Stratification Concepts PDF

Stratification and inequality General concepts of stratification  Types of power Power is the ability to exercise ones will over others, and to make your wishes happen despite the opposition of others.  Weber highlights 3 types of power: Force which is physical powe...

Stratification and inequality General concepts of stratification  Types of power Power is the ability to exercise ones will over others, and to make your wishes happen despite the opposition of others.  Weber highlights 3 types of power: Force which is physical power or coercion. Influence which is the power to persuade others. Authority which is institutionalized power recognized by those the power is held over.  Authority is gained because people decide to recognize you as powerful.  Authority 3 types of authority: Traditional authority is power through custom.  No concern for the personal characteristics or abilities of the powerful individual. Legal-rational authority is power attained through rules of a society usually given based on a specific area of competence.  Society creates powerful positions and then fills the positions with people uniquely qualified to do that job. Charismatic authority is power through personal appeal.  Purest form of authority in that the individual only has power because a group of people has chosen to follow that person and see him/her as powerful.  Inequality and Stratification The unequal distribution of power results in social inequality (conditions in which members of a society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, and power). Inequality is a cultural universal in that is exists in some form in every society. Stratification is the ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards, power and life chances.  Life chances (Weber 1922) are opportunities for individuals to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions and favorable life experiences. We often use existing inequality to stratify; stratification the leads to continuing inequality. In the US, right now, what Percentage of people are… Millionaires Transgender Native American Jewish Gay/lesbian Athiest Vegan A military veteran Living in Texas (Have) at least one child In the US, right now, what Percentage of people are… Millionaires: 0% Transgender: 1% Native American: 1% Jewish: 2% Gay/lesbian 3% Athiest: 3% Vegan: 5% A military veteran: 6% Living in Texas: 9% (Have) at least one child: 57% https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/ 2022/03/15/americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population  Minority/ underrepresented groups Minority/underrepresented group is a subordinate group whose members have significantly less power and control over their lives than do the members of the dominant group. The minority group designation is one of power not numbers. Ascribed status is a position assigned by society with no regard for unique characteristics or abilities of the individual.  Ascribed statuses are characteristics that society has deemed important and would like to know about anyone within society.  An individual has little control over their ascribed status.  Stratifying (ascribed) variables Race refers to groups set apart from other groups due to obvious, non sex-based, physical differences. Ethnicity refers to groups set apart by national origin or distinctive cultural pattern. Class refers to status gained through the accumulation of economic success and wealth. Gender is the idea of being male or female. The norms, expectations associated with “maleness” and femaleness” with a given culture. Sexual Orientation refers to an enduring patterns of attraction to those of some sex. Ableness refers to physical abilities or impairments that create different challenges for an individual.  Intersectionality Intersectionality (Crenshaw 1989) is a concept used to describe the ways in which forms of inequality and stratification (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, etc.) are interconnected and should not be examined separately from one another. Matrix of Domination (Hill-Collins 1991) refers to cross-cutting memberships of race, class, gender, and sexual group memberships that determine the amount of control one has over their lives.  Knowledge is the common, accepted and scientific basis for knowing about something.  Wisdom is information gained by dealing with oppression in a society controlled by another group.  Privilege Privilege refers to structural advantages given a person in a specific group which the person who holds the advantage is likely to be unaware. Sometimes described as an “invisible knapsack of unearned assets” which can be counted on each time they are needed but about which you are meant to remain oblivious (McIntosh 1988). Privilege is more about the absence of inconvenience or the absence of impediment than about the presence of some obvious, tangible rewards. Because advantages seem “normal’ to anyone in the culture, the patterns are rarely questioned or changed.  #yesallwomen https://time.com/114043/yesallwomen-hashtag- santa-barbara-shooting/ John Amaechi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_2TBeDHW-M Pager https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUZqvsF_Wt0 Microaggressions http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/racial- microagressions-you-hear-on-a-daily- basis#.oiQDnZZz4m  Prejudice and discrimination Prejudice are negative feelings felt toward an entire group of people.  Usually referring to broad preconceptions held about some group. Discrimination is the process of denying equal rights and opportunities to groups and group members based on prejudice or other arbitrary reasons.  Symbolic prejudice Symbolic/modern prejudice refers subtle negative attitudes directed toward minority groups. Results from a culture which no longer accepts outward/blatant prejudice but whose members may still hold negative feelings against certain groups. Microaggressions are indirect, subtle, or unintentional comments or actions that express prejudice against a marginalized group or person.  Each event, observation and experience is not necessarily particularly striking in and of themselves.  Often, they are never meant to hurt, these acts are done with little conscious awareness of their meanings and effects.  Instead, their slow accumulation over a lifetime is in part what defines a marginalized experience, making explanation of and communication with someone who does not share this identity particularly difficult.  Microaggressions create and enforce uncomfortable, violent and unsafe realities onto peoples' environments."  Symbolic prejudice The culture appears open and accepting but the negative feelings exist just below the surface and are expressed at “appropriate” times. Symbolic prejudice is often portrayed as minority groups demanding “special treatment” (Sears and Henry 2008) because there is belief among the dominant group that…  Underrepresented group no longer faces much prejudice or discrimination.  