SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer

1. SOCIOLOGYRichard T. Schaefer 9 Stratification and Social Mobility in the United States

2. Understanding Stratification • Class System: social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility • Rossides (1997) uses five-class model to describe U.S. class system: • Systems of Stratification • Social Classes • Upper class • Working class • Upper-middle class • Lower class • Lower-middle class

3. Understanding Stratification Figure 9-1. Household Income in the United States, 2001 Source: DeNavas-Walt and Cleveland 2002:15

4. Understanding Stratification • Is Stratification Universal? • Inequality exists in all societies—even the simplest • Functionalist View Does not explain the wide disparity between the rich and the poor Social inequity necessary so people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions.

5. Understanding Stratification Functionalist feel that stratification is functional for the following reasons • Society must make certain that its positions are filled • Some positions are more important than others • The more important positions must be filled by the more qualified people • To motivate the more qualified people to fill these positions, society must offer them greater rewards

6. Understanding Stratification • Perspectives on Stratification • Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation • Social relations depend on who controls the primary mode of production Proletariat: working class Bourgeoisie: capitalist class; owns the means of production Capitalism: economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits

7. From this perspective, stratification is functional mainly for those at the top of the social hierarchy • All ruling groups-from slave masters to modern elites-develop an ideology to justify their position at the top. • This ideology often seduces the oppressed into believing that their welfare depends on keeping society stable.

8. Consequently, the oppressed may support laws against their own interests and even make sacrifices that benefit the bourgeoisie. • For this to happen the working class has to develop class consciousness

9. Understanding Stratification • Perspectives on Stratification • Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation • Class Consciousness: subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about change • False Consciousness: attitude held by members of class that does not accurately reflect their objective position

10. Max Weber (1864-1920) • Weber believed that Marx’s economic view of stratification could not capture primary features of modern industrial stratification systems • Weber noticed that social position did not always seem to be simply a matter of property ownership • Weber believed that no single characteristic (such as class) dictates a person's position within the stratification system

11. Understanding Stratification • Perspectives on Stratification • Max Weber’s View of Stratification • No single characteristic totally defines a person’s position with the stratification system Status Group: people who have the same prestige or lifestyle Class: group of people who have similar level of wealth and income Power: ability to exercise one’s will over others

12. Understanding Stratification • According to Weber, each of us has not one but three ranks in society.

13. Stratification by Social Class Table 9-2. Prestige Rankings of Occupations Source: J. Davis et al. 2003

14. Understanding Stratification Table 9-1. Major Perspectives on Social Stratification

15. Stratification by Social Class • Measuring Social Class • Objective Method • Class largely viewed as a statistical category based on • Occupation • Education • Income • Place of residence

16. Stratification by Social Class • Measuring Social Class • Wealth and Income • One important dimension of economic inequality involves income, wages or salary from work. • Whereas wealth, is an individual’s or family’s total financial assets. • Income in U.S. distributed unevenly • In 2001, richest fifth of the population held 84.5% of nation’s wealth .

17. Stratification by Social Class Figure 9-3. U.S. Income Pyramid, 2003 Source: Developed by author based on data from DeNavas-Walt et al. 2004; HINC-01 and the Internal Revenue Service (2004)

18. Stratification by Social Class Figure 9-4. Distribution of Wealth in the United States, 2001 Source: Wolff:2002

19. All the data show that there is an enormous gap between the haves and the have nots and that it has been growing steadily wider • In the past 15 years, our highest-income family saw its share of all income go up about 12 percent while our eight low-income families saw their share drop 9%. • Overall, Americans are worth over $38 trillion

20. The Middle Class • The middle-class include 40 to 45 percent of the population • Because it is so large and embodies the aspirations of many more people, the middle class exerts tremendous influence on our culture. • Television and other mass media usually show middle-class men and women and most commercial advertising is directed at these “average” consumers.

21. The Working Class • About 30% of the population is a member of the working class holding manual or blue-collar jobs. • Even if they make good income, higher than lower middle class, they tend to identify with manual workers. • Compared with the lower middle class, they have less years of formal education.

22. The Lower Class • Have little income, their lives are unstable and insecure. Poverty • approximately one out of every nine Americans lives below the poverty line established by the federal government. The Poverty Line Official U.S. government definitions of poverty are based on the calculation of a minimum family “market basket”

23. The U.S. Department of Agriculture regularly prepare estimates of the cost of achieving a minimum level of nutrition, based on average food prices. • It is assumed that an average low-income family must not spend one third of its total income on food • The poverty line for 2004 was $19,157 • In 2001 roughly, 11.7 percent or 34.5 million-live below the poverty line

24. Stratification by Social Class • Poverty • Absolute poverty: minimum level of subsistence that no family should live below • Relative poverty: floating standard by which people at the bottom of a society are judged as being disadvantaged in comparison to the nation as a whole

25. Stratification by Social Class • Poverty • Who Are the Poor? • Not a static social class • Explaining Poverty • In Gans’s view, poverty and poor satisfy positive functions for many non poor groups Life Chances: opportunities to provide material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experience

26. Stratification by Social Class Figure 9-6. Absolute Poverty in Selected Industrial Countries Source: Smeeding et al. 2001:51

27. Stratification by Social Class Table 9-3. Who Are the Poor in the United Sates? Source: DeNavas-Walt et al. 2004:10

28. Social Mobility • Indicate social mobility in a society • Open System: position of each individual influenced by the person’s achieved position • Closed System: allows little or no possibility of moving up • Open versus Closed Stratification Systems SocialMobility: Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society’s stratification system to another

29. Social Mobility • Types of Social Mobility • Horizontal Mobility: movement within same range of prestige • Vertical Mobility: movement from one position to another of a different rank • Intragenerational Mobility: social position changes within person’s adult life

30. Social Mobility • Social Mobility in the United States • Occupational Mobility • The Impact of Education • The Impact of Race and Ethnicity • The Impact of Gender

31. Social Policy and Stratification • Government and Poverty • The Issue • Governments searching for right solution to welfare • How much subsidy? • How much responsibility should poor assume?

32. Social Policy and Stratification • Government and Poverty • The Setting • Shifts in U.S. welfare program in 1996 • Most countries devote higher proportions of expenditures to • Housing • Social security • Welfare • Health care • Unemployment compensation

33. Social Policy and Stratification • Government and Poverty • Sociological Insights • Many sociologists view debate over welfare reform from conflict perspective • Corporate Welfare: tax breaks, direct payments, and grants the government makes to corporations

34. Social Policy and Stratification • Government and Poverty • Policy Initiatives • Prospect for hard-core jobless faded • In North America and Europe, people beginning to turn to private means to support themselves • People seeing gap between themselves and the affluent grow with fewer government programs to assist them