Wealth
inclusive term encompassing all a person's material assets
Income
salaries and wages
Stratification
structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society
Social inequality
Situation where members of society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
Ascribed status
social position assigned to person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics
Slavery
Individuals owned by other people, who treat them as property
Class
Group of people who have similar level of wealth and income
Class system
A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility.
Capitalism
Means of production held largely in private hands and main incentive for economic activity is accumulation of profits
Karl Marx
failed to anticipate the emergence of labor unions and did not foresee individual workers striving for improvement within free societies offering substantial mobility.
Proletariat
Working class
Bourgeoisie
Capitalist class; owns the means of production
Class consciousness
Subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political
False consciousness
Attitude held by members of class that does not accurately reflect their objective position
Primary mode of economic production
social relations during any period of history depend on who controls the primary mode of production
One shortcoming of Karl Marx's work
Marx failed to anticipate the emergence of labor unions and did not foresee individual workers striving for improvement within free societies offering substantial mobility.
Max Weber uses the term class to refer to
Class is a group of people who have a similar level of wealthe and income.
Life Chances
Opportunities to provide material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experience Wealth, status, and provide additional ways of coping with problems and disappointments
stratification according to Max Weber
No single characteristic totally defines a person's position within the stratification system
Status group
people who have the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class positions
Class
Group of people who have similar level of wealth and income
power
Ability to exercise one's will over others
Functionalist perspective
Social inequality necessary so people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions
Conflict perspective
Human beings prone to conflict over scarce resources such as wealth, status, and power
Interactionist perspective
interested in importance of social class in shaping a person's lifestyle
Conspicuous consumption
buying expensive services and products in order to flaunt your wealth
Conspicuous leisure
the demonstration of one's high social status through forms of leisure.
Gerhald Lenski and social inequality
Situation where members of society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
Herbert Gans
poverty and the poor satisfy positive functions for many non-poor groups
Prestige
Respect and admiration an occupation holds in society
The underclass
long-term poor who lack training and skills
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
Absolute poverty
Minimum level of subsistence that no family should live below
Upward intergenerational mobility
Changes in children's position relative to their parents
Social mobility
Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another
Horizontal mobility
Movement within same range of prestige
Vertical mobility
Movement from one position to another of a different rank
Intergenerational mobility
Changes in children's position relative to their parents
Intragenerational mobility
Changes in social position within a person's adult life.
Welfare
Government aid to the poor
Corporate welfare
Tax breaks, direct payments, and grants government makes to corporations