Imagining Sociology: An Introduction with Readings, Third Edition PDF

Imagining Sociology: An Introduction with Readings, Third Edition by Catherine Corrigall-Brown © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Chapter 4 Social Inequality and Social Class © 2023 Oxf...

Imagining Sociology: An Introduction with Readings, Third Edition by Catherine Corrigall-Brown © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Chapter 4 Social Inequality and Social Class © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Introduction Do you think of yourself as working-class, middle- class or upper class? 70% of Canadians see themselves as middle-class. What does it mean to be middle-class? Karl Marx and Max Weber tried to answer such class-related questions in their work. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Karl Marx and Social Class (1 of 2) Marx developed conflict theory. He believed the core struggle in human societies was the class struggle. This refers to the struggle over who owns the means of production, or the means to make things society needs. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Karl Marx and Social Class (2 of 2) Marx theorized the class struggle was primarily between two classes or groups of people within the productive system: the bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the proletariat (workers). Capitalists own property and employ workers while workers sold their labour power to capitalists. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Karl Marx and Class Struggles (1 of 3) Class struggles are defined by the battle over surplus value, or the excess value produced by workers. Capitalists want to keep wages low and increase their take of the surplus value while workers want to increase their wages. Class struggles exist because classes want different things and have different interests. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Karl Marx and Class Struggles (2 of 3) Marx theorized that workers did not organize and resist capitalists more forcefully because of ideology —systems of conscious and unconscious beliefs and ideas that govern people’s lives. Capitalist ideology, represented by the idea of meritocracy, blunted the workers’ revolutionary potential by creating a false consciousness among them. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Karl Marx and Class Struggles (3 of 3) Marx also believed the world divided into two additional classes: petite bourgeoisie and lumpenproletariat. The petite bourgeoisie represent small capitalists, who may own the means of production but not employ workers. The lumpenproletariat is a class Marx theorized as representing what he thought of as the lowest layer of the working class. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Class Consciousness (1 of 2) A term used in Marxist theory to explain how people see their social class position and their class interests. “Class in itself” refers to a category of people with a common relation to the means of production. “Class for itself” refers to a category of people organized in pursuit of their own interests. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Class Consciousness (2 of 2) Trade union density – The percentage of wage earners in a population who are part of a union. – Trade union density is on the decline. – This fact demonstrates how public policies and laws shape larger social structures such as unions. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  FIGURE 4.1 Unionization rates in the United States and Canada, 1920–2016 Sources: Based on Kris Warner, 2013, “The Real Reason for the Decline of American Unions,” Bloomberg View, 23 January, www.bloomberg.com/view/echoes/8. Used with permission of Bloomberg L.P. Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Numbers after 2011 in Canada are from Government of Canada Appendix I at https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-socialdevelopment/services/collective-bargaining-data.html. Numbers after 2011 in the United States are from Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018, “Union Members Summary,” Economic News Release, 19 January, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Max Weber and Social Status (1 of 5) Weber begins his theory by looking at how power drives human behaviour. Weber thought power was defined by the chance a person or group of people had to realize their will despite opposition. Weber argued that many non-economic factors also influence who has power in society. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Max Weber and Social Status (2 of 5) Weber argued that there are three primary bases of power in societies: 1. Class 2. Status 3. Parties © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Max Weber and Social Status (3 of 5) Class – Class is about power in the economic order. – Classes differed based on the property they owned and the services they offered. – Weber theorized four classes: 1. Large capitalists 2. Small capitalists 3. Specialists 4. The working classes © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Max Weber and Social Status (4 of 5) Status – Status groups have some kind of social honour or prestige through their social position expressed during interactions. – Social honour or prestige may be positive or negative and the status groups underlying this honour are varied. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Max Weber and Social Status (5 of 5) Parties – Parties are any organization that seeks to exercise power communally to achieve some goal. – Can include not only political parties, but also groups aimed at improving specific problems, environmental groups, or even sporting and recreation groups. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (1 of 9) Socio-economic status (SES) – How income inequality in Canada is measured. – Made up of different measures including income, educational attainment, and occupational prestige. – Incorporates ideas about social class and social status. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (2 of 9) Social mobility – Refers to an individual’s movement up or down within the economic system. – Income inequality might not be as much of a concern if there is social mobility in a society. – As people move from one class to another, the gap between the rich and the power may lessen. © 2023 Oxford University Pres FIGURE 4.2 How much a Canadian child would earn in adulthood, on average, based on their parents’ position on the income ladder, 2016 Source: The Globe and Mail, Source: StatsCan, 2016 Census/The Canadian Press. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (4 of 9) Achievement-based stratification system: – Social mobility occurs in an achievement-based system. – In this system, people’s rank depends on their accomplishments. – Those who work hard rise up the class ranks. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (5 of 9) Ascription-based stratification system – Determines an individual’s rank by their ascribed characteristics. – Ascribed characteristics refer to the features an individual is born with. – If people of certain ethnicities, religions, or genders hold certain ranks in society because of who they are, it is an ascription-based system. