Social Stratification: An Overview

Social Stratification

• Sociology reveals preconceived notions are not always accurate.
• Cities and suburbs can't be defined by single stereotypes.
• Some city inhabitants enjoy a high quality of life, while others face issues like inadequate housing, poor education, and crime.
• The U.S., Canada, and other countries exhibit social stratification.
• Karl Marx and Max Weber contributed ideas on social stratification.
• Max Weber agreed with Marx that social stratification causes conflict but thought Marx's view of a two-class system was too simple.
• Weber identified class, status, and power as dimensions of social stratification.
• Social stratification is the hierarchical ranking of social classes based on wealth, power, and prestige.
• Socioeconomic status represents a composite ranking based on dimensions of social inequality.
• W. Lloyd Warner studied social stratification in the U.S., examining "Yankee City."
• The reputational method involves subjective comparisons of status.

Social Class Distinctions

• The primary difference between upper-upper and lower-upper classes is "old money" versus "new money."
• The upper class makes up about 2 to 3% of the population.
• The upper class resides in exclusive areas, has high status, and holds political influence.
• Upper-class members tend to be a close-knit group
• Both men and women are active in organizations.
• The middle class accounts for 45 to 50% of society and presents racial and ethnic diversity
• The middle class is the most common class represented in media.
• Less than half of the middle class are upper-middle class.
• Upper-middle-class women may or may not be employed.
• The majority of middle-class individuals work in lower-prestige white-collar jobs or highly skilled blue-collar jobs.
• They often devote their attention to their children's activities.
• The working class is sometimes referred to as the lower-middle class.
• The working class makes up about one-third of the population, with incomes below the national average.
• Working-class families are especially susceptible to financial hardship.
• Only about a third of working-class children attend college.
• Working class men and women tend to restrict their outside activities to religious or local neighborhood groups.
• About 18% of people fall into the lower class.
• Some in the lower class are identified as the working poor.
• Lower-class individuals are often located in the inner city or rural areas.
• Many lack medical insurance.
• A higher frequency of women in the lower class are involved in organizations.
• Hyperghettos are defined as segregated areas marked by extreme poverty and unemployment.

Income and Poverty

• The income gap between the rich and poor is a major disparity.
• The U.S. exhibits an uneven distribution of wealth, which has grown worse.
• Canada has a comparable uneven wealth distribution that continues to increase.
• In 2021, lowest quintile earned 3.0% of the household income, second quintile earned 8.4%, third quintile earned 14.3%, fourth quintile earned 22.6%, and the highest quintile earned 51.8%.
• Those living outside central cities have better economic situations in metropolitan areas.
• Understanding urban and suburban residents gives an understanding of financial resources outside city limits.
• Median income inside principal cities in 2021 was $64,839.
• Median income outside principal cities in 2021 was $79,599.
• Median income outside metropolitan areas in 2021 was $53,750.
• Family economic well-being is measured with wealth and net worth.
• Wealth includes sellable or liquid assets.
• Net worth encompasses all of one’s assets minus all liabilities.
• Net worth is a stronger indicator of economic well-being.
• Wealth disparity is present along with income disparity.
• The poverty threshold for a U.S. family of four was $27,949 in 2021.
• The official poverty rate was 11.6% or 37.9 million Americans in 2021.
• In Canada, 8.1% of the population was considered low income after taxes in 2020.
• Immigrants represent a large portion of the low-income category.
• Focus on poverty data to understand the strain on city resources needed to help those below the poverty level.
• Higher poverty concentrations in cities are partly explained by the large number of residents born outside of the US.
• The percentage of people in poverty inside principal cities in 2021 was 14.3%.
• The percentage of people in poverty outside principal cities in 2021 was 9.2%.
• The percentage of people in poverty outside metropolitan areas in 2021 was 15.0%.

Social Diversity

• It is wrong to stereotype immigrants' residences.
• Many immigrants possess the skills, education, and income needed to reside in middle-class suburbs.
• Cities are not just repositories of the poor.
• Urban life is diverse.
• Urbanites have different interests, experiences, and circumstances.

