All
societies treat people with certain characteristics differently from others;
males/females, old/young, etc. This differential treatment leads to social inequality:
Unequal sharing of societal
resources; wealth, power, prestige, education, health, etc. (factor of scarcity).
Small societies: Minor differences among individuals.
Complex
societies have inequalities across categories. Hierarchies, built into social
structure, self-perpetuating: passed on from one generation to the next. Effects
individuals from before birth (pre-natal care). Impacts all aspects of life
(Life
Chances). In modern, capitalistic societies: Income and wealth as major
factors assigning one to a specific place in the hierarchy.
Social Stratification:
socially structured inequality of entire categories of people who have different
access to social rewards as a result of their status.
Intergenerational (parent-child) (see
"Class
Matters" at the NY Times)
Intragenerational (lifetime)
Exchange
Structural (stratum):movement
of an entire category relative to another: historical circumstances, economic
change, structural shift--War, post-industrialism, immigration trends. Can
be consciously sought after.
Clan
System: Stratification based on family ties. Family position
equals social status.
Castes:
hereditary systems of rank, supported by religious ideology. Ascribed, Endogamy.
India
(Hinduism): Varnas (occupationally based). Top-Brahmans (scholars),
lowest-Harijam (outcasts). Jati: subcasts--lowest: Dons (cremation), untouchables,
unseeables. (see
wikipedia article)
Urbanization and industrialization
breaks down the rigidity of such a system. 1950: India's new constitution
abolishes-created special protection for untouchables (created resentment
in upper castes)
Also used as a term to
describe racially designated stratification systems.
Estates (Feudalism):
Reciprocity: Land use for protection etc.
First estate--Nobility(5%)--land
ownership and NO work
Second Estate: primogeniture
and the noble professions
Third estate--the mass,
commoners, "one's lot in life".
Increasing differentiation
led to varieties of authority, new classes (merchants and artisans). Increasing
importance of monetary wealth supplanted nobility's power and shifted
dominance to emerging mercantile classes. Industrialization and urbanization
produced further weakening. Economic expansion and further schooling--increasing
wealth and a blurring of distinctions in social ranking. (Still remnants
today: House of Lords, House of Commons {real power}, Old nobility still
wealth and land).
Blau
and Duncan (1967) and their students, Featherman and Houser (1978):
Occupational mobility (inter
and intra) common for males: ~65% of sons employed in different and higher
than fathers. (see "Class
Matters" at the NY Times)
Much is "short distance,"
one or two levels out of eight. Odds of reaching the top very low unless
you start out there.
Education () by the fact that family background
is significant predictor of educational access and attainment).
Secondly, impact of education
diminished recently: B.A./B.S. no longer so significant, Parents of Generation
X have degrees versus Boomer's parents.
Also: Gender--
Women's opportunities limited, more likely to withdraw when faced with
downward mobility (significant gap in skills vs jobs offered. Many jobs
are low level clerical.
Age at marriage..... 13)
intelligence...15) Right place at right time.
Maintaining Stratification:
Ideology--
Cultural beliefs that directly,
or indirectly, justify social relationships.
Plato--societies teach members
to view inequality as fair.
MARX:
In capitalist society the
economy channels wealth and power into the hands of a few, defining the
practice as "the laws of the marketplace."
The legal system defines
a basic right to own property and, tied to kinship, funnels money and
privileges from one generation to the next--ideas, as well as resources
remain under the control of the elite.
Central idea--wealth and
power are "prizes" fairly won by individuals who display greatest
merit--virtually synonymous with intelligence and hard work.
Poverty scorned as a state
of personal inadequacy.
Marx on class:
Class and social relations
of production.
Class consciousness and.
Problems-- fragmentation of
the capitalist class (managers and owners). white collar occupations and affluence,
worker organizations, government intervention.
About 3/4 are poor ~15% of
population (40 mil.) 1994, up from 14.8% in 1992 (although down a bit from
1993- new calculations). Rate highest in ten years, number highest since the
"War on Poverty."
