Download Institutions: Family and Education

INSTITUTIONS: FAMILY AND EDUCATION
Stratification
Part 1
STRATIFICATION - DEFINITIONS
Social Stratification can be described as socially-patterned inequality of
access to things that a culture defines as desirable (University of Chicago,
2015).
Stratification can most simply be defined as structured inequalities between
different groupings of people (Giddens, 2006, p. 296).
Often, stratification is thought of in terms of assets or property, but it can also
occur because of other attributes such as gender, age and religious affiliation
(Giddens, 2006).
STRATA IN A HIERARCHY
Most privileged
Least privileged
WHAT IS ‘PRIVILEGE’?
A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a
particular person or group.
WHAT IS A HIERARCHY?
A system in which members of an organisation or society are ranked according
to relative status or authority.
STRATIFICATION IS ABOUT CLASS, STATUS AND
POWER
Class:
Class is those who share common economic interests, are conscious of
those interests, and engage in collective action which advances those
interests (Marx).
A category of people who have in common a specific causal
component of their life chances in so far as this component is
represented exclusively by economic interests in the possession of
goods and opportunities for income, and it is represented under the
conditions of the commodity or labour market." (Weber)
HOW IS WEBER’S VIEW OF CLASS DIFFERENT TO
THAT OF MARX?
Weber agrees that class is linked to economic position, however, unlike Marx,
he did not think that people in the same class will necessarily take action to
advance their interests (e.g. start a revolution).
Weber believed that an individual’s position on the social hierarchy is also
linked to their status…
STRATIFICATION IS ABOUT CLASS, STATUS AND
POWER.
Status:
Classification of men into such groups is based on their
consumption patterns rather than on their place in the market
or in the process of production. (Weber).
A status group can exist only to the extent that others accord its
members prestige or degrading, which removes them from the
rest of social actors and establishes the necessary social
distance between "them" and "us.“ (Weber).
STRATIFICATIONS IS ABOUT CLASS, STATUS AND
POWER.
Power:
For Marx, power is always rooted in economics. Those who
own the means of production exercise political power either
directly or indirectly.
Weber understands by power: the chance of a man, or a
number of men "to realize their own will in communal action,
even against the resistance of others."
STRATIFICATION IS ABOUT CLASS, STATUS AND
POWER.
Bourdieu class and status are inextricably linked to the acquisition of certain tastes
and dispositions. Social class is not defined solely by economics, “but by the class
habitus which is normally associated with that position”.
An individual will “know” that
something is “pretentious” or
“gaudy”, whereas a person from
another class will see the same
thing as “beautiful” or “stunning”.
GIDDENS (2006)
All socially stratified systems share three characteristics:
 The rankings apply to social categories of people who share a
common characteristic without necessarily interacting or identifying
with one another.
People’s life experiences and opportunities depend heavily on how
their social category is ranked.
The ranks of different social categories tend to change very slowly
over time.
STRATIFICATION AND INSTITUTIONS
Sociologists argue that stratification is
created and maintained by social
institutions (e.g. family, education, work
and the media).
In other words, institutions like the family
and education, for example, operate in
such a way that leads to the separation
of different groupings of people into
‘strata’ in the societal hierarchy.
HOW DOES THE FAMILY CREATE AND MAINTAIN
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?
An individual’s social class, status and power will be closely linked with that of
the family in which they were socialised. This process is called social
reproduction.
HABITUS AND SOCIAL REPRODUCTION
This links back to Bourdieu’s concept of HABITUS.
According to Bourdieu, habitus is an embodied set of socially acquired
dispositions that lead individuals to live their lives in ways that are similar to
other members of their social group.
He suggests that a child learns these things from their family, and then from
their school and peers, who demonstrate to the child how to speak and act, and
so on. In this way, “the social order is progressively being inscribed in people’s
minds”.
A SENSE OF ONE’S PLACE – BOURDIEU
Quesitons:
1) How do traditional sociologists (Marx, Durkheim etc.) determine how the social-class
system is reproduced?
2) How is Bourdieu different in his explanation?
3) Bourdieu explains that people of the same class tend to exhibit similar cultural
values. What does he mean by this?
4) How does an individual develop their habitus?
5) Habitus provides people with a sense of identity and ‘place’. What happens when
people stray into the “fields” (institutions or structures) of a different class? Can you
connect this to family and the education institution?
6) How do people use their judgements to distinguish class?
7) What are the three forms of ‘capital’?
8) Does Bourdieu’s theory of habitus allow for social mobility?
WORKING CLASS OR AFFLUENT? ELVERY & LESLIE
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-28/social-class-survey-where-you-fit-inaustralia/6869864
(Find out where you fit in)
*Research paper available on class blog.