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General sociology week 5 - Stratification (Ideology and inequality (Today,…
General sociology week 5 - Stratification
Social stratification
Members of sociaty are differentiated according to certain characteristics
social class
ethnicity
gender
race
The characteristics are percieved hierarchically
Is a characteristic of society as a whole
The extent to which characteristics affect access to resources varies between different societies
Degree of closure of systems of stratification
In closed systems of stratification, it is difficult to move from one social layer to another
Closure: estate and caste systems
Stratification based on inherited status or ascription (given your status at birth)
No opportunity for social mobility
Social class
Class inequality is the predominant form social inequality took with industrialization
Social fate was based on people's place in the labour market
With the increasing complexity of industrialization, there was an economic necessity for smart workers. This lead to some social mobility
Social mobility can be induced by changes in the labour market
When classes shrink or grow, people are squeezed out of declining classes and pulled into expanding ones
Such mobility due to structural change is called
structural mobility
Mobility that is not caused by structural change is called
exchange mobility
Indicates
social openness
, an ideal of
meritocratic
society (people should be in positions that fit them best, regardless of characteristics)
#
Exchange and structural mobility diagram
Inter vs intra generational mobility
Intragenerational
mobility takes place during the individual's lifetime (e.g. a promotion)
Intergenerational
mobility takes plave between generations (children end up in a different class than their parents)
Meritocracy
Has not completely abolished effects of ascribed status characteristics
Social mobility may require resources that are not avaliable to all classes
Prejudices may linger (gender roles and racial discrimination)
Alternative ideology may legitimate inequality
#
Ideology and inequality
People in upper social strata often prefer the status quo
Hence upper class promote an ideology that legitimates their superior positions and helps those in less fortunate positions to accept their fate
Since some people have different talents and skills, some degree of inequality seems fair (it's hard to be motivated if everyone is rewarded the same way)
A hard working waitress earns less than a less work working banker
Inequality used to be justified by attributing it to God's will or to the logic of some natural order
#
Today, inequality is legitimized by differences in achievement (bankers have a harder job than waitresses)
KEY QUESTION: IS this really meritocratic?
Waitress example
not if the waitress had parents who believed girls needed no higher education
Not if the waitress would feel like a social outcast among university students
Not if the waitress was forced into an early marriage
Not if tge waitress could not pay for higher education
Banker example
Not if the banker pockets excessive bonuses regardless of his achievements
Not if the banker got his job in part because he belongs to the right social networks
Not if the banker messes up the financial world so throughly that the waitress looses her job
:!:
Richard Sennett
believes that a person can be very wealthy and yet highly incompetent
How to value inequality
Functionalism/inequality as functional
Belief in meritocracy
Differential rewards motivate people to do better, work harder, and hence inequality increases productivity
inequality of rewards is seen as fair if it is coupled with equality of oppertinity
The more fair inequality is thought to be the more unsuccessful people seem to have themselves to blame for their situation
Conflict theory/inequality as a source of conflict
Confliect theory sees inequality as unbeneficial
Social stratification provides major advantages to some at the expense of others
The industrial-spaitalist productive system led to great inequality in wealth and power
The revolution that maarx perdicted did not happen because there was a heirarchy within the working class as a result of increasing labour market differentiation
The stratification system in more complex that Marx describes in his two - class model
inequality as a source of conflict
Max Weber's 3-dimensional model of social stratification
Class position - a continuum ranking from high to low
Status position - Social prestige based on social networks and consumption -/taste patterns
power - based on access to political resources
Bourdieu's stratification model
economic capital
Cultural capital
Social capital
The distinctions between different classes becomes more vague with more complex stratification systems
Class position is important as a source of cultural economic socials resoures