Sociology Test 2

Epic of America by James Adams

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

social class

"layers" of people, idea that is socially constructed

Why we believe in the American Dream

- First, it is the result of the nature of our economy. As American society shifted from an agricultural to an industrial and then postindustrial economy, the occupational structure inevitably changed. This resulted in a very favorable pattern of social mobility. When comparing the occupational status of sons to that of their fathers, far more sons were climbing up the job ladder than falling down it. This is known as structural mobility, in that it resulted from changes in the occupational structure. - Second, the United States has long had a practice of free public education that presumably provided avenues to success that were available to anyone who was smart and willing to work hard. - Third, we believe in the American Dream because we need to believe. For the wealthy, it becomes a handy justification for their economic success. It was the result of their own hard work, intelligence, and ability to take advantage of the chances that fell their way. For the less fortunate, and especially the poor, it may be even more important to believe because otherwise they are left without hope. - Finally, we believe in the American Dream because its existence is propped up by highly visible symbols of success.

problems with culture of poverty explanation

- First, the poor are not an isolated homogeneous group. Most poor are poor only temporarily, many work full time at low paying jobs. Poverty is not commonly passed down from generation to generation. There is currently an underclass of long term chronic poor, but they only account for 5 percent of the population at best (although the percentage has grown). - Second, one must consider whether their behaviors are a reaction to poverty, or whether because they are poor that the consequences of these behaviors are just greater. For example, laziness is not a trait monopolized by the poor. College students have even been known to suffer from this! But for them to fail to put forth a best effort or even make it to class carries with it little consequence. But when one is poor, one has less room for error when it comes to "messing up." - Finally, in some ways their immediate experiences may be such that they are quite reasonable in not valuing education or believing that hard work in a job will pay off. One can flip burgers for only so long! And they may have had friends or family members who have gone off to college only to end up in the same type of dead-end jobs as high school dropouts. They may want the same things that middle class kids want; they just have no clue as to how to go about getting them. They are not coming from households where their parents are college graduates or have the kind of connections that kids from higher class backgrounds have. They lack cultural capital and social capital

Conflict theorists on Education

- an arena marked by increasing conflict and struggle because of a breakdown in consensus about what schools should teach

How is status restricted?

- cost

News

- great potential to shape the behavior and beliefs of viewers - content is really more about entertainment than stories of social consequence - for new presented in Internet form, this holds true even more - public trust in the news media is at a near low - bias is inevitable in the selection of words and images used to describe people and events: the facts one chooses - it may be that much news is actually moderate and apolitical in its view, and thus both liberals and conservatives might see a news story as biased because it does not reflect their political bias - bias may be greatest in the decision to omit some stories, or parts of stories, for public viewing. And if we never hear the stories, how can we judge bias? - the demographic profile of an audience may be more important than the numerical size of media users. Newspapers deliberately make it hard for low-income families to subscribe, while often providing free or discounted newspapers to well educated and affluent readers—like Furman students or guests at elite hotels. That way, newspapers can charge advertisers higher rates - the most significant factor that shapes the worldview of reporters is social class - still studies that suggest, however, the advertisers have direct influence over magazine content. Tobacco companies are major advertisers in many magazines, and the more a magazine relies on tobacco money, the fewer stories about cancer there are - reliance on the "news beat." Here, a reporter visits or contacts individuals or organizations that routinely provide potential stories. - Often, organizations will provide reporters with news releases, written press or video stories already written from which a news reporter can select portions, add a few pieces of information or just use the prepackaged information in its entirety as a news story. It is estimated that about half the stories in the Wall Street Journal are press releases given to reporters to use as their own - rely heavily on a variety of conventions in the construction of stories. These conventions include a reliance on formula and stereotype - maintains the Illusion of objectivity - "watchdog" for the public - "lapdog" for powerful interests - entertainment for viewers

Symbolic capital

- how does one value cultural tastes, knowledge - ability to determine what knowledge counts

New media

- internet brings about new forms of mass media. More interactive, social. - less anonymity - agency: producer and user of content. Construct the self through fb, blogs, etc. - immediacy: no waiting for scores, rush to get stories out before confirmation, much possibility for error - permanency: images persist - accessible to wide audience, across nations - choice: even more choice for users. Can select what they want to use and when.

advantages of new media

- library in a box - democratic: a check on power (e.g. police cameras) - consumer protection: can check what prices should be - niche markets for a variety of tastes - cognitive surplus: collaborative learning - easier to stay connected

