Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach, 11e James M. Henslin

1. Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach, 11e James M. Henslin

2. Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach, 11eJames M. Henslin Chapter 8 Social Class in the United States

3. Learning Objectives 8.1 Explain the three components of social class—property, power, and prestige; distinguish between wealth and income; explain how property and income are distributed; and describe the democratic façade, the power elite, and status inconsistency 8.2 Contrast Marx’s and Weber’s models of social class

4. Learning Objectives Continued 8.3 Summarize the consequences of social class for physical and mental health, family life, education, religion, politics, and the criminal justice system 8.4 Contrast the three types of social mobility, and review gender issues in research on social mobility and why social mobility brings pain

5. Learning Objectives Continued 8.5 Explain the problems in drawing the poverty line, how poverty is related to geography, race–ethnicity, education, feminization, age, and the culture of poverty; analyze why people are poor; and discuss deferred gratification and the Horatio Alger myth

6. LO 8.1 What Is Social Class? • Property • Power • Prestige • Status Inconsistency

7. LO 8.1—Property • Distinguishing Between Wealth and Income • Distribution of Property • Distribution of Income

8. A mere one-half percent of Americans owns over a quarter of the entire nation’s wealth. Very few minorities are numbered among this 0.5 percent. An exception is Oprah Winfrey, who has had an ultra-successful career in entertainment and investing. Worth $2.8 billion, she is the 215th richest person in the United States. Winfrey has given millions of dollars to help minority children.

12. LO 8.1—Power • The Democratic Façade • The Power Elite

14. Participants in the regatta at Genoa, Italy, are dwarfed by Paul Allen’s yacht.

15. LO 8.1—Prestige • Occupations and Prestige • Displaying Prestige

17. LO 8.1—Status Inconsistency • Rank Higher on Some Dimensions of Status than Others

18. How do you set yourself apart in a country so rich that of its 4.6 million people, 79,000 are millionaires? Saeed Khouri (on the right), at an auction in Abu Dhabi, paid $14 million for the license plate “1.” His cousin was not as fortunate. His $9 million was enough to buy only “5.”

19. LO 8.2 Sociological Models of Social Class • Updating Marx • Updating Weber

20. Dorice Moore, who swindled and then killed Abraham Shakespeare, one of the lottery winners mentioned in the text.

24. With a fortune of $66 billion, Bill Gates, a cofounder of Microsoft Corporation, is the second wealthiest person in the world. His 40,000-square-foot home (sometimes called a “technopalace”) in Seattle, Washington, was appraised at $110 million.

25. Sociologists use income, education, and occupational prestige to measure social class. For most people, this works well, but not for everyone, especially entertainers. To what social class do DiCaprio, Smith, Swift, and Carey belong? Leonardo DiCaprio makes about $37 million a year, Will Smith $30 million, Taylor Swift $57 million, and Mariah Carey $60 million.

27. LO 8.3 Consequences of Social Class • Physical Health • Mental Health • Family Life • Education • Religion • Politics • Crime and Criminal Justice

28. With tough economic times, a lot of people have lost their jobs—and their homes. If this happens, how can you survive? Maybe a smile and a sense of humor to tap the kindness of strangers. I took this photo outside Boston’s Fenway Park.

29. On the left is one of Jennifer Lopez’s homes, this one in Miami Beach. She also has a home in California and a $10 million summer getaway in the Hamptons in New York. To the right is a middle-aged couple who live in an old motor home parked in Santa Barbara, one of the wealthiest communities in California.

30. This debutante is making her formal entrance into society, announcing her eligibility for marriage. Like you she has learned, from her parents, peers, and education, a view of where she belongs in life. How do you think her view is different from yours? (This photo was taken at the annual debutante ball of the Society of Martha Washington in Laredo, Texas.)

31. LO 8.4 Social Mobility • Three Types of Social Mobility • Intergenerational Mobility • Structural Mobility • Exchange Mobility • Women in Studies of Social Mobility • The Pain of Social Mobility

32. The term structural mobility refers to changes in society that push large numbers of people either up or down the social class ladder. A remarkable example was the stock market crash of 1929 when thousands of people suddenly lost their wealth. People who once “had it made” found themselves standing on street corners selling apples or, as depicted here, selling their possessions at fire-sale prices. The crash of 2008 brought similar problems to untold numbers of people.

33. The main avenue to the upward social mobility reviewed in the text has been higher education.

35. Upward social mobility, though welcome, can place people in a world so different from their world of childhood orientation that they become strangers to their own family.

36. For Your Consideration: In the box on upward social mobility on page 82, we discussed how Latinos face a similar situation. Why do you think this is? What connections do you see among upward mobility, frustration, and racial–ethnic identity? How do you think that the upward mobility of whites is different? Why?

37. LO 8.5 Poverty • Drawing the Poverty Line • Who Are the Poor? • Children of Poverty • The Dynamics of Poverty Versus the Culture of Poverty • Why Are People Poor? • Deferred Gratification • Where is Horatio Alger? The Social Functions of a Myth

38. LO 8.5—Drawing the Poverty Line • Arbitrary Line • Official Measure of Poverty

39. High rates of rural poverty have been a part of the United States from its origin to the present. This 1937 photo shows a 32-year-old woman who had seven children and no food. She was part of a huge migration of people from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in search of a new life in California.

40. LO 8.5—Who Are the Poor? • The Geography of Poverty • Race–Ethnicity • Education • The Feminization of Poverty • Old Age

43. Poverty comes in many forms. Families who go into debt to buy possessions squeak by month after month until a crisis turns their lives upside down. I took this photo of a family in Georgia, parked alongside a highway selling their possessions to survive our economic downturn.

45. LO 8.5—Children of Poverty • Children Are More Likely to be Poor than Adults or the Elderly

47. LO 8.5—The Dynamics of Poverty Versus the Culture of Poverty • Poverty Trigger • Short-lived

49. LO 8.5—Why Are People Poor? • Social Structure • Characteristics of Individuals • Poverty Triggers

50. LO 8.5—Deferred Gratification • Behaviors of the Poor are a Result of Their Poverty