CLASS AND STRATIFICATION IN THE UNITED STATES
JIZEL ORTIZ
ANDREA ARROYO
GOALS FOR DISCUSSION
- Discuss Social Stratification
- Systems of stratification
- Marx and Weber's Perspective on the Social class
- Contemporary Sociological Models of the U.S. Class Structure
- Inequality in the U.S
- Poverty
- Sociological Explanations of Social Inequality in the United States
FOUNDATION
WHAT IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?
- SOCIAL STRATIFICATION is the hierarchical arrangement of large social groups based on their control of basic resources
- The amount to which individuals have access to vital society resources such as social class one is born into, location, family, race, food, clothes, housing, education, and health care is referred to as life chances. life chances can describe the opportunities to increase one's position in the social class structure.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
SYSTEMS OF STRATIFICATION
Open vs. Closed Systems
Open System:
Class System
Closed System:
Type of stratification based on the ownership and control of resources and on the type of work that people do
- Social mobility: ability to move upward or downward from original social class
- Intergeneration mobility: social movement by family members from one generationto the next
- Open system is when a person or a group/ family are able to move up in social classes due to work or a better financial situation that they are put in
- Caste system: the inability to move upward or downward from the social class you are born into
- Closed systems can work but it is very hard to maintain them. you may get a raise or a promotion but there are a lot of factors that could affect you staying where you are
- As referrenced in the book slavery and arranged marriages are all examples of caste systems
Karl Marx
Max Weber
capitalist class vs. working class
- Capitalist class controls the big corporations/ factories/ mines
- Working class does all the labour necessary to keep the businesses going
Marx and Weber's Perspective
- wealth: value of a person's or family's economic assets
- prestige: respect or regard that a person or status position is given by other
- power: the ability of people or groups to achieve their own goals despite opposition from others
Social Classes
CLASS STRUCTURES
- social classes were created to separate the wealthy from the poor as this was to keep a balance
- upperclass-upper class: usually come from old generational money and are extremely well known. do nation and international work
- lower-upper class: come from new money
- upper-middle class: have a good upper class job but not quite rich
- middle class: having a high school dimploma and working more than a fast food job but not quite stable
- working class: working fast food jobs, not stable either make around 40,000
- working poor: barely having enough for necessities, just above the poverty line
- underclass: poor, high rates of unemployment, low education
"The rich get richer"
- Is the share we get a fair reward for our effort and hard work?
- Rich people can overwrite their taxes while middle class and lower class have to pay more taxes. Truly wealthy live on, and become richer from, investments in stocks, bonds, real estate, and other financial endeavors, not from wages.
- Income based
INEQUALITY IN THE US
Consequences of Inequality
- Physical Health, Mental Health, and Nutrition
- Housing
- Education
Consequences
- The official poverty line is based on what the federal government considers to be the minimum amount of money required for living at a subsistence level.
- In 2018, the official poverty rate was 11.8 percent, which means that 38.1 million people in this country were living in poverty.
- Absolute poverty exists when people do not have the means to secure the most basic necessities of life.
- Relative poverty exists when people may be able to afford basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an average standard of living.
- Unemployment is a major cause of contemporary poverty that involves both economic and structural components
- In December 2019, 5.8 million persons were unemployed in the United States, making the unemployment rate 3.5 percent.
POVERTY
Types of Poverty
WHY IS THERE SOCIAL INEQUALITY TO BEGIN WITH?
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
1. Functionalist Perspectives- The Davis-Moore thesis argues that inequality is inevitable and necessary.
- Meritocracy—a hierarchy in which all positions are rewarded based on people’s ability and credentials.
2. Conflict Perspectives- People with economic and political power are able to shape and distribute the rewards, resources, privileges, and opportunities in society for their own benefit.
3. Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives- Symbolic interactionists focus on microlevel concerns and usually do not analyze larger structural factors that contribute to inequality and poverty. However, many significant insights on the effects of wealth and poverty on people’s lives and social interactions can be derived from applying a symbolic interactionist approach.