Chapter 14

Stratification

Lecture PowerPoint
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Social Stratification
 Systematic inequality between groups of people
 Unequal distribution of wealth, income, prestige,
power, knowledge, and other resources
 “Structured:” built into social systems

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On what dimensions does stratification
exist?
 Assets, wealth, money (“class” views)
 Prestige, respect (“status” views)
 Education, occupation, income
(“socioeconomic status” view)
 Power and influence (“power” view)
 The debate is over which is most important or
most basic
Views of Inequality: Economics and Class
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (late 1700’s)
 Social inequality stems from private property
 Private property creates unequal access to resources
 Ultimately leads to resentment and conflict.
 Viewed human nature as basically good; private
property as the problem
 Influenced socialist thought.

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Views of Inequality: Economics and Class
 Adam Ferguson and John Millar (Scottish Enlightment)
 private property and competition are good because some
people are getting ahead and creating assets (stored wealth)
 provides an incentive to work hard and be productive
 ultimately leads to improved organization and efficiency
 Thomas Malthus:
 Inequality keeps population in check – too much growth =
poverty and starvation, thinning out population
 Generally harsh view of the poor
 Did not consider innovation, improved food production
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Views of Inequality: Economics and Class
 Hegel’s Master-Slave Dialectic
 social relationships follow “master-slave” model
 master is as dependent on the slave as slave is on master
 Can’t live without slave’s labor and services
 Basic social relationship is domination and exploitation
 Ideas about equality would evolve over time
 master-slave model would die out
 Did it happen?
 More equal opportunity today, upward mobility is possible
 Employees still dependent on corporations, still exploited
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Views of Inequality: Economics and Class
 Karl Marx: class defined by relationship to means
of production
 Saw two major classes - proletariat, or working
class, and bourgeoisie or employing class.
 Under capitalist system, employer makes profit by
extracting “surplus value” from employee - i.e.
getting more work than employee is for.
 Argued that this oppressive system caused much
misery and would eventually self-destruct
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Views of Inequality: Economics and Class
 Erik Wright: Marxist class categories for 20th century
 Four main relationships to means of production
 “contradictory” locations (manager, small employer) may
fall between capitalists and workers

Owns business Does not own business

Controls others’ labor Capitalist Manager (not part of
(Bourgeoisie) Marx’s classification)

Does not control labor Small employer Worker

(Petit bourgeoisie) (Proletariat)
 Views of Inequality – status
 Davis and Moore: structural functional theory
 Occupations are basis for rewards such as prestige and
income
 Prestige is primary – other rewards flow from it.
 What determines prestige of an occupation?
 Basically supply and demand explanation
 Importance to society’s survival
 Amount of human capital required (training, talent)
 Desirability
 Simplistic, has been criticized for many reasons
Views of Inequality – socioeconomic
status
 Stratification as combination of education,
occupational prestige, and income
 Argues that all three are important
 Research has focused on how these things are
achieved (“status attainment” models)
 Family background, parents’ status
 Aspirations and goals
 Influence of significant others
 Educational processes
Figure 14.6 | How the Status-
Attainment Model Works
How Is America Stratified Today?
 Socioeconomic status may be used to define social classes:
 upper upper class – old wealth, long established social
networks, family ties (Rockefellers)
 lower upper – new wealth, “self-made” (Bill Gates)
 upper middle – professional, educated, comfortable lifestyle
 lower middle – technical, white collar, less secure, lower
income
 working – manual labor, crafts, services, usually self-
supporting
 lower – may not earn living wage or work continuously, may
12 need assistance to support families, may include the poor You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Income inequality in the U.S.
Income Shares of Each Fifth and Top 5% of
Families, 1980 - 2002

100%

80%
Top 5%
Share of 60% Highest Fifth
income 40% 4th Fifth
3rd Fifth
20%
2nd Fifth
0% Lowest Fifth
1980 1990 1995 2002
Year

Rich get richer, poor get poorer, shrinking middle class

Figure 14.3 | Average CEO Pay versus
Production Worker Pay, 1970-2000
Views of stratification: Power
 Weber – money may bring power but does
not guarantee that power will be exercised.
 Positions in organizations may have more
power and influence.
 Looked at stratification in terms of ability to
influence organizations and political
processes.
 Power is correlated with prestige and wealth.
Figure 14.1 | Executive Networks
Standards of Equality – what should be
the goal?
 Ontological equality - everyone is created equal. Goal is equal
respect and status within the culture.
 Equality of Condition – “level playing field,” same starting
point for everyone. Goals may include increasing diversity &
using affirmative action.
 Equality of Opportunity - inequality of condition is
acceptable as long as everyone has the same opportunities for
advancement and is judged by the same standards
 Fits most closely with modern capitalist society
 arguments made by 1960’s civil rights activists

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Forms of Stratification
Estate System is a Caste System is a Class System is an
politically based system of stratification economically based
system of stratification based on hereditary system of stratification
characterized by notions of religious characterized by
limited social mobility and theological purity somewhat loose social
that is best exemplified and generally offers no mobility and
in the social prospects for social categories based on
organization of feudal mobility. The varna roles in the production
Europe and the pre– system in India is the process rather than
Civil War American most common example individual
South. today of a caste characteristics.
system.

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Social Reproduction versus Social Mobility

 Social mobility = movement between different positions

within a system of social stratification
 Structural mobility = inevitable from changes in the
economy, such as the expansion of high-tech jobs and loss
of other jobs. Cause of upward mobility in last 50 years.
 Exchange mobility = people “trading” positions;
distribution of jobs stays the same, with some people
moving up and others moving down.

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Table 14.2 | Mobility Table: Father’s
Occupation by Son’s First Occupation
Global Stratification
 Countries stratified into 3 levels:
 Core (wealthy, highly developed, slow pop.
growth, high standard of living) – U.S., Europe
 Periphery (poor, less developed, rapid pop.
growth, lower standard of living) -Africa
 Semi-periphery (beginning to develop; may
become core) India, China
Global Stratification
 Dominated by multinational or transnational
corporations
 Based in core countries
 Divide operations among several countries
 Use labor of periphery countries
 Profits go to corporate elite, some to core
countries
 Outside control of any one government
 Extremely powerful
Implications for core countries
 Access to corporate markets, energy, capital,
infrastructure
 High political power
 High standard of living
 Jobs lost to periphery countries
 High cost of national security = funds
diverted from social programs
Implications for periphery countries
 Dependent on core countries
 Aid from core countries has declined
 High unemployment, poverty
 Migration to urban areas, disruption of villages
 More jobs for women, BUT their daughters
abandon school for household labor
 Central Asia, Africa: “world of refugees”
 Mostly women and children
 Most countries unprepared to handle refugees