IV. Social Stratification and Class Structure
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Systemic Classism, Systemic Racism: Are Social and Racial Justice Achievable in the United States?
Systemic Classism, Systemic Racism: Are Social and Racial Justice Achievable in the United States? THOMAS KLEVEN† I. INTRODUCTION The thesis of this article is that the United States is systemically a highly classist and racist society, that classism and racism are interrelated and overlapping phenomena, and that the achievement of a non- classist/non-racist society requires a mass movement of working-class people of all ethnicities for social and racial justice for all. By systemic classism/racism I mean that the political and economic institutions of the society are structured and operate to systematically disadvantage working-class people in general, and ethnic minorities in particular, and to systematically advantage a relatively small and largely white upper elite class, and a rather substantial and predominantly white upper middle class. By systemic advantage/disadvantage I mean that the opportunities to succeed in life are unequally distributed along class and racial lines, and that society’s institutions produce and perpetuate this class/race hierarchy. The discussion of race focuses primarily on African Americans and Hispanics, both of whom have been systematically disadvantaged on account of ethnicity.1 As the society’s largest disadvantaged minorities, † Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University. I would like to thank my colleagues who attended and made helpful comments on an earlier draft of the article presented at a Faculty Quodlibet at the law school in November, 2007. I would especially like to thank Asmara Tekle-Johnson for suggestions on how better to organize the article, and Jon Levy for pointing out errors in and suggesting sources for the historical parts of the article. -
Growing Detroit's African-American Middle
v GROWING DETROIT’S AFRICAN-AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A PROSPEROUS DETROIT GROWING DETROIT’S AFRICAN-AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A PROSPEROUS DETROIT Photography Tafari Stevenson-Howard 1st Printing: February 2019 GROWING DETROIT’S AFRICAN-AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A PROSPEROUS DETROIT 4 FOREWORD Foreword There’s a simple, universal concept concerning economic, social and educational growth that must be front of mind in planning about enlarging the black middle class: Authentic development and growth require deliberate investment. If we want to see more black people enter the middle class, we must invest in endeavors and interventions that lead to better- paying jobs, affordable housing, efficient transportation and effective schools. Though these amenities will attract middle- class people back to Detroit, the focus on development must be directed at uplifting a greater percentage of current residents so that they have the necessary tools to enter the middle class. Meaning, growing the black middle class in Detroit should not result from pushing low-income people out of the city. One may think a strategy to attract people back into to the city should take priority. White and middle-class flight significantly influenced the concentrations of families who make less than $50,000 in the suburbs (30 percent) and in Detroit (75 percent), according to findings in Detroit Future City’s “139 Square Miles” report. Bringing suburbanites back into the city would alter these percentages, and we most certainly want conditions that are attractive to all middle- class families. However, we also don’t want to return to the realities where the devaluing of low-income and black people hastened the flight to the suburbs. -
Chapter 8: Social Stratification
UNIT 3 238 SOCIAL INEQUALITY Chapter 8 Social Stratification Chapter 9 Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity Chapter 10 Inequalities of Gender and Age Enrichment Readings Chapter 8 – Elliot Liebow “The Lives of Homeless Women,” page 272 Chapter 9 – Patricia Williams “The Skin Color Tax,” page 306 Chapter 10 – Lois Gould “The Story of Baby X,” page 342 239 CHAPTER 8 SocialSocial StratificationStratification 240 U S Your Sections I Sociological N Imagination 1. Dimensions of G Stratification ane Smith, aged forty and reeling from 2. Explanations of a bitter divorce, was discouraged. A se- Stratification Jrious back injury meant she could no longer work at her nursing aide job. 3. Social Classes in America Without a high school diploma, she found that no one was willing to hire her. 4. Poverty in America Reluctantly, she applied for welfare and was enrolled in a program designed to develop 5. Social Mobility job skills. She completed an eighteen-month course and was hired by an engineering firm. After two years, Jane has moved up in Learning Objectives the company and now thinks of herself as an intelligent, capable person. A different type of welfare story involves After reading this chapter, you will be able to Mary, the “welfare queen.” Many politicians have used her as a typical example of how ❖ explain the relationship between stratifica- the social welfare system is abused. Mary tion and social class. managed to register for government aid ❖ compare and contrast the three dimensions under dozens of assumed names and col- of stratification. lected thousands of dollars from food ❖ stamps and other federally subsidized pro- state the differences among the three grams. -