The failure of the underrepresented group to progress results from their unwillingness to work hard enough.  Underrepresented group is demanding too much too fast.  Underrepresented group have already gotten more than they deserve.  Contact hypothesis Based on an assumption that prejudice/discrimination could be controlled if people knew one another better. Contact hypothesis (Allport 1979) states that contact between groups of people will work to reduce or eliminate prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination. In testing the contact hypothesis, Allport and Coakley (1990) found that it does work but only under the right conditions (now known as the equal- status contact hypothesis)  People involved must be of equal status.  There must be a non-competitive atmosphere surrounding the interaction.  Interactions must be intensive.  Institutionalized discrimination Institutionalized discrimination refers to discriminatory practices that become ingrained within the structures of a society. These practices seem “normal” and are often viewed as necessary (especially by those advantaged by the policy). Because these seem normal and necessary they are rarely seen as discrimination or questioned as unfair.  GI Bill (Brodkin 1998) The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (commonly referred to as the GI Bill) was a series of benefits designed to assist military veterans returning from World War II.  Benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or farm, one year of unemployment compensation, job placement assistance, dedicated payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college, or vocational school. African-American used their GI benefits less and were often discriminated against when they tried  Couldn’t find well paying defense and housing jobs during the war  Were placed in menial service and unskilled jobs post-war by the USES  Were not permitted to live in FHA housing (both by declaration and blatant discrimination  Were not welcomed in white college and the HBCU’s overflowed leaving many unable to start careers and get well paying jobs Women were typically denied benefits because they weren’t seen as GI’s  Jobs women held during wartime were returned to male GI’s post-war  Aftermath… Fewer African-American families rose to middle-class status during the most prosperous time in the US  Placed in menial jobs by USES Fewer owned their houses (due to FHA discrimination)  Made it more difficult to gets loans or mortgages Live in poorer neighborhoods, get poorer education  Rely on loans to complete their education which restricts their upward mobility even when educated Women just went back home White, male soldiers rose to the middle class, owned land, businesses, and received high levels of education which bettered their family’s life chances.  Minority and female soldiers returned to their original class location and did not improve their family’s standing.  Wealth vs. income Wealth is the value of everything a person owns minus any debts. Income includes any earnings from wages, dividends, interest payments, or rent from properties owned. Top 1% of earners have average income of $1.3 million/year. (up 160% since 1979)  Earn 24% of all US income (up from 10% in 1979).  Bottom 90% earn less than 50% of all income. Top 1% controls ~40% of all wealth.  Top 10% controls 74% of all wealth.  Bottom 90% control 26% of all wealth. Top.5% of earners controls 27% of all wealth.  Bottom 40% controls -1.0%.  Race/ethnicity and poverty 60.5% of population identifies as white.  13.5% as African-American/Black.  18.5% as Hispanic/Latino(a). ~8% of whites live below the poverty line.  19.5% of African-American/Black live in poverty.  17% of Hispanic/Latino(a) live in poverty. Whites have on average 20x the net worth of black households and 18x of Latino households.  In 1984 it was 12x. Black families have significantly less wealth than white families.  White families ~ $171K, Black families~ $17K  Black home ownership is lowest among any group. 30% of African-American and 27% of Latino families have zero/negative wealth.  20% of the overall population has zero/negative wealth.  Wage gap Women’s average pay is 80% of men’s full-time, year-round work (unadjusted).  63% for African-American women; 54% for Latina women.  Adjusted wage gap includes other variables (occupations, hours, worked, time in workforce) and is closer to 90%. Over a career a female…  High school graduate loses $700,000.  College graduate loses $1.2 million.  Professional school graduate loses over $2 million. Feminization of poverty refers to the trend of women (and their children) falling into poverty at higher rates.  41% of families in poverty are headed by females (only 18% of the population of families are female-headed).  Wage gap Women tend to be employed in pink- collar jobs (jobs traditionally held by women in our society) which tend to require skills similar to those in the female gender role (interaction, emotion work, empathy) but pay less. Second Shift (Hochschild 1989) shows women have become responsible for portions of for-pay household income but still hold the traditional gender roles.  End up working one shift for pay, and a second in child-care and daily household responsibilities.  Also increasingly responsible for care of elderly parents.  Institutionalized discrimination For example…? Institutionalized discrimination  Stereotype commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=g6OaSzoSpHE&feature=player_embedded Microaggressions http://microaggressions.tumblr.com/ http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/racial-microagressions-you- hear-on-a-daily-basis#.oiQDnZZz4m https://www.ted.com/talks/ david_r_williams_how_racism_makes_us_sick#t-166312 https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/ 2022/03/15/americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population  Feminism Modern theoretical perspective that combines elements of power-based theories and micro theories. Feminists argue that men and women (due primarily to their different socialization) experience everything in the world differently. Because of structural factors (like patriarchy) the male view is the only one valued.  Hegemonic masculinity refers all to an image of masculinity that revolves entirely around power. This leaves the female view downgraded or ignored and creates an inherent bias against women in society.  Feminism Three waves of feminism: Sensitization focused on having people realize that men and women were different and have different experiences in society and that the female experience was largely ignored. Activism focused on creating social movements with the goal of eliminating gender-based inequalities in society. Intersectionality focused on creating recognition that the experiences of women of different races, ethnicities, classes, religions, sexualities, physical ableness, etc. were different.  Intersectionality would create power differences within categories not just between.