Family

- like a total institution in one's early years: isolation and dependency - the most important arena of socialization in determining one's sense of self and social outcomes

Function of religion (Functionalist)

- meaning of life (purpose of) - social cohesion and sense of belonging - social control (legitimates practices/customs) - social service to others - support system to an individual—emotional, financial

structural view on media

- media logic (David Altheide): different forms of media have different logics. Technology determines content. Consider difference between TV news and newspaper. oral vs written vs visual. - written forms of media have permanence and can provide for more detailed argument. Electronic media in the traditional sense (oral and visual) is transitory. Here and then gone. - as social institutions make use of different forms of media, it changes their form and content (e.g. in football, players performing celebrations for camera)

Old media

- one sender to many anonymous receivers - passive viewers - limited choices

conflict view on media

- powerful forces own media and shape our world view. a handful of conglomerates. - media is influential and biased - media images privilege a white male world view? - images of women, minority groups, or absence of. how those images promote stereotypes or reinforce them. influential. - media is the opiate of the masses: entertain and distract us from the more important issues of the day

functionalist view of media

- see media content as primarily audience driven - what society needs/expects from media - surveillance: the news and information role of the media - interpretation: information on meaning and significance, as opposed to just presenting facts - linkage: buyers and sellers - transmission of values: media reflect and reinforce widely held social values - entertainment

Civil Religion (Robert Bellah, a functionalist)

- socializing function of mass education - the teaching of values and socialization of new generations/immigrants about what it means to be an American - "religion" of the state (e.g. hymn to the country, holy days such as July 4)

Significance of mass media

- spend tremendous amount of time and money - content specifically designed to influence us - major source for claims about reality - billion dollar industries. Conglomerates. (Clumps of companies in various fields all connected together by a parent company). Very few companies (SIX) own most of the major media in the US. - internet and social media: monopolistic, a handful of major providers

Credentialism (Randall Collins)

- suggests that much of what one is paying for with a college degree is a credential that makes you eligible for higher status, higher paying jobs - the cost of college plus the lost years of minimal income separates out the middle classes from the working classes

backstage blunder

- the private becomes public - an impulsive act can quickly become a public event

Religion in the US

- the rise of fundamentalism - many theorists felt that with modernization that the power of religion would fade. An era of science and reason. A culture that worships stuff, living in the material world. - extreme segregation by race and class. perhaps most segregated of all institutions. - US is a very religious country - post WWI to about 2008, 90% say religious - new polls show 20% nonreligious, but spiritual and believe in God - church attendance declining, unhappy with politically active church

Religion (Emile Durkheim)

- unified set of beliefs, symbols, practices (rituals) relative to the sacred (or supernatural). Guides human behavior. Unites believers into a community. - world is divided into two realms

disadvantages of new media

- unprecedented surveillance - how much information should businesses be able to mine about us and our buying habits/interests

Murray Milner

- work on the caste system in India. A key aspect of status is conformity to the norms of the group, similar to what we mentioned earlier about living up to or reflecting the ideals of a community. In systems like high school culture where all students are relatively powerless and have little income of their own, status becomes an extremely important basis for stratification, and it is grounded in more than economic cost. Those with higher status tend to elaborate and complicate the norms and develop a complex and subtle set of rules to follow in order to gain status, an "elaboration of norms." If it is easy to conform to status norms, then they become less valuable. This is why we find a continual changing of the norms for what constitutes "coolness" in regard to fashion. On the other hand, in an affluent community like an elite country club, it may involve knowing how to display one's wealth through the purchase of proper status symbols. This is an important difference between "new money" and "old money." - whom one eats and with whom one is friends (including dating) becomes an important aspect of social status because these types of interactions are voluntary and expressive. That is, they involve sharing emotions, and one can choose (to a certain extent) with whom one wishes to share meals and companionship. So if one associates with those of higher social status, one's social standing increases, while associating with those of lower social standing may reduce one's social status.

poverty

15.0% of the population lives in poverty, and about 25% live in near-poverty

Religion in the world

33% Christian, 20% Muslim, 13% Hindu, 12.6% nonreligious, 2.5% Atheist

Bourdieu and capital

Bourdieu see economic capital as important but just one form of capital. It gets traded for other forms of capital (prestige), and certain forms of capital can get traded for economic capital. Access to capital is restricted.