Rich getting richer (1997: 144,000
households report incomes over 1 mil., 3 mil. report under $5,000).
Top
1% benefited from economic policies--60% of growth in after tax
income went to the wealthiest 660,000 families: rose from $315,000 to $560,000
(77%). Bottom 40% of families saw income decline by over 10%. For every 7
families that rose, 10 declined. 1998: Trend
continues! (2008:
income gap growing)(Executive
compensation 2008)
Impact of post-industrialization.
INDICATORS: 1) earnings have
stalled or declined. 2) More working multiple jobs. 3) More job offer lower
income. 4) Young people staying at home 5) Upward
mobility becoming more and more difficult
Education: upper 1/5--79% go
to college, bottom 1/5-- 44% (plus type of school).
Health: Infant mortality--70%
higher in poor families, poorer more likely to suffer from serious illness
(physical and psychological) 15% of population has no health insurance and
this is NOT the same group as the POOR. Life
expectancy 5-7 years less (environmental factors, occupation, nutrition)
Crime: poorer--more likely
to be victim (especially violence, including robbery. If accused--more likely
to spend time in jail (bail), more likely to plea bargain (p.d.'s), more likely
to receive harsher sentence.
Military: poorer--more likely
to serve and get shot.
Poor least likely to participate
in political activity, favor liberal policies on economic issues, yet conservative
on social agenda.
Poor--target of lotteries and
alcohol advertising.
Religion:
wealthier--Protestant (Episcopalian/presbyterian) Working (catholic) Lower
(fundamentalist) Middle--cults.
"If we made an income pyramid
out of child's blocks, with each layer portraying $500 of income, the peak
would be taller than Mt. Everest, but most people would be within in few feet
of the ground."
Median Household (one or
more sharing a living unit) Income for 2006:
$48,200(2005:
$46,326), 2003: $43,318 (1995: $34,076)
Median Family Income:
$51,407 (2001) Bureau of the Census
figure (Household--2.63 people, family--3.16 people and 1.58 earners) (Mean
Household: 2000: $55, 000, Mean family: $62,600).
The number of people
below the official poverty thresholds numbered 35.9 million in 2003, or
1.3 million more than in 2002, for a 2003 poverty rate of 12.5 percent.
Although up from 2002, this rate is below the average of the 1980s and
1990s.
The poverty rate and
number of families in poverty increased from 9.6 percent and 7.2 million
in 2002 to 10.0 percent and 7.6 million in 2003. The corresponding numbers
for unrelated individuals in poverty in 2003 were 20.4 percent and 9.7
million (not different from 2002).
As defined by the
Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer
Price Index, the average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2003
was $18,810; for a family of three, $14,680; for a family of two, $12,015;
and for unrelated individuals, $9,393. (Census
Bureau 2004 Press Release)
One out of nine are poor.
"Post-Dispatch"
10-7-94: Census bureau--Poverty rate at highest level in ten years. There
are 39.3 million poor (1993).
"Post-Dispatch"
10-6-95: Census bureau--Poverty down 14.5%: 38.1 million (Social Construction
of Reality)
Figures for 1995 indicate
another modest decline in the poverty rate.
1989-13.1%, 1993--15.1%,
this increase came at a time of strong economic GROWTH. The poverty level
for a family of four was $14,763 (1993); $15,141 (1994).
1993 was the fourth straight
year of increase.
1997:
13.3% ($16,400): 35.6 Million people (1997 Bureau of the Census
figure)
21.8% of all children
were living in poverty. 40.1% of the poor are children, i.e. the poorest group
in USA (they account for about 27% of total population).
Poverty rate for families
headed by single mothers was 35.6%, accounting for over half (52%0 of the
poor; up from 26% in 1959.
Rate for married couples:
6.5% (over 50% of the population).
These figures (absolute
numbers) are higher than at any time since the "War on Poverty"--Johnson
1964.
