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STRATIFICATION: Rich and Famous— Or Rags and Famine?

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07-Ballantine.qxd 10/11/2006 8:10 PM Page 190 STRATIFICATION: Rich and Famous— or Rags and Famine? The Importance of Social Stratification Theoretical Explanations of Stratification Individuals’ Social Status: The Micro Level Social Mobility: The Micro-Meso Connection Major Stratification Systems: Macro-Level Analysis Poverty: Multilevel Determinants and Policy National and Global Digital Divide: Macro-Level Stratification So What? In rich countries, like U.S., Canada, Japan and Western European nations, we assume there are many economic opportunities, and we like to believe that anyone can become rich and famous, but the reality is that our social world is very brutal for many people, and what they experience is rags and famine. 07-Ballantine.qxd 10/11/2006 8:11 PM Page 191 Why are some people rich and 1.others poor? Why do you buy what you buy, 2.believe what you believe, and live where you live? Can you improve your social 3.standing? If so, how? How does the fact that we live in 4.a global environment affect you and your social position? o: Global Commun Macr ity ro: National Soc Mac iety l Institutions and ona O ati c Subc rga N thni ulture ni o: E s za es tio M n s; rganizations & l O C ca om Lo m : u so n it e y M Micro: You and Your Family r M . e o s e t e o c s s u o s n M r : e e c P c . id M e e r c f m s e a s s . s n e a o R t y o t u c : ig b c s o r I e e d - y i o n s e lf s s p an n e ig : t ec d mi s n l T it t pow eter d o e h u b er d an ti r e t as p a , io ed shi c e r n on leader fi r ic s ti a h s ra c , up st h fa po e lt m rt e th a o elite biliz he M u s and sta , s ks . a id , a a s c e n re s. ce ro o d b d r : lo po ax ee u P gy wer s, t n o o , a ful co ource eir es si nd ntrol res th r tio stoc d to to n k markets respon ss in ce th ac e in nd ter er a nati pow onal system reflects 07-Ballantine.qxd 10/11/2006 8:11 PM Page 192 192 INEQUALITY CHAPTER 7 ot just anyone c an belong to a royal family. One must be born as royalty or marry into it. Members of Nroyal families—such as Prince William and Prince Henry of Britain—grow up in a world of the privileged: wealth, prestige, all doors open to them, or so it appears. Their lifestyles include formal receptions, horse races, polo games, royal hunts, state visits, and other social and state functions. The family has several elegant residences at their disposal. However, like most royalty, William and Henry also live within the confines of their elite status, with its strict expectations and limitations. They cannot show up for a beer at the local pub or associate freely with commoners, and their problems or casual antics are subject matter for front pages of tabloids. In today’s world, some royalty are figure- heads with little political power; others—such as the Ashanti chiefs in West Africa, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, King Sihanok of Cambodia, and Emperor Akihito in Japan— have great influence in state affairs. In Newport, Rhode Island, spacious mansions are nes- tled along the coast, with tall-masted sailboats at the docks. These are the summer homes of the U.S. aristocracy. They do not hold royal titles, but their positions allow for a life of comfort similar to that of royalty. Members of this class have an elegant social life, engage in elite sports such as fencing and polo, patronize the arts, and are influential behind the scenes in business and politics. Hidden from the public eye in each country are people with no known names and no swank addresses; some have no address at all. We catch glimpses of their plight through vivid media portrayals, such as those of refugees in Darfur, Sudan, and of impoverished victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico coast. They are the poor; many of them live in squalor. Economic hard times have pushed some of them from their rural homes to cities in hopes of finding jobs. However, with few jobs for unskilled and semiskilled workers in today’s postindustrial service economies, many of the poor are left behind and homeless. They live in abandoned buildings or sleep in unlocked autos, on park benches, under bridges, on beaches, or any- where they can stretch out and hope not to be attacked or harassed. Beggars stake out spots on sidewalks, hoping cit- izens and tourists would give them a handout. In the United States, cities such as Houston; Los Angeles; Washington, Prince Harry and Prince William of the United Kingdom, and a DC; and New York try to cope with the homeless by setting depiction of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand (who rarely up sanitary facilities and temporary shelters, especially in is photographed in public), live lives of extraordinary privilege, bad weather; cities rely on religious and civic organizations but their status may also limit their understanding of common such as churches and the Salvation Army to run soup people and enjoyment of some everyday pleasures of group kitchens. camaraderie and friendship. In some areas of the world, such as Sub–Saharan Africa and India, the situation is much more desperate, and families are actually starving. Every morning at daybreak, a cattle cart Peace Prize for her work with those in dire poverty, estab- traverses the city of Calcutta, India, picking up bodies of dis- lished a home in India where these people could die with eased and starved homeless people who have died on the dignity; she also founded an orphanage for children who streets during the night. Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel would otherwise wander the streets begging or die. 07-Ballantine.qxd 10/11/2006 8:11 PM Page 193 STRATIFICATION: RICH AND FAMOUS—OR RAGS AND FAMINE? 193 MAP 7.1 Gross National Income per Capita, 2003 Source: Finfacts (2005). Survival, just maintaining life, is a daily struggle for the Many mansions in places like Newport, Rhode Island, cost 37 million people (up 1.1 million from 2003) who live in several million dollars, and these may be only summer homes poverty-stricken parts of the world (U.S. Census Bureau for the owners. For people born into wealth, such opulent living 2005b). (See Map 7.1.) These humans are at the bottom of seems entirely normal. the stratification hierarchy. Source: © Nicole K Cioe. This raises the following question: Why do some people live like royalty and others live in desperate poverty? Most of us live between these extremes. We study and work hard for what we have, but we also live comfortably, know- ing that starvation is not pounding at our door. This chapter discusses (1) some explanations of stratification systems, (2) the importance and consequences of social rankings for individuals, (3) whether one can change social class positions, (4) characteristics of class systems, (5) social policies to address poverty, and (6) patterns of stability and change. THE IMPORTANCE OF STRATIFICATION Social stratification refers to how individuals and groups are layered or ranked in society according to how many val- ued resources they possess. Stratification is an ongoing process of sorting people into different levels of access to 07-Ballantine.qxd 10/11/2006 8:11 PM Page 194 194 INEQUALITY CHAPTER 7 A displaced woman and her children sit beneath a temporary Three main assumptions underlie the concept of shelter at a refugee camp in South Darfur. A disproportionate stratification: (1) people are divided into ranked categories; number of displaced civilians in the camps are women and (2) there is an unequal distribution of desired resources, children. Although such refugees are clean and tidy people, meaning that some members of society possess more of their disrupted lives often result in illness and famine. what is valued and others possess less; and (3) each society Source: USAID. determines what it considers to be valued resources. In an agricultural society, members are ranked according to how much land or how many animals they own. In an industrial society, occupational position and income are two of the criteria for ranking. Most Japanese associate old age with high rank, while Americans admire and offer high status to those with youthful vigor and beauty. What members of each society value and the criteria they use to rank other members depends on events in the society’s history, its geographic location, its level of development in the world, the society’s political philosophy, and the decisions of those in power. Powerful individuals are more likely to get the best positions, most desirable mates, and the greatest opportunities. They may have power because of birth status, personality characteristics, age, physical attractiveness, educa- tion, intelligence, wealth, race, family background, occupa- tion, religion, or ethnic group—whatever the basis for power is in that particular society. Those with power have advantages that perpetuate their power, and they try to hold onto those advantages through laws, custom, power, or ideology.
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