The lifestyles of the rich are featured in classic novels by writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and in classic films such as The Philadelphia Story, starring the formidable trio of Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart. Like Marxism, feminism is also a conflict theory of stratification. If physicians and shoe shiners made the same high income, would enough people decide to become physicians? True or false? Jennifer is likely experiencing: According to social-class stratification theory, poverty is understood, to be at the bottom-most rung in a hierarchical system of sociocultural power relations that goes beyond differences of income, Your client, a 5-year-old White male, does not have access to a reputable public school in his neighborhood. What is the theory of Karl Marx about social stratification? Debunking the big lie right-wingers use to justify black poverty and unemployment. Roberts has to buy a new wardrobe and learn how to dine and behave in rich social settings, and much of the films humor and poignancy come from her awkwardness in learning the lifestyle of the rich. By extension, we might not have enough people filling societys important jobs unless they know they will be similarly rewarded. Name four examples of stratification systems. Ultimately, this leads to the differentiation of gender roles, where women take up more nurturing responsibilities (like teaching) and men take up more instrumental responsibilities (this translates into them not being as involved with child-rearing as mothers). American Sociological Review, 24, 772782. Differentiation is the acknowledgement that while there are many social roles, they're all equal. For example, which is more important, doing brain surgery or mining coal? Kerbo, H. R. (2012). The activity can be used in any course that contains a unit or emphasis on multicultural psychology or diversity. Living on the edge: The realities of welfare in America. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Social Stratification Theories American Identity Ethnic Groups in America Gender Roles Race and Ethnicity Sex Education Sex and Sexuality Sexuality in America Beliefs in Society Age and Religion Contemporary Religion Economic Development and Religion Ethnicity and Religion Sociology Fundamentalism Gender and Religion Ideology New Age Movements Functionalist theory of social stratification, igh incomes and job satisfaction are necessary motivations that incentivise people to work hard and take up important functions. Class needs to be considered a 'de-centred' concept; both one's class, and its importance relative to one's identity, are subjectively perceived by different people in different contexts. True or false? Contexts, 10(Spring), 1621. This implies that if they do not move up the ladder, they lack the necessary merit. In the midst of plenty: The poor in America. We review what these perspectives say generally about social stratification (rankings of people based on wealth and other resources a society values) before turning to explanations focusing specifically on poverty. Be perfectly prepared on time with an individual plan. Outline the assumptions of the functionalist explanation of stratification. According to this theory, stratification benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poorthose in high-status positions continually build on their wealth, only further entrenching the gap between high-status and low-status people. In some ways, social differentiation is a stepping stone on the path to social stratification. Regardless of which version one might hold, the individualistic explanation is a blaming-the-victim approach (see Chapter 1 Understanding Social Problems). Then, we'll take a look at the various main theories which explain the prevalence of hierarchies in society: And finally, the postmodernist theory of social stratification. These scholars concede a culture of poverty does exist, but they also say it exists because it helps the poor cope daily with the structural effects of being poor. When explorers began traveling, societies began trading . The key limitation of the postmodernist theory of social stratification is that it overemphasises the element of choice in shaping differential life experiences. Marxists see stratification as privileging the bourgeoisie and oppressing the proletariat. Understand the difference between the individualist and structural explanations of poverty. According to conflict theory, stratification results from lack of opportunity and discrimination against the poor and people of color. So, functionalists argue that stratification exists because there are important roles to be played within the institutions whose core functions keep society running smoothly. Stratification by class tends to be the primary system of classification nowadays, with other forms of stratification taking secondary positions. Hitlers final solution likewise rested on the belief that Jews and other groups he targeted were biologically inferior and deserving of extermination. Second, the functionalist explanation implies that the most important jobs have the highest incomes and the least important jobs the lowest incomes, but many examples, including the ones just mentioned, counter this view. It has been reported that LGBT youth are ______ ______than their heterosexual counterparts to attempt suicide. There are two slightly differing perspectives on this: Class has no relevance to sociological analysis, because other political ideologies have failed to challenge the current democratic landscape. New York, NY: Crown Forum. We'll start by reminding ourselves of what stratification and differentiation are. One sociological perspective distinguishes the classes, in part, according to their relative power and control over their lives. He suggested that there are actually three interconnected aspects of stratification that we need to consider: According to Weber, class is not as