Understanding Social Stratification

• Social inequality exists in all nations and affects personal outcomes like education, occupation, and health

Social Stratification

• Social stratification refers to socially sanctioned patterns of social inequality, based on attributes like race, age, gender, income, and occupation
• This system hierarchically ranks categories of people, placing some in "higher" or "lower" social positions

Closed Systems of Stratification

• There is little to no movement between social rankings in a closed system of stratification.

Slavery

• Slavery is an extreme example of a closed system, where individuals are owned as property, lacking legal rights and means to accumulate wealth
• Historically, slavery is associated with race and economics
• Slavery existed in Canada for over 200 years, primarily involving Indigenous Peoples and later Africans
• The Upper Canadian Act Against Slavery of 1793 freed slaves entering Upper Canada but didn't free existing slaves
• Slavery was finally abolished throughout Canada in 1833
• Human trafficking, a modern form of slavery, still exists, mainly affecting women and children for sexual exploitation and/or forced labour in Canada and internationally
• Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately represented among victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in Canada

Caste System

• The hierarchical caste system is based on inherited social standing with no social mobility
• The caste system has origins in ancient Hinduism in India, consisting of hierarchical strata that coincide with historical occupations: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras
• A fifth group, the Untouchables, lack rights and are predestined to carry out unclean tasks in society.
• Caste reproduction accentuates social inequality through endogamy, resource access, and religious beliefs

Open Systems of Stratification

• Some stratification forms are open, allowing movement between levels

The Class System

• The dominant system of stratification in the world today, including in Canada.
• A social class is a group whose membership is based on economic measures such as annual income.
• Individuals are born into a social class, with the possibility of moving into higher or lower classes over time based on various factors

Social Mobility

• Social mobility is movement within and between classes in open systems
• Vertical mobility is movement up or down the social ladder
• Horizontal mobility involves changes within the same social location
• Intragenerational mobility refers to changes in social class during a person’s lifetime
• University students' incomes place them in the low class, after graduation they start in the lower end of the middle class, this demonstrates intragenerational mobility
• Intergenerational mobility refers to changes in social class between parents and children
• Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families who obtain degrees have similar chances of ending up in managerial or professional occupations by mid-life as those from higher SES families
• Patterns of social mobility are stable across generations, with modest increases due to education and occupation changes
• Social forces, including family background, ascribed traits, structural factors, and unforeseen events (e.g., the pandemic), enable and constrain these opportunities

COVID-19 and the Labour Market

• COVID-19 led to unprecedented changes in the labour market, including job losses and reduced hours
• The employment rate fell to a record low, disproportionately affecting youth

Measuring Inequality Using Wealth

• Financial wealth corresponds to economic assets derived from income, real estate, savings, income-generating investments, and other sources of revenue or capital

Income and Class Structure

• The median after-tax yearly income in Canada was $55,500 in 2018
• An indicator of the middlemost value, meaning that half of the population has an income above that amount and the other half have an income below it
• Income deciles illustrate Canada's class structure, ranging from the impoverished to the ultra-rich

Canada’s Income-based Class Structure

• The highest 30 percent of income earners in Canada are considered the "high class" or "well-off", earning over $100,000 a year after taxes
• Their earnings make up 57.6 percent of the total income reported, a disproportionate share of Canada’s overall wealth
• The ultra-rich, less than 1 percent of the population, are assured social reproduction
• Canada's top-paid CEOs hit an all-time high in 2018, earning 277 times the national average wage ($11.8 million)
• The high class includes families with inherited wealth, CEOs of large corporations, university-educated professionals, business owners, and executives
• They tend to have salaried positions with benefits, job security, high prestige, and autonomy

The Middle Classes

• Most Canadians perceive themselves as "middle class," with incomes ranging from $44,400 to $82,400
• Made up of families with semi-professionals and managers who have at least a university or college degree, as well as those without degrees in nonretail sales, those with intermediary occupations, and those in self-employed occupations
• "Shrinking middle class" refers to growing income inequality, where the gap between top and bottom earners widens due to global consumer markets and job movement
• Middle-class incomes are shrinking due to loss of full-time jobs, low-paying service jobs, and corporate downsizing