Urban Neighborhoods

• Upper classes typically own multiple residences.
• They live in fashionable urban neighborhoods.
• Nob Hill in San Francisco and Lincoln Center/Columbus Circle in Manhattan are examples
• Upper-class residents hire door-to-door limousine services for transport
• NYC zip code 10065 is a prestigious area
• NYC's Upper East Side is the most affluent urban location.
• Madison Avenue is the world’s most expensive retail district.
• The area is rich with world-class cultural institutions.
• An attraction to the area is Central Park.
• Not everyone is rich, but many are.
• Other elite neighborhoods include Chicago’s Gold Coast, Boston’s Beacon Hill, and San Francisco’s Pacific Heights
• Suburbia is more common for middle-class people
• Some city blocks transition into middle-class neighborhoods via gentrification.
• Service sector growth led to city inhabitants such as yuppies and dinks. In this context, yuppies is an acronym for "young urban professional" and dinks is an acronym for "dual income, no kids"
• A new social class, "bobos," blends bourgeois and bohemian characteristics.
• Not all middle-class urban areas are newly developed.
• Some low-income areas as of 1990 now rank among the most preferred residential locations.
• Logan Square, West Town, the Near West Side, and the Near South Side, Chicago are becoming destinations for yuppies.
• Yuppie arrival encouraged further redevelopment.
• Population demographics showcase social class takeover.
• The Sherman Park neighborhood can be found in Milwaukee.
• Sherman Park began in the 1890s.
• Sherman Park is diverse in its culture and race.
• Three streets in Sherman Park have been recognized as historic districts.
• Long-term residents mostly occupy the area.
• Tolerance and religious integration define the neighborhood.
• Business struggle on the main streets of Sherman Park because of competition with suburban stores.
• Working-class urban areas have been disappearing.
• Minority groups distinguish working-class neighborhoods.
• Visual cues enrich the social aspects of what makes the area unique.
• These areas foster gemeinschaft, with shared values, intimacy, belonging, and robust support.
• Herbert Gans referred to them as urban villages.
• Newark's Ironbound is a multiethnic, working-class area in Newark, NJ.
• The area is also referred to as "Down Neck."
• About 50,000 people live here, with two-thirds being first-generation Americans.
• It once was the industrial city center.
• It is a mix of residences, shops, and industrial places with a lively commercial presence.
• Numerous social groups help newcomers.
• The local economy is healthy.
• Ethnic villages exist in almost every U.S. city.
• Koreatown, Quisqueya Heights, Little Haiti, and Little Havana are examples of ethnic neighborhoods.
• Working-class settings are frequently populated by mixed ethnicities.
• Queens Borough, Archer Heights, and Excelsior District are examples of mixed ethnicities.
• Mixed-income districts could be a result of interventions like planned gentrification or public housing.
• They can maintain diverse income levels.
• These areas decline as the middle class leaves.
• Keys to quality of life rely on ability, desire, and income to stay there.
• Grand Rapids and Toronto are examples of diverse income neighborhoods.
• Low-income urban settings exist in the old parts of cities.
• Inner-city neighborhoods, ghettos, and slums near the central business districts are low-income urban settings.
• The future looks bad for the poor stranded in inner cities.
• Not all area residents match the stereotypes.
• Gage Park in Chicago and Pico-Union in Los Angeles are examples of low-income urban neighborhoods.
• In 2021, 582,500, individuals experienced homelessness on any given night.
• No stereotype explains homelessness.
• Disturbingly, many homeless individuals belong to families with children.
• Homelessness is mostly fueled by lack of affordable housing.

Suburban Social Class

• The popular white, middle-class, family stereotype no longer applies to the suburbs near cities.
• Suburbs are increasingly home to minorities, the working class, the poor, and older adults.
• Age, income makeup, racial makeup, and occupancy length vary among suburbs.
• Suburban areas symbolized living a good life a century ago.
• Lynnewood Hall and Tuxedo Park were among them.
• Upper-class suburban are similar to the aristocracy.
• Gross Pointe Shores and South Barrington are examples of upper-class suburbs.
• Older, predominantly white and educated people with an income exceeding the state average likely lives in the suburbs.
• Darien, Connecticut, and Levittown, New York are examples of middle class suburban areas.
• Family and child activities are the focus of daily life.
• Few residents are poor, and they usually completed high school.
• These have become more racially diverse recently.
• Working-class neighborhoods evolved close to factories and their workers.
• Lynn, Massachusetts is undergoing revitalization.
• Others increased in urbanization.
• All gave blue-collar employees affordable homes close to work.
• Older suburbs face job losses.
• Cosmopolitan centers include Princeton, New Jersey, and Palo Alto, California.
• These include academics, writers, artists, students and other professionals.
• They mirror academic spaces, bohemian areas, and housing in central cities.
• People share an interest in “high culture.”
• Most suburbs showcase racial diversity that continues to increase, yet some remain segregated.
• Some suburbs attract middle-class Black families.
• Black suburbs stem from invasion-succession.
• "Spillover" communities denote some Black suburbs.
• South Gate, Los Angeles exemplifies invasion-succession where Latinx residents are dominant.
• The Asian suburb of Monterey Park is near Los Angeles.
• Social stratification exists in both suburbs and cities in North America.
• Simple socioeconomic comparisons overlook lifestyle variations and do damage to favorable characteristics.
• Central cities and older suburbs have their issues.