DOCSLIB.ORG

Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society Uses a Historical and Conceptual Framework to Explain Social Stratification and Social Inequality

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society Uses a Historical and Conceptual Framework to Explain Social Stratification and Social Inequality SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN US SOCIETY Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society uses a historical and conceptual framework to explain social stratification and social inequality. The historical scope gives context to each issue discussed and allows the reader to understand how each topic has evolved over the course of American history. The author uses qualitative data to help explain socioeconomic issues and connect related topics. Each chapter examines major concepts, so readers can see how an individual’s success in stratified settings often relies heavily on their access to valued resources—types of capital which involve finances, schooling, social networking, and cultural competence. Analyzing the impact of capital types throughout the text helps map out the prospects for individuals, families, and also classes to maintain or alter their position in social- stratification systems. Christopher B. Doob is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Southern Connecticut State University. His published works include Sociology: An Introduction, 6th Edition (Harcourt Press 1999); Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society (Routledge 2012); Race, Ethnicity, and the Urban American Mainstream (Pearson 2004); Racism: An American Cauldron, 3rd Edition (Pearson 1998), the second edition of which received a Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights; and Great Expectations: The Sociol- ogy of Survival and Success in Team Sports (Routledge 2018). In addition, he has been active in his community, serving as coordinator for the Southern Connecticut State University’s Urban Initiatives, which established math tutor- ing classes for inner-city children. He has also participated in the struggle for welfare rights and been a long- time volunteer in two local adult- education programs. SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN US SOCIETY Second Edition Christopher B. Doob Second edition published 2019 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Taylor & Francis The right of Christopher B. Doob to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Pearson 2012 Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Names: Doob, Christopher Bates, author. Title: Social inequality and social stratification in U.S. society / Christopher B. Doob. Description: Second Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2019. | Revised edition of the author’s Social inequality and social stratification in US society, c2013. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019003534 (print) | LCCN 2019005391 (ebook) | ISBN 9780429279331 (Master Ebook) | ISBN 9780367233297 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367233426 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780429279331 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Equality–United States. | Social stratification–United States. Classification: LCC HM821 (ebook) | LCC HM821 .D66 2019 (print) | DDC 305.800973–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003534 ISBN: 978-0-367-23329-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-23342-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-27933-1 (ebk) Typeset in Garamond by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear CONTENTS Preface x Part 1 The Foundation of Social Stratification and Social Inequality 1 Chapter 1 THE ROAD TO SOCIAL INEQUALITY: A CONCEPTUAL INTRODUCTION 3 The Rise of the Global Economy 5 The Conceptual Skeleton: Social Reproduction and the Impact of Capital Types 13 Forms of Capital 16 Social Reproduction and Schooling 18 Conclusion 22 Chapter 2 IN MARX’S WAKE: THEORIES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY 30 The Davis- Moore Theory of Social Stratification 31 Marxist Theory of Capitalism and Social Stratification 33 The Economic