SS - Social Stratification Overview

 

Social Stratification Overview

In April 1912, over two thousand people left the shores of England aboard an "unsinkable" ship destined for the United States. Aboard the ship were men, women and children divided by wealth and purpose. For some, the voyage was to be a cruise of luxurious proportions, for others it was to be the means of travel to a better life.   In the end, for all, it turned out to be one of the largest maritime disasters in the history of sailing with fewer than thirty-three percent of the passengers surviving. When the Titanic sank, she became a cautionary lesson in maritime annals of what to do and of what not to do in order to safely navigate the world's oceans. For sociologists, the Titanic became a symbol of the repercussions of social stratification as they worked through the list of survivors and determined the following information:

 

 

Titanic Chart

Based on this chart, you can see the very real role that social categories played in the odds of surviving the sinking of the Titanic. First, notice the difference in survival rates based on gender. Now consider the difference based on age.  

Lastly, assuming that first class tickets were sold to the wealthiest passengers only, you should notice the role that wealth played in the likelihood of survival. As a result, the Titanic  is a stark example of just how important social categories and social stratification can be in determining one's future.

In this module, you will learn about social inequality as it relates to social stratification. Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society and is, at times, a consequence of social stratification. Some positions or statuses within a group are ascribed, such as gender, race or age, while others are achieved, such as wealth, power or prestige.  The degree of social inequality experienced varies by position/status but also by society.  

Essential Questions

  • What is social stratification, its causes, and its consequences?
  • How and why do systems of social stratification differ around the world and over time?
  • How is social stratification perpetuated over time and over generations?
  • How do the various theoretical perspectives in sociology explain social stratification?
  • How might the application of principles from the field of sociology lead to eradication of social inequality?
  • What role does global stratification play in our world?

Key Terms

  1. Absolute Poverty - a lack of resources that is life-threatening
  2. C. Wright Mills - (1916-1962) an American sociologist heavily influenced by Max Weber's and Karl Marx's interpretations of sociology and personally stressed that the sociologist be able to connect individual experiences and societal relationships; author of The Power Elite- an explanation of power and class in the United States
  3. Caste System - social stratification based on hereditary social groups limited to a person's rank, occupation, etc.
  4. Class System - social stratification based on both birth and individual achievement
  5. Class - a category of people who share a similar level of wealth and income
  6. Classless Society - a society in which no one is born into a social class
  7. Culture of Poverty Thesis - claims poverty is caused by shortcomings in the individual that transcends national boundaries; Oscar Lewis
  8. Davis-Moore Thesis - theory within Structural-Functionalism that claims social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society; Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore
  9. Dependency Theory - an economic and social theory that attributes global inequality to the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich nations
  10. Differential Justice - differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups
  11. Downward Mobility - descending from a higher to a lower class or status within a society's social hierarchy
  12. Ethnocentrism - the tendency to assume one's own culture and way of life are better than all others
  13. Global Stratification - a comparison of the economic stability, power, status and wealth between nations that focuses on the unequal distribution of resources and patterns of social inequality around the world
  14. High Income Country - a nation with a gross national income   per capita above $12,746
  15. Horizontal Mobility - the change from one position to another without a change in class or status within a society's social hierarchy
  16. Ideology - the body of doctrine, myth, symbol, etc., of a social movement, institution, class or large group; that cultural beliefs within a particular society that justify a particular social arrangement and explain patterns of social inequality found within the society
  17. Immanuel Wallerstein - (1930- ) an American sociologist most noted for his Dependency Theory-related explanation of global stratification known as the World System Theory
  18. Income Disparity - refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population; also known as income inequality
  19. Income - the monetary earnings a person receives from work or investments
  20. Intergenerational Social Mobility - upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to their parents
  21. Intragenerational Social Mobility - a change in social position occurring during a person's lifetime
  22. Kingsley Davis - (1908-1997) an American sociologist who studied demography and is known for coining the terms "population explosion" and "zero population growth;" argued for the "functional necessity" of some social groups to be ranked higher than others in society
  23. Low Income Country - a nation with a gross national income per capita of $1,045 or less
  24. Lower Class - the social group that has the lowest status in a society
  25. Marxist Political-Economic Model - an analysis that explains politics in terms of the operation of a society's economic system
  26. Meritocracy - social stratification based on ability and talent
  27. Middle Class - the social group between the upper and working classes, including professional and business workers and their families
  28. Middle Income Country - a nation with a gross national income per capita of more than $1,045 but less than $12,746
  29. Modernization Theory - an economic and social theory that argues that global inequality is based on technological and cultural differences
  30. Occupational Prestige - the respect with which an occupation is regarded by society
  31. Oscar Lewis - (1914-1970) an American anthropologist whose work on poverty introduced the Culture of Poverty Thesis
  32. Per Capita Income - the average income of the people within an economic unit such as a country; also known as income per person
  33. Pluralist Model - an analysis of politics that sees power as spread among competing interest groups
  34. Power - the ability to control the behavior of others; the capacity to influence people or events
  35. Power-Elite Model - an analysis of politics that sees power as concentrated among the rich
  36. Relative Poverty - the lack of resources of some people in relation to those who have more
  37. Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth - the four stages of development needed for nations to grow economically; these include traditional stage, take-off stage, drive to technological maturity stage, and high mass consumption stage; created by Walt Rostow in 1960
  38. Social Inequality - the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society; the condition in which members of a society have unequal amounts of wealth, power and prestige
  39. Social Mobility - a change in position within the social hierarchy
  40. Social Stratification - a system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy; factors used include income, wealth, power, occupational prestige, schooling- often this system perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in society
  41. Status Consistency - the degree of uniformity in a person's social standing across various dimensions of social inequality
  42. Structural Social Mobility - a shift in the social position of large numbers of people due more to changes in society than to individual efforts
  43. Upper Class - the social group that has the highest status in a society
  44. Upward Mobility - rising from a lower to a higher class or status within a society's social hierarchy
  45. Walt Rostow - (1916-2003) an American economist noted for identifying the stages of economic development for nations
  46. Wealth Inequality - refers to the extent to which wealth is distributed in an uneven manner among a population
  47. Wealth - the total value of money or other assets that an individual owns minus any debts
  48. Wilbert E. Moore - (1914-1987) an American sociologist who collaborated with Kingsley Davis on the Davis-Moore Thesis
  49. William Julius Wilson - (1935- ) an American sociologist who has theorized that poverty is the result of unequal distribution of society's resources among its members
  50. Working Class - the social group consisting of people who are employed for wages, especially in manual or industrial work
  51. World System Theory - an analysis of global stratification that identifies how core economic nations exploit the semi-periphery and periphery nations of the world; Immanuel Wallerstein

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