The Lower Classes

• The bottom 30 percent of the population earns less than $39,300
• Made up of families headed by those who have some high school education and hold the lowest-paying jobs in the labour force
• This includes Canada’s impoverished who are often unemployed, seasonally employed, or employed only part-time

Regional Income Distribution

• High median family incomes do not reflect the absence of social inequality
• The Atlantic region has less social inequality but a much lower median family income
• Annual earnings reflect regional differences in employment rates, opportunities, and the cost of living
• In Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, the cost of living is higher: commodities need to be flown in, which drives up their prices
• Consequently, there is a high level of poverty and food insecurity in places such as Nunavut
• Food insecurity is highest in Nunavut, where 57.0 percent of households experience it in some form

Net Worth and Class Structure

• Net worth refers to the dollar value of all financial assets after liabilities are subtracted
• Wealth mobility exists in Canada but the concentration of wealth raises concerns about power
• Net worth increases as income goes up
• The wealth of the top one percent of Canadians exceeds that of the bottom 70 percent

Measuring Inequality Using Poverty Indicators

• A final way to gauge social inequality is to focus on the end of the spectrum by estimating the number of people in society who lack wealth
• The challenge to reducing poverty is determining how many impoverished people there are in Canada
• In 2018, the federal government released Opportunity for All—Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy establishing Canada’s Official Poverty Line based on the Market Basket Measure of low income (MBM)

Canada’s Official Poverty Line

• Canada's Official Poverty Line is based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM)
• It refers to household poverty based on the money needed to purchase a "basket" of goods and services (e.g., nutritionous food, shelter, clothing and footwear, necessary personal items, and transportation) for a modest living over the course of a year
• The MBM varies by location and family size, and it is updated every five years
• Canada’s official poverty line for a family of two adults and two children is $37,542 (on average) across 50 regions, with the number being lower in parts of Quebec and higher in Alberta
• A family is impoverished if its income is less than the MBM threshold

Other Measures of Poverty

• Before Canada developed an official poverty line in 2018, most researchers, academics, and social analysts relied on Statistics Canada’s low-income cut-off as an indicator of poverty
• LICO underestimates poverty in its narrow focus on food, clothing, and shelter while ignoring other necessities of life (e.g., child care, transportation)
• More recent poverty measures gauge the ability to meet basic needs using indicators such as unmet housing needs (e.g., chronic homelessness), unmet health needs (e.g., not receiving healthcare when required), and food insecurity
• Poverty indicators also take into account multiple income-based measures such as relative low income (based on incomes that are less than half the median after-tax income adjusted for family size), the average poverty gap (based on the amount a disposable income is below the newly established Official Poverty Line), and deep income poverty (based on an income that is 75 percent or more below the Official Poverty Line)

Who Is at Risk for Poverty?

• Certain groups of people, however, remain at high risk for "persistent" low-income states, including single, unattached individuals aged 45 to 64, lone-parent families, recent immigrants, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities
• Females experience a higher-than-average risk known as the feminization of poverty
• Based on relative low-income, 18.6 percent of all children under the age of 18 in Canada live in low-income families and an incidence of 53 percent for First Nation children living on reserves
• Children of former or current landed immigrants also have high poverty rates of 35 percent

Negative Consequences of Social Inequality

• Children born into poverty are further disadvantaged once they enter the school system

Education and Poverty

• Funding gaps exist for students on reserves, leading to substandard schooling
• Wealthier parents can contribute more to school fundraising
• Those who are impoverished tend to do less well in school, and this creates a cycle of poverty
• Educational attainment is a significant determinant of future employment and earnings

Health, Hardships, Homelessness, and Poverty

• Many Canadians living in poverty live from paycheque to paycheque and must forgo certain healthcare practices because they lack the means to cover plans that pay for prescription medicines, vision care, or supplemental provisions
• Those with low and unstable incomes often resort to using high-interest financial services, including food, and are subsequently charged as much as 652 percent in annualized interest rates
• People living at or below the Official Poverty Line also go hungry and suffer malnutrition because they do not have enough money to regularly purchase groceries, which limits their access to nutritious foods
• Lack of regular access to nutritious foods also poses long-term health implications, including the prevalence of higher rates of overweight and obesity, heart disease and stroke, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and deficits in brain function

Homelessness

• Homelessness is the most extreme hardship associated with poverty, affecting as many as 235,000 Canadians
• Inadequate incomes and a lack of affordable housing increase the risk of homelessness
• Risk factors for homelessness can be identified at the micro and macro levels.

