Sociology: Social Stratification/Global Stratification
class system
"open system" which allows for considerable change in one's social positions
income
earnings from work or investments
name the five social mobility influenced in the US
growth of large corporations, increased standard of living, growth of urban areas, maintenance of a split labor market, and advanced technology
The work of Horatio Alger concept of the American Dream
he wrote many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination.
core nations (US, Canada)
high income countries with the highest standard of living and are industrial and post-industrial capitalist countries that control most of world's wealth, military hardware, expertise, producing technology, controls financial resources such as the world bank, and the international monetary fund, and are economically diversified.
global power relationships
historically, wealth flowed from semi- and peripheral nations to core nations through colonialism, and now, neocolonialism
social-functional perspective of stratification
holds that social classes emerge because of an unequal distribution of rewards that are essential in complex societies.
social inequality
in the US social inequality is based on one's income, family background, wealth, education, occupation, as wells, other characteristics
upper class
made of individuals or families who have considerable wealth which is composed of liquid assets (cash in bank accounts), real estate, stocks, bonds, and other owned assets.
lower class/underclass
made up of persons who depend almost exclusively on some public assistance.
middle class
made up of upper-middle and an average-middle category and is far more ethically and racially diverse than the upper class
semi-peripheral nations
make use of mopeds, motorcycles and other lightweight gasoline-powered vehicles
semi-peripheral nations (Asia)
middle income countries whose income is the world's standard and whose membership is not always clear because they are developing
colonialism
process by which some nations enrich themselves though political and economic control of other nations
objective social class
refers to where someone is located in the class structure as assigned by society such as underclass, lower, working, middle, or upper class.
advanced technology
reliance on computers and robots
social stratification
semi- and peripheral nations distribute their wealth very unequally
cultural patterns
semi-peripheral nations are usually traditional holding onto long established ways of life that resist change even that promises a richer material life
commoners
serfs, peasants, artisans, and merchants
maintenance of a split labor market
splinters the labor pool in ways that minimize mobility.
The American Dream justifies inequality in the US by?
stating that hard work will allow all individuals of families to reach their goals and those who don't are personally at fault and not American society.
the six factors that help explain the severe and widespread poverty around the world is
technology, population growth, cultural patterns, social stratification, gender inequality, and global power relationships
a system of meritocracy
the ability to move up within society by personal merit alone, no known society has ever had a pure system of meritocracy.
growth of urban areas
the cost of living is higher, has led to higher wages for city dwellers.
status consistency
the degree of consistency or inconsistency, or social mobility, in a person's life across one's lifetime
social mobility
the upward or downward movement in a stratified society going from one class level to another class level
intrAgenerational mobility (vertical)
the upward or downward movement within one's own lifetime
wealth
total value of money and assets minus outstanding debts
exchange mobility
upward movement of a group of people while another group of people experience a downward movement; it is not connected to the labor market
intErgenerational mobility
upward or downward movement between generations such as between parents and their children
open stratification system
where individuals can move between social statuses based on achievement
modernization theory
will not modernize itself; transformation from a traditional, rural, agrarian society to a secular, urban, industrial society
society's mode of transportation
a shorthand index of development that is evident to those who travel.
poverty trap
a situation in which a slight increase in earnings results in higher income tax and social security payments equal to, or even exceeding additional earnings, which leads to a family or individual living worse off as a consequence.
social-conflict perspective of stratification
argues that rather than benefitting society as a whole, social stratification provides some people with advantages over others.
dpendency theory
argues that semi- and peripheral becomes dependent notion that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and undeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former
class consciousness
awareness that different social classes exist in society and that people's fates are tied to the fate of the whole social class they are placed in.
peripheral nations (Southeast Asia, Africa)
lowest standard of living in the world and include what is commonly referred to as the third world countries controlling few productive resources to compete in an international economy.
In Max Weber terms of prestige
meant one's degree of social honor or deference in relation to other people
In Max Weber terms of class
meant one's life chances or, the ability of people to get what they both need and want in the market place.
In Max Weber terms of power
meant one's relationship or influence upon complex organizations, such as corporations, gov, unions, and other social systems.
peripheral nations
depend on the muscle power of humans and their animals
equal probability
dependent on one's values, self discipline, and degree of ambition to get ahead, and thus, create on a limited basis one's life chances.
established aristocracy
derives their wealth and power from extensive landholdings.
peripheral nations
eat basic cereals
gender inequality
more pronounced in peripheral nations and keeps women from holding jobs, typically meaning they have many children resulting in slow economic development.
social-class system
most common form of a classification system that exist in industrialized and post industrialized societies, such as the US, and is social strata based on income level
horizontal mobility
movement of an individual neither upward or downward within the same social class
spatial mobility
movement of collectives of people from one area of a society to another area of a society or from ones society to another society in search of a better life.