Social Grade a Classification Tool Bite Sized Thought Piece 2009 There Are Several Demographic Classification Systems Used in Market Research
Social Grade A Classification Tool Bite Sized Thought Piece 2009 There are several demographic classification systems used in market research. A well established system, as well as the most widely known and used, is that of social grading, derived from the British National Readership Survey (NRS). Whilst everyone in the industry is familiar with the term social grade and its six groups A, B, C1, C2, D and E, what is less well known is how social grade is defined and how it can be used as a powerful discriminator. Social grade in its current form has been used on the NRS since the 1960s and has provided a valuable insight into changes in the occupational make-up of Britain over time. Ipsos MediaCT has a long association with the NRS and has been the research contractor since 1977. Looking at the last 50 years of NRS data, and taking those classified as AB (higher and intermediate managerial, administrative or professional occupations) as an example, the proportion has increased from 12% to 27%. Social Grade of CIE, 1968-2008 % AB % C1 % C2DE 52 45 65 62 59 29 28 23 22 22 27 12 16 18 21 1968 1978 1988 1998 2008 Source: NRS Social Grade of Chief Income Earner Social % Description Grade population A High managerial, administrative or professional 4 B Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional 23 Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, C1 29 administrative or professional C2 Skilled manual workers 21 D Semi and unskilled manual workers 15 State pensioners, casual or lowest grade workers, E 8 unemployed with state benefits only Source: NRS 2008 (unweighted sample 37,359, estimated population 15+ (000s) 49,077 How is Social Grade defined? Social grade is a classification system based on occupation and it enables a household and all its members to be classified according to the occupation of the Chief Income Earner (CIE). -
Class and Ocupation
Theory and Society, vol. 9, núm. 1, 1980, pp. 177-214. Class and Ocupation. Wright, Erik Olin. Cita: Wright, Erik Olin (1980). Class and Ocupation. Theory and Society, 9 (1) 177-214. Dirección estable: https://www.aacademica.org/erik.olin.wright/53 Acta Académica es un proyecto académico sin fines de lucro enmarcado en la iniciativa de acceso abierto. Acta Académica fue creado para facilitar a investigadores de todo el mundo el compartir su producción académica. Para crear un perfil gratuitamente o acceder a otros trabajos visite: http://www.aacademica.org. 177 CLASS AND OCCUPATION ERIK OLIN WRIGHT Sociologists have generally regarded "class" and "occupation" as occupy- ing essentially the same theoretical terrain. Indeed, the most common operationalization of class is explicitly in terms of a typology of occupa- tions: professional and technical occupations constitute the upper-middle class, other white collar occupations comprise the middle class proper, and manual occupations make up the working class. Even when classes are not seen as defined simply by a typology of occupations, classes are generally viewed as largely determined by occupations. Frank Parkin expresses this view when he writes: "The backbone of the class structure, and indeed of the entire reward system of modern Western society, is the occupational order. Other sources of economic and symbolic advantage do coexist alongside the occupational order, but for the vast majority of the population these tend, at best, to be secondary to those deriving from the division of labor."' While the expression "backbone" is rather vague, nevertheless the basic proposition is clear: the occupational structure fundamentally determines the class structure. -
A Socioeconomic Classification for Brazil
Rev. bras. Ci. Soc. vol.2 no.se São Paulo 2006 * A socioeconomic classification for brazil José Alcides Figueiredo Santos ABSTRACT This article presents a new socioeconomic classification for Brazil, applicable to the national social statistics, exposing its theoretical foundations and the operational criteria used in the construction of its empirical categories. Built on a social class approach, this classification intends to contribute to the characterization, description and explanation of the production and reproduction of the durable inequalities that permeate the highly unequal Brazilian society. Using micro data from the 2002 National Household Survey, the article presents the relative distribution of the class categories in the Brazilian society and its income gaps. Finally, it points out some importants results of the process of construct validation of this typology. Keywords: Socioeconomic classification; Social class; Social structure; Class typology; Brazilian society. Introduction This article presents a new socioeconomic classification - applicable to the national statistics of Brazil – , exposing both its theoretical grounds and the operational solutions taken into account in the construction of its empirical categories. Such classification is an instrument that might significantly contribute to a better characterization, description and explanation of the production and reproduction of social inequality in Brazilian society’s concrete conditions. [1] It has been successfully submitted to a process of construct validation which has explored the conditioning effect exerted by the sphere of class inequality, measured by such typology, upon race inequalities in Brazil (Figueiredo Santos, 2005). The sociological approach in conceptualizing and measuring social classes has much to contribute to the understanding of the configuration, evolution and consequences of socioeconomic divisions and their relationships with other forms of durable inequalities which permeate the highly unequal Brazilian society (Tilly, 1999). -