Water Insecurity and Indigenous Communities

• A sizeable portion of Indigenous people in Canada currently live in communities without water security
• Several structural issues have contributed to the slow progress Canada has made toward remedying water problems on reserves, including funding, infrastructure, and the availability of trained operators

Policies and Practices Designed to Reduce Poverty

• Federal policies and programs can prevent poverty
• Poverty reduction strategies are generally incorporated as part of a society’s broader social safety net
• Federal and provincial initiatives usually take the form of supplemental financial supports and employment benefits
• Poverty reduction strategies are generally incorporated as part of a society’s broader social safety net

Poverty Reduction Strategies

• All provinces and territories in Canada have a poverty reduction strategy plan in place
• Although each plan is somewhat unique, most plans centre on provisions for ending homelessness, reducing child poverty, increasing food security, improving healthcare and education spending, and providing income security

Why Are There Classes in Society?

• Functionalists point out that inequality exists in all societies, which suggests that it is inevitable and even necessary

Stratification Is Beneficial

• Stratification is beneficial because it leads to meritocracy
• Poverty also persists because the disadvantaged carry out many functions that benefit those who are not poor

Stratification Is a By-Product of Capitalism

• Conflict theorists believe that the notion of classes necessarily implies inequity in terms of resources and power
• People are essentially cooperative by nature when attempting to secure basic needs
• Marx claimed that materialistic nature of a capitalist society fosters competition and creates a distinction between owners and workers that leads to the emergence of social classes
• Class struggles become apparent as production moves away from individuals to factories and workers become exploited by capitalists

Marx’s Views on Stratification

• From a Marxist perspective, the economy is the central institutions in society, has an impact on sectors like religion and politics, and that cultural values and practices are by-products of capitalist dominance
• Social stratification, like religion, is a means used by the most powerful to retain their position in the upper echelons of a society
• Marx used the term “alienation” to refer to the detachment that exists between the worker and their labour as perpetuated under capitalism
• In Marx's view, workers are alienated from productive activity from the product, from their fellow workers, and from their own human potential
• Marx saw the increasing alienation of workers as culminating in a revolution that would eventually overthrow the bourgeoisie

Weber’s Views on Stratification

• In the The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber emphasizes how the emergence of rationality in the West coincided with the rising “spirit” of capitalism within Protestantism
• Things such as religion could also be significant contributors to social inequality between groups
• Weber recognized a broader range of strata, which he discussed in terms of status differences (rather than class differences)
• Status depicts hierarchical ranking in this particular case
• Status referred to social standing as based on similarities in upbringing and lifestyle that could be attributed to wealth, power, and/or prestige
• Weber viewed class differences as based on differences of lifestyle and interests afforded by similar social standing

The Capitalist Class

• Elite theory explains power relationships in society as residing in a small group that holds positions of authority in economic and political structures
• The Power Elite is a very cohesive group of top corporate officials from the government, military, and economic structures who share similar backgrounds
• Porter explains how Canada can be divided into a “vertical mosaic” of social classes based on measures of inequality

Stratification Produces Surplus Value

• Societal rewards are distributed according to societal needs (the functionalist perspective) and power
• In his view, “men will share the product of their labors to the extent required to ensure survival and continued productivity of those others whose actions are necessary or beneficial to themselves"
• There should be less inequality in modern industrial societies compared to nonindustrial ones because some of the accumulated “surplus value” will be shared with workers in order to manage the system
• The gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to persist and widen because the rich incur greater and greater amounts of profit from capitalism and use those profits to increase their own power and profit at the expense of the classes below them
• A lessening of social inequality requires considerable change and will probably not come about until it is addressed more fully at the federal level of government

Canada’s Opportunity for All Poverty Reduction Strategy

• Pillars of "living in dignity; providing opportunity and inclusion; and enhancing resilience and security" is designed to reduce poverty by 50 percent by 2030
• Measures taken since 2015 to improve the social and economic well-being of Canadians with low incomes include a new Canada Child Benefit subsidy, an increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and a Canada Workers Benefit
• Additional initiatives include the National Housing Strategy, an Early Learning and Child Care Framework, and an Employment Training Program for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples