Questions and Answers
What is Social Class?
What is Intragenerational Mobility?
Changes in social status or class throughout a person's adult life.
Define Closed System.
A system of social stratification that allows for little or no possibility of individual social mobility.
What characterizes a Slave System?
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What is a Social Class System?
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Define Horizontal Mobility.
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What is Ascribed Status?
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Define Vertical Mobility.
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What is a Caste System?
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What does Social Mobility refer to?
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Define Estate System.
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What is Intergenerational Mobility?
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What is Achieved Status?
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Define Social Inequality.
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What is Social Stratification?
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Define Open System.
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What is Prestige?
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Define Income.
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Study Notes
Social Class and Stratification
- Social Class: Hierarchical categories in society based on factors like economic status; includes examples like the working class.
- Closed System: Social stratification with minimal mobility; often based on ascribed status, e.g., caste system in India.
- Social Class System: Current ranking based on economic power in industrial societies, combining both ascribed and achieved statuses.
Mobility Types
- Intragenerational Mobility: Change in social status during a person's life; e.g., moving from middle class to underclass or advancing to a better job.
- Horizontal Mobility: Change in occupation within the same social class, e.g., switching from bus driver to hotel clerk.
- Vertical Mobility: Movement up or down the social ladder, e.g., from bus driver to lawyer.
- Intergenerational Mobility: Change in social position relative to parents; e.g., a child becomes a star while parents were factory workers.
Status Types
- Ascribed Status: Social position assigned at birth, unchangeable; e.g., wealth passed from upper-class families to their offspring.
- Achieved Status: Status earned through effort and capability, such as becoming a doctor after education.
Forms of Stratification
- Caste System: Rigid form of social stratification in agrarian societies, requiring marriage within hierarchical ranks.
- Estate System: Nobility holding land while peasants provide labor and taxes for protection, seen in pre-industrial England.
- Slave System: Forced servitude where individuals are owned, exemplified by the historical U.S. context.
- Social Inequality: Disparity in wealth, power, and prestige among groups; more pronounced in slave, caste, and estate systems than in class systems.
Additional Concepts
- Social Mobility: Movement between ranks; can be upward or downward.
- Open System: A stratification system allowing for mobility, influenced by achieved status.
- Prestige: Respect and societal standing associated with certain occupations, like a doctor versus a hairdresser.
- Income: Monetary earnings from work, property, or royalties, essential to understanding economic status.
- Digital Divide: A growing concern regarding unequal access to technology and its socioeconomic implications.
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Test your understanding of social stratification and class in the United States with these flashcards. Explore key concepts such as social class and intragenerational mobility. Perfect for students studying sociology and related social sciences.
