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Stratification, Inequality, and its UniversalityStratification = most important aspect of SociologyHave to have a group of peoplePattern of distributionExample: Newspaper ArticleHer story- “American Dream”Is a story like this possible? Does it happen to everybody?May/May not happen to everyoneWas less likely to achieve, but she didBased on probabilitySome people are more likely to attain than othersInequality- the unequal distribution of scarce goods or resources among individuals or groupsUsed in everyday lifeMore general term that stratificationStratification & Equality are pretty much interchangeable when you are talking about a groupUniversality- every society has inequalityNature of human societyGoal of society = EqualityLenski’s Historical ViewGrandiose scheme of society, how human society developed1) Hunting & Gathering SocietyTechnology minimumDivision of labor minimumNo surplusLittle surplus, you cannot have inequalityHunting is not a good businessHad to move around2) HorticulturalNot much differenceDifference = did not have to move around3) AgriculturalMost unequal societyLearned how to use iron ore-plowHigh surplusFirst time we have division of laborOwners of land, animalsSharecroppersWork for these peopleSlaves4) IndustrializedDevelopment of technology- machinery and power toolsMore division of laborFarmers, Factory workers, Construction workersSurplus didn’t increase much from AgrarianEquality was not as bad5) Post-IndustrialTechnology- computers“Origins of Family, Private Property, & States”Title means a lotFamily is based on CommunismYou share everything equallyPrivate Property was not availableDerived from a coke bottleStatesSome people became owners of huge lands, hired peopleOrigin of estateClass, Status, & Parties to Define Power by Max WeberPower is coming from these 3 things1. Class- $2. Status- prestige, social position3. PartiesSometimes political partiesGroup which makes decision on societyWhen you belong to a party, you have more powerHard to become a Communist party memberSome people have all, one, or combinationWhat’s the Social Class? Classification Scheme & Life ChancesSocial Class: a category of people who have approximately the same amount of power & wealth and the same life chances to acquire wealthSome people have more/less life chancesMore rich family, LSULess dropped out of high school, poor family, not know anybody importantUpper Class, Upper Middle, Middle, Lower Middle, Lower ClassUpper Class, Upper Middle, Lower Middle, Working Class, Working Poor, Lower ClassSocio-Economic Status (Income, Education, Occupation)Socio Economic Status instead of Social ClassMore common in Sociology nowMore concreteBased on 3 Things:1. Money2. Education3. JobsHow can we put them in order?Occupational Prestige Scores: Subjective NatureList of numbers decided by American public (1989)Pick people from all around US & told to put in orderConsistency Across Time & Society, Blue/White Collar Jobs. What About Gender?White collar = higher statusTheories of Stratification1.Functionalism: Reward for tough jobs.Good pay is based on 2 factorsDemand ImportanceNFLhighGarbage collectorhighSoccer playerlowSupply ReplaceabilitySupply is low… Less replaceableDifficult to play NFL footballlowGarbage collectorhighSoccer playerlowNeed inequality or nobody wants to do the tough jobsDysfunctionsLimit productivitySome people are born with disadvantagesAnimosityIts not fair negative feelings/factor in societyNo social changePeople with power may try to hold on to their power and try to prevent social changePower elite political power, economic power2. Conflict theoryIdea is in contrast with functionalismLegitimationgive authority to some people to control societyPolitics, leaders, richpeople on topIn order for proletarians to get power, they have to unite and have power as a classcollectiveclass consciousness have to become aware they are being exploited/ common interestMiddle class does not realize they are not in the ruling class false consciousnessThey fail to get united and they go downIdeology a set of ideas about what society is like how it functions whether its good or bad, and how it should be changedi.e. if you work hard, you are going to be successful, your fault if you are poor/didn’t make itnot always trueluck is a factordangerous it controls you helps people in the ruling classNeo-Marxismextension of Carl Marx’s ideaproperty, authority and skill are addedOwners of means of production BourgeoisieBourgeoisieowns sufficient capital to hire workers and not work $52,621Small employers owns sufficient capital to hire workers but must work24,828Petty bourgeoisie owns sufficient capital to work for self but not to hire workers$14,496Non-ownerswage laborer-proletarian+ organization asset/authorityExpert managersSemi credentialed managersUn-credentialed managers>0 organization asset/authorityExpert supervisorSemi credentialed supervisorsUn-credentialed supervisor- organization asset/authorityExpert non managersSemi credentialed workersProletarians+ organization skill/credential assets>0 skill/credential assets- skill/credential assetsInequality is USUS medium(50%) family income ’06 48,023Louisiana medium family income ’06 37,472Quintile earningsRich people richer, poor people getting poorerDistribution of wealth- comparison to other countries? Gini coefficientAll other developed countries are more equal than USPoverty in USPoverty lineAll Below-12%(1/8)Children below- 17/18%Single mother below- over 30%Overall poverty rate hasn’t changed much since 70s hourly wage stopped increasingIn order to make up deficit both parents need to work where as only men used to workClassification of poverty line size of family unity and how many children US census bureau3x as much as Basic foodfood cost 1/3poverty rate is LA is higher than US¼ children in LA?Elderly rate is very lowDifference is elderly people can voteDecreasing wages and feminization of poverty poverty is becoming a thing of single mothersOnly have one source of income no matter how hard they workWorking Poor work full time and still below poverty lineSocial Mobilityclass mobilityOpen system of stratificationability to move up/down in classClosed system of stratificationinability to change classCaste vs. ApartheidSlavery vs. classBorn into a certain classBeggers in


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LSU SOCL 2001 - Social Stratification

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