Inside the Middle Class
Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2008 12:00PM EDT Paul Taylor, Project Director Rich Morin, Senior Editor D'Vera Cohn, Senior Writer Richard Fry, Senior Researcher Rakesh Kochhar, Senior Researcher April Clark, Research Associate MEDIA INQUIRIES CONTACT: Pew Research Center 202 419 4372 http://pewresearch.org ii Table of Contents Foreword…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...3 Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Overview……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Section One – A Self-Portrait 1. The Middle Class Defines Itself ………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………..28 2. The Middle Class Squeeze………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..…….36 3. Middle Class Finances ……………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….……………………..47 4. Middle Class Priorities and Values………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………….53 5. Middle Class Jobs ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………….65 6. Middle Class Politics…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………71 About the Pew Social and Demographic Trends Project ……………………………………………………….…………………………….78 Questionnaire and topline …………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………..79 Section Two – A Statistical Portrait 7. Middle Income Demography, 1970-2006…………………………………………………………………………………………………………110 8. Trends in Income, Expenditures, Wealth and Debt………………………………………..…………………………………………….140 Section Two Appendix ……………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………..163 -
The Dangerous Class the Concept of the Lumpenproletariat
The Dangerous Class The Concept of the Lumpenproletariat Marx and Engels’ concept of the “lumpenproletariat,” or underclass (an anglicized, politically neutral term), appears in The Communist Manifesto and other writings. It refers to “the dangerous class, the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of old society,” whose lowly status made its residents potential tools of the capitalists against the working class. Surprisingly, no one has made a substantial study of the lumpenproletariat in Marxist thought until now. Clyde Barrow argues that recent discussions about the downward spiral of the American white working class (“its main problem is that it is not working”) have reactivated the concept of the lumpenproletariat even among arguments that it is a term so ill-defined as to not be theoretical. Using techniques from etymology, lexicology, and translation, Barrow brings analytical coherence to the concept of the lumpenproletariat, revealing it to be an inherent component of Marx and Engels’ analysis of the historical origins of capitalism. However, a proletariat that is destined to decay into an underclass may pose insurmountable obstacles to a theory of revolutionary agency in post-industrial capitalism. The Concept of the Lumpenproletariat is the first comprehensive analysis of the concept of the lumpenproletariat in Marxist political theory. Clyde Barrow excavates and analyzes the use of this term from its introduction by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in The German Ideology (1846) and Save 30% at The Communist Manifesto (1848) through the central role of the relative surplus population in Post-Marxist political theory. He argues that when press.umich.edu organized by a strong man—whether a Bonaparte, a Mussolini, or a with promotion code Trump—the lumpenproletariat gravitates toward a parasitic and violent UMLUMPEN lumpen-state created in its own image, and such a state primarily serves the interests of the equally parasitic finance aristocracy. -
The Problem of Social Class Under Socialism Author(S): Sharon Zukin Source: Theory and Society, Vol
The Problem of Social Class under Socialism Author(s): Sharon Zukin Source: Theory and Society, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Nov., 1978), pp. 391-427 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/656759 Accessed: 24-06-2015 21:55 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/656759?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Theory and Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 132.236.27.111 on Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:55:45 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 391 THE PROBLEM OF SOCIAL CLASS UNDER SOCIALISM SHARON ZUKIN Posing the problem of social class under socialismimplies that the concept of class can be removed from the historical context of capitalist society and applied to societies which either do not know or do not claim to know the classicalcapitalist mode of production. Overthe past fifty years, the obstacles to such an analysis have often led to political recriminationsand termino- logical culs-de-sac. -
The Dangerous Class: the Concept of the Lumpenproletariat
