Class Stratification

Introduction to Sociology: Module 7

Social Stratification
 Social stratification refers to how individuals
and groups are layered or ranked in society
according to how many valued resources they
possess

◦ An ongoing sorting process

◦ Legitimated by cultural beliefs

Assumptions of Stratification
 People are divided into ranked categories

 There is an unequal distribution of desired resources

 The criteria societies uses to rank others depends on:

 The society’s history
 Its geographic location
 Level of development
 The society’s political philosophy
 The decisions of those in power
 Have You Seen This Film?

 The Titanic lifeboats could only hold 1,178 of the

2,207 people on board.
Sociological Debunking
 Who survived?
 60% from the wealthy first-class deck
 36% from the second-class deck
 24% from the lowest class deck
 Women and Children First?
 97% from the wealthy first-class deck
 89% from the second-class deck
 42% from the lowest class deck

(Hall 1986)
Types of Capital
 Wealth, power, and prestige are awarded
according to:

◦ Cultural capital – knowledge and access to important

information in society

◦ Social capital – networks with others who have

influence

 Individual qualities also influence cultural and

social capital
Stratification in Institutions and
Organizations
 The family reinforces status though the socialization process

 Educational organizations treat children differently

according to their social status

 Religious affiliation reflects one’s social status

 Political systems reinforce the stratification system thought

laws, courts, and policing

 Access to healthcare depends on one’s position in the

stratification system
Macro Factors of Stratification
 The economic system
 The geographic location of nations
 Resources

◦ Strong educational system

◦ Well-paying jobs
◦ Productive land
◦ Ample supply of water
◦ Access to technology
Symbolic Interactionism
 Symbolic Interaction

◦ Class is learned
 Individuals learn their social position through
socialization
 Cultural capital influences children’s school and home
environments
 Symbols also often represent social positions
 Conspicuous consumption is displaying goods in a way that
others will notice and that will presumably earn the owner
respect
Structural Functionalism
 Structural-Functional Theory
◦ Stratification within societies is an inevitable—and
probably necessary—part of the social world
◦ The stratification system provides each individual a
position in the social world
◦ The stratification system motivates individuals to
carry out their roles
The Davis and Moore Thesis
 Structural-Functional Theory
◦ The Davis and Moore Thesis
 Some positions are more highly valued because people
feel they are very important to society
 Societies must motivate talented individuals to occupy
the most important positions
 Differential rewards must be offered to attract the most
qualified individuals into the most valued positions
 As a result, stratification is inevitable
Conflict Theory
 Conflict Theory

◦ How do societies produce necessities?

◦ How are relationships between rich and poor people
shaped by this process?
◦ How do many people become alienated in their
routine, dull jobs in which they have little involvement
and no investment in the end product?
Marxism
 Karl Marx

◦ Marx saw four possible ways to distribute wealth:

 According to each person’s needs
 According to what each person wants
 According to what each person earns
 According to what each person can take
Marxism 2
 Marxism
◦ Marx thought there were two economically-based
social classes
◦ The bourgeoisie are the capitalist class; the haves
 Control the means of production, or the necessary
resources to create capital
 Control the norms and values of society
 Use their power to make the distribution of resources
seem “fair” and justified
 Use social control to maintain their control in society
Marxism 3

◦ The proletariats are the working class; the have-nots

 The proletariats will remain exploited as long as they do
not develop a class consciousness, or a shared
awareness of their poor status in relation to the means
of production
 Intellectuals in society could help the proletariat develop
a class consciousness and to mobilize to overthrow the
bourgeoisie to create a classless society where all
wealth is shared
Modern Conflict Theory
 Recent conflict stratification theorists argue
that there are 5 social classes:
 Capitalists – own the means of production
 Managers – sell and manage their labor to capitalists
 Petty bourgeoisie – own some means of production but
control little labor of others
 Workers – sell their labor to capitalists; low in all three Ps
 Underclass – virtually no property, power, or prestige
Evolutionary Theory
 Evolutionary Theory of Stratification: A
synthesis

◦ The basic assumptions of evolutionary theory are:

 To survive people must cooperate
 Conflicts of interest occur over important decisions that
benefit one over another
 Valued items are always in demand and in short supply
 There is likely to be a struggle over these scarce goods
 Customs and traditions determine the distribution of
scarce resources
Evolutionary Theory 2
 Evolutionary Theory of Stratification: A synthesis
◦ Evolutionary theory draws from:
 Structural functionalism
 Talented individuals need to be motivated
 Conflict theory
 Individuals will attempt to control as much wealth, power, and
prestige as possible, resulting in potential conflict
 The importance of exploitation in creating inequality
 It posits that only some amount of inequality may
be useful in highly complex societies.
 Extraordinary amounts of differential access to
resources may undermine productivity.
Life Chances
 Individual Life Changes and Lifestyles:

◦ Life chances refer to one’s opportunities, depending on

their achieved and ascribed statuses in society
◦ Important institutions that impact life chances are:
 Education
 Health, social conditions, and life expectancy
 Family life and child rearing patterns
 Lifestyles
 Attitudes toward Achievement
 Religious membership
 Political behavior
 Neighborhoods
Social Mobility
 Social mobility refers to the extent and
direction of individual movement in the social
stratification system

 Four issues dominate the ability of mobility:

◦ Types of social mobility
◦ Methods of measuring social mobility
◦ Factors that affect social mobility
◦ Whether there is a “land of opportunity”
Types of Social Mobility
 Intergenerational mobility refers to change in
status compared to your parents’ status, usually
resulting from education and occupational
attainment

