Social Stratification Concepts Quiz

Social Stratification Concepts

• Social Stratification: Ranking individuals based on unequal access to resources and social rewards.
• Social Inequality: The disparity in sharing scarce resources and rewards among individuals.

Systems of Stratification

• Caste System: A closed system where status is assigned at birth and remains fixed throughout life; characterized by endogamy (marriage within the same category).
• Class System: More fluid than caste, status is based on achieved traits, allowing for mobility.

Marriage Practices

• Exogamy: Intermarriage outside one's social category.
• Endogamy: Marriage within one's own social category.

Economic Classes

• Bourgeoisie: Owners of production in a capitalist society.
• Proletariat: Workers who exchange labor for wages.
• Social Class: Grouping based on wealth, power, and prestige.
• Socioeconomic Status: Ranking based on wealth, power, and prestige metrics.

Sociological Theories

• Functionalist Theory: Views stratification as essential for social structure stability.
• Conflict Theory: Attributes social inequality to competition over resources.
• Ralph Dahrendorf: Proposes blending functionalist and conflict theories for holistic stratification analysis.
• Gerhard Lenski: Suggests that the validity of the conflict theory is context-dependent, mainly applicable to complex societies.

Class Structure

• Six Class System: Upper class, Upper middle class, Lower middle class, Working class, Working poor class, Underclass.
• Social Ranking Techniques: Reputational, Subjective, and Objective methods.

Social Ranking Methods

• Reputational Method: Community members rank others based on known behaviors; effective only in small communities.
• Subjective Method: Individuals assess their own social rank; prone to bias.
• Objective Method: Defines classes based on measurable factors (income, occupation, education); more reliable and less biased.

Class Descriptions

• Upper Class: Comprises 1% of the population, controls significant wealth, includes both old and new money.
• Upper Middle Class: Approximately 14% of the population, high-income professionals with advanced degrees.
• Lower Middle Class: About 30% of the population, typically holds white-collar jobs, lives comfortably.
• Working Class: Also around 30%, engaged in manual labor, requires preparation for crises.
• Working Poor Class: Represents 22%, often holds low-paying jobs, relies on government support, many are high school dropouts.
• Underclass: Comprises 3%, experiences chronic poverty, primary income from public assistance.

Social Mobility

• Social Mobility: Movement across or within classes, categorized into horizontal, vertical, and intergenerational mobility.
• Horizontal Mobility: Movement within the same social class.
• Vertical Mobility: Movement between different social classes.
• Intergenerational Mobility: Status changes between generations within a family, a type of vertical mobility.

Factors Influencing Mobility

• Upward Mobility Causes: Influenced by individual effort, technological advances, changing merchandising patterns, and educational improvements.
• Downward Mobility Causes: Result from personal challenges (illness, divorce, retirement) and economic shifts.

Characteristics Affecting Poverty

• Demographics: Children under 18 have the highest poverty rate; women make up 57% of the poor; racial disparities exist predominantly for African Americans and Hispanics.

Life Chances

• Refers to the likelihood of individuals accessing societal opportunities and benefits.

Economic Redistribution

• Transfer Payments: Government redistributes wealth through taxes to assist disadvantaged groups, including subsidies and food assistance programs.
• Subsidies: These transfers are in the form of goods and services rather than cash payments.