SOCI 1160: EXAM 2
23 Cards in this Set
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
|
Social Stratification
|
Society's system of ranking categories of people in a hierarchy.
|
|
Social Class
|
categories of people who have similar access to resources and opportunities.
|
|
Wealth
|
The value of all the economic assets owned by a person orfamily MINUS debt.
|
|
Povertyline
|
An income level set by the U.S. government for the purpose of counting the poor.
|
|
Poverty gap
|
The difference between the actual income of the typical poor household and the official poverty line.
|
|
Official Poverty line for one person
|
10,294
|
|
Official poverty line for 2 people
|
13,167
|
|
Official poverty line for 3 people
|
16,079
|
|
Official poverty line for 4 people
|
20,614
|
|
Highestearning 20 percent of U.S. families:
|
averageincome of $176,000 received 48.1 percent of all income in 2005
|
|
Thelowest earning 20 percent of U.S. families
|
(averageincome of $15,000) received only 4 percent all income in 2005
|
|
white families
|
58percent of white families earn more than $50,000 annually
|
|
African American and Hispanic families
|
36 percent of African American and Hispanic families earn more than $50,000 annually
|
|
20percent of U.S. families
|
ownabout 84 percent of all the privately held wealth in this country
|
|
Taxationis a common device used by the government to:
|
reduceeconomic inequality
|
|
Rich
|
Top ten percent of the income distribution
|
|
Poor
|
Living below the official poverty line
|
|
Since1980 income inequality has steadily increased:
|
huge gains for the top 20 percent, moderate gains for those in the middle and verysmall gains for the lowest paid 20 percent.
|
|
Conservative ways to combat inequality:
|
point out that the poverty in the US is relative poverty and not absolute.
Value self-reliance and support the idea that people should take responsibility of their own actions.
reject gov programs and make it harder for ppl to be on welfare (drug test, 5 year limit, etc.)
|
|
Liberal ways to combat inequalities:
|
Poverty exists because of the way society operates
Increase tax rate for the rich so that there are more fed programs for the poor.
|
|
six problems linked to poverty
|
poor health
substandard housing
homelessness
limited schooling
crime & punishment
political alienation
|
|
The welfare system
|
TANF (temporary assistance for needy families
—SSDI (disabilities)/SSI
—Food Stamps
—Medicaid/Medicare
—Heat and utilityassistance (now defunded)
—Food and clothingbanks
—Housing subsidies
—Public housing
Corporate tax breaks
|
|
How is extreme wealth maintained?
|
Tax breaks to corporations
Bank bailouts
|
SOCI 1160: EXAM 2