dichotomised as Marx proposed. Understand how symbolic interactionism views stratification. What are social stratification and differentiation? Coal miners make much less money than physicians, and professors, for better or worse, earn much less on the average than lawyers. We use three theories to analyse the importance of education and credentials in recruitment decisions in European graduate labour markets: human capital (HC), network capital (NC) and reputational capital (RC) theory. Which theory of social stratification argues that class is no longer relevant to sociological analysis? The link between higher education and employment is central to the understanding of social stratification and social mobility. This view ignores the fact that much of our stratification stems from lack of equal opportunity, as our Monopoly example at the beginning of the chapter made clear. According to this belief, people born into poverty can lift themselves up by the bootstraps and become successful if they work hard enough. Sociologist Fred Block and colleagues share this critique of the individualistic perspective: Most of our policies incorrectly assume that people can avoid or overcome poverty through hard work alone. It tries to shape these ideas so that they justify the existing order and decrease the chances that the poor will challenge it. At a minimum, they can heavily influence the law, the media, and other institutions in a way that maintains societys class structure. Significantly, because SES measures a range of variables, it does not merely measure economic inequality. Black girls were more frequently subjected to negative labels than White girls or Black boys. Third, the functionalist view assumes that people move up the economic ladder based on their abilities, skills, knowledge, and, more generally, their merit. Many detailed, insightful sociological books on the lives of the urban and rural poor reflect the symbolic interactionist perspective (Anderson, 1999; C. M. Duncan, 2000; Liebow, 1993; Rank, 1994). The following section will remind you of what social stratification and differentiation are. For example, they are said to be impulsive and to live for the present rather than the future. of the users don't pass the Social Stratification Theories quiz! Which job would you choose? These values are ingrained in children through the language, rewards, and punishments that figures of authority use in response to certain behaviours. Unlike the functionalist and conflict views, it does not try to explain why we have stratification in the first place. These problems help create a vicious cycle of poverty in which children of the poor are often fated to end up in poverty or near poverty themselves as adults. opposite-sex discussions with people other than family members, All of the following are recommended practices for working with Arab American clients EXCEPT, Always disclose things about yourself to show that you are vulnerable, Some of the traumas that refugees may have been exposed to include, The somatic view of psychological disorders is that, mental disorders are the result of physical problems, According to the text, there are approximately 4.2 million who claim to be Jewish, and another 1.1 million profess to be secular or cultural Jews, which means that they are, people who identify as Jewish but have no religion and do not engage in Jewish practices. Davidson, T. C. (2009). Banfield, E. C. (1974). This slightly alters the perspective of social stratification that's held by traditional Marxists, since it includes those who don't own the means of production but also aren't just waged workers. A General Social Survey question asks whether it is the governments responsibility to reduce income differences between the rich and poor. As Figure 8.2 Annual Family Income and Belief That Government Should Reduce Income Differences Between the Rich and Poor shows, low-income people are much more likely than high-income people to think the government has this responsibility. 1.8K views, 91 likes, 68 loves, 461 comments, 162 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Stop the Rot Sack the Lot: Live chat with Guru and Cazz According to the functionalist view, stratification is a necessary and inevitable consequence of the need to use the promise of financial reward to encourage talented people to pursue important jobs and careers. male dominance): These structures restrict women's life chances and freedom. What is the name of this phenomenon? In reality, there are still many structural factors that cause inequalities among different social groups. By extension, we might not have enough people filling societys important jobs unless they know they will be similarly rewarded. The functional theory of stratification: Some neglected considerations. With this backdrop in mind, what do the individualistic and structural explanations of poverty say? One of the most insightful analyses of stratification that fits into a symbolic interactionist framework was Thorstein Veblins (1899/1953) famous discussion of conspicuous consumption, or the acquisition and display by the wealthy of lavish products that show off their wealth. There are five main theories on social stratification: What are some examples of social stratification? First, it is difficult to compare the importance of many types of jobs. Contexts, 5(2), 1420. Suppose you could wave a magic wand and invent a society where everyone had about the same income no matter which job he or she performed. al., 2010). Block, F., Korteweg, A. C., & Woodward, K. (2006). Tell them who I am: The lives of homeless women. Stratification is an ongoing Differentiation is the process of distinguishing between different identities and their associated roles. A look at wealth stratification in the U.S. reveals a deeply unequal society in which the top 10% of households control 70% of the nation's riches, according to a 2019 study released by the Federal Reserve. Weber