Social Inequality (Soc 101) Part 2 PDF Fall 2024

Social Inequality Fall 2024 Soc 101 Part 2  c) Link individuals to resources/rewards – thereby granting unequal control over valuable resources to those people  Max Weber hypothesized social closure as a way to conceptualize how power is derived from...

Social Inequality Fall 2024 Soc 101 Part 2  c) Link individuals to resources/rewards – thereby granting unequal control over valuable resources to those people  Max Weber hypothesized social closure as a way to conceptualize how power is derived from processes of exclusion  Parkin – Further Developed Weber’s concept of social closure:  Methods used by more powerful groups to maintain their unequal access to status and resources, and to exclude others from such access  Examples – Occupational Closure  Occupational Closure  A form of social closure  Involves collective action  Restrict Access  Create artificial monopolies  Channel Demand  All potentially serve to raise wages regardless of skill, talent or whether someone works hard  Today: Credentials  Strong effect on rewards, $  Restricts supply two ways:  Human Capital Theory  Formalizes the acquisition of skills OR  Credentialism  Arbitrary cultural competency/’club membership’ - loosely tied to know production  Enforced mainly through rules, norms, hiring practices  HUMAN CAPITAL THEORY How economists think about education Wealth, Prosperity, Productivit y Higher wages etc. Job Skills Education Education as an “investment” Presumed casual connections Gary Becker, Nobel Laureate  CREDENTIALISM  Role of Credentials  Supply - side competition and credential inflation  Bureaucratic screening devices  A Tool for Professionalization  Education as a status marker Example today: Micro-credentials  Type of ‘ability badge’  From cake decorating all the way to advanced computer skills…..  All Raises Questions….  About the “pay”, “skill/talent” relationship  Two Perspectives - Class Systems  Structural Functionalism  Conflict Structural Functionalism  Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification – The Structural Functionalist View  Social inequality is necessary so people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions  MAIN ARGUMENT: Inequality exists in all societies  Must be necessary The main function of Davis and stratification is “placing and motivating individuals in the Moore Thesis social structure.” Some jobs: Are more functionally important Require more work/talent  Examples  Example 1: Dish-washer  Little skill high supply of workers  Competition among workers drives down wage  Example 2: Engineer  High skill  lower supply of workers  Competition among employers drives up wages Arguments ‘for’ & ‘against’ Is there always direct relationship between skill, talent, hard work, effort and compensation? If someone is paid 100 times more than someone else – is this person100 times more talented? Works 100 times harder? Generates a 100 times more ‘value’? CEO Compensation  Winner Take All Markets “The entire planet can get along nicely now with maybe a dozen champion performers in each area of human giftedness.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Bluebeard) Sherwin Rosen, “The Economics of Superstars.”  Winner Take All Markets  A characteristic of winner take all markets: Barely perceptible quality difference spells the difference between success and failure  Examples: Tiger Woods  The one stroke difference between #1 and #40 in golf  Estimated worth - $800 million Michael Phelps  Fractions of a second  Estimated worth - $100 million  Conflict Theory  All societies based on social conflict  Struggle between ‘opposites’ - groups that have differing needs and interests over ownership and distribution of goods and resources  Materialist conception of history – economy drives conflict and change Karl Marx’s View of Stratification Social relations depend on who controls the primary mode of economic production Recall from week 2….  Marx was a ‘relational’ intellectual  Rather than focusing on the properties of individuals, individuals are defined by their relationships with others and social  E.g., being a ‘capitalist’ isn’t a personality type like what you see in the movies it’s a relationship that individual has with others (e.g., workers) and social institutions (e.g., the economy) 6-23 Conflict Theory: Max Weber  Max Weber’s View of Stratification  No single characteristic totally defines a person’s position with the stratification system  Pointed to potential for low status consistency Class: Status Group: Power: group of people people who ability to who have similar have the same exercise one’s level of wealth and prestige or will over income lifestyle others Expand/Connect to Material from Last Week Your group is in charge of allocating salaries to the following 5 individuals. You only have $100 in total to give out. Occupation salary Mary - Nurse Devon – President of a large company Christine – Early childcare worker Nai - Pharmacist Dave – professional baseball player 1)Allocate the $100 2) Reflect on the reasons behind your decisions.