SC 1101E

Lecture 6
CLASS &
STRATIFICATION

Announcements
Short Assignment
a short, coherent, interesting essay,
demonstrating some understanding of
sociology
Due Friday Sep 20, 5pm.
Drop it into your own tutors snail-mail box
MTT: Week 8
located outside Sociology General
Office.
same time/venue
Tutorial 3
as your own
Politics &
lecture group
Class
Topics 1-5
4 Choose 1
Wks 7 and
1 hr
8
2-pp

Mid-Point Words of
Advice
Be patient. One baby step at a time.
Dont study the text book and
course pack with exams in mind. Treat
them and the lectures and tutorials as
resources.
Lectures, tutorials, and readings
complement one another.
Think of key questions. Look for
answers. Discuss with fellow
travelers.

Objectives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxf_GPN8o1c (a Youtube video on poverty in
Singapore, view at your own leisure)
Short video on poverty in Singapore produced by Candice Neo, NTU graduate (will play
only a 9-min segment during lecture)

1. Learn key theories and concepts

2. Develop a framework for
understanding class structure &
dynamics
3. Learn how class structure impacts
life-chances and lifestylesand
social change

Outline

Theoretical ideas
Dimensions: the 3Ps.
Indicators
Types of society and inequality
Theories: Marx, Weber, Wright, Goldthorpe,
Functionalist.

Class structure
Broad features
The Singapore case
Parting shots
Some questions to ponder

The 3 Ps:
Power, Privilege, Prestige

Power (cf. 3 faces)

1. Influence over decision-making.
2. Benefiting from decisions.
(spheres of politics, work, and
residence)
Privilegelife-chances, quality of
life, economic/social/cultural
capital.
Prestigesocial standing, titles.

Prestige Scores
Judge 93
University lecturer
93
(hi prestige, small wallet?)

Medical doctor 93
Dentist 85
TV newsreader 75
(unless celebrity status)

Protestant pastor 64
Hindu priest 56

Road sweeper

42

Beggar 26
(fund-raiser)

Prostitute 24
Smuggler 24
(lo prestige, big wallet?)
IT professionals?
Life Sciences?
Entrepreneurs?
Finance executives?

Indicators

Occupation
Income/ wealth
power
Education
Home ownership and type
Car ownership and type
Club membership and type
Holidays
Other possessions: works of art,
branded goods

Types of Society (I)

Simple society
1. e.g. hunting-gathering.
2. Inequality based on age and
gender, not material possessions.
Agrarian society
1. e.g. slave society, feudal
society.
2. Surplus production and
exploitation.

Types of Society (II)

Industrial/ Capitalist society
1. use of science & technology &
growing affluence.
2. equality of opportunity/
meritocracy (open, achieved), but
unequal rewards & outcomes.
3. democracy (equality),
citizenship (equality), & class
(inequality).

Types of Society (III)

Contemporary/ Future Society
Middle class or working class
society?
Polarized society, comprising
excluded poor, insecure middle
class, exploitative rich.
Culture as a marker of class
differences; class identity is
expressed through consumerism.

MARX
Class = private ownership of the means
of production (aka capital)
Class structure = bourgeoisie (capital)
& proletariat (labor power).
Class relations = conflict relations;
exploitation & alienation.
Class struggle & resistance, e.g.,
accidents, sabotage, strikes.
Revolution & societal transformation.
Classless society: collective ownership.

WEBER
3 key concepts (in terms of power):
Class = life-chances, economic power,
market power.
Positivel
Status group = life-style,
y
consumption, symbolic power.
privilege
d
Party = political power
Middle
class

Negatively
privileged

WRIGHT
Key dimensions: Not just relations
of production, but also possession
of authority and/or credentials.
Bourgeoisie possess capital.
Middle Class possess authority
and/or credentials. Contradictory
class location.
Proletariat possess labor power.
12 class locations.

GOLDTHORPE
Market situation (life-chances) = pay, job
security, prospect.
Work situation = authority, autonomy.
Class scheme:
service class (professionals, big
managers and proprietors),
intermediate class (non-manual workers,
small proprietors, technicians,
supervisors)
working class (skilled, semi-skilled,
unskilled workers)

FUNCTIONALIST
1. Some positions are functionally
more important (e.g., managers and
workers)
2. These positions require special
skills.
3. Not everyone has the talent to fill
these positions.
4. Training involves sacrifice.
5. Differential rewards are essential
for motivating people.Assumes no conflict

Class Structure:
The Upper Class
Wealth, power, education.
Descended from successful
families.
0.5 to 1 percent of population.
Marriage: homogamy, strategic.
Kinship ties, social networks,
interlocking directorates.

The Upper Class

Exclusive clubs, Private schools.

Cultural capital
Titles
Political Influencee.g.,
campaign contributions, cabinet
positions.

Corporate Class
Stock control moving away
from upper class families to
institutional investors.
Emergence of corporate
class.
Power based on control of
large corporations.

Middle Class(es) and

Working Class(es) compared
Advantages (?) over working class:
Non-manual vs manual/ White-collar vs
Blue-collar.
Specialized knowledge, Authority,
Autonomy, Career.
Proletarianization/ embourgeoisiement
Middle class squeeze: poor rich, new
poor.
Downward mobility: lay-offs.
Child-rearing practices Are these categories
still relevant?
Voting behavior
All vulnerable?

Underclass/ Poor
Migrant workers
Minorities
Disabled; old; female single-parent;
children: living on handouts.
Visible or Invisible?, e.g. homeless
in NY; beggars in Calcutta; tissue
paper sellers in Singapore hawker
centres. What about buskers in
Orchard Rd?

An Illustration
Singapore class structure 1990
(2013?)
Chua, BH and Tan, JE
$10K

Rich
Upper Middle

$6K
Lower Middle
$2.3K
(Median)

$1K

Working Class
Poor

Singapore Context (I)

Apparent homogeneity: public
provisions (esp. housing), leveling
effect of the state.
Competitions for positional goods:
private housing, private cars.
Living on the margin: The anxietyladen & the contented: high end of
HDB vs low end of private housing.
Status degradation: upgrade housing,
but downgrade car, holidays, etc.

Singapore Context (II)

Contradictions: upward
mobility, lower expectations.
Public absence of the Rich (&
the Poor).
Working class (middle class too)
uses the vote to pressure the
government.

Parting Shots (I)

Is there an underclass in
Singapore/US/Britain?
Is it comfortable to be middle class? Middleclass squeeze.
Will locals be stacked below foreigners?
Will there be more downward mobility in
future? (due to globalization, ageing
population, sandwiched generation, financial
crises, high costs of living)
What kind of society is Singapore/US/Britain?
Class society, classless society, middle-class
society, working-class society, elitist society?

Parting Shots (II)

Do you agree with Marx that means
of production is fundamental for
understanding class in capitalist
society?
Is there such a thing as functional
importance?
Is inequality necessary to incentivize
people to take up training, and in
turn, the functionally important
jobs?