developed a multidimensional approach to social stratification that reflects the interplay among wealth, prestige and power. Stratification by social class is considered theprimary systemof stratification since it is thought to make the most difference to an individual's life chances. Some classic journalistic accounts by authors not trained in the social sciences also present eloquent descriptions of poor peoples lives (Bagdikian, 1964; Harrington, 1962). Social stratificationtheories seek to explain how society and its various systems (e.g., econ-omy and government) push some Americans into poverty and notothers. If poverty is both cultural and structural in origin, these scholars say, efforts to improve the lives of people in the other America must involve increased structural opportunities for the poor and changes in some of their values and practices. According to this theory, stratification benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poorthose in high-status positions continually build on their wealth, only further entrenching the gap between high-status and low-status people. Recent forms of feminism take an intersectional approach which accounts for various forms of inequality that interact with gender. Rank, M. R. (2011). 9.6C: Explaining Poverty- The Sociological Debate is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts. Source: Data from General Social Survey, 2006. Women are financially dependent on men because they can't work during late pregnancy, or their children's period of infancy. They say that class is more tied in with a person's identity, and because of this, it's much more fluid and individualised than previously thought. For this reason, stratification is necessary and inevitable. The second type of explanation follows from conflict theory and is a structural explanation that focuses on problems in American society that produce poverty. The five main theories of social stratification are: A strength of the functionalist theory of social stratification is that accounts for which aspect of stratification? However, this view ignores the fact that much of our stratification stems from lack of equal opportunity. This all sounds very logical, but a few years after Davis and Moore published their functionalist theory of stratification, other sociologists pointed out some serious problems in their argument (Tumin, 1953; Wrong, 1959). Stratification is necessary to induce people with special intelligence, knowledge, and skills to enter the most important occupations. In other words, differentiation is the basis of stratification. The sociological perspectives introduced in Chapter 1 Understanding Social Problems provide some possible answers to these questions through their attempt to explain why American society is stratifiedthat is, why it has a range of wealth ranging from the extremely wealthy to the extremely poor. This explanation was developed more than sixty years ago by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore (Davis & Moore, 1945) in the form of several logical assumptions that imply stratification is both necessary and inevitable. According to symbolic interactionism, social class affects how people interact in everyday life and how they view certain aspects of the social world. Feminists argue that society is characterised by a system of patriarchy. Drawing on theories of racialized organizations and cultural reproduction, I compare how working-class Hispanic students attending a moderately selective institution and their co-ethnic counterparts attending a less selective, regional university contend with class cultural hierarchies that impact their growth and inclusion. The average life span of African Americans is up to five to six years shorter than that of White Americans. of stratification since it is thought to make the most difference to an individual's life chances. Although the girls rejected a negative label and strived for academic success, this was not always possible. According to the second, structural explanation, which is a blaming-the-system approach, US poverty stems from problems in American society that lead to a lack of equal opportunity and a lack of jobs. Chapter 25: Counseling Individuals Living in Poverty Test Questions Question 1 Question Type: Multiple Choice Question: According to social-class stratification theory, poverty is understood a. to be at the bottom-most rung in a hierarchical system of sociocultural power relations that goes beyond differences of income b. to be stratified and A professional athlete making millions of dollars a year earns many times the income of the president of the United States, but who is more important to the nation? Religious beliefs help create false consciousness. Millett (1970) argues for the latter, stating that the patriarchal system makes it so that men and women make up distinct, gendered classes in society (this is called the sex class). Although one message of many of these cultural works is that money does not always bring happiness, it remains true, as Fitzgerald once wrote, Let me tell you about the very rich. The former take advantage of their position at the top of society to stay at the top, even if it means oppressing those at the bottom. (Be careful how you answer this one!). Besides being important in social theory, the concept of class as a collection of individuals sharing similar economic circumstances has been widely used in censuses and in studies of social mobility. A strength of the feminist theory of stratification is (one of the following): What is a functionalist criticism of the feminist theory of stratification? Why? U.S. Library of Congress public domain. (2011, July 29). Davis, K., & Moore, W. (1945). gender is a standalone form of stratification. According to the functionalist view, stratification is a necessary and inevitable consequence of the need to use the promise of financial reward to induce talented people to pursue important jobs and