gender roles and impact on family) during industrialization, WWII, Right after WWII, and 1970s:

Industrialization: Men worked while women took care of children and did housework. Since men worked and brung in incomes, families got more patriarchal. WWII: Women worked outside household. Right after WWII?: Suburbanization, "Baby Boom"; Many families were those where men worked while women stayed at home in the 1950s 1970s: Women entered the workforce out of economic necessity and desire for fulfillment

instrumental and expressive leaders

Instrumental: Focused on achieving goals and tasks Expressive: Focused on emotional support of employees

Is deviance relative? Explain. Relate it to myself.

It is relative. Context: An act that may be considered deviant in one situation may not be considered such in another. For example, killing is considered deviant if I am at a bank committing a robbery, but not if I'm a soldier on the battlefield. Space: The deviance of an act depends on location as well. For example, not tipping is considered deviant in the United States, but not in other countries. Time: Acts become more or less deviant over time. In the 19th century, slavery wasn't deviant. Today, it is. In the 19th century, women working outside the home was considered deviant. Today, it is not.

Utilitarianism Perspective. Relate it to what you already know.

It states that people will engage in social interactions if they think the benefits exceed the costs. Ex: Students form networks with others because they feel that they could reap greater benefits in the form of employment opportunities than costs.

Conflict perspective on crime

Looks at crime issues from an inequality standpoint. Criticizes the legal system as favoring the rich over the poor. States poor commit crime because they are poor. Says capitalism causes greed in a society, leading to crime.

Predictors of divorce

Marrying as teenagers; Social class (People who are poor at the time of their marriage)

Matriarchal, Patriarchal and Egalitarian Family

Matriarchal: Mother is main authority figure in family. Patriarchal: Father is main authority figure. Egalitarian: Mother and Father have equal authority

Strain Theory. Typologies?

Merton stated that the US had certain norms for people to follow regarding economic success. People are expected to strive for economic success, but earn it through working. Many poor want economic success, but cannot get there by working. This causes deviance. Conformist: Try to achieve economic success by working Ritualist: Does not try to achieve economic success, but continues to work Innovation: Tries to achieve economic success, but not through working Retreatist: Does not want economic success and does not work Rebellion: Retreatist who advocates for society to adopt a complete new value system

Anomie. Relate it to what you already know.*

Norms and values common to a society no longer exist. They are not replaced by new ones.

In America, if someone is not married, what is the likelihood they will stay that way?

Not very high; Most unmarried people eventually marry

Nuclear and extended families

Nuclear family: Mother, father and children living in one house Extended family: Mother, father and children plus relatives living in one house

Objective method of measuring social class. What differences do functionalists and conflict theorists have in terms of what factors they should be used when determining people's social classes objectively?

Objective Method: Determining people's social classes based on objective factors such as occupation, income etc. o Functionalist: Prefer to use occupation, income and education to classify people into social classes o Conflict: Prefer to use factors such as ownership of means of production, degree of autonomy at work, and whether workers are supervised or supervise other workers to classify

Family Life in Colonial America

Parents died young. Since mothers were busy working, eldest children were responsible for looking after youngest children.

Characteristics of an Ideal Bureaucracy according to Max Weber

People specialize in different tasks and occupations Chain of command (Jobs organized in hierarchy where people at top of it supervise those below them along the hierarchy) Written rules and regulations for employees when doing work Impartiality in hiring, promotion and other employment decisions and in serving clients Recordkeeping (E.g. Businesses keeping records of bills)

impression management

People try to convey a positive impression of themselves wherever they go. Ex: Behave in a certain way at a job interview, or in front of their professors

Durkheim on deviance

Reinforces norms and reminds them of consequences of deviance. Ex: Stating racist comments may get someone fired and publicly shamed, reminding everyone else not to make racist comments Promotes social change (LGBT rights movement) Creates stronger bonds among people. Ex: After a shooting, a community may grow closer together.

Differential Opportunity Theory

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin's view that teens from poor backgrounds will do anything at their disposal to get success (specifically economic) since there are few opportunities for it. That means they will be deviant and engage in crime etc..

Role problems (sociology). Describe each.