Why do some people earn so much and others so little? (functionalist approach)

Davis and Moore suggest that inequality is functional for society. They assume that most people by nature are lazy. Some jobs are more difficult and important than others. The only way a society could recruit people to do these jobs is by offering them greater rewards. To become a surgeon requires years of training and a high level of expertise. One will work long hours performing a valued job. Consequently, one would need to offer high rewards in order to entice people to pursue that vocation. In a way, what Davis and Moore are talking about is supply and demand. There is a limited supply of persons to perform difficult jobs, such as becoming a surgeon or playing third base on a major league baseball team. If these jobs are seen as being socially important (there is a demand for what they produce), they will be well rewarded. Inequality, according to functionalists like Davis and Moore, is a social necessity and is good.

Conclusion on the nature of news

For many people, and especially young people, TV news is just not relevant. Increasingly people are becoming skeptical not just of politicians, but also the traditional sources that report on politics. What can we do? Perhaps we should demand that news, especially television news, have more substance. Complain about celebrity stories and car chases that tell us nothing important about the world in which we live. Hope that in depth coverage of important stories can be found on more than just PBS or 60 Minutes. We should also be more active in looking for news. The news is out there, but we have to work a bit to find it. It is important to be a critical consumer of news, looking for a diversity of views on topics. Would you ever read the books you are assigned in classes if it was not required? Don't let your education stop once you leave college. As citizens you should consider yourself having a duty to ferret out information from routine reading of newsmagazines, searching a variety of Internet sites and exploring nonfiction books.

Conflict view on religion

Karl Marx - opiate of the masses Max Weber -religion could support those in power but also could be a source of legitimacy independent from law and politics - bring about change (e.g. civil rights). - a powerful source that justifies and condemns inequalities

industrial reserve army

Karl Marx suggested that corporations needed to have a group of unemployed workers floating about to keep employed laborers from complaining, keep wages down, and provide a pool of workers that could be hired in boom periods.

Annete Lareau (Parenting strategies by class)

Middle/upper: concerted cultivation. Parents advocates for kids. Intervene in school, (helicopter parents). Help kids build credentials, activities. Lower/working—natural growth. Turn them loose on their own. School a bad experience in their own lives. Not helpful as advocates.

Who rules?

The debate for the most part is whether we have political pluralism where numerous competing interest groups (PACS, for example) struggle to have their way in the political process. Or is our country run by a power elite, a handful of individuals who went to the same colleges, belong to the same clubs, are on the board of directors of various firms? The argument is that these men run the country when it comes to issues that relate to their interests. They could care less about abortion laws, but try to change the tax code.

eligibility for programs

The government uses the absolute poverty measure to determine eligibility for programs. It was first implemented in 1964 when a clerk in the Dept. of Agriculture (Mollie Oshansky) was ordered to come up with a way of measuring poverty for the War on Poverty program begun by Lyndon Johnson. She chose this one for its simplicity. Interestingly, the poverty line was essentially the same regardless of which of these measures one used until the mid 1970s, when the absolute poverty figure began to increasingly diverge from the relative poverty measure. This is one of the ways people argue that the poor are becoming steadily worse off in this country since about 1973.

prestige in what community?

There are numerous communities/subcultures, what Bourdieu calls "fields." What confers prestige in the monastery may not confer prestige for members of the Carolina Panthers or IBM. consider differences in prestige by social class. Lower social classes may base prestige in the display of power, especially physical power and MANHOOD.

highly formalized presentation and avoidance rituals

Think about doctor-patient or student-college president interactions. They tend to be somewhat formal. Patients and students are supposed to show deference to higher-ups; even professors would show deference to college presidents and not presume to interact with them as equals, even if they were classmates.

Why do some people earn so much and others so little? (conflict approach)

Virtually all agree that some inequality is inevitable and even desirable. Their concern is with the extent of inequality. Why would a CEO get paid $40 million dollars a year and a worker in the bottling plant make $25,000. Is the CEO's job that much more difficult and important? Who decides the relative importance of a job? Is a major league short stop that much more important to society than a schoolteacher or social worker? Of course the issue of power is raised here. Specifically who gets to define worth and how is demand created. And also, how might supply for a particular occupation be restricted or funneled.

power

Weber felt that power was the most important dimension of stratification in modern society. Bureaucracies are everywhere; they pervade all aspect of life. Multinational corporations have a profound impact on thousands upon thousands of lives. The decision of an individual in New York about the relocation of a factory could devastate a community. Interestingly, Weber felt that capitalism is preferable to socialism. He felt that once these powerful state bureaucracies were established under socialism, the state would never wither away. It would just become more powerful and intrusive. Weber felt that power is found in authority—that is, grounded in a position such as professor or president or parent. It also took the form of influence—grounded in personal resources such as charm. He was concerned about the idea of legitimacy, that we see some social arrangement as being right and proper.