Structure of Marxist Theory 33 Marx’s Capitalist Class System 34 Marx on Revolution and Its Aftermath 35 Commentary 36 The Marxist Impact Illustrated: Two Social- Stratification Theories 38 Weber’s Theory of Class, Status, and Party 39 Piketty’s Theory on Wealth and Inequality in Capitalism 43 The Power- Elite Theories 46 Mills’s Power- Elite Perspective 47 Domhoff ’s Theory of the Upper- Class-Centered Corporate Community 49 Dye’s Theory of the Institutional Elite 51 Conclusion 54 v vi Contents Chapter 3 REPEAT PERFORMANCE: GLOBALIZATION THROUGH TIME AND SPACE 60 The Rise and Fall of World Systems 60 Conditions in the Development of World Systems 63 Social Stratification and Social Inequality in the Global Setting 68 The Global Spectrum: From the Very Rich to the Very Poor 73 Three Semiperipheral Locations 75 Unions against Sweatshops 79 Squatter Communities: A Global Surge 83 Conclusion 87 Chapter 4 FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL INEQUALITY: CONCEPTS AND STRUCTURES 95 On Your Own: Social Class, Ideology, and Social Mobility 96 Social Class in the United States 96 The American Ideology 100 Fixation on Social Mobility: Where Is the American Dream? 106 The Invisible Empire and Its Calculus of Control 108 The Elite Policy- Making Process 109 The Burgeoning Business of Lobbying 112 Campaign Giving 115 The Power of the Press 116 Public Policy 121 Conclusion 130 Part 2 Class, Race, and Gender 141 Chapter 5 HEADING THE HIERARCHY: UPPER CLASS OR SUPERCLASS? 143 Getting Rich: From the High Seas to Hi Tech 144 The Early Years 144 From the Robber Baron Era to 1970 146 The Globalization Phase 148 The Old Rich Versus the New Rich 150 Contents vii Born to the Upper Class 153 Wealthy Families 153 Schooling for the Rich 154 Elite Social Clubs 160 Managing Upper- Class Wealth and Income 161 The American Corporate Leadership 163 The Superclass and the Power Elite 166 Conclusion 169 Chapter 6 THE BADLY BESIEGED MIDDLE CLASS 177 The Emergence of the Middle Class 178 Industry’s Impact on the Middle Class 178 The Two Middle Classes 182 Income and Jobs 182 Families and Education 189 The Ecology of Class 190 Establishment of the Middle- Class Life 192 Childhood 192 Schooling 194 Networking: It’s Who You Know 198 The Lean, Mean Middle- Class Work Machine 201 Middle- Class Workforce Changes Involving Downsizing, Outsourcing, and Temp Work 203 The Middle- Class Struggle with Reemployment 207 The Middle Class’s Slippery Slope for Making Ends Meet 209 Conclusion 211 Chapter 7 WORKING CLASS: ESTRANGED FROM ENTITLEMENT 222 Working- Class History 223 The Union Response 226 An Overview of the Working Class 233 Working- Class Development 235 Childrearing 235 Schooling 238 Community Ties 241 viii Contents Working- Class Employment: Can the Dream Survive? 244 Working- Class Jobs Today 246 Blue- Collar Temp Work: An Expanding Reality 248 Blue- Collar Workers’ Challenges 251 Conclusion 255 Chapter 8 AMERICAN POVERTY: THE DREAM TURNED NIGHTMARE 264 The American Poor through the Centuries 266 Governmental Efforts to Reduce Poverty 268 Who Is Poor? 271 The Pain of Family Poverty 277 Poor Children’s Child Care and Schooling 280 Child Care in Poverty Areas 281 Poor Children’s Education 282 Tracking in Poverty Districts 284 High- Stakes Testing and Other Destructive Trends in Poor Schools 286 Low- Income Communities and Their Social Capital 293 Poor People’s Work 299 The Prospects of Low- Income Employment 300 Battling on Up? 302 The Welfare Reform Era 305 Running the TANF Gauntlet 305 Conclusion 309 Chapter 9 RACISM: A PERSISTENT AMERICAN PRESENCE 323 Passage to Racism 328 Who’s White and Who’s Not 335 Modern Racial Isolation and Oppression 338 The Varied Impact of Race on Families 341 The Influence of Race on Peer and Friendship Patterns 347 Minorities’ Frequent Preference for Racially Homogeneous Friends and the Case of Biracial People’s Friends 350 Race, Schooling, and Academic Success 353 Direct Effects 353 Impact of Stereotype Threat 356 Contents ix Collision of Mass Media and Race 358 Racial Minorities’ Participation 359 The Media Ingredients in a Lethal Cocktail 362 Work and Racial Inequality: Contributing Factors 363 Disadvantaged Context: Minority- Group Members’ Unrelenting Battle against Poverty 365 Stereotype Fallout and the Employment Process 369 Conclusion 373 Chapter 10 WOMEN’S OPPRESSION: SEXISM AND INTERSECTIONALITY 387 A History of Second- Class Citizenry 389 The Persistence of Sexism 394 The Family Impact 394 The Influence of Peers 397 Schools and the Gendered Hidden Curriculum 399 The Representation of Females in the Mass Media 402 Women in the Modern Work World 407 Sexism and Intersectionality: Prospects of a Double Negative 414 Intersectionality: Black and Hispanic Women 417 Intersectionality: Lesbians’ Challenge for Equality 424 Intersectionality: Poor Immigrant Women 427 Conclusion 432 Part 3 Addressing Inequalities 447 Chapter 11 SOCIAL INEQUALITY: BESIEGING THE BEAST 449 Contemplating Strategies for Change 450 Critical Arenas 454 The Schooling Revolution 455 The Revitalization of the Economy 459 Another Way 465 Conclusion 467 Glossary 473 Index 479 PREFACE Throughout this text I have used several broad sources of information
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Social Inequalities―Empirical Focus Gunnar Otte, Mara Boehle, and Katharinakunißen
    Social Inequalities―Empirical Focus Gunnar Otte, Mara Boehle, and KatharinaKunißen Abstract: Social inequalities constituteone of the largest research fieldsofsociology in the German-speakingcountries.This field has been successfullyinstitutionalized and internationalized in recent decades. Today, it rests on arich data infrastructure and alarge bodyofcumulativeresearch. The article traces this advancement in terms of shifting theoretical paradigms,methodological innovations, and the establishment of the current data infrastructure. It particularlyhighlights recent developments in four coreareas of inequality research: educational inequality and returns on educa- tion; employment and the labor market; income, wealth, and poverty;and social mobility. Keywords: Social inequality,social stratification, social change, data infrastructure, Germany 1Introduction Ever since sociologyemergedasascientific endeavorinthe eraofindustrialization (the “social question”), social inequalities have been at the heart of the discipline. In the German-speakingcountries,asinmanyothers, inequality research is one of the largest and most advanced fields of sociology. Forthis and other reasons,reviewing the publication output since the turn of the millennium is anything but an easy task. First,inequality research is constituted of, or is related to, several subfields of re- search, such as education, work/labor,social policy, health/aging, demography, the life course, family, migration/ethnicity,and gender. The demarcation of the field is thereforeblurry and
    [Show full text]
  • Food Insecurity, Social Inequality, and Social Policy
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2016 Food Insecurity, Social Inequality, and Social Policy Sara Strickhouser University of Central Florida Part of the Sociology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Strickhouser, Sara, "Food Insecurity, Social Inequality, and Social Policy" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4942. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4942 FOOD INSECURITY, SOCIAL INEQUALITY, AND SOCIAL POLICY by SARA STRICKHOUSER B.A. Stetson University, 2008 M.A. University of Central Florida, 2013 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, FL Spring Term 2016 Major Professor: James D. Wright © 2016 Sara M. Strickhouser ii ABSTRACT Research shows that food insecurity rates and experiences vary by subpopulation. This dissertation examines the rates and experience of food insecurity across subpopulations using a wide variety of sociodemographic factors, thus expanding the current research on social determinants of food insecurity. Subtopics surrounding the current food insecurity research are also explored. These topics include determinants of food deserts, SNAP (or food stamps) utilization, and household adaptation strategies. This research shows that current measurements of food insecurity lack the detail needed to understand why households are food insecure besides lacking income.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bioarchaeology of Structural Violence and Dissection in the 19Th-Century United States
    AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST RESEARCH ARTICLE The Bioarchaeology of Structural Violence and Dissection in the 19th-Century United States Kenneth C. Nystrom ABSTRACT Structural violence is harm done to individuals or groups through the normalization of social inequalities in political-economic organization. Researchers working in both modern and prehistoric contexts focus on the lived experiences of individuals and the health disparities that arise from such violence. With this article, I seek to contribute to this literature by considering how skeletal evidence of dissection from the 19th-century United States reflects structural violence. I focus on “death experiences” and suggest that studies of structural violence must consider not only how inequality may be embodied as health disparities in the living but also “disembodiment” and the treatment and fate of the dead body. [bioarchaeology, dissection, autopsy, structural violence, United States] RESUMEN Violencia estructural es el dano˜ hecho a individuos o grupos a traves´ de la normalizacion´ de desigual- dades sociales en una organizacion´ polıtico-econ´ omica.´ Investigadores trabajando en contextos tanto modernos como prehistoricos´ se centran en las experiencias vividas por individuos y las disparidades en salud surgidas de tal violencia. Con este artıculo,´ busco contribuir a esta´ literatura a traves´ de considerar como´ evidencia esqueletal de diseccion´ del siglo XIX en los Estados Unidos refleja violencia estructural. Me enfoco en las “experiencias de muerte” y sugiero que estudios de violencia estructural deben considerar no solo´ como´ la desigualdad puede ser corporizada como disparidades en salud en el viviente, sino tambien´ en “descorporizacion”´ y el tratamiento y destino del cuerpo muerto. [bioarqueologıa,´ diseccion,´ violencia estructural, Estados Unidos] tructural violence is harm done to individuals or groups autopsy) from the 19th-century United States relative to through the normalization of inequalities that are inti- the concept of structural violence.
    [Show full text]
  • Outline and Assess Bourdieu's Explanation of Social Inequality
    Outline and assess Bourdieu’s explanation of social inequality. Emily Tabb Pierre Bourdieu has been a long standing figure in the realms of sociological thought. His most widely known work being, Distinction: a critique of judgement and taste, which has been ranked as the 6th most important social scientific work of the of the 20th century (Swartz and Zolberg, 2004:2). He gave a different approach to the structure/ agency, subjective/objective debate, believing they overlapped and elaborated on Marx’s predominantly objective account of social class that economy was the sole reason for social inequality. Instead his notion encompassed the relations between culture and power and how this shapes social class. Bourdieu utilises four concepts to explain social inequality: habitus, field, capital and symbolic violence. This essay will attempt to explain and assess these concepts and their interaction between one another which according to Bourdieu causes social inequality. Bourdieu believes that ‘social life cannot be understood as simply the aggregate of individual behaviour’ (Jenkins, 1992:74), so that structures need to be analysed too. However these structures do not necessarily control and dominate agents as Marx, Althusser and others thought. Bourdieu creates a bridge between these two dualisms in the form of ‘habitus’. The original meaning of Habitus is that ‘it is an acquired system of generative schemes objectively adjusted to the particular to the particular conditions in which it is constituted’ (Bourdieu, 1977:95). Bourdieu retains some of the concept’s original meaning with the relation between habitus, body and field. ‘For Bourdieu, the body is a mnemonic device upon and in which the very basics of culture, the practical taxonomies of the habitus, are imprinted and encoded in a socialising or learning process which commences in early childhood’(Jenkins, 1992 :76).