Role conflict: Conflict between roles. Ex: Someone may be an employee and a mother. Let's say this mother cannot afford child care, this mother can stay at home to look after her child and fulfill her role as a mother; however, he or she will be neglecting her role as an employee, which is to be punctual and work hard. If she did the opposite, the same conflict would take place. • Role Strain: Being overwhelmed by a status and its role being of all the demands from people from other statuses related to your status. Ex: A CEO of a big company being overwhelmed by so many demands such as from the shareholders, workers' union, his own management team and much more. • Personality does not fit in role: Some people do not have the personality for a role. Ex: A parent who is not kind and nurturing

Give examples of roles shaping people's personalities. (Sociology)

Roles shape people's personalities. Ex: Having a role as a nurse may cause one to be a kind, nurturing person

Horticultural Societies. Describe gender and wealth inequality in those societies compared to hunter-gatherer societies. What signifies wealth in those societies? How nomadic are they compared to pastoral societies?

Societies where people use simple hand tools to grow crops such as sticks and hoes Greater gender and wealth inequality than hunting-and-gathering societies The more land one has, the wealthier he or she is Less nomadic than pastoral societies

Post-Industrial Societies. What challenges does the US face as it makes the transition to being a post-industrial society?

Societies that used to have manufacturing-based economies that now have service-based economies • American companies are outsourcing jobs abroad • People need college degrees to find decent employment opportunities

Industrial Societies. Relative to agricultural societies, how high is gender and wealth inequality? How democratic are such societies? According to the textbook, what are the benefits and costs of such societies?

Societies where a considerable portion of the economy is linked to mechanized labor. Ex: US is industrial society since a big portion of the US economy is the result of mechanized labor. Improved lifespans, greater political freedom, and less gender and wealth inequality than agricultural societies More pollution, lots of poverty concentrated in large cities than agricultural societies

Pastoral societies. How nomadic are they? What signifies wealth in those societies? Relative to hunter-and-gathering societies, how high is wealth and gender inequality?

Societies where people raise herds of animals and use them as a source of food: • Somewhat nomadic • The more animals one has, the wealthier he or she is • Greater gender and wealth inequality than hunting-and-gathering societies

Hunting-and-Gathering Societies. Describe gender and wealth inequality in those societies.

Societies where people survive off of hunter-gathering Has almost complete gender and wealth equality

Subculture v. Counterculture. Relate it to what you already know.

Subculture: Culture within a culture. Shares values and norms of society as a whole, but has norms and values that distinguish them from society as well. Ex: Political groups, Ethnic groups Counterculture: Culture that opposes at least one norm or value in society. Ex: LGBT activists in Uganda

feminist perspective on deviance

Suggests that crimes such as rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and others committed predominantly against women occur due to gender inequality and society's view of relations between the sexes. Gender socialization causes men to develop values such as competitiveness and staying away from the home whereas women are encouraged to stay home and be gentle people. The former values cause men to engage in greater deviance than women.

Aspects of Culture: Symbols Language Gestures Norms Values Artifacts Rituals Relate them to what you already know.

Symbols. Ex: Cross for Christians, American Flag Gestures. Ex: Nodding your head means your are saying yes in America Language Norms: Rules for how people in a society are expected to behave. Ex: Homosexuality is looked down upon in Uganda, Eating with left hand is looked down upon in many countries Values: Beliefs about what is good and bad. Ex: Americans think competition and freedom are good. Polish people value generosity and courtesy. Rituals Artifacts: Objects used by people in a society. Ex: Americans use cars and refrigerators. People in other cultures do not use cars and refrigerators.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Relate it to what you already know.

The way people use language affects the way they think. Ex: Whites referring to black people by racial slurs will affect their view of black people. People referring to nurses who are men as male nurses while females ones as nurses will affect their sexist view that men are not supposed to be nurses whereas women are supposed to.

Zimbardo Experiment

Twenty-four male students out of seventy-five were selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. The participants adapted to their roles well beyond Zimbardo's expectations, as the guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some of the prisoners to psychological torture. Many of the prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse, and, at the request of the guards, readily harassed other prisoners who attempted to prevent it. The experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his role as the superintendent, permitted the abuse to continue. Two of the prisoners quit the experiment early, and the entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days.

Sociological Perspective. Relate it to what you already know.

Understanding that people's attitudes and behaviors are influenced by their social background (race, gender, ethnicity, social class etc.) A lot of the people who are religious have strong pro-life views. Their faith plays a huge role in their attitudes. Their faith also plays a role in the fact that they vote Republican.

Social Structure (Vertical and Horizontal). Relate it to what you already know.

Vertical Social Structure refers to social inequality (Ex: Black people are more likely to be poor than whites, Blacks are less likely to graduate than whites) Horizontal Social Structure refers to social and physical characteristics of communities people belong to. Ex: High single mother and poverty rates in inner city communities

Conventional Crime Are offenders and victims of such crimes strangers and of different races? What is a predictor of a person's likelihood to commit such crimes? Relate it your life.