Profane

an ordinary everyday world

Sacred

an otherworldly realm of awe and reverence

relative poverty

argues that while the poor in this country may be relatively well off compared to the poor in other countries or historical periods, what matters is the time and place in which one lives. Poverty is also a relative concept based on those to whom one is immediately comparing oneself. This view argues for a measure of poverty that is half the median family income, or about $26,000 for a family of four. This measure would place about 20 percent of the population in poverty.

the nature of news

biased, pro American, pro capitalist, privileges heterosexuality. So long as our biases we do not see bias.

stratification

built into the social structure and persists over time. That is, there are relatively small fluctuations in the percentage of population living in poverty year after year, and even smaller fluctuations in the percentage of people who are extremely wealthy.

life chance

chances of getting the good things in life and avoiding the bad

Mass Media

communication that reaches a vast and varied audience

intergenerational mobility

comparing father's and son's occupations. Typically the same interest is in how much vertical mobility takes place. This is mobility up or down the system. For example, take a father who was an electrician but whose son becomes a college professor. This would be upward mobility. very little dramatic social mobility. Most sons end up in jobs that were similar to their fathers in terms of social class. Through most of the 20th century, we have found about 50% of sons experiencing some upward mobility and 20-25% experiencing downward mobility.

Benneton approach

consider the cast of Lost, advert characters - race, gender, ethnicity - someone to identify with

Social implications

cultural fragmentation - even more niche markets political fragmentation - alternative realities? Fox News vs. Washington Post - some forms of media in trouble (e.g. newspaper, music, book industry) convergence - old media making increasing use of internet (e.g. webpages for NYT) implication for retail: Amazon and web-based retailers making a killing implication for self: Facebook friends going to parties and having a great time. We are excluded. A more personal reference group. Facebook making us lonely?

charismatic authority (Weber)

devotion to specific and exceptional attributes of an individual. It seems much like influence, except that charismatic authorities lay claim to social positions. They emerge when there is a "legitimation crisis." That is, tradition no longer makes sense and people have lost faith in the law and state. There is much disenchantment. Under these circumstances, charismatic figures such as Hitler emerge.

conspicuous leisure

displaying prestige by showing people you are so well off that you do not have to work

stratification

division of society into layers of people who have unequal amounts of scarce but desired rewards

Karl Marx

economic determinist, the nature of a society's economy will determine all aspects of that society. He sees society as a struggle of social classes in conflict, with the basis for all conflict being economic. Social classes are defined by the relationship to the means of production. Capitalists own the means of production and generally exploit workers or proletariat, attempting to extract surplus value from their labor. Capitalism, then is a system based on exploitation and alienation-where workers are alienated from their labor and individuals are alienated from each other in a dehumanizing economic system. The proletariat are slow in recognizing that they are being exploited because of false consciousness. Their failures become seen more as the result of bad luck or personal shortcomings rather than being structured into the social order. Existing social practices are just taken for granted as natural. According to Marxists, education, religion, sports and media are all important social institutions that help establish false consciousness. Consider, for example, how sports provides examples of how anyone can make it in American society through hard work and individual skill.Marx believes that an awakening will occur and capitalism will be replaced by socialism-a state run economy. In time, because Marx believes that humans by nature are Good, communism will emerge as the dominant economic system, a society with a minimal state and relative equality. That is, an economic order that will be based on the idea "to each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Even Marx sees some inequality as inevitable and acceptable.

Phillip's Curve

economic principle proposing that full employment leads to spiraling wages and high inflation. Consequently, we "need" to have an economy that has an unemployment rate of about 5 percent to keep inflation down.

