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