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Sociology chapter 7Social Stratification: is the ranking or people and rewards they receive based on an objective criteria, often including wealth, power, and/or prestige.Income: is the money received for work or through investments.Wealth: is all of your material possessions, including income.Income Distribution:The entire US can be put into 5 equal groups. These groups consist of the poorest 20 percent of the country’s earning which receive 3.4 percent of the total income. The top twenty percent of the receive fifty percent of the country’s income. The middle receives an average of 50,303 a year (decline of 3.6 percent). Wealth Distribution:The top one percent of wealthy Americans control more total wealth then the bottom 90 percent. Generally men have more wealth than women, stocks and personal residences make up the top largest categories of wealth, top wealth holders in the US are predominantly married or widowed, and the wealth distribution shows geographic trends. How does the United States define Poverty?Five different kinds of povertyTransitional poverty- is a temporary state of poverty that occurs when someone loses a job for a short time.Marginal poverty- is a state of poverty that occurs when a person lacks stable employment.Residual poverty- is a chronic and multigenerational poverty.Absolute poverty- is poverty so severe that one lacks resources to survive.Relative poverty- is a state of poverty that occurs when we compare ourselves to those around us.PowerIs the ability to carry out your will and impose it on othersDelegated: given or assignedPower elite: small group of people who hold immense power-high-ranking political officials-corporate leaders-military leadersUse their social position and influence to direct the country’s decisions.Example: Five media groups (Time Warner, Disney, News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom)Older, wealthier, and educated people are making key decisions for the entire country.PrestigeRefers to the level of esteem associated with our status and social standing. Generally low paying jobs have lower esteem because of the stigma and vice versa. They struggle to paybills and struggle for respect. Jobs are given a ranking of prestige from 0 to 100. Lawyers being 75 and drug dealers being 13. Wealth, power, and prestige are the basis for the stratification system used to characterize the population.Class Structure in the USMost people say they are part of the middle class. Five different social classes in the US: Upper class, upper middle class, middle class, working class, and lower class. Upper/elite class: is a social class that is very small in number and holds significant wealth. Only about one percent of the population belongs in this group. Approximately 3 million belong in this group. Possess much of the country’s “old money”. Prestige, wealth, power.Upper middle class: is a social class that consists of high-income members of society who are well educated but do not belong to the elite membership of super wealthy. Comfortable living. This group makes up of about 15 percent of the population. Pay tends to exceed 100,000 a year. prestige and education. Middle class: is a social class that consists of those who have moderate incomes. Makes up of 34 percent of the US population. The middle class have at least a high school diploma and many technical training or college credits. 40,000-80,000Working class: is a social class generally made up of people with high school diplomas and lower levelsof education. Makes up of about 30 percent of the workforce. Hourly wage. Lower class: is a social class living in poverty. About 37 million people live in poverty. More than two thirds of African Americans live in poverty. The urban underclassHomeless and chronically unemployed are also usually impoverished. A lot of times they use government assistance. Rarely have health care coverage and often lack a high school diploma. Minimum wage job. It is a social class living in disadvantaged neighborhoods that are characterized by four components: poverty, family disruption, male unemployment, and lack of individuals in high status occupations. Us urban poor are increasingly living in neighborhoods that have few opportunities poor schools, weak social structures, large amounts of crime, and rampant drug use. Neighborhoods and social classPoor people are living in neighborhoods of many poor people and vice versa. Correlation of poverty to high crime rates, increased drug use, and increasing number of single-parent homes. Children bornin these areas are at an increased risk for lower birth weights, poorer health, lower levels of educational attainment, and higher dropout levels. On the opposite end, children who grow up in a well-off neighborhood do better in school, have lower rates of teen pregnancy, and have higher test scores. Interestingly, when a poor child is brought up in a affluent neighborhood this child tends to do better than the children in the poor neighborhoods. Being the poor kid on the block is better than being another poor kid on the block. Education and social classGrants free education to everyone, but not all education is the same. Not all schools are created equal. Urban schools frequently lacked basic necessary to teach: playgrounds often had little or no equipment, chemistry labs were missing beakers and test tubes, and students had to share textbooks. Suburban schools normally had a surplus of supplies and staff. Property values and taxes are higher in suburban areas. The students who need the most help get the least. Roscigno et al and Kozol say that student’s who frequently attend schools with fewer resources than students are because of the parents socioeconomic status.Social mobilitySocial mobility: Is the ability to change social classes.Horizontal mobility: refers to moving with the same status category. Example teachers leaves school to teach at another school. Same money same tasks.Vertical mobility: refers to moving from one social states to another.Promotion at work or demotion.Intragenerational mobility: occurs when an individual changes social standing, especially in the workforce.Climbing the corporate ladder. Unskilled laborer to owning construction company.Intergenerational mobility: refers to the change that family members make from on e social class to the next through generations. Only move up or down one rung on social class ladder.


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FSU SYG 1000 - Sociology

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