Social Stratification Social Class

Social Stratification/Social Class Social Stratification • A system by which a society ranks and categorizes people in a hierarchy • A trait of society • Sociologists distinguish between • Closed Systems – Caste Systems • Allows little change in position • Open Systems – Class Systems • Permit much more social mobility U.S. differs from most European nations in never having a titled nobility The U.S. has never had a formal caste system • • • • • U.S. society is a highly stratified system Social stratification is based on both birth and individual achievement • Schooling and skills lead to social mobility • However, our first social class is our parents’ social class and that has influence over our future • Ancestry has strong bearing on schooling, occupation, and income Ideology • Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality Every culture considers some type of inequality fair, i.e. “People get what they deserve Davis-Moore thesis: Social stratification is a necessity, different positions/occupations are valued differently Welfare class, “white trash” • • • • • • Meritocracy ▫ A concept that refers to social stratification based on personal merit ▫ Includes knowledge, abilities, and effort ▫ Are we living in a completely meritocratic society? Karl Marx saw social classes as the result of a struggle for resources Those who owned the means of production were powerful and able to design the workplace in such a way to maintain their power 2 Classes Proletariat and Bourgeoisie Socioeconomic Status (SES ) ▫ A composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality • Income • Wealth (material assets) • Power (ability to exercise control) • Prestige (esteem or respect) • Education Max Weber thought Marx was too simplistic – modern class systems aren’t simple or dichotomous, Status consistency – consistency across these factors Social Mobility • Social mobility - A change in position within the social hierarchy o Upward Social Mobility o Downward Social Mobility • Intergenerational Mobility - difference in social class between generations • Intragenerational Mobility – social class difference in one person’s lifetime Social Stratification • If each block of 1 ½ inches = $500 • Average person’s block tower would = 8 ft • Average family = 13 feet • But the people with the highest income = • 29,020 Feet! Higher than Mt Everest • Most people define themselves as “middle class” • Middle class has a humble, non-pretentious connotation AND at the same time, it’s a more comfortable and less-stigmatized place than “working class”, “lower class”, or “poor” • AND the biggest proportion of the population is classified as middle class • “Life Chances” • Health (Life expectancy, infant mortality, occupational hazards, physical and mental illness) • Education • Politics (party affiliation, political involvement, opinions on social) • Involvement with CJS (profiling, government involvement in the household, lawyers, juries) • Technology (digital divide) • Family Life (divorce) • Poverty • Absolute Poverty: Lack of basic needs ▫ “When individuals and families cannot meet food, shelter, warmth, and safety needs” • Relative Poverty: Inability to maintain an average standard of living in the society compared to other groups ▫ Global Stratification • Some poverty is due to dramatic life changes ▫ Divorce ▫ Sudden unemployment ▫ Serious injury ▫ Disaster • Working Poor ▫ Most able-bodied people do work (at low wage jobs) ▫ Most people cycle in and out of poverty “…nearly 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 will experience at least one year below the official poverty line during that period ($23,492 for a family of four), and 54 percent will spend a year in poverty or near poverty (below 150 percent of the poverty line).” -NYTimes, November 2, 2013 Who’s to Blame? • One View: Blame the poor • The poor are responsible for their own poverty • Lazy, fraudulent, immoral, lacking family values – “Parasites” • Culture of Poverty • A lower-class subculture that can destroy people’s ambition to improve their lives If it’s about individuals and their beliefs, the problems that they face are not our responsibility Allows us to “wash our hands” of the matter Welfare • Hostility of public assistance o Lazy and don’t want to work o Abusers of the system o Women having babies in order to get more benefits o Welfare Queens – staying on welfare for a lifetime o Dissolution of families (divorce & single parenting) o Teenage mothers o Burden on taxpayers Who’s to Blame? • BUT! • “All welfare mothers, like all individuals, are embedded in, and socialized by, social institutions; all are shaped and constrained by the structures of our economic, cultural, and political systems. When we make the use of the ‘personal responsibility’ framework and find them guilty, we are simply allowing the proverbial ‘trees’ to obscure our view of the larger forest” (Hays, pg. 127) • Another View: Blame society ▫ Society is primarily responsible for poverty – Structure of our economic & political systems ▫ Low wages and lack of low-income housing ▫ Entire categories of people face special barriers and limited opportunities ▫ Persistent gender and race inequalities Government should fund jobs and provide affordable child care for low-income mothers and fathers • • System of aid developed in 1935 to help people in need – aged, poor, unemployed, disabled, & sick • Funded through the Federal government ▫ At this point in time, the largest segment of “the poor” were the elderly ▫ Today, the largest group of impoverished people are children – 17% - and by extension, their parents who are often times single mothers • Feminization of Poverty ▫ The trend of women making up an increasing proportion of the poor ▫ 48% of poor families are headed by single women Coined in the 1970’s • • • • • One segment of welfare established benefits from working – Earned through employment ▫ Social Security ▫ Disability Insurance ▫ Unemployment ▫ Worker’s compensation ▫ Medicare Used primarily by working & middle-class people Less stigmatized ** Second Segment – Aid to the poor ▫ Means-tested programs (income based) ▫ Cash support ▫ Food benefits ▫ Housing assistance ▫ Medical care ▫ Educational assistance ▫ Childcare Two groups of recipients Difference of thinking of it as a luxury or benefit built to correct an unfair system – one that cannot possibly support all    Leads to welfare reform 1996 Welfare Reform Bill ▫ Imposed time limits 2 years workfare, 5-year overall limit Reduction in food stamps States providing help with childcare and healthcare for working mothers Sentiment to promote marriage  • • • SNAP is being reformed as we speak! ▫ 40 Billion dollar cut to food stamps