Stereotypes?:
Don't work--40% of adults do,
others; elderly (~4 million, ~10% of the poor); disabled and ill, maintain
the household. Problems--minimum wage jobs, lack of full-time employment (only
9%). 10,000 military.
Urban: 57% rural. Inner cities
have highest rate--20.5%.
Race: 47% of poor are white
(88% of population), 23% Hispanics (13% of pop.), 25% African Americans (12%
of pop.), however are 3 times as likely to be poor. Hispanics 2x. Asians about
equal. Since 1980 the "poverty gap" has increased.
For CHILDREN: 14% white,
33% Hispanic, 36.6% African American are POOR (37% of the poor)
1994: Slight decrease in
number of African Americans living in poverty, but offset by slight increase
of Hispanics living in poverty. Continuing trend in the new millennium
Gender: Welfare mothers-feminization
of poverty: Of poor over 18, 62.5% are women. Divorce (experience dramatic
reduction in income. Costs of child care, Sexual harassment on the job, sex
discrimination in getting a job. Additional monthly AFDC per child ranges
between $50-$90 from state to state (Missouri ~$60). If trend continues all
poor will be female and their dependent children in another 30 years. This
is a world wide problem.
43% of poor live in central
cities, greatest visibility, focus of most relief efforts, Yet growing WORSE.
Combination of: poor schools,
limited employment and lack of skills and discrimination.
William Julius Wilson-the Underclass:
3-4 million of poor, chronic poor. 49% AA, 29% H, 17% W. No opportunity, beyond
the reach of programs, no housing, no shopping.
Versus: undeserving poor, don't
try, lazy. Oscar Lewis- culture
of poverty, resigned to it and pass on
norms and values to children in a self-perpetuating cycle. Ed Banfield:
subculture erodes personal ambition and achievement. present time orientation--live
for the moment.
Blaming
the Victim(William Ryan)--argues that the "culture of poverty" individualizes
the problem, creates an ideology that justifies lack of concern. Problem
is not personal deficiency but lack of money--unequal distribution of
wealth. Culture or Sub-Culture? If sub-culture policy
must address the fact that poverty is a product of our system of inequality
rather than a separate and self-sustaining institution.
Structural factors cited by
Wilson:
Post-industrialism and
loss of manufacturing jobs, shifting tax base and technology of production--relocation
of factories.
SOCIAL ISOLATION--lack
of contact with people and institutions that are part of the legitimate
and profit making economy. Cut-off and alienated, leads to illegality,
further distances and alienates, on and on.
Stephen Steinberg's analysis
of the concept of a "culture of poverty:" the idea of
a self-perpetuating and intergenerational culture of poverty deflects
attention away from the economic and social structural inequalities that
maintain a system of poverty.
Versus welfare
to the wealthy: Subsidies, tax breaks, grants, government supported
industries. Corporate
costs to the tax payer equal $104 billion, welfare costs us $75
billion.
Motivates, selection and screening,
attract best to most critical jobs.
Problems: Type of reward necessary,
Fails to draw on talents of lower classes, justification of rewards for some
jobs, legitimacy of wide gulfs in distribution, patterns suggest that being
drawn to certain occupations is not necessarily economically motivated--socialization
into medicine.
Conflict:
Not inevitable, but built into
capitalism.
Dahendorf: Authority relations
(blends Marx and Weber)--the powerful today want society to run smoothly so
they can enjoy their privileges (private affluence and public decay).
The status quo is satisfactory
to those with wealth, status and power. Dominant ideology again.
Reforms pacify and maintain
authority relationships--minimum wage, welfare, etc.
In "less developed countries"
(per capita income: $5,000) most people live no better than the poor in the
USA
In "least-developed countries"
(50 nations, agrarian, 35% of world's land area, 50% of population the majority
cling to survival: 800 million do not receive the nutrition which would allow
them to work. 15 million die each year. In the poorest of these countries
25% of the children die before the age of 5.
Opportunity
in the U.S. 
