Download 「社會學動動腦」 授課人：苗延威

「社會學動動腦」
授課人：苗延威
本週主題
社會階層與社會流動
社會階層
• In sociology, social stratification is a concept
involving the "classification of people into groups
based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a
relational set of inequalities with economic,
social, political and ideological dimensions."
When differences lead to greater status, power
or privilege for some groups over the other it is
called Social Stratification. It is a system by
which society ranks categories of people in a
hierarchy.
社會階層
• Social stratification is based on four basic principles:
• (1) Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a
reflection of individual differences;
• (2) Social stratification carries over from generation to
generation;
• (3) Social stratification is universal but variable;
• (4) Social stratification involves not just inequality but
beliefs as well.
• In modern Western societies, stratification is broadly
organized into three main layers: upper class, middle class,
and lower class. Each of these classes can be further
subdivided into smaller classes (e.g. occupational).
社會階層
• These categories are particular to state-based societies as
distinguished from feudal societies composed ofnobility-topeasant relations. Stratification may also be defined by kinship
ties or castes.
• For Max Weber, social class pertaining broadly to material wealth is
distinguished from status class which is based on such variables as
honor, prestige and religious affiliation.
• Talcott Parsons argued that the forces of societal differentiation and
the following pattern of institutionalized individualization would strongly
diminish the role of class (as a major stratification factor) as social
evolution went along. It is debatable whether the earliest huntergatherer groups may be defined as 'stratified', or if such differentials
began with agriculture and broad acts of exchange between groups.
One of the ongoing issues in determining social stratification arises
from the point that status inequalities between individuals are common,
so it becomes a quantitative issue to determine how much inequality
qualifies as stratification.
社會階級
• Social class (or simply "class") is a
set of concepts in the social
sciences and political theory centered
on models of social stratification in
which people are grouped into a set
of hierarchical social categories.
社會階級
• Class is an essential object of analysis
for sociologists, political
scientists, anthropologists and social
historians.
• However, there is not a consensus on the
best definition of the term "class", and the
term has different contextual meanings. In
common parlance, the term "social class,"
is usually synonymous with "socioeconomic class," defined as: "people
having the same social, economic, or
educational status," e.g., "the working
class"; "an emerging professional class."
社會階級
• In the late 18th century, the term "class"
began to replace classifications such as
estates, rank, and orders as the primary
means of organizing society into
hierarchical divisions.
• This corresponded to a general decrease
in significance ascribed to hereditary
characteristics, and increase in the
significance of wealth and income as
indicators of position in the social hierarchy.
社會流動
• Social mobility is the movement of individuals or groups
in social position over time.
• It may refer to classes,ethnic groups, or entire nations, and
may measure health status, literacy, or education — but
more commonly it refers to individuals or families, and
their change in income.
• It also typically refers to vertical mobility—movement of
individuals or groups up (or down) from one socio-economic
level to another, often by changing jobs or marriage; but can
also refer to horizontal mobility—movement from one
position to another within the same social level.
• Social mobility can be the change in status between
someone (or a group) and their parents/previous family
generations ("inter-generational"); or over the change during
one's lifetime ("intra-generational").
社會流動
• It can be "absolute"—i.e. total amount of
movement of people between classes,
usually over one generation (such as when
education and economic development
raises the socio-economic level of a
population); or "relative" -- an estimation of
the chance of upward (or downward) social
mobility of a member of one social class in
comparison with a member from another
class.
• A higher level of intergenerational mobility
is often considered praiseworthy, and the
sign of greater fairness, or equality of
opportunity, in a society.
社會流動
• Mobility is enabled to a varying extent
by economic capital, cultural capital (such
as higher education), human's
capital (such as competence and effort in
labour), social capital (such as support
from one's social network),physical
capital (such as ownership of tools, or the
'means of production'), and symbolic
capital (such as the worth of an official
title, status class, celebrity, etc.).