transnational (multinational) corporations
operate across national borders often dividing the production process in several different countries and dominate world industrial production.
high mass consumption
people enjoy the economic rise in living standards by the acquisition of the expanding selection of goods that their society produces
drive to technological maturity
people have accepted the desire to reach higher living standards through technology
homeless class
people that live in cars while working at jobs that do not pay enough for them to afford housing, are who sleep over the warm air of exhaust grates in the alley of urban office buildings or under bridges and overpasses, and abused women and their children staying at a shelter.
traditional stage
people untraditional societies are socialized to honor the past and cannot easily imagine that life can or should be any different
population growth
peripheral nations have the highest birth rates that causes extreme pressures on their limited resources.
core nations
prepared foods along with fresh foods and health foods
core nations
employ high numbers of automobiles; in the US, the number of motor vehicles exceeds the number of adults.
neocolonialism
form of global power relationship that does not involve direct political control but economic exploitation by multinational corporations, and quite often, they impose their will on countries to create favorable economic conditions, just as colonizers did in the past
complex society
has a great amount of social stratification because surpluses are great.
growth of large corporations
has influenced the wages people are paid
simple society
has little social stratification because surplus are at a minimum
clergy or religious
have considerable status and they own land, and as a result, exert considerable influence over people.
what did Herbert Spencer argue about superior people?
he argued that superior people, the educated, highly skilled, etc., should receive more societal rewards than inferior people, the uneducated, unskilled, who should remain at the bottom.
social interaction perspective of stratification
looks at how people within different social classes use symbols such as automobiles, housing, clothing, and power to display their status in society (an activity also known as conspicuous consumption; Thorstein Veblen, 1899)
semi-peripheral nations
consume basic packaged foods (non frozen)
social stratification based on the four principles
1) a trait of a particular society, and not simply a reflection of individual differences between people within that society. 2) transmitted from one generation to another 3) universal, but varies from one society to another society 4) involves both inequality and the acceptable societal beliefs to maintain that inequality
what are the two viewpoints as to why poverty exists?
1) first viewpoint argues the poor are those who cannot or will not work men and women with fewer skills, less schooling, or simply offer only low wages. 2) second viewpoint; society that distributes the resources, and therefore, society is responsible for poverty because more and more available jobs offer only low wages.
peripheral nations are vulnerable to?
1) fluctuations in the world demand for their products 2) military intervention by core nations 3) withholding of aid from core gov and banks
caste system
a closed system because one's birth alone determines one's place in society with little or no opportunity for upward or downward movement in strata, but where one just simply lives out his or her life.
split labor market
a labor pool in which some jobs afford upward mobility and others do not because the job market is split between manual and non manual work, and is further segmented within these manual and nonmetal spheres
Wallerstein's dependency theory
Emanuel Wallerstein argues that the northwestern European core nations first explored the eastern and southern European nations; and when the exploration opened trade in the sixteenth century, they went on to exploit north and South American, Africa, and India.
system of stratification
a "closed system" which allows for little social change in one's social position.
technology
about one-quarter of people in peripheral nations farm the land using human muscles or animal power which keeps agricultural production modest
lower middle class
also known as working class people; members work as white collar clerks or blue-collar semi-skilled workers
war
an armed conflict usually between a national army and some other group or between armed groups within a country
social-functional theory
argues that motivating people to perform various social roles require some type of system of unequal rewards and has beneficial consequences for operation of society.
official poverty line
based on a pretax money income only, which doesn't include food stamps (snap; supplemental nutrition assistance program), medicaid, public housing, and other non cash benefits and varies according to family size being adjusted each year for inflation; it doesn't take into account regional differences in the cost of living.
socioeconomic status (SES)
considers income, education, and occupation when assessing a person's social status.
social stratification
system in which a society places people in a schematic layer (or hierarchy) according to specific societal strata in which rewards such as wealth, power, and prestige are distributed to members of society according to their place in societal strata (social stratifications, classification, race, ethnicity, gender, etc.)
terrorism
the deliberate and unlawful use of violence against the general population for the purpose of political gain.
human trafficking
the movement of men, women, and children from one place to another for the purpose of performing forced labor
an open system allows for life chances like...?
the numerous opportunities for education, occupation, and autonomy that people are allowed to have to improve their social classification status.
global stratification
the pattern of social inequality experienced by peoples around the world
international division of labor
the range of tasks that exists on several levels in the economic world system and operates on two levels of transnational corporations and national corporations.
what did sociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore argue from a structural-functionalist perspective?
they argued that the greater the scarce talents of an individual the greater should be the social rewards awarded to that individual.
subjective social class
to capture individuals' sense of their place in the social ladder.
take-off stage
traditional societies shake off the grip of tradition and start to use their talent and imagination to spark economic growth
structural mobility
upward or downward movement of individuals resulting from changes within the labor market.