careers. If there are many dramatic and humorous accounts of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, there are also many sociological and other accounts of lives of the poor. Mirza (1992) studied the experiences of Black female students in school. Functionalists argue that stratification exists because there are important roles to be played withinthe institutions whose core functions keep society running smoothly. It doesn't involve ranking different social groups as social stratification does. A member of the proletariat (working class) with only their labour to offer in exchange for the means of survival. Functional theory argues that the promise of very high incomes is necessary to encourage talented people to pursue important careers such as surgery. The name of this phenomenon is economic determinism. Do you think it would be difficult to persuade enough people to become physicians or to pursue other important careers? Why does poverty exist, and why and how do poor people end up being poor? Parsons (1959) gives the example of role allocation in the traditional nuclear family, wherein he argues that: Davis & Moore (1945) pioneered one of the most influential (but controversial) structural-functionalist perspectives on social stratification. Stop procrastinating with our smart planner features. According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, patriarchy is a societal or governmental system in which men hold power. According to modernization theory, nations in other parts of the world never became wealthy and remain poor today because they never developed the appropriate values and practices. Gans, H. J. They are different from you and me.. These theories are often multi-level, examining how thesestruc-tural effects interact with communities and the poor to compound theproblems associated with poverty. As this example suggests, many people might not choose to become brain surgeons unless considerable financial and other rewards awaited them. American Sociological Review, 18, 387393. Also sometimes known as 'party', this dimension relates to political influence and connections. How do neo-Marxists challenge the dichotomous class relationship described by traditional Marxists? Marx claimed that the class he dubbed . Underlying anger that oppressed groups feel but do not allow to surface. Those who attribute poverty to problems in the larger society are much more likely than those who attribute it to deficiencies among the poor to believe that the government should do more to help the poor (Bradley & Cole, 2002). A common example looks at the relationship between a teacher and a student. Why? As this example suggests, many people might not choose to become brain surgeons unless considerable financial and other rewards awaited them. When counseling Latino/a clients, assessments should be conducted in, When working with Latino/a clients, the degree of deviation from traditional gender roles should ultimately be determined by, the client in the context of cultural variables, The conflicts in gender roles in both Latina/o Americans men and women as a result of, different expectations between ethnic group and mainstream values. Figure 8.2 Annual Family Income and Belief That Government Should Reduce Income Differences Between the Rich and Poor. Have all your study materials in one place. According to structural-functionalists, stratification and inequality are actually constructive phenomena that benefit society: they ensure that the best people are at the top of the hierarchy and those who are less worthy are at the bottom. What is one strength of the postmodernist theory of stratification? According to conflict theory, stratification results from lack of opportunity and discrimination against the poor and people of color. The standard of living is based on factors such as income, employment, class, poverty rates, and housing affordability. (2012, March 15). The popularity of this belief leads many Americans to blame poor people for their poverty. While some teachers were overtly racist, even those who were genuinely helpful in trying to identify the needs of the students were unable to do so. For example, high incomes and job satisfaction are necessary motivations that incentivise people to work hard and take up important functions. Ideological beliefs in class societies are more subtle and complex but nonetheless influential. Bradley, C., & Cole, D. J. Life chances are the opportunities that people have to improve their quality of life, based on their socioeconomic status. Different social groups have different life chances, depending on their positions in society. The lower-middle class has household incomes from about $50,000 to $74,999, amounting to about 18% of all families. Social stratification and inequality. Anderson, E. (1999). This explanation was developed more than 60 years ago by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore (Davis & Moore, 1945) in the form of several logical assumptions that imply stratification is both necessary and inevitable. What other form of inequality did she study? Writing in this tradition, a newspaper columnist who grew up in poverty recently recalled, I know the feel of thick calluses on the bottom of shoeless feet. Those at the top are given power and rewards because of high abilities, and the high rewards exist to provide incentive for qualified people to do the most important work in high status occupations. Below, we will look in depth at the different sociological perspectives and their views on social stratification. It refers to the ranking of various social groups on a scale, most commonly along the lines of gender, class, age, or ethnicity. The functional theory of stratification: Some neglected considerations. This is because of a 'motivational problem' inherent in societies; they always give the most important and highly-rewarded roles to the most qualified people.
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