 Intragenerational mobility refers to the change

in position in a single individual’s life

 Vertical mobility refers to movement up or down

in the hierarchy, which sometimes involves
changing social classes
Measuring Social Mobility
 Traditional method: compare the occupations of
fathers and sons or daughters
◦ There is a high level of occupational inheritance
◦ The higher the father’s occupation, the greater the son’s
chances of occupational success
◦ There is considerable intergenerational movement up
and down the ladder
◦ Sons are more likely to move up than down; daughters
are even more likely to move up
 Men’s and women’s occupational attainment is
powerfully influenced by class origins
Factors Affecting Mobility
 Mobility depends on micro-level factors
◦ Socialization
◦ Family background
◦ Education

 Mobility depends on macro-level factors

◦ Occupational structure and Economic Vitality
◦ Population Trends
◦ Gender and Ethnicity and other ascribed status’
◦ Interdependent Global Market and International
Events
The “Land of Opportunity”?
 Comparing mobility across cultures
◦ It is difficult to identify opportunity-rich countries due to
the complex factors that influence mobility
 Opportunities for upward mobility are changing due
to globalization
◦ Manufacturing jobs are now in developing countries,
leaving less-educated US workers with fewer
opportunities
◦ The US has high-tech jobs, providing opportunity for
those from small, educated families that value individual
achievement
Stratification Systems
 In ascribed stratification systems
characteristics individuals are born with
determines ones position in society

 In achieved stratification systems individuals

are allowed to earn positions through their
ability and effort
Ascribed: The Caste System
 Caste systems are the most rigid ascribed
systems and are maintained by cultural norms
and social control mechanisms that are deeply
imbedded in religious, political, and economic
institutions
◦ Importance of socialization
◦ Stability maintained by ideology
Ascribed: The Caste System 2
 Castes predetermine:
◦ Occupational positions, marriage partners,
residences, social associations, and prestige levels
 Castes are recognized though:
◦ Clothing, speech patterns, family name and identity,
skin color, and other distinguishing characteristics
Ascribed: The Estate System
 Estate systems are ascribed systems
characterized by the concentration of economic
and political power in the hands of a small
minority of political-military elite, with the
peasantry tied to the land
◦ Peasants receive protection and enough food to
survive from the nobility
◦ Estate systems are based on:
 Ownership of land
 Position one is born into
 Military strength
Achieved: The Class System
 Social class systems of stratification are
based on achieved status
◦ Members of the same social class have similar
income, wealth, and economic position
◦ They share comparable styles of living, levels of
education, cultural similarities, and patterns of social
interaction
◦ U. S. often unaware of intense class differences

 Social class position is based on three main

factors: property, power, and prestige
Achieved: The Class System 2
 Property, or wealth, refers to owning or controlling the
means of production

 Power is the ability to control or influence others

 Power elite – power is held by top leaders in corporations, politics,
and military
 Pluralism – power is not held exclusively by an elite group but
shared among many power centers, each having its own self-
interests

 Prestige involves the esteem and recognition one

receives, based on wealth, position, or accomplishment
The Middle Class
 Characteristics of the middle class:

 Most people in the U.S. identify as “middle class,” but the

middle class is shrinking
 The gap between the richest 5% and poorest 40% has
increased since the 1970s
 Middle class
◦ Makes up about 30% of the population
◦ Wages and salaries in the middle class have declined since the
1980s
◦ Upper-middle class families have high income, high education,
high occupational level, and high participation in political life
and voluntary associations
◦ Lower-middle class families include small businesspeople and
farmers; college educated professionals
The U.S. Class System
Types of Poverty
 Absolute poverty, or not having resources to
meet basic needs, means no prestige, no
access to power, no accumulated wealth, and
insufficient means to survive

 Relative poverty refers to those whose income

falls below the poverty line, resulting in an
inadequate standard of living relative to others
in a given country
Consequences of Poverty
 The feminization of poverty –single females,
increasingly younger and with children, make up a
growing proportion of those in poverty
 Individual consequences of poverty include: poor

physical and mental health, inadequate nutrition,

higher mortality rates, obesity, low self-esteem,
feelings of hopelessness, daily struggle to survive,
dependence on others
 Social costs of poverty to larger society
 Loss of talent and abilities
 Financial cost of addressing needs of and regulating the poor
 Cultural contradiction of values
Policy Considerations
 Eliminating Poverty: Policy Considerations
 Most welfare programs aim to eliminate poverty
by changing the factors that perpetuate it
◦ Requires jobs, money, altering our social institutions
 Aid Programs:
◦ Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) Program: nutrition
◦ Head Start: early childhood education
◦ Medicaid
◦ Medicare
◦ Food stamps
◦ Workfare (TANF)
Policy Considerations 2
 Eliminating Poverty: Policy Considerations
 Workfare
◦ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
◦ Replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC), which was criticized as creating dependence
◦ Requires individuals receiving assistance to work 20-30
hours/week or attend training/education
◦ Issues and questions
 Are there jobs available at a “living wage”?
 Voters want tax cuts, which reduce our ability to help
 Prisons take public funds that could be used to fight
poverty
Global Stratification: Technology
The National and Global Digital Divide
 Digital divide: the gap between those with and
without access to information technology.
◦ Results from differences in socioeconomic status,
minority group status, and urban versus rural
residence
 Individuals with insufficient computer and internet
access or skills face barriers to many professions
and opportunities
 Public and private organizations are developing
low-cost technologies that may help level the
digital playing field