Violent and property offenses, including homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. No, they often know each other and are of the same race. Being black, male, young and poor are predictors of the commission of conventional crime.

Which social class is more likely to display positive emotions? Negative emotions?

Wealthier people are more likely to display positive motions whereas the poor are more likely to display negative emotions

Conflict Perspective. Relate it to what you already know.

When studying sociological phenomena, it emphasizes inequality in relation to those phenomena. Ex: Some conflict theorists would argue that the legal system is rigged against the poor and minorities. Poor people are more likely to go to jail than wealthy folks since they have inferior lawyers to the latter.

Functionalist Perspective. Relate it to what you already know.

When studying sociological phenomena, it emphasizes the important functions that they play in society. Ex: Durkheim argued that deviance is good because it allows others in society to know the consequences of engaging in deviance

According to the textbook, what are some gender differences in emotion?

Women cry more often than men, and men get angrier than women

What has not been responsible for the increasing divorce rate?

Women's rights movement (Divorce rate increased before it came into prominence); Marriages became less happier for couples in them

In-group and Out-group

in group-a group that one feels loyal to. Ex: Family, football team (if a football player) out group-a group that one competes against with other group members. Ex: Another football team (if a football player)

status symbol

items used to identify a status. Ex: Rolls Royces for rich people, A person pushing a stroller is represented as a parent by pushing it, wheelchair identifies someone's status as disabled

Marx v. Weber on Class Structure:

o Marx: A person's social class depends on his or her degree of ownership of the means of production (factories, land etc.) o Weber: A person's social class depends on his or her wealth, prestige and power

Open and Closed Systems. Examples?

o Open and Closed Systems: Open: • System where vertical mobility is possible o Ex: US Class System Closed: • System where there is no vertical mobility possible o Ex: Indian Caste System

social network

the social ties radiating outward from the self that link people together

differential association theory

theory that individuals learn deviance from family and friends. Ex: Gang families

Two explanations for why humans have emotions

• Evolutionary Approach: Emotions are a part of our biology • Sociological Approach: What emotions are appropriate in which settings are learned within a culture and from social interactions with others. Ex: People learn that one must be somber at a funeral from their social interactions with others and within their culture

Disadvantages of bureaucracy

• Alienation (E.g. employees cannot take off from work to take care of kid etc. because of rules or clients may have to wait a while to receive their services because they filled out a form incorrectly) • Red tape: Employees are more devoted to abiding by every little rule rather than achieving the organization's goals • Red tape may prevent employees from being creative and acting independently in situations that require such • Incompetence: o Peter Principle: Good workers keep getting promoted to the point that they have a job in which they are incompetent at in a bureaucracy o The more time there is available for tasks in a bureaucracy, the more time that will be taken to do those tasks even if such extra time is unnecessary

Explanations for poverty

• Individual explanation: Blames the poor for their problems. Ex: Poor are lazy and lack ambition • Structural explanation: There are problems in society contributing to the poor's woes. Ex: Bad schools, lack of job opportunities etc. • Integrated approach: States that the poor may do things that contribute to their poverty, but that's because of factors that the structural approach says explains poverty.

Cause of Economic inequality

• Loss of manufacturing jobs • Changes in tax-and-transfer policies that have favored the wealthy

Effects of poverty

• Poor are more likely to have trouble affording housing and to live in rundown housing compared to others • Poor are more likely to attend rundown schools that provide poor-quality education • More likely to be at risk of being involved in family issues such as divorce and domestic violence • More likely to suffer from inadequate nutrition and facing health, behavioral, and cognitive issues as a result • More likely to have health problems

Symbolic Interactionism on Stratification

• Stratification influences people's lifestyles and behaviors, daily interaction and conception of themselves. o Ex: The class system in many societies leads many rich people to live lavishly and buy status symbols while the poor engage in certain behaviors to cope with their poverty

Tenets of functionalist perspective of stratification. Criticisms?

• Stratification serves a function • Assumptions o There are professions out there in a society that are more important than other jobs. o Those types of jobs require more skills than the latter. o Very few people have the skills and knowledge required to those jobs o In order to entice people into those jobs, people need to get high incomes and consider financial awards, creating stratification Criticisms: o What jobs are considered important? o Implies least important jobs are paid less than most important jobs, which isn't always true. Ex: Elementary school teachers paid less than athletes