Class and Stratification

1
Class and Stratification

• What is Stratification?
• Stratification in Historical Perspective
• Stratification in Modern Western Societies
• Poverty and Inequality
• Social Mobility

2
What is Stratification?

• Stratification is the system of structured
  inequalities among different groups of people
• Structured gt stratification persists across
  generations
• Inequality gt differential access to scarce
  resources
• Wealth
• Income
• Power
• Prestige
• Different groups gt access to scarce resources
  varies systematically by class, gender, age, race
  and ethnicity

3
Stratification by Class, Gender, Age, Race and
Ethnicity

• Is concerned with the ways in which inequalities
  are distributed within societies
• Answers the question
• Who gets what and why?

4
Stratification by Class Asks

• How equal are modern societies?
• How much of a chance does someone have of
  reaching the top of the economic ladder?
• Why is there persistent poverty in affluent
  societies?

5
How Equal are Modern Societies?

• This research addresses such issues as
• Class structure
• Distribution of wealth
• Distribution of income
• Equality of opportunity

6
Chance of reaching top of economic ladder?

• This research addresses such issues as
• Social mobility
• Does a society have a closed or open
  stratification system?

7
Why is there persistent poverty in affluent
societies?

• This research addresses such issues as
• Poverty
• Homelessness
• Unemployment

8
Stratification in Historical Context

• Stratification is found everywhere
• Four basic systems of stratification
• Slavery
• Caste
• Estate
• Class

9
Compared to other systems, class systems (at
least in principle) are

• Fluid
• Based on achievement
• Economically-based

10
Stratification in Modern Western Societies

• Class is basis of stratification
• Chief bases of class differences are ownership of
  wealth and occupation

11
Industrialization and the Labor Force

• Increase in occupational specialization
• Changes in proportions of labor force in
  different sectors of the economy
• Changes in proportions of labor force in
  different types of occupations
• Increased employment of women outside the home

12
Classifying Occupations by Industry Sector

• Primary sector
• Part of the economy that generates raw materials
  directly from the environment
• Secondary sector
• Part of the economy that transforms raw materials
  into manufactured goods
• Tertiary sector
• Part of the economy that generates services
  rather than goods

13
Classifying Occupations by Occupational Type

• Agricultural/farm occupations
• Blue-collar occupations
• Prestige?
• Link with class structure?
• White-collar occupations
• Prestige?
• Link with class structure?

14
Increased Employment of Women Outside the Home

• of women in labor force
• 1901
• 1998
• of labor force who are women
• 1901
• 1998

15
Class Structure of Canada

• Upper class
• Upper-uppers
• Lower-uppers
• Middle class
• Working class
• Lower class
• Poor
• Working poor

16
Distribution of Wealth

• Canada
• United States

17
Policy Implications

• Success of government programs to transfer and
  redistribute income?
• Canada
• United States

18
Poverty and Inequality

• Relative poverty
• What is it?
• Absolute poverty
• What is it?
• How used in policy debates?

19
Who is at Risk of being Poor in Canada?

• Children
• Women
• Certain visible minorities
• People living in rural areas

20
Debate Over Poverty

• Focus
• Competing positions
• Poor are largely responsible for their own
  poverty
• Poverty is caused unequal distribution of
  resources in society
• Link with debate over causes of homelessness

21
Social Mobility

• Movement of individuals and groups between strata
  in the class hierarchy
• Vertical mobility movement up or down the class
  hierarchy
• Upward mobility
• Downward mobility
• Link with lateral mobility

22
Sociologists study social mobility by

• Looking at individuals' own careers and seeing
  how far they move up or down the socioeconomic
  scale in the course of their own working lives
• Intragenerational mobility
• Exploring where children are on the socioeconomic
  scale compared to their parents or grandparents
• Intergenerational mobility

23
Most general concern

• Do individuals born into the lower strata of
  society have opportunities to move up?
• Why?

24
Sociologists explore social mobility by studying
occupational shifts

• Within an individual's career or between
  generations
• Occupational composition of the labor force
  affects intragenerational mobility and
  intergenerational mobility
• Why?

25
Changes in the proportions of white-collar and
blue-collar occupations

• Suggest that over time Canada has become less
  unequal
• Suggest that opportunities for social mobility
  are increasing
• Why?
• But aggregate patterns may be misleading

26
Research outside Canada

• Shows that much of white-collar growth has
  occurred in lower positions
• Sales clerks, typists, file clerks
• Similar to working class occupations in terms of
  income, work activities and power
• Sociologists talk about a "new working class"
• Low-paid, semi-skilled, white-collar workers
• Did this happen in Canada?

27
Comparative research on Western societies has
found

• Children gain or lose chances of success because
  of family background
• Most vertical mobility is between occupations
  that are quite close to one another
• Downward mobility is less common than upward
  mobility but is still widespread
• Levels of social mobility are low compared to
  ideals of equality of opportunity

28
Education is key to upward mobility

• Many jobs require high school completion as a
  minimum condition
• Since 1990 number of jobs requiring a university
  degree or post-secondary diploma increased by 1.3
  million

29
Compared to Canadians with less education,
university graduates

• Hold a higher proportion of upper white-collar
  jobs
• Are less likely to be unemployed
• Are less likely to remain unemployed if lose job
• Are more likely to earn higher salaries

30
In Canada

• Is there equal opportunity for all Canadians to
  acquire education (assuming they have the ability
  and motivation to do so)?
• Do decisions about funding higher education
  affect equality of access?

31
Theorizing Stratification by Class

• Structural-functional paradigm
• Social inequality plays an important role in the
  operation of society
• Davis-Moore hypothesis
• Social conflict paradigm
• Stratification benefits some people at the
  expense of others
• Marx's critique of capitalism