Test Three Lecture Notes 4 2 13 Chapter 8 Stratification Class and Inequality Define Sociology The study of the interactions of groups and elements that effect them Status o Example used in text Teenage groups high school o Prestige that goes with one s social position Status Power o Derives from the ability to increase prestige often at the expense of others Depends largely on one s social location o Teens Base status on clothes where they sit in the cafeteria and who you hang out with Rewards of Status Acknowledgement o Not everyone has the same status Social Stratification o Existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards o Layers of where people are in society o Unequal positions that people hold because of social position o Stratification is based on many different things Gender ascribed a status your born into effect your social location Military rank Socio economic status money education job prestige o Is America the only stratified society All societies and cultures involve some form of stratification Some examples include the caste system in India and South Africa and slavery all over the world Bradley Chapter 8 PowerPoint slide 4 Picture on slide Middle east Social Stratification is event in the arrangement of housing o The higher up you are the more prominent your social status is Universal exist among multiple cultures o Does stratification exist over multiple times Development of state based systems produced wide differences in wealth and power Era of history that contributed to social stratification Industrial revolution catapulted stratification because of mass production and the resulting profits owners gained wealth and benefitted while workers didn t move up in strata Civil War human rights affect strata Agricultural Era Least Stratified because of hunters gather way of life o There was no surplus or capital to distinguish between people The level of stratification in a society varies over time AND socially stratified societies are found in the ancient world These statements are complementary The stratification of societies has changed throughout history but has always existed to some degree For example hunters and gathers experienced little stratification but with the invention of agriculture and the accumulation of wealth this changed Giddens et al 2012 197 o Is stratification a consequence of modern society No has been around since ancient times Ancient Egypt had a hierarchy o Servants peasants artisans scribes nobles and priests then at the top the pharaoh o Each rank is progressively less populated resembles a pyramid America Social stratification resembles a tear drop The upper class very small population Middle Class most populated strata o The poor small population o Three key aspects of social stratification Marx 1 Class 2 Status 3 Power These aspects can overlap but doesn t always have to Politicians have all three class status and power Mahatma Gandhi lived in poverty but had high class and power o Structured Inequalities Inequalities and stratification that result from structures and patterns of society not by individuality and chance Inequalities are born of systems o All socially stratified systems share three characteristics Rankings apply to social categories of people who share common characteristics even in they don t interact or identify with each other Ex Gender Life experiences and opportunities depend on the rankings of their social category Life chances ex access to education to travel health care Your lifestyle choices and life chances are mostly contingent you re your family s social class position Life chances the opportunities a person has for obtaining financial prosperity depends largely on one s background It is easier to be wealthy if you begin life wealthy The class we are born into determines our neighborhood lifestyle education and the people we meet On the other hand class positions are fluid and are in some ways achieved This allows the other aspects to come into play on a limited basis along with family social class position Giddens et al 2012 197 Ranks of social categories change very slowly over time Ex Women rights has taken years to achieve many of the equalities we know have education equal pay suffrage o Four Systems of Stratification Systems Legally or religiously based codified Slavery Caste Estate Class Not officially recognized Ex High class can marry lower classes while whites and blacks couldn t Is not recognized as a specific thing in every society Stems from economic factors affecting the material circumstances of people s lives 1 Slavery One owns another people are seen as property Slaves are controlled through violence Forced to work without pay o Exploiting them economically Most extreme form of inequality History of US slavery inform our view of slavery Legal conditions in which slavery has existed vary o Ex In US slaves had no rights but ancient Greek slaves had rights but didn t get paid Freetheslaves com Do slavery impact people in lasting ways after abolished o Yes slavery has Lasting effects o Trouble reintegrating into society Must learning a skill how to make a living Analogy for understanding the lasting effects slavery has had on American society o Think about the acquisition of skills as a 5km race White people get a head start of 4 km blacks must then catch up o Big gap in between acquisition of skills 2 Caste System Social position prescribed at birth Based on personal characteristics that are unchangeable race ethnicity parental religion Exist primarily in agricultural societies Rural India the caste system became illegal in 1949 but ideologies still exist for economic and social distinctions South African Apartheid ended in 1992 but still has lasting effects With globalization caste systems are threated because other societies don t recognize the same class system o Must use lower caste for their skills Before the Civil Right Acts of 1964 in America status was based on race and ethnicity o Didn t have equal rights to education and access to businesses Women Used to have less power and class o Women couldn t vote as a result they have had to catch up in the political arena 3 Estate System Feudalism Determined at birth Owners of property top of hierarchy and those who work on property lower hierarchy Masses who work for a small and finite group at the top The masses are ordered along a class system 4 Class Social class is
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