A third important stratification dimension is power, the ability of individuals or groups to achieve goals, control events, and maintain influence over others despite opposition. In every society, power is based on social class, but there are other sources of power. Power can be based on authority or charisma.Social class is measured by SES or socioeconomic status. SES uses a measure of income, education, and occupation. Four classes are used to divide American society. They include the upper-upper class which includes old money and established money, and the lower upper class which is based on new money or the nouveau riche. This class engages in conspicuous consumption or lavish spending as a display of social status. The middle class is divided between upper- and lower-middle classes. The upper-middle class lives on high earnings with stability while the lower-middle class relies on two incomes.CHAPTER 8 SUMMARYSocial stratification is a hierarchical ranking of people who have different access to valued resources such as property, prestige, power, and status. As in the Hurricane Katrina example, having resources can mean the difference between life and death. All societies are stratified, but some more than others. An open stratification system is based on a person’s individual achievement and allows movement up or down. In a closed stratification system, movement from one social position to another is very limited due to ascribed statuses such as gender, skin color, and family background. Closed systems have historically been characterized by slavery, where some people own others, and through chattel and domestic slavery where individuals work in unpaid servitude. Caste systems are also closed systems where social categories are based on heredity. Open systems are based on social classes where individualsare ranked on a number of indicators around wealth, income, and social status. Open systems are characterized by mobility.Sociologists use a multidimensional approach to social class that includes wealth, prestige, and power. Wealth is the money and economic assets that a person or family owns, including property and income. Wealth is cumulative and in the form of assets and income are earnings. Wealth produces income and is more often passed on from generation to generation. Wealth is more unequally distributed than income. The top five percent in the U.S. own 59 percent of all wealth and 32 percent of all income. The U.S. economy has expanded since the late 1960s, but income inequality has increased. Between 1970 and 2006, the percent of income for the top five percent and top 20 percent rose but dropped for the other groups. A second dimension of stratification is prestige or respect, recognition, or regard attached to social positions. Prestige is based on many criteria, including wealth, family background, fame, leadership, power, occupation, and having particular skills. A third important stratification dimension is power, the ability of individuals or groups to achieve goals, control events, and maintain influence over others despite opposition. In every society, power is based on social class, but there are other sources of power. Power can be based on authority or charisma.A person’s ranking may be about equal in wealth, prestige, and power. However, a person can be high on one stratification dimension, such as income, and low on another, such as power. This is an example of status inconsistency, a situation where a person ranks differently on various stratification characteristics. Social class is measured by SES or socioeconomic status. SES uses a measure of income, education, and occupation. Four classes are used to divide American society. They include the upper-upper class which includes old money and established money, and the lower upper class which is based on new money or the nouveau riche. This class engages in conspicuous consumption or lavish spending as a display of social status. The middle class is divided between upper- and lower-middle classes. The upper-middle class lives on high earnings with stability while the lower-middle class relies on two incomes. The working class is made up of skilled and semiskilled workers. Most have a high school degree and have fewer opportunities for advancement. The lower class are at the bottom of the economic ladder because they have little education, few occupational skills, work in minimum wage jobs, or are often unemployed. The working poor are people who work at least 27 weeks a year but receive such low wages that they live in or near poverty. They make up about 11 percent of all Americans. The working poor are termed the near poor. 1The underclass, which occupies the bottom rung of the U.S. social class ladder, is people who are persistently poor, segregated residentially, and relatively isolated from the rest of the population. Most rarely work, are chronically unemployed, or drift in and out of jobs. Social scientists commonly use the concept underclass to describe inner-city minorities, but it applies to people of any race or ethnicity who are locked in destitution and have little chance of moving out of abject poverty.Class position determines one’s life chances or the extent to which people have positive experiences and can secure basic necessities. Poverty is defined by absolute poverty (not having enough basic necessities) and relative poverty (not maintaining the average standard of living). The poverty line is theminimal level of income that the federal government considers necessary for basic subsistence. To determine the poverty line, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) estimates the annual cost of food that meets minimum nutritional guidelines. Those most likely to be poor include children, women, and minorities. The feminization of poverty is used to describe the likelihood that female heads of households will be poor.Explanations for poverty include individual deficiencies or those who live in a culture of poverty. A culture of poverty is a subculture whose values different than the non-poor. Other explanations argue that poverty exists because it has functions for society. These include doing the dirty work, subsidizing others classes by working for low wages, buying rejected goods, and absorbing the costs of societal change. Homelessness is due to mental illness, substance abuse, and being veterans. Single men comprise 51 percent of the homeless, families with children 30 percent,
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