Content Category 10A Social Inequality

Foundational Concept 10: Social Stratification and access to resources influence well-being Content Category 10A: Social inequality Spatial Inequality (SOC) Residential segregation Residential segregation – an instance of social inequality on the local scale • food deserts – areas where it is difficult to find affordable healthy food options o fewer grocery stores, etc Neighborhood safety and violence Environmental justice (location and exposure to health risks) Environmental justice – equal treatment of all people regardless of race, gender, or other social grouping with regard to prevention and relief from environmental and health hazards Social Class (SOC) Aspects of social stratification social class – system of stratification that groups members of society according to similarities in social standing • tied to status and power • socioeconomic status Privilege – advantages of power and opportunity over those who lack privilege Prestige – relative value assigned to something within a particular society • Social class and socioeconomic status Social stratification – refers to the way that people are categorized in society (by wealth, race, education, wealth, and income Caste system – describes a closed stratification where people can do nothing to change the category that they are born into Class system – considers both social variables and individual initiative; groups together people of similar wealth, income, education, etc. Meritocracy – uses merit to established social standing; this is an idealized system—no society solely stratifies based on effort Socioeconomic status – defined in terms of power, property, and prestige • Three components: occupation, income, and education US: • Upper Class: the top 3% of the population who earn millions to billions in annual income • Middle Class: the top 40% of the population who earns $46,000 up to the cut-off for the “upper class” • Working Class: the 30% of the population who earns between $19,000 and 45,000 • Lower class: the 27% of the population who earn less than $18,000 • Class consciousness and false consciousness Class consciousness – an individual’s active awareness of his/her membership in a social class • Members of the Bourgeoisie take capitalism for granted instead of seeing it as a historically situated and transient economic system • The communist revolution is based on promoting class consciousness of the lower class False Consciousness – failure to recognize the state of class relations under capitalism • Cultural capital and social capital • • Cultural capital – refers to the non-financial social assets that promote social mobility (Education) Social Capital – the potential for social networks to allow for upward social mobility • Social reproduction • Social reproduction – refers to the structures and activities in place in a society that serve to transmit and reinforce social inequality from one generation to the next • Power, privilege, and prestige • • • Power = control over other people Privilege = perks Prestige = reputation, how much respect people have of you • • Intersectionality (e.g., race, gender, age) Intersectionality – analytical approach that weeks to highlight the ways different identities intersect within individuals and social groups to produce unique social groups • For example, a black lesbian cannot be understood by considering her blackness and then her non-heterosexuality; the unique social position of black lesbian must be considered in its own right • Socioeconomic gradient in health • • inequalities in healthcare exists. The lower socioeconomic class has worse health than the upper class. Socioeconomic gradient in health = graded relationship between social class and health • Global inequalities • • Global stratification – compare the wealth, economic stability, and power of various countries Global inequality o certain countries hold a majority of the resources o access to resources among countries seriously impacts other social factors, such as mortality o burden of inequality is placed on certain segments of the population Patterns of social mobility Social mobility – refers to the ability to move up or down within the social stratification system Upward mobility – refers to an increase in social class Downward mobility – decrease in social class Intergenerational mobility – occurs when there is an increase or decrease in social class between parents and children within a family Intragenerational mobility – the differences in social class between different members of the same generation • Intergenerational and intragenerational mobility • Vertical and horizontal mobility • Horizontal mobility = individual changes social identity but maintains similar level of income • Meritocracy Poverty • Relative and absolute poverty • • Relative poverty – inability to meet the average standard of living within a society Absolute poverty – inability to meet a bare minimum of basic necessities (clean water, food, safe housing) • • Social exclusion (segregation and isolation) excluding/blocking off someone or a group of people from society's opportunities, rights and resources that other groups have access to. Health Disparities (SOC) (e.g., class, gender, and race inequalities in health) Healthcare Disparities (SOC) (e.g., class, gender, and race inequalities in health care) Health care disparities – include population-specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, and quality of health care across different social groups Social epidemiology – study of the distribution of health and disease across a population, with the focus on using social concepts to explain patterns of health and illness in a population RANDOM: Hawthorne effect – describes changes in research participants as a result of their awareness that they are being observed Thomas Theorem – if an individual believes something ot be real, then it is real in its consequences General Adaptation Syndrome - Hans Selye described three predictable stages the body uses to respond to stressors, called general adaptation syndrome (GAS). The first stage is the alarm stage, which provides a burst of energy. In the second stage, known as the resistance stage, the body attempts to resist or adapt to the stressor. The last stage is known as the exhaustion stage because energy is depleted.