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (6 of 9) The extent to which a society is achievement- or ascriptive-based depends on the level of social mobility in a society. There are two types of mobility, intergenerational and intragenerational. 1. Intergenerational mobility occurs between generations, from parent to child. 2. Intragenerational mobility occurs within a single generation. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (7 of 9) Many studies compare social mobility across countries. Some measure intergenerational income elasticity, which refers to the statistical relationship between a parent’s and a child’s economic standings. – The higher the number, the less social mobility within a society and the more influence a parent’s economic standing influences their children’s financial success. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  FIGURE 4.3 Intergenerational income elasticities for eleven developed countries, 2015 Source: Brady, Michael M. 2015. “Opportunity of Social Mobility Great in Scandinavia,” The Norwegian American, August 20, 2015. http://www.norwegianamerican.com/opinion/opportunity-of-socialmobility-great-in-scandinavia. Courtesy of Michael A. Rogers. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Income Inequality in Canada (9 of 9) Public policy and tax systems ensure Canada experiences more social mobility relative to the United States. The Canadian government invests more in schools, hospitals, and housing than the United States. These investments create support for individuals born into poverty to be more socially mobile and rise out of poverty. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (1 of 12) Poverty is defined by sociologists as a state in which cultural and material resources are lacking. – Relative poverty, the deprivation of one individual compared to another. – Absolute poverty, deprivation that threatens the individual’s survival. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (2 of 12) Low-income cut-offs (LICOs) – Defining poverty is challenging because there are different thresholds such as absolute and relative, and because it is context dependent. – LICOs indicate a point at which a family spends more of its income on income, food, and shelter than an average family. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (3 of 12) Basic Income – Guaranteed annual income that aims to reduce inequality and eliminate poverty. – If an individual earns below the poverty line, they receive a tax credit to push their income above the poverty line. – Most Canadians support the idea of a basic income. – Critics argue that the idea is too expensive to implement and don’t target the very poor. – Advocates argue it is needed to address poverty, particularly in an era of precarious employment. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (4 of 12) Minimum wage survival – Living on minimum wage is a real struggle to survive. – Almost 1 in 7 Canadians lives in poverty. – Average poverty rates have increased from 1981 to 2015. – Reached its highest level in 1996. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (5 of 12) Gender – Women are more likely than men to live in poverty, though the gap is decreasing. Marital status – People who live in families are less likely to live in poverty than single people. Age – Poverty affects the elderly differently, and was very high until the mid-1990s when Canada implemented the Canada Pension Plan. © 2023 Oxford University Pres TABLE 4.2 Poverty rate by group (%), Canada, 2002– 2018 Persons in Low Income 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Sex Male 12.5 14.8 12.0 11.1 11.1 Female 13.4 16.3 12.5 11.4 10.9 Family type Economic family* 10.8 12.5 9.3 8.3 7.6 Unattached individuals 26.3 33.6 28.3 27.1 29.0 © 2023 Oxford University Pres  TABLE 4.2 Continued Persons in Low 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Income Age Under 18 15.9 19.2 13.3 12.4 10.8 18–64 13.5 16.0 13.3 12.6 12.5 Over 65 4.4 7.6 5.8 4.5 5.6 National average 12.9 15.6 12.3 11.3 11.0 Note: The values in this table are based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM), established in 2018 as Canada’s Official Poverty Line. The MBM is a poverty threshold “based on the cost of a basket of food, clothing, shelter, transportation and other necessities. Families with disposable incomes less than the applicable thresholds, given family size and region of residence, are deemed to be in poverty” (Djidel et al. 2020, 5). The MBMs reported here were calculated according to different bases (or baskets) as adjustments are made to this measure of poverty over time, meaning that poverty levels with an earlier base tend to be more conservative. For this table, the 2002 rates are calculated according to the 2000 base, 2006–2014 according to the 2008 base and 2018 according to the 2018 base. For more information about the MBM and differences across measures over time, see Djidel et al. (2020). * Economic families include two or more people living in the same household and who are related biologically, through marriage (including common-law), or via adop- tion or a foster relationship. Source: Statistics Canada. 2021. “Table 11-10-0135-01: Low Income Statistics by Age, Sex and Economic Family Type.” https://doi.org/10.25318/1110013501- eng. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (8 of 12) Canada Pension Plan – Implemented by the Canadian government in 1966. – Pot of money to draw on later in life paid for by a CPP premium integrated with our paycheques. – When you reach 65, the CPP will provide you with regular pension payments. – Everyone in Canada receives this when they hit age 65. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  FIGURE 4.4 Canada’s elderly poverty rate (per cent), 1976–2013 Source: Shillington, Richard. 2016. An Analysis of the Economic Circumstances of Canadian Seniors. Ottawa: The Broadbent Institute. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (10 of 12) Cycle of poverty – How poverty perpetuates itself without some sort of outside, usually governmental, intervention. – Perpetuated by factors such as low income, little education, lack of housing, and poor health. – These factors combine to make it difficult for some individuals to draw themselves up from poverty. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (11 of 12) Poverty is inefficient and expensive to the individual. Poverty often leads to precarious housing access, often leading to inadequate housing. Poverty is also associated with inadequate nutrition. Finally, poverty is associated with lower life expectancies. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Poverty (12 of 12) Even with social supports like universal health care provided by the government, differential life expectancies for groups in Canada still exist. Income influences existence in nearly all facets of life. © 2023 Oxford University Pres  Summary Karl Marx understood social class as being based on an individual’s relationship to the means of production. Max Weber added the importance of social status (the honour and prestige accorded to various groups) to Marx’s ideas. Modern Canadian society tends to use socio-economic status to talk about social inequality. Social mobility in Canada is greater than in many other countries. But there is still much poverty in Canada. © 2023 Oxford University Pres