Review The dangerous class: The concept of the lumpenproletariat Clyde W. Barrow, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2020, xii+196pp., ISBN: 978-0472132249 Contemporary Political Theory (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-021-00487-9 An oft-cited description of the lumpenproletariat comes from Marx’s The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. The Parisian lumpenproletariat that Louis Bonaparte recruited during the French class struggles of 1848–1851 in order to defeat the proletariat and ultimately to seize state power consisted of the following: Alongside decayed roue´s with dubious means of subsistence and of dubious origin, alongside ruined and adventurous offshoots of the bourgeoisie, were vagabonds, discharged soldiers, discharged jailbirds, escaped galley slaves, swindlers, mountebanks, lazzaroni, pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, ma- quereaus, brothel keepers, porters, literati, organ grinders, ragpickers, knife grinders, tinkers, beggars – in short, the whole indefinite, disintegrated mass, thrown hither and thither, which the French call la bohe`me (1963: 75). As self-interested hustlers whose services are for sale to the highest bidder, the lumpenproletariat – a term Marx and Engels created – is typically co-opted, as Bonaparte demonstrates, by reactionary movements. However, Marx’s taxonomy indicates the difficulty of locating a synthesized and explanatory definition for a term presented here as an ‘indefinite’ alterity with no clear framework of composition. The term has seemed, to some commentators, incoherent or reflective of scorn toward the disreputable or poor (Bussard, 1987; Draper, 1972; Hardt and Negri, 2004). Others – typically literary and cultural critics (Stallybrass, 1990; Mills, 2017) – have approached it as the discursive trace of a complex social scene that escapes full schematization by class relations. -
The American Middle Class, Income Inequality, and the Strength of Our Economy New Evidence in Economics
The American Middle Class, Income Inequality, and the Strength of Our Economy New Evidence in Economics Heather Boushey and Adam S. Hersh May 2012 WWW.AMERICANPROGRESS.ORG Introduction and summary To say that the middle class is important to our economy may seem noncontro- versial to most Americans. After all, most of us self-identify as middle class, and members of the middle class observe every day how their work contributes to the economy, hear weekly how their spending is a leading indicator for economic prognosticators, and see every month how jobs numbers, which primarily reflect middle-class jobs, are taken as the key measure of how the economy is faring. And as growing income inequality has risen in the nation’s consciousness, the plight of the middle class has become a common topic in the press and policy circles. For most economists, however, the concepts of “middle class” or even inequal- ity have not had a prominent place in our thinking about how an economy grows. This, however, is beginning to change. One reason for the change is that the levels of inequality and the financial stress on the middle class have risen dramatically and have reached levels that motivate a closer investigation. The interaction and concurrence of rising inequality with the financial collapse and the Great Recession have, in particular, raised new issues about whether a weak- ened middle class and rising inequality should be part of our thinking about the drivers of economic growth. Over the past several decades, the United States has undergone a remarkable transformation, with income growth stalling for the middle class while the incomes of those at the top continued to rise dramatically compared to the rest of the working population. -
Race, Class, and Slavery During the American Civil
UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Previously Published Works Title Marx’s Intertwining of Race and Class During the Civil War in the U.S. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6238s7h2 Journal Journal of Classical Sociology, 17(1) Author Anderson, Kevin Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Marx’s Intertwining of Race and Class During the Civil War in the U.S. Kevin B. Anderson, University of California, Santa Barbara [author’s last version of article published in Journal of Classical Sociology 17:1 (2017), pp. 24-36] As the U.S. marked the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, some attention was given to African-American resistance to slavery and to the northern radical abolitionists. Increasingly, it was admitted, even in the South, that the Confederacy’s supposedly “noble cause” was based upon the defense of slavery. Yet to this day U.S. public opinion continues to deny the race and class dimensions of the war. There is also a denial, sometimes even among critical sociologists, of the war’s revolutionary implications, not only for African-Americans, but also for white labor and for the U.S. economic and political system as a whole. And there is still greater ignorance of the fact that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote extensively on the dialectics of race and class in the American Civil War, something I have tried to remedy in my recent book, Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies. Marx on Ireland: Class, Ethnicity, and National Liberation Sometimes, as I have tried to show in Marx at the Margins, Marx conceptualized the pathway to class-consciousness and to socialist revolution as direct rather than indirect.