Class and Stratification •What is Stratification? •Stratification in Historical Perspective •Stratification in Modern Western Societies •Poverty and Inequality •Social Mobility
Dec 21, 2015
Class and Stratification
• What is Stratification?
• Stratification in Historical Perspective
• Stratification in Modern Western Societies
• Poverty and Inequality
• Social Mobility
What is Stratification?
• Stratification is the system of structured inequalities among different groups of people• Structured => stratification persists across generations• Inequality => differential access to scarce resources
• Wealth• Income• Power • Prestige
• Different groups => access to scarce resources varies systematically by class, gender, age, race and ethnicity
Stratification by Class, Gender, Age, Race and Ethnicity:
• Is concerned with the ways in which inequalities are distributed within societies
• Answers the question• Who gets what and why?
Stratification by Class Asks:
• How equal are modern societies?
• How much of a chance does someone have of reaching the top of the economic ladder?
• Why is there persistent poverty in affluent societies?
How Equal are Modern Societies?
• This research addresses such issues as:• Class structure• Distribution of wealth• Distribution of income• Equality of opportunity
Chance of reaching top of economic ladder?
• This research addresses such issues as:• Social mobility• Does a society have a closed or open
stratification system?
Why is there persistent poverty in affluent societies?
• This research addresses such issues as:• Poverty• Homelessness• Unemployment
Stratification in Historical Context• Stratification is found everywhere
• Four basic systems of stratification • Slavery• Caste• Estate• Class
Compared to other systems, class systems (at least in principle) are:
• Fluid
• Based on achievement
• Economically-based
Stratification in Modern Western Societies
• Class is basis of stratification
• Chief bases of class differences are ownership of wealth and occupation
Industrialization and the Labor Force
• Increase in occupational specialization
• Changes in proportions of labor force in different sectors of the economy
• Changes in proportions of labor force in different types of occupations
• Increased employment of women outside the home
Classifying Occupations by Industry Sector
• Primary sector• Part of the economy that generates raw
materials directly from the environment
• Secondary sector• Part of the economy that transforms raw
materials into manufactured goods
• Tertiary sector • Part of the economy that generates services
rather than goods
Classifying Occupations by Occupational Type
• Agricultural/farm occupations
• Blue-collar occupations• Prestige?• Link with class structure?
• White-collar occupations• Prestige?• Link with class structure?
Increased Employment of Women Outside the Home
• % of women in labor force• 1901• 1998
• % of labor force who are women• 1901• 1998
Class Structure of Canada
• Upper class• Upper-uppers• Lower-uppers
• Middle class
• Working class
• Lower class• Poor• Working poor
Distribution of Wealth
• Canada
• United States
Policy Implications
• Success of government programs to transfer and redistribute income?• Canada• United States
Poverty and Inequality
• Relative poverty• What is it?
• Absolute poverty• What is it?• How used in policy debates?
Who is at Risk of being Poor in Canada?
• Children
• Women
• Certain visible minorities
• People living in rural areas
Debate Over Poverty
• Focus
• Competing positions• Poor are largely responsible for their own
poverty• Poverty is caused unequal distribution of
resources in society
• Link with debate over causes of homelessness
Social Mobility
• Movement of individuals and groups between strata in the class hierarchy
• Vertical mobility = movement up or down the class hierarchy• Upward mobility • Downward mobility
• Link with lateral mobility
Sociologists study social mobility by:
• Looking at individuals' own careers and seeing how far they move up or down the socioeconomic scale in the course of their own working lives• Intragenerational mobility
• Exploring where children are on the socioeconomic scale compared to their parents or grandparents• Intergenerational mobility
Most general concern:
• Do individuals born into the lower strata of society have opportunities to move up?
• Why?
Sociologists explore social mobility by studying occupational shifts
• Within an individual's career or between generations
• Occupational composition of the labor force affects intragenerational mobility and intergenerational mobility
• Why?
Changes in the proportions of white-collar and blue-collar occupations
• Suggest that over time Canada has become less unequal
• Suggest that opportunities for social mobility are increasing
• Why?
• But aggregate patterns may be misleading
Research outside Canada
• Shows that much of white-collar growth has occurred in lower positions• Sales clerks, typists, file clerks• Similar to working class occupations in terms of
income, work activities and power
• Sociologists talk about a "new working class" • Low-paid, semi-skilled, white-collar workers
• Did this happen in Canada?
Comparative research on Western societies has found:
• Children gain or lose chances of success because of family background
• Most vertical mobility is between occupations that are quite close to one another
• Downward mobility is less common than upward mobility but is still widespread
• Levels of social mobility are low compared to ideals of equality of opportunity
Education is key to upward mobility
• Many jobs require high school completion as a minimum condition
• Since 1990 number of jobs requiring a university degree or post-secondary diploma increased by 1.3 million
Compared to Canadians with less education, university graduates:
• Hold a higher proportion of upper white-collar jobs
• Are less likely to be unemployed
• Are less likely to remain unemployed if lose job
• Are more likely to earn higher salaries
In Canada:
• Is there equal opportunity for all Canadians to acquire education (assuming they have the ability and motivation to do so)?
• Do decisions about funding higher education affect equality of access?
Theorizing Stratification by Class
• Structural-functional paradigm• Social inequality plays an important role in the
operation of society• Davis-Moore hypothesis
• Social conflict paradigm• Stratification benefits some people at the
expense of others• Marx's critique of capitalism