    [Show full text]
  • Social Democracy and Neoliberalism: Beyond Sibling Rivalry
    Global Policy, February 2018 Social Democracy and Neoliberalism: Beyond Sibling Rivalry Steve Fuller University of Warwick Abstract The failure of ‘progressivism’ to gain traction in the current political landscape can be diagnosed in many ways. The diagnosis pursued here, partly in response to a set of recent debates, is that social democracy and neoliberalism have been artificially divided by the spectre of Marxism. But now that Marxism is no longer a serious geopolitical force (though it remains quite potent in academia), the time is ripe for the two ‘centre-left’ movements to come together by recovering their common Fabian heritage, which stresses the value of social experimentation. Policy Recommendations • Marxism should no longer be regarded as the polestar of Left-leaning politics. This point is already reflected in the actions of most politicians and policymakers today, but it needs to be embraced by the academic community if its opinions are to have any relevance in today’s political arena. • The shift away from Marx should be made in the context of reconciling the differences between ‘social democracy’ and ‘neoliberalism’, two technocratic forms of state capitalism that draw their inspiration from British Fabianism but have been increasingly seen by academics as polar opposites. This infighting, typically mediated by some phantom conception of Marxism, has contributed to the Left’s blindsiding by the rise of ‘populism’. • Fabianism’s strength in this renewed context is that it approaches technological innovation from the standpoint of enabling greater flexibility in terms of social organization, combined with more intensive interest in data collection. These provide the structural preconditions for inducing a sort of ‘super-liberal’ attitude at the administrative level that encourages systematic social experimentation, for which Karl Popper originally applied the clunky phrase, ‘piecemeal social engineering’.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Justice and Equality/Inequality Issues in Modern-Day Russia
    United Nations Sustainable Educational, Scientific and Development Cultural Organization Goals World Social Science Report 2016 Social justice and equality/inequality issues in modern-day Russia Street artwork by iRG (Berlin, Germany, 2015) © Margie Savage 17. Social justice and equality/inequality issues in modern-day Russia Natalia Grigorieva This contribution examines inequality in modern-day Russia. It discusses different types of inequality, including income and economic disparities, regional imbalances, and differences in access to social services such as health and education. Justice and equality after the fall Inequality in modern-day Russia: of communism the poor and the rich The challenge of social justice and inequality in Russia It is conventional to distinguish between wealth has to be placed in historical context. As part of the inequality (referring to a stock) and income (a socialist doctrine of the former Soviet Union, equality flow). Over the past twenty-five ‘post-USSR’ years, was ensured through the distribution of goods and growing income inequality has been one of the most services by governmental institutions. Social policies significant changes in Russia. During this period, the were developed to support an equal – although by Gini coefficient of disposable income increased from European norms rather poor – sustainable standard 0.26 to 0.42. By 2014, the richest 10 per cent of people of living, promoting equal access to a wide range of accounted for 30.6 per cent of total cash income,2 social benefits such as housing, education, health while the poorest 10 per cent of people accounted and leisure, which lessened social inequality. The for 1.9 per cent.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis of Inequality Via Social Stratification
    Entreciencias: Diálogos en la Sociedad del Conocimiento ISSN: 2007-8064 [email protected] Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México México Analysis of inequality via social stratification Rodríguez Esparza, Luz Judith; Maza Díaz Cortés, Octavio Martín; Macías Ponce, Julio César; Ortiz Lazcano, Dolly Anabel Analysis of inequality via social stratification Entreciencias: Diálogos en la Sociedad del Conocimiento, vol. 8, no. 22, 2020 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=457662386030 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22201/enesl.20078064e.2020.2276859e22.76859 PDF generated from XML JATS4R by Redalyc Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative CIENCIAS SOCIALES, HUMANIDADES Y ARTES Analysis of inequality via social stratification Análisis de la desigualdad a través de la estratificación social Luz Judith Rodríguez Esparza a [email protected] National Council of Science and Technology [Conacyt], México hp://orcid.org/0000-0003-2241-1102 Octavio Martín Maza Díaz Cortés b [email protected] Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, México hp://orcid.org/0000-0002-3991-7751 Julio César Macías Ponce c [email protected] Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, México hp://orcid.org/0000-0001-5141-7074 Dolly Anabel Ortiz Lazcano d [email protected] Entreciencias: Diálogos en la Sociedad del Conocimiento, vol. 8, no. 22, 2020 Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, México Universidad Nacional Autónoma de hp://orcid.org/0000-0003-3452-3291 México, México Received: 08 September 2020 Accepted: 03 November 2020 Published: 18 November 2020 Abstract: . DOI: https://doi.org/10.22201/ Purpose: To analyze the contribution that social stratification provides to inequality enesl.20078064e.2020.2276859e22.76859 using the Gini index as an input.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Inequality and Risk Mitigation in the Era of Private Land: Siberian Pastoralists and Land Use Change TATYANA INTIGRINOVA