Reproduction theory

education reproduces inequality - see society as groups in conflict struggling over desired social rewards -free public education does not promote equality of opportunity. We do not live in a meritocracy. Game is rigged to the benefit of the higher social classes. - hidden curriculum, a way of maintaining class boundaries

Why are people poor? (structural)

emphasizes the occupational structure of a society as a significant factor in explaining poverty. we have an economy that is structured in such a way that a certain portion of the population is guaranteed to be poor.

absolute poverty

estimates how much it costs to adequately feed an individual. It is judged that about 1/3 of one's income goes to food. Consequently, the poverty line is three times the food budget. underestimates how much food actually costs. unrealistic to expect that anyone could design an adequate food budget based on $1.81 per meal. The government uses the absolute poverty measure to determine eligibility for programs.

legal-rational authority (Weber)

exemplified by the legal system, one has a fair and logically consistent set of rules that are impartially applied (at least ideally).

Why are people poor? (biosocial)

factors like poor maternal diet during pregnancy, inadequate nutrition during childhood development, environmental hazards such as high lead content or other forms of pollution more commonly found in low income neighborhoods. Teenage pregnancies are more likely to produce premature babies. In this way, a blend of environmental and biological factors is combined to explain why certain individuals end up struggling socially and economically.

issues for social media

front stage fraud - we can construct images of ourselves that cannot be easily verified and may be quite inaccurate

pink salary occupations

historically high supply of females have lower salaries. This channeling of women into certain occupations was a significant factor in keeping salaries of nurses, social workers, and teachers low.

front stage/back stage

how going back stage is an indication of social distance. closeness and trust. revealing ourself a risk.

conspicuous consumption

idea that we waste money in an attempt to gain prestige

Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony

ideas of the dominant class become the dominant ideas in society

dimensions of stratification (privilege)

if one is higher up in the class system, the consequences of one's errors may not be as great. A lazy college student who misses a lot of classes ends up with mediocre grades but is not "fired" from Furman. A lazy low income person who routinely fails to show up for work loses his job. US is ranked 40th worldwide in terms of income inequality, which has increased significantly over the past ten years, and is the highest of all post-industrial societies.

reputational

individuals are asked to rate other in terms of social standing. This requires, of course, that everyone knows each other. Thus it is a limited and rarely used approach.

symbolic interactionist (interactions, meaning making, interpretation) view on media

interactions of media affecting sense of self, meanings. media influences who we are and how we act. . minimal effects theory: media has minimal impact, reflects back our tastes and interests selective exposure: we choose to select out messages that fit with our tastes and world view. selective perception: we see what we believe. Interpret media content in a way that fits with our world view, concerns/beliefs (e.g. John Lennon - Imagine) selective retention - what sticks is what fits with our world views - these aspects of selectivity suggest that the media is not a significant influence. may reinforce ideas, but not create them. media as influencer: media may be influential when has monopoly of information, content presumed factual, viewer has no strong opinion impact on children: lack backlog of experience, separate fact from fiction, opinions not yet formed

cultural omnivore

know a lot about a lot of things

Cultural capital

knowledge, know how tastes. Having the right "experiences" may now count more since media and especially the internet has made access to different forms of knowledge more accessible. In other words, knowing about African animal migrations and the Great Wall of China is good, but that knowledge can be gained from watching National Geographic shows. Visiting China and Africa count more.

structural mobility

labor force has expanded more rapidly at the top and constricted down that the bottom. There are more better jobs today than in our fathers' day. We had nowhere to go but up!

Collective effervescence

like a magical power from shared focused attention and action/emotion

Ideal type (Max Weber)

like a religion, which is why organized religions may freak at rock music's influence on youth

Max Weber

major theorist in social stratification theory. Weber is a conflict theorist but differs significantly from Marx, whom he thought was too simple. A major difference is that Weber felt that capitalism was a better economic system than socialism. Weber felt that socialism with its bureaucratic state economy was going to be inefficient. More important, he felt that once such bureaucratic structures got put in place, its members would fight to keep them in operation. There would be no "withering away of the state." Weber's major contribution, is a multi-dimensional view of stratification based on power (getting one's way), prestige (esteem), and privilege (income plus wealth). These dimensions tend to hang together, but individuals may exchange income for prestige. And some with much income may not be granted much respect at all.

global village thesis

mass media helps create a core culture and common issues of concern for a nation or set of viewers . Internet can build/link smaller communities.

