SOC 111 1st Edition Exam # 4 Study Guide Benokraitis Chapters 8 & 9Chapter 8: Social StratificationSocial Stratification: the hierarchical ranking of people in a society who have different access to valued resources (property, prestige, power, status)All societies are stratified, some more than others.Open stratification system: (achieved status) based on individual achievement, allows movement up anddown the hierarchy. Closed Stratification System: (ascribed status) movement from one social position to another is limited by ascribed statuses (race, sex, family background).- Slavery: people own others as property and have almost total control over their lives. - Caste: social categories based on hereditary. In some cultures, what you are born into determines who you are and your social status for your life.No system is completely open or closed.Social class: A category of people who what a similar standing or rank in society. It is based on wealth, power, education, prestige, or other valued resources.Dimensions of Stratifications: - Wealth: money or other economic assets that a person or family owns (includes property and income) o Property: buildings, land, stocks and bods, retirement savings, personal possessionso Income: money a person receives regularly, usually in the form of wages or a salary, but also as rents, interest on savings accounts, dividends on stock, royalties, or the proceeds from business. o Income vs wealth: Wealth: cumulative (increases over time while income is used every day) Wealth: can be passed on to the next generation Wealth: produces income. (stock, bonds, investments)- Prestige: respect. Recognition, or regard attached to social positions. (based on wealth, family background, fame, leadership, power, occupation, and accomplishments.)o Prestige scores theoretically range from 0-100, but in reality (because no occupation is completely worthless, or completely perfect) they generally range from 20-86.o In general non-manual occupations (lawyer, optometrist) typically have a higher prestigious rank than manual jobs (garbage man, bus driver)o Most prestigious occupations: Require more fomal education Have a higher salary/pay Seen as more socially important Involve more abstract thought and mental activity Offer greater self-expression, autonomy and freedom from supervision.- Power: the ability of individuals or groups to achieve goals, control events, or maintain influence over others despite opposition.o Generally based on social class, but may also be from customs, traditions, charismatic or eloquent character traits, or certain occupations.o Power elite: C. Wright Mills: describes a small and tightly knit group of white men, especially corporation heads, political leaders, or high-ranking military officers, who make all the important decisions in U.S. society.- A person’s wealth, power, and prestige can be relatively equal in rank, or there may be status inconsistency (see ch. 5 for definition) (ex: funeral directors, lower prestige, but higher income than college professor)Social Class in AmericaSocioeconomic Status (SES): an overall ranking of a person’s position in class hierarchy based on income,education, and occupation.4 general Social classes: Upper, middle, working, lowerSocial classes vary in income, education, occupation, values, power, prestige, social networks, and lifestyles.Upper Class- Control a vastly disproportionate amount of the wealth (Top 1% control 35% of all wealth in America)- 2 Classeso Upper-upper class: enormous wealth that has been passed down through generations. These people rarely appear on lists of wealthiest individuals, generally because they value their privacy. o Lower-upper class: “new money”: worked to obtain their income rather than inheriting it. All have very different lifestyles, includes: Business entrepreneurs, high-level managers of huge corporations, self-made millionaires, and some highly paid athletes or actors. Not accepted into “old money” circles, but engage in lifestyles and rituals that attempt to parallel those of the upper-upper class.- Conspicuous consumption: lavish spending on goods and services to display your social status and enhance prestige.Middle Class- Includes down from 41% of incomes below $20,000, up to 33% of incomes above $150,000.- Manny strata, but distinguished between:o Upper-middle class: Live on earned income rather than accumulated wealth, generally from careers of both spouses. Usually Ph.D. is required or advanced degree in business, law, or medicine. More than half of these people work over 50 hours a week even though they have considerable on-the-job autonomy and freedom from supervision. Often spend leisure time attending arts performances (music concerts, plays, opera, ballet)o Lower-middle class: Often nonmanual (office staff, low-level managers, owners of small buisnesses, medical and dental technicians, legal and medical secretaries, police officers,sales workers, and some highly skilled blue-collar workers [building contractors]) and semiprofessional occupations (nursing, social work, teaching) Almost all these jobs require training beyond high school, many requiring a college degree. Less autonomy and freedom from supervision in these occupations, with little chance for advancement. More likely to follow orders than give them. Buy used/inexpensive cars, eat out fairly regularly, and take occasional vacations, but rarely have enough to buy luxury products without going deeply into debt.Working Class- Skilled and semiskilled laborers, factory employees, and other blue-collar workers in manual occupations. (Construction workers, assembly line workers, truck drivers, auto mechanics, repairpersonnel, bartenders, skilled craft workers: carpenters or electricians.) most are blue collar workers, but some are white collar. - Often have High School degree, but no college education. Little to no opportunity for advancement. Generally work is viewed as boring and routine, require little training, mechanized, and closely supervised.- People may live from paycheck to paycheck, getting into debt easily while suffering setbacks withdivorce, illness, or job loss.Lower Class- Little education, few occupational skills, work minimum wage jobs, or are unemployed. - Sociologists use working poor and underclass to distinguish lower class memberso Working Poor: people who work at least 27 weeks a year but receive low wages to the