Comparing Systems of Stratification - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 20
About This Presentation
Title:

Comparing Systems of Stratification

Description:

'Freedom' 'American Dream' Hard work can turn anyone into anything he/she wants True? ... remember 'lobster lunch' Status Attainment Model (Blau and Duncan) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:44
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 21
Provided by: stacy129
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Comparing Systems of Stratification


1
Chapter 10
  • Comparing Systems of Stratification

2
Hunting and Gathering Societies (most common form
of Simple Society)
  • Death was the major fact of life.
  • Experienced chronic famines and only occasional
    feasts.
  • Stratified? Not much in terms of
  • Primary bases of stratification were age and sex
  • Small, poor, threatened societies little
    stratification

3
Agrarian Societies live by farming
  • Agriculture more permanency, construct better
    shelters
  • Agriculture surplus food production (producing
    more than you need yourself)
  • The capacity for labor to produce surplus was the
    basis for inequalities.

4
Surplus Stratification Why?
  • Someone owns field
  • Surplus specialization and urbanization freed
    up others to think, invent, cure illness, etc.
  • division of labor power and status differences
  • By owning another person one can own the surplus
    the other person produces.

5
Surplus Stratification (continued)
  • Surplus supports a military, which is controlled
    by those in power
  • Specialization training and weapons greater
    ability to exploit
  • Haves educate themselves time to study
    heavens, compose poems, etc.
  • Cultural wall prevents upward mobility

6
Industrial Societies Less Stratification
  • Greater productivity should produce greater
    stratification, right?
  • Certainly this is what Marx predicted
  • But, industrialization increase in level of
    skill/training require
  • Less replaceable
  • Less replaceability greater power
  • Industrialization forced upward mobility
  • Industrialization decline in influence of
    ascription (in theory, societies can afford
    education for all)

7
Correlations between Stratification and
Industrialization
8
Social Class in the US
  • Slightly more inequality in the US than in other
    industrialized countries
  • Median household (people in a housing unit)
    43K
  • Median family of 4 income about 51K
  • 95K 80th percentile, 165K 95th percentile
  • Who is rich? everything relative, I guess
  • Classes? Upper, middle, working, lower

9
Wealth all money and assets minus debt
  • Richest 20 control 84 of wealth richest 1
    control 40 of wealth
  • Poorest 40 have no wealth (assets debt)
  • Differences in income in America are too large?
    (GSS question)
  • SA 27, A 34, Neither A or D 20, D 9,
    SD 3
  • Answer to this question important implications
    minimum wage, tax structure, opinions on CEO
    salaries, etc.

10
While industrialization resulted in less
inequality (think about last 100-150 years), last
30 years has seen increase in inequality
11
(No Transcript)
12
Mobility in the United States
  • Freedom American Dream Hard work can turn
    anyone into anything he/she wants True?
  • Mobility patterns in US similar to other
    industrialized (Lipset and Bendix study in book)
  • Some evidence that big jumps more common in US
  • Race and class matter less than they used to, but
    they still matter
  • Important we dont forget this remember lobster
    lunch

13
Status Attainment Model (Blau and Duncan)
  • Strategy for studying intergenerational mobility
    developed in 1960s
  • Original study conducted by US Census Bureau
  • Main finding from original study
  • Status of fathers occupation is correlated with
    status of sons but not as much as people
    thought (r .4)
  • Fathers status affects sons through education

14
Education the key
  • Should rich and poor have equal access?
  • Do rich and poor have equal access?
  • Debate in Malibu schools
  • Will save the day? (Video)
  • Not likely but not a bad place to start
  • Home situation still a powerful predictor of
    school success

15
Poverty in the US
  • Poverty rate up in past 3 years 12.5 in 2003
    (was 11.5 in 2001)
  • Poverty line 3 times annual food bill
  • About 18,500
  • Blame the poor or blame society?
  • Working poor are common
  • Minimum wage 5.15 (has not risen in 8 years)
  • Do the math?
  • What can we learn from talking to homeless?
  • Stereotypes dont work
  • 1/3 drugs and alcohol, 1/3 mentally ill

16
Interesting studies from Chap 10
  • Blau and Duncan status attainment research led to
    many studies conclusions
  • Considerable upward mobility
  • Cohen and Tyree found that 2/3 of poor children
    (lower 20) end up in top 40
  • Marital status
  • Education key and upper class have educational
    advantage
  • Mare and Tzeng advantage to kids if parents
    older
  • Age of father correlates with education and
    occupational prestige
  • Effects remains even if we control for ed, ,
    occupation
  • Older parents more mature, better parents?
  • Porter Replication of Blau and Duncan in Canada
  • Remarkably, correlation between fathers
    occupational prestige and sons .4
  • Correlation between sons education and sons
    occupational prestige .6

17
Summary of Chap 9 and 10
  • People vary in their degree of property (),
    power, prestige (status) (Webers 3Ps)
  • Strat inevitable partly because strat is
    functional some positions are more important,
    less replaceable
  • But conflict theory also important
  • People will tend to act in self interest leads
    to exploitation, increasing inequality
  • Will tend to this does not mean that you and I
    have to always act in self interest

18
Conclusions continued
  • Simple societies, agrarian, industrialized
  • Ascription (race, class, gender) related to life
    chances, but less so in industrialized societies
  • Throughout much of human history, ascription THE
    determinant (caste)
  • Correlation between fathers occupational status
    and sons about .4 in US and Canada

19
What will the world do to you? Perrin opinions
no extra charge
  • Marxism cannot work because.
  • Strat is functional replaceability does explain
    strat
  • People will not work as hard for the common good
    as they will for themselves
  • Gov power tend to use power in self interest
  • But Capitalism is not without its own problems
  • We live in a world where, to some degree, we are
    judged by how much we produce, how much we make
  • We are also encouraged to look out for 1?
  • Marx warned of what Capitalism does to
    interpersonal relationships

20
World divided into 2 kinds of people?
  • Those who return their shopping carts, those who
    do not?
  • Those who take advantage of the weaker (or
    younger or poorer or) and those who defend the
    weaker (or.)
  • Jacob story
  • Arthur Miller play, All My Sons
  • If a man like that could do a thing like that
    then anyone capable of doing anything?
  • Power in the example of Jesus love your
    neighbor as yourself
  • Go see Motorcycle Diaries
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com