Social capital

networks, who one knows, connections. Prestige may be thought of as being like money. College education tells us what we need to know so that we can converse with the higher social classes; it defines what constitutes good taste.

organizational bias

news media are organizations concerned about profit and credibility, getting the job done. Shapes content of news.

credential expansion

now need more than a college degree. Must go to graduate school for good jobs. Just going to college not that helpful either. Must go to a very good college and do well at that college.

socio-economic status (SES)

objective measure that combines income, education level, and occupational prestige score

self-placement

one simply asks individuals into which social class they would place themselves. A problem with this approach is that most people consider themselves middle class, whether they have a family income of $15,000 or $150,000 a year.

factor shaping news content

personal interests of gatekeepers: duties and obligations of status, class background, race, gender ownership of media: corporations (e.g. PBS vs. CBS) advertisers: push for ratings and profit, what stories sell? audience interests: not all audience members are equal. skewed toward affluent whites. interest group pressures: government regulatory agencies, advocacy groups, liberal bias critique, fake news critique organizational routine: need for steady flow of stories. press conferences and other pseudoevents, done just for media consumption

permanency of the stage

pictures of any sort have a kind of permanence

Why are people poor? (culture of poverty)

poor learn a different set of rules and values than the dominant culture. They do not value education, learn to fail, have families marked by early marriage and pregnancy that lock them into a cycle of poverty.

social rewards

privilege: income plus wealth power: the ability to get one's way even against the wishes of others prestige: respect or esteem

prestige

reflects a style of life and flows from the ability of someone to live up to or typify community ideals and principles. Generally, people high up in the social system define what constitutes prestige. We want to be like them, and to climb the ladder upward we need to impress them. An important feature of status, then, is that it is inalienable to use Milner's term. That is, it is an idea that exists in people's minds. Therefore, it cannot be easily transferred from one person to another. It cannot be bought or sold. Acquiring it often requires a certain level of subtlety. Dating or becoming friends with someone because it would increase one's status would be considered in bad taste. Furthermore, as Milner points out, status is relatively inexpansible. That is, if the things that confer status are easily gotten, then they lose value. For something to convey status, it must remain relatively scarce, and access to it restricted. It is not the accumulation of money, but the spending of it on carefully chosen status symbols that confers prestige.

reflection theory

reflects social concerns, values

traditional authority (Weber)

rests on past custom. This is found in all societies, but most dominant in those with little social change. Religion is a form of traditional authority, and religions can make claims about what is morally right and just that may differ from those found in law. Thus religion may be not just be an opiate of the masses (Marx) but a powerful force for social change, according to Weber.

Neighborhood ordinances

rules that preserve social class appearance of community

Marxists and conflict theorists on social class

see social class as an important facet of our country and typically see a small number of social classes (e.g., capitalist and proletariat).

functionalists on social class

see social class as less important and suggest there is no such thing in this country (or an almost infinite number of social classes, called a gradational approach). Generally speaking, the more social classes a theorist identifies, the more likely that theorist is a functionalist.

cultivation analysis (George Gerbner), impact of media on adults

see things over and over, changes your world view (e.g. sexual behavior, from shock to acceptance to normal)

the expanding stage

small events can become international issues

Structural segregation

social class barriers established by cost of houses

iron law of oligarchy

states that as organizations become more complex, decision-making has to be delegated to a handful. Otherwise the organization could not function.

ritual of inversion

subverting (unsettle) images a form of humor or horror (e.g. pet like Beethoven and doll like Chucky)

School

take over many of the functions performed by other social institutions

American Dream

that anyone can make it to success through hard work, being smart and taking advantage of opportunities may be eroding, especially among white male working class. There is going to be a lot of political and social turmoil. This is already happening, and it would be a safe bet to assume that unless there are some significant economic changes, the political nastiness we have been seeing will continue beyond the election.

Horatio Alger

the most popular author of the 19th century, published numerous well received books that repeated in various ways this American fable of "rags to riches" —from log cabin to White House, from working class to corporate executive, and so forth

Wealth

the top 10% own over 75% of all wealth, while the bottom half own 1% of all wealth.

status inflation

there is a tendency to try to make jobs seem higher in status than they are. McDonald's for example awards plaques for employee of the month and is staffed by service facilitators (cashiers) and production managers (cooks). Also, we seem to think that any job involving thinking is better than manual labor. An elementary school teacher whose dad was a self-employed and extremely profitable builder is said to be upwardly mobile.

reference group

to whom we compare ourselves

Herbert Gans

wrote an article on the "functions of poverty", an example of how some segments of the population benefit from poverty.