Chapter 9: Stratification and Social Mobility in the US.

Chapter 9: Stratification and Social Mobility in the US

Stratification and Social Mobility in the US

Stratification: structured ranking in which members of society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, and power

Social Inequality: Condition in which members of society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, and power

Systems of Stratification

Ascribed Status Achieved Status

Income and Wealth

Systems of Stratification

Slavery: Individuals are owned by other people, who treat them as property

Caste System: Hereditary ranks usually religiously dictated and tend to be fixed and immobile

Feudalism: peasants worked in exchange for land and military protection and other services

Open and Closed Systems

The U.S. Class System

Class system: Social ranking based primarily on economic positions in which achieved characteristics can influence mobility

Upper Class Upper-Middle Class Lower-Middle Class Working Class Lower Class

The US Class System The Shrinking Middle Class

Disappearing opportunities for the uneducated Outsourcing Growing dependence on a temporary workforce and part-time positions to

reduce costs Decline in union membership

TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocrats_the_pitchforks_are_coming?language=en

Functionalist View of Stratification

Stratification keeps people motivated and rewards innovators in society

Stratification fills the roles that need to be filled in Society

Conflict View of Stratification

Social relations depend on who owns the primary modes of production

CapitalismClass Consciousness

BourgeoisieFalse Consciousness

Proletariat

Interactionist View of Social Stratification

No single characteristic totally defines a person’s position within the stratification system

Max Weber Class Status Power

Jon Stewert http://

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/jon-stewart-chris-christie_n_6628364.html

Interactionist View

Conspicuous ConsumptionConspicuous Leisure

Stigma is placed on behavior typical of the lower class also often criminalized

Is Stratification Universal?

Inequality exists in all societies Stratification is a major source of societal tension Leads to instability and social change

Dominant Ideology: set if cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests

Lenski’s View- as society advances technologically , it becomes capable of producing a surplus of goods

Who are the Poor?

Poverty and the poor satisfy positive functions for many non-poor groups Feminization of Poverty The Working Poor The Underclass

Weber: class is closely related to people’s life chances

Who are the poor?