Exam 3 Review Guide Social Stratification The division of large numbers of people based on power property and prestige Causes of Slavery in Ancient Rome and Greece debt punishment for violation of the law defeat in battle or sold into it Basis of India s caste System Life long status determined by birth it is lifelong you can t get out of it Weber s conception of Social Class determinants he claimed property prestige and power dictate a person s social standing Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore s explanation of the Universality of Social Class they believe society must offer rewards in order to assure that important social positions are filled by the most competent people example doctors must get paid a lot or nobody would go to school for that long World Systems Theory Immanuel Wallerstein Components of World Systems Theory and Examples States that countries are politically and economically tied together Four groups of interconnected nations 1 Core nations where capitalism first developed 2 Semi periphery nations which are dependent on trade with the core nations 3 Periphery nations those mainly limited to selling cash crops to the core nations with limited economic development 4 External area nations have been left out of the growth of capitalism and have few economic ties to the core nation A capitalist world economy results from relentless expansion even external area nations are drawn into this commercial web Globalization the extensive interconnections among nations resulting from the expansion of capitalism has speeded up due to new forms of communication and transportation The consequence is that no nation lives in isolation Methods Neocolonialists use to maintain global stratification The Most Industrialized Nations control markets set prices etc They move hazardous industries into the Least Industrialized Nations and sell weapons and manufactured goods to the Least Industrialized Nations preventing them from developing their own industrial capacity Multinational Corporations contribute to the exploitation of the Least Industrialized Nations They are companies that operate across many national boundaries Global Stratification It is an uneven distribution of privileges material rewards oppurtunities power prestige and influence among individuals and groups United Fruit Company in Central America and the U S Marines Mobility Social Mobility is movement up or down the social class ladder Intergenerational Mobility change that family members make in social class from one generation to the next Example your parents were factory workers then you become a nurse Intragenerational Mobility change within a generation example a person is born poor and then becomes rich Vertical Mobility Moving up and down the social ladder Horizontal Mobility social change neither upward nor downward a change in social situation that does not involve a change in social status Structural Mobility Something changes in society s structures Mobility resulting from the change in the distribution of occupations either expanding opportunities or decreasing them Example went from farmers to industrial Exchange Mobility the same number of people move both up and down the social class ladder such that on balance the social class system shows little change Determinants of Social Class according to Marx He claims it is determined by one s relationship to the means of production He thinks there are two classes Bourgeoisie Capitalists who own the productions and Proletariat Workers Functionalist Explanations of Social Stratification They say it is inevitable Society must make certain that its important positions are filled with qualified people and to guarantee this the society offers them greater rewards Understand the effects changes in the social structure might have on employment opportunities Conflict Explanation of why unemployment exists Achieved Status a social position that is earned by someone Ascribed Statuses a social position that someone is born into Race as a Social Construction race is a reality in the sense that inherited physical characteristics distinguish one group from another Institutional Racism versus prejudice and discrimination Institutional Racism is discrimination built into society s social institutions Prejudice and discrimination discrimination is an action It is unfair treatment directed towards someone Prejudice is an attitude It is prejudging someone usually in a negative way Difference between race and ethnicity Race race refers to biological features a group deems to be important Ethnicity refers to cultural features A sense of group identity based on shared culture Conclusions and theoretical perspective supported in the Sherif Sherif Summer Camp Experiment This supports the functionalist theory It develops and maintains an us vs them Increase in competition increased prejudice Role of Split Labor Market and Reserve Labor Force in Conflict Explanation of Prejudice Split Labor Market is the practice of weakening the bargaining power of workers by splitting them along racial ethnic gender age or any other lines Reserve Labor Force the unemployed who can be put to work during times of high production and then discarded when no longer needed Definition of Segregation and its function segregation is the policy of keeping racial or ethnic groups separated Its function is to formally spate groups Peggy McIntosh s invisible knapsack and White Privilege William Julius Wilson and the most critical factor determining the life chances of African Americans he claims social class is the major determinant of quality of life not race He is known for his work on racial discrimination False Consciousness is the Marxist thesis that material and institutional processes in capitalist society are misleading to the proletariat and to other classes The most important factors in defining a minority group Gender stratification males and females unequal access to power prestige and property on the basis of their sex Sex versus gender sex biological characteristics that distinguish females and males consisting of primary and secondary sex characteristics Gender the behavior and attitudes that a society considers proper for its males and females masculinity or femininity Why women are considered a minority group society sets up barriers to deny women equal access Example there has never been a male president Christine Williams Observations about Men employed in Female Occupations she found that men in
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