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Chapter 7
 Social
Stratification- division of large
numbers of people according to power,
property, gender and prestige.
 This applies to nations, societies, sexes and
other groups
 Social stratification is universal- some
societies have greater inequalities than
others
 Three systems of social stratification:
slavery, caste and class
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Has been common throughout
history
Most common in agricultural
societies
Not based on racism but on
debt, war, crime
In some cases slavery was
temporary and not inheritable
In almost all cases slaves
owned no property and had no
power
Slaves used for labor. Indians were
tried first but this failed so the
Europeans turned to Africans
 Racism did not lead to slavery but
slavery led to racism. Finding it
profitable to keep slaves, slave
owners developed an ideology to
justify owning human beings
 Slave states passed laws that made
slavery inheritable. Civil War did
not end legal discrimination in the
US, lasted until the 1950’s and 60’s
 Slavery exists today in West Africa.
Many of these countries have
outlawed slavery but continues
unofficially
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Status determined by birth, is lifelong
Boundaries remain firm. Practice
endogamy, marriage within their own
group
Ritual pollution reduces contact between
classes, contact with inferior castes
contaminate superior castes
India best example of the caste system,
based on religion not race existed for
over 3000 years.
Four main castes are divided into
thousands of other castes. Indian
government officially abolished system in
1949, tradition are hard to change
Caste based ceremonies remain part of
everyday life (birth, marriage, death)
Racial Caste system developed in America
after the Civil War where African
Americans were treated as inferior to all
whites and this was written into law
 Social
Class is less rigid than caste or slavery
 Based on money and material possessions
 Begins at birth when individuals acquire their
ascribed status, as life progresses people can
change social class by what they achieve in life.
No laws prohibit intermarriage or occupation
 Class system has fluid boundaries-it allows
social mobility. The ability to move up or slide
down this ladder is what motivates people to be
successful in life
 Gender is the basis for stratification in all
societies- it cuts across all systems of social
stratification. It provides or denies access to the
things available in society
 These distinctions always favor males
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Nations are stratified by property, prestige and power
Divided in to three categories: Most Industrialized,
Industrializing, Least Industrialized
Many Middle Eastern countries do not fit into any of these
categories (oil rich nations), even though they are nonindustrialized. They buy technology from other countries and
workers from other countries and use immigrant workers from
other nations to do unpleasant, mundane tasks
Based on measures of life expectancy, access to education,
medical care, GDP, GNP, electricity, telephones, internet
access and many other factors
Controlling ideas, information and technology through
ideology is a means of social control to maintain
stratification
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Three theories to how the nations of the world became
stratified- colonialism, world system theory, culture of
poverty
Colonialism- is the process in which one nation takes over
another to exploit natural resources and labor
Countries that industrialized first took over the other
countries.
Used industrial profits to build armies to invade weaker
nations.
Took over these countries they left behind police and
administrative force to govern the people and exploit the
resources
In the 1800’s Europe divided up the entire continent of Africa
Economic colonies established to benefit the mother country.
US established corporate colonies and let companies
dominate the territories government
Colonialism shaped many of the Least Industrialized Nations,
seen in their map boundaries and the ethnic and tribal
violence
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Immanuel Wallerstein developed the world systems
theory that explains the economic and political ties that
connect the world’s countries
Industrialization led to four groups of nations- core
nations, semi periphery, periphery, external area nations
Core nations- countries that industrialized first
Semi periphery- countries stagnated because they were
dependent on trade with core nations
Periphery- sold cash crops to core nations
External nations- left out of the development of
capitalism altogether.
As capitalism expanded relationship among these nations
changed
Globalization of capitalism created extensive ties among
world’s nations.
 Economist
John Kenneth Galbraith claimed
cultures of Least Industrialized Nations hold
them back.
 Some nations are crippled by culture of
poverty, the way of life that perpetuates
poverty from one generation to another.
These groups possess different values and
behaviors
 Cultural components include: religion,
agricultural practices
 This theory places blame on the victim
(nation)
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Functionalist Perspective
Explains why stratification is universal
Inequality is universal and this inequality helps societies survive
Kingsley Davis, Wilbert Moore concluded stratification is inevitable
because:
1. Society must make sure certain positions are filled
2. Some positions are more important than others
3. Important positions are filled by more qualified people
4. To motivate qualified people, society must offer them greater rewards
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Concluded that society offers the greatest rewards for the more
demanding and accountable positions
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Explains why stratification is universal- does not justify it
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How do we know that highest rewards are the most important?
