Slide 1

SOCIOLOGY
Richard T. Schaefer

McGraw-Hill

Stratification and
Social Mobility
in the United States

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. Stratification and Social

Mobility in the United
States

Slide 2

Understanding Stratification
Stratification by Social Class
Social Mobility
Social Policy and Stratification

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 3

Understanding
Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Ascribed Status: social position
assigned to person without regard
for that persons unique
characteristics or talents
Achieved Status: social position
attained by person largely through
his or her own effort
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 4

Understanding
Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Slavery: most extreme form of
legalized social inequality
Castes: hereditary systems of rank,
usually religiously dictated, that tend
to be fixed and immobile
Estate System: associated with
feudal societies in the Middle Ages
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 5

Understanding
Stratification
Systems of Stratification
Social Classes
Class System: social ranking based
primarily on economic position in which
achieved characteristics can influence
social mobility
Rossides (1997) uses five-class model to
describe
Upper
class U.S. class system:
Working class
Upper-middle class
Lower class
Lower-middle class
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 6

Understanding
Stratification
Figure 9-1. Household Income in the United States, 2001

Source: DeNavas-Walt and Cleveland 2002:15

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 7

Understanding
Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Karl Marxs View of Class
Differentiation
Social relations depend on who controls
the primary mode of production
Proletariat: working
Bourgeoisie:
capitalistclass
class; owns
the means
of
Capitalism:
economic
system
in which
the means
production
of
production are held largely in private hands and
the main incentive for economic activity is the
accumulation of profits
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 8

Understanding
Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Karl Marxs View of Class
Differentiation
Class Consciousness: subjective
awareness of common vested interests
False
Consciousness:
attitude
held
by
and the
need for collective
political
action
members
of class
that does not
to bring about
change
accurately reflect their objective
position
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 9

Understanding
Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Max Webers View of Stratification
No single characteristic totally defines a
persons position with the stratification
system
Status Group:
Class: group of
Power: ability
people who
people who
to exercise
have the same
have similar
ones will over
prestige or
level of wealth
others
lifestyle
and income
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 10

Understanding
Stratification
Perspectives on Stratification
Interactionist View
Interested in the importance of social
class in shaping a persons lifestyle

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 11

Understanding
Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
Inequality exists in all societies
even the simplest
Functionalist View
Social inequity necessary so
people will be motivated to
fill functionally important
positions.
McGraw-Hill

Does not explain the

wide disparity between
the rich and the poor

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 12

Understanding
Stratification

Is Stratification Universal?
Conflict View

Dominant
Human beings prone to
Ideology: set of
conflict over scarce
resources such as wealth, cultural beliefs
and practices that
status, and power
helps to maintain
Stratification major source
powerful social,
of societal tension and
economic, and
conflict that will inevitably political interests
lead to instability and social
change

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 13

Understanding
Stratification
Is Stratification Universal?
Lenskis Viewpoint
As a society advances technologically, it
becomes capable of producing a
considerable surplus of goods
Emergence of surplus resources greatly
expands possibilities for inequality in
status, influence, and power
Allocation of surplus goods and services
reinforces social inequality
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 14

Understanding
Stratification
Figure 9-2. Around the World: Whats a CEO Worth?

Source: Towers Perin Bryant 1999:Section 4, p. 1

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 15

Understanding
Stratification
Table 9-1. Major Perspectives on Social Stratification

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 16

Stratification by Social
Class
Measuring Social Class
Objective Method
Class largely viewed
as a statistical
category based on

McGraw-Hill

Occupation
Education
Income
Place of residence

Prestige: respect and

admiration an
occupation holds in
society
Esteem: reputation
specific person has
earned within an
occupation

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 17

Stratification by Social
Class
Measuring Social Class
Gender and Occupational Prestige
Multiple Measures

Wealth and Income

Income in U.S. distributed unevenly
In 2001, richest fifth of the population
held 84.5% of nations wealth

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

.

Slide 18

Stratification by Social
Class
Table 9-2. Prestige
Rankings of Occupations

Source: J. Davis et al. 2003

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 19

Stratification by Social
Class
Figure 9-3. U.S. Income
Pyramid, 2003

McGraw-Hill

Source: Developed by author based on data from DeNavasWalt et al. 2004; HINC-01 and the Internal Revenue Service
(2004)
2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 20

Stratification by Social
Class
Figure 9-4. Distribution of Wealth in the United States, 2001

Source: Wolff:2002

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 21

Stratification by Social
Class
Figure 9-5. U.S. Minimum Wage Adjusted for Inflation, 1950
2005

Source: Authors estimate and Bureau of the Census 2003a:425

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 22

Stratification by Social
Class
Poverty
Absolute poverty: minimum level
of subsistence that no family should
live below
Relative poverty: floating
standard by which people at the
bottom of a society are judged as
being disadvantaged in comparison
to the nation as a whole
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 23

Stratification by Social
Class
Poverty
Who Are the Poor?
Not a static social class

Explaining Poverty
In Ganss view, poverty and poor satisfy
positive functions for many non poor
groups
Life Chances: opportunities to provide material goods,
positive living conditions, and favorable life experience
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 24

Stratification by Social
Class
Figure 9-6. Absolute Poverty in Selected Industrial Countries

Source: Smeeding et al. 2001:51

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 25

Stratification by Social
Class
Table 9-3. Who Are the
Poor in the United Sates?

Source: DeNavas-Walt et al. 2004:10

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 26

Social Mobility
Open versus Closed Stratification
Systems
Indicate social mobility in a society
Open System: position of each
individual influenced by the persons
achieved position
Closed System: allows little or no
possibility of moving up
Social Mobility: Movement of individuals or groups from
one position in a societys stratification system to another
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 27

Social Mobility
Types of Social Mobility
Horizontal Mobility: movement
within same range of prestige
Vertical Mobility: movement from
one position to another of a different
rank
Intragenerational Mobility: social
position changes within persons
adult life
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 28

Social Mobility
Social Mobility in the United
States
Occupational Mobility
The Impact of Education
The Impact of Race and Ethnicity
The Impact of Gender

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 29

Social Policy and

Stratification
Government and Poverty
The Issue

Governments searching for right solution

to welfare
How much subsidy?
How much responsibility should poor assume?

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 30

Social Policy and

Stratification
Government and Poverty
The Setting
Shifts in U.S. welfare program in 1996
Most countries devote higher proportions
of expenditures to

McGraw-Hill

Housing
Social security
Welfare
Health care
Unemployment compensation
2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 31

Social Policy and

Stratification
Government and Poverty
Sociological Insights
Many sociologists view debate over
welfare reform from conflict perspective
Corporate Welfare: tax breaks, direct
payments, and grants the government
makes to corporations

McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 32

Social Policy and

Stratification
Government and Poverty
Policy Initiatives
Prospect for hard-core jobless faded
In North America and Europe, people
beginning to turn to private means to
support themselves
People seeing gap between themselves
and the affluent grow with fewer
government programs to assist them
McGraw-Hill

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.