    Social inequality and risk mitigation in the era of private land: Siberian pastoralists and land use change TATYANA INTIGRINOVA This article describes the distribution of grazing and haymaking land in predomi- nantly pastoral communities of southern Siberia, implemented in the framework of Russian post-socialist reforms. It demonstrates that post-socialist policy aimed at land privatization has resulted in its unequal distribution and consequent social stratifi cation of rural communities. Individualization of land use allowed the own- ers and lessees of large plots to adapt new strategies to mitigate environmental risks; however, these strategies increase grazing pressure on common pasturage, leading to disproportional loss of livestock due to drastic environmental conditions by those who do not possess enough land. Keywords: Post-socialist, land policy, privatization, social stratifi cation, environmental risk, Siberia Introduction Land relations in the Soviet Union were characterized by the legal prohibi- tion of private property; the state remained its sole owner (Skyner, 2003: 892). The Soviet Constitution adopted in 1977 stated: ‘Land, subsurface resources, water resources and forest are the exclusive property of the state’. State prop- erty was defi ned as the public property of all Soviet people (Constitution of the Soviet Union, Chapter 2, Clause 11). De facto ‘all rural land fell into two broad ownership categories: either it was allocated to large farms or held by departments within the central government’ (Behnke et al., 2003). Members of collective and state farms could possess only small individual plots for gardening or hay cutting but held no ownership rights. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, land privatization became the main goal (Alpatov, 2005) and a key point of rural reform in Russia (Humphrey, 2002).
    [Show full text]
  • Social Inequalities in Health: Disentangling the Underlying Mechanisms
    Social Inequalities in Health: Disentangling the Underlying Mechanisms Noreen Goldman Office of Population Research Princeton University I gratefully acknowledge support from the Behavioral and Social Research Program of the National Institute on Aging (grant R01-AG16790) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30-HD32030). I would also like to thank Maryann Belanger for her tireless assistance in tracking down bibliographic materials and Burt Singer, Anne Pebley, Angus Deaton, and Maxine Weinstein for their advice and comments. Forthcoming: Conference Proceedings of the seminar on "Demography and Epidemiology: Frontiers in Population Health and Aging,” Georgetown University, Washington D.C. February 9-10, 2001. New York Academy of Sciences. Abstract Differentials in health and longevity by socioeconomic status and by the nature of social relationships have been found in innumerable studies in the social and medical sciences. Three categories of explanations for the observed patterns have been proposed: causal mechanisms through which the social environment affects health status or the risk of dying; selection or reverse causal pathways whereby a person’s health status affects their social position; and artifactual mechanisms such as measurement error. The general consensus among researchers is that the observed disparities in health are driven largely by a complex set of causal processes rather than by selection or by artifactual mechanisms. This paper explores the set of arguments and strategies that researchers have used to arrive at this conclusion. As part of this undertaking, we assess whether inferences regarding the minor contribution of selection to the overall association between social factors and health are justifiable.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Inequality
    SOCIAL INEQUALITY AQA GCSE SOCIOLOGY UNIT 2 MAY 2013 Created by Lydia Hiraide The BRIT School AQA GCSE 2013 DEFINING SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND STRATIFICATION DEFINING SOCIAL INEQUALITY Social inequality refers to the unequal distribution of: • Resources such as power, wealth and income • Opportunities (related, for example, to health, education and employment) Social class, gender, ethnicity and age are all sources of inequality in modern British society. DEFINING SOCIAL STRATIFICATION Social stratification refers to the way society is structured into a hierarchy of strata that are unequally ranked. A social hierarchy is shaped like a pyramid with each stratum more powerful than the one below it. The most privileged group forms the top layer and vice versa. Stratification involves inequalities between groups in the distribution of socioeconomic resources such as wealth, income, status and power. These inequalities persist or continue over time. In Britain, gender, class, ethnicity and age are the main criteria by which people tend to be stratified. Social Class Slavery What is stratification Economic factors Some individuals claim that they have the based on? such as occupation right to own and sell other people, to treat and income them as property and to deny their human rights Is status achieved or Achieved Status was ascribed in the southern states ascribed? of the US for the people who were born into slavery Is social mobility Yes For many slaves in the southern states of possible? the US, social mobility was unlikely unless, for example, they escaped to safety or until slavery was abolished (emancipation) which was unlikely even then DIFFERENT FORMS OF STRATIFICATION The cast system in traditional India, slavery in the southern states of the US in the 19 th century, Apartheid in South Africa and the social system in modern Britain are all types of stratification.