If society worked this way it would be a meritocracy
Does not benefit everyone
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Conflict is the reason for social stratification
Karl Marx believed that human history is the story of
class struggle. Those in power use society’s resources to
benefit themselves and keep others oppressed
Groups compete for the world’s resources and powerful
nations try to maintain power
These groups use economic, social institutions, military
to maintain power
According to Marx social class is based on peoples
relationship to the means of production (tools,
factories, land , capital used to produce wealth)
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Marx argued access to means of production
created class distinctions
People were divided into the bourgeoisie
and proletariat
These groups developed class
consciousness, a shared identity based on
position in society and access to means of
production.
Property determines lifestyles, shapes ideas
and establishes relationships
Weber critic of Marx. Social class made up of
three components property, prestige,
power, all interrelated
Property- ability to control the means of
production, power can be used for their
benefit
Prestige- people with prestige are admired,
power and property can come from prestige
Power- ability to control others. Property is
a form of power
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Primary dimension of social
class is property
Two types- wealth and income
Wealth- total value somebody
owns
Income- money received from
job, business or assets
70% of nations wealth owned
by 10% of nations families, 1%
own one third of nations assets
Those at the top of the income
scale and those at the bottom
experience vastly different
lifestyles
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Jobs that pay more, require more
education, entail more abstract thought,
offer greater autonomy
Job prestige brings power- power elite
term by C. Wright Mills for the top people
in corporations, military, politics that make
nations major decisions
Different occupations have different levels
of prestige (7.4 pg. 208)
Social Class is a fact of life influences
attitudes, life chances, friends, outlook on
the world
Each person tries to maximize their status.
Mixture of high and low status creates
status inconsistency (pgs 208-209)
Displaying Prestige- people want others to
acknowledge their prestige (saluting, zip
codes, standing when somebody enters the
room
 Sociologist
Joseph Kahl, Dennis Gilbert
developed six tier model to portray the class
structure of the United States. Each rung of
this ladder is determined by wealth, power,
prestige, education
 Six classes are Capitalist, Upper Middle,
Lower Middle, Working, Working Poor,
Underclass
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Each class is a subculture with different approaches to life. Class
influences family life, education, religion, political views, health
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Family Life- choice of husband or wife in capitalist class influenced by parents,
lower classes tension of everyday life leads to more divorce
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Education- increases as one goes up the ladder in social class, privileged classes
more likely to graduate from college
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Politics- Rich and poor have different political views, people at the bottom of the
social structure less likely to be politically active
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Religion- Classes cluster around different denominations. Lower classes more
attracted to expressive worship services. People often change their religion when
they move up in social class
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Physical health- lower social class, shorter life expectancy. Two tier medical system
in the US higher social class can afford better medical care, lower classes have
more unhealthy lifestyle, rich have more resources to deal with problems
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Mental Health- more stress on lower classes they have more mental health
problems, upper classes have greater control over their lives, key to good mental
health
 Why
do people climb the social ladder
and what affects their chances?
 Three types of social mobility
 Intergenerational
mobility- change family
members make from one generation to the next.
It can be upward or downward
 Structural mobility- movement on the social
ladder due to changes in the structure of society
 Exchange mobility- when the same number of
people move up and down the social ladder so the
class system shows little change
 Twenty
percent of the US population finds
the “American Dream” elusive
 US government determines poverty line as
less than three times of a low cost food
budget, this is the official measure of
poverty and is an inadequate measure of
poverty
 Poverty is determined by many factorsgeography, race- ethnicity, education, age,
family structure
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Poverty is greater
in the south and in
rural areas than
other areas of the
country
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Whites less likely to
be poor than Latinos
or AfricanAmericans, but
whites are higher in
number
Elderly are less
likely than other
groups to live in
poverty
Children more likely
than elderly or
adults to live in
poverty
 Only
two percent
of people that
finish college end
up in poverty, 20%
for high school
dropouts
 Families
least likely to be poor
have two parents
 Households headed by single
mothers have higher rates of
poverty
 Association of poverty and
single women is known as the
feminization of poverty
 Poor
tend to get
trapped in a culture
of poverty, attitudes
and beliefs keep them
poor
 Most poor in America
are poor for a year or
less and eventually
move out of poverty
 Sociologists
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have two theoriessocial structure denies access
characteristics of individuals contribute to
living in poverty (blames victim)
Horatio Alger Myth- late nineteenth century author wrote
rags- to- riches stories about the belief that limitless
possibilities exist for everyone. If you don’t make it is
your own fault
Myth help’s stabilize society, makes it an individual
problem- not society’s
Reduces pressure to change