    [Show full text]
  • Vandecasteele, L. (2007). Dynamic Inequalities. the Impact of Social
    Dynamic Inequalities The Impact of Social Stratification Determinants on Poverty Dynamics in Europe Leen VANDECASTEELE KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN FACULTEIT SOCIALE WETENSCHAPPEN Promotores: Proefschrift tot het verkrijgen Prof. Dr. J. Berghman van de graad van Onderzoekseenheid: Centrum voor Sociologisch Onderzoek [CeSO] Doctor in de Sociale Wetenschappen Prof. Dr. R. Muffels aangeboden door [Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Universiteit van Tilburg, Nederland] Leen VANDECASTEELE 2007 KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN FACULTEIT SOCIALE WETENSCHAPPEN Dynamic Inequalities The Impact of Social Stratification Determinants on Poverty Dynamics in Europe Leen VANDECASTEELE Proefschrift tot het verkrijgen van de graad van Doctor in de Sociale Wetenschappen Nr. 119 Samenstelling van de examencommissie: Prof. Dr. J. Berghman (promotor), Prof. Dr. R. Muffels (mede-promotor) [Universiteit van Tilburg, Nederland], Prof. Dr. J. Billiet, Prof. Dr. F. Lammertyn, Prof. Dr. I. Nicaise, Prof. Dr. C. Whelan [Economic and Social Research Institute, Ierland]; Prof. Dr. K. Roe (voorzitter) 2007 De verantwoordelijkheid voor de ingenomen standpunten berust alleen bij de auteur. Gepubliceerd door: Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen - Onderzoekseenheid: Centrum voor Sociologisch Onderzoek [CeSO], K.U.Leuven, Parkstraat 45 Bus 3601 - 3000 Leuven, België. © 2007 by the author. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de auteur / No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission in writing
    [Show full text]
  • P116 Gender and Social Inequality
    Centre for Development, Environment and Policy P116 Gender and Social Inequality Authors: Dr Annabel de Frece Eleanor T Higgs Based on the module Gender and Social Development written by Dr Annabel de Frece, Dr Helen Derbyshire and Dr Catherine Locke. © SOAS | 3741 Gender and Social Inequality Module Introduction ABOUT THIS MODULE Gender and social inequality are important spheres of academic study and analysis, and are also key areas of development and poverty reduction policies. Gender and social relations within and between different groups of people are critical to people’s well- being and to the processes by which people’s well-being changes. They are critical determinants of people’s ability to influence, participate in and benefit from social, economic and material change, as well as being intrinsic to people’s sense of identity and the way people interact with one another. This module examines gender and social inequality from both an analytical and a practical perspective. It begins by exploring the concept of gender and the development of our ideas around gender, how gender informs social relations and is implicated in political, economic and social struggles. Then, by looking at various theories, it examines the different ways that inequality links with key issues, such as poverty, and considers key theories of viewing and explaining gender and other inequalities, as well as how and where changes happen in society. Here, we introduce cases studies to help contextualise these complex issues. The module then expands in scope to provide an exploration of different themes which constitute key challenges facing our global social and political arena.
    [Show full text]