w 8 stratification, class, and inequality

7/21/2019 W 8 Stratification, Class, And Inequality

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SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND CLASS


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Social stratification

Social stratification is structured inequalitybetween groups.

This inequality may be based on economics,gender, race, religion, age, or another factor

What is at play ispower.

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Characteristics of

stratification systems

Systems of inequality are organized aroundgroups with a shared characteristic.

The social location of a group is significantin terms of the life chances of members.

Rankings of groups change only very slowly.

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Three basic models

Slaveryownership of certain people

Castestatus for life

Classpositions based on economics

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Class systems

In modern societies, class systems dominate.

While class systems do allow for social

mobility, opportunities are not evenlydistributed across social groups.

Class has a significant impact on manyaspects of life, including education,occupation, place of residence, marriagepartner, and more.

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Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition

Copyright 2011 W.W. Norton & Company


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How do stratification systems

look today?

In modern, industrialized societies, there islittle overt support for rigid systems ofinequality.

Remaining caste systems appear to betransitioning into class systems.

From the time of World War II to the 1970s,

class boundaries appeared to soften, but theyhave been hardening since the 1970s.

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Marx and class conflict

Karl Marx was very interested in classrelations in capitalist societies.

Class was determined solely by ones relation

to the means of production. Proletariat and bourgeoisie

Group membership utterly determined lifechances.

Ultimately the proletariat would overthrowthe bourgeoisie, ending the reign ofcapitalism.

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Weber: Class and status

For Max Weber, position in a stratificationsystem was not based on economics alone:social status was also significant.

Webers multidimensional approach isattractive to those who believe that socialprestige and power can be independent of

economics.

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Key Ideas of Conflict

Theorists: Stratification1. Theres no objective measure of ajobs importance. Sanitation

workers keep the rats away, which keep bubonic plague away.

2. Many bright and capable people have been squeezed out ofopportunities to compete for higher paying jobs.

3. The rewards we give to some professionals are way out ofproportion to their real contribution to the society.

4. What motivates people once basic needs are met? Pride atwork; independence on job; Input into organisation.

5. This great inequality leads to Hostility, Conflict. Maybe evenrevolution.


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Functionalist approaches

Functionalist theorists attempt to understandwhat role inequality plays in keeping societyat equilibrium.

Davis and Moore (1945) argued thatstratification benefited society by ensuringthat the most important roles would be filled

by the most talented and worthy people.

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Key Ideas of Functionalists:

Stratification

Functionalists: Society is made up of smoothlyfunctioning parts that all work for common good.

1. Somejobs are important and they require special

training.2. Only a limited number of people have the ability to

acquire the skills for these jobs.

3. Learning these skills takes years of sacrifice.

4. Motivate people to do this by offering them power,prestige and money = lifestyle

5. Therefore, social inequality is good for society. ItsFunctional. Its Inevitable.


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What is social class?

Social class is some mixture of:

Wealth

Income

Education

Occupation

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Race and wealth

Though race is not an actual component ofclass, there is a clear intersection.

Research shows that in US, African Americansgenerally have less wealth and educationthan other social groups.

Non-whites are also much more likely to

experience discrimination when buyinghomes.

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Occupational prestige

Occupation Rank (1 = most prestigious; 16 = least

prestigious)

Accountant _________________________________

Cab driver _________________________________

Carpenter _________________________________

Classical musician _________________________________

Engineer _________________________________

Garbage collector _________________________________

Journalist _________________________________

Doctor _________________________________

Police officer _________________________________

Real estate agent _________________________________

Registered nurse _________________________________

Secretary _________________________________

Shoe shiner _________________________________

Social worker _________________________________

Sociologist _________________________________

Waiter or waitress _________________________________

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The rankings

1. Doctor

2. Engineer

3. Sociologist

4. Accountant

5. Nurses and other Doctors

6. Classical musician7. Police officer

8. Journalist

9. Social worker

10. Secretary

11. Real estate agent

12. Carpenter13. Cab driver

14. Waiter or waitress

15. Garbage collector

16. Shoe shiner

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The middle class

Most people understand themselves as amiddle-class society.

This fits with strongly held ideologies,including classlessness, meritocracy, and thework ethic.

Middle-class ideologies tend to promote the

reproduction of inequality.

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Social mobility

Social mobility is the movement of peopleup or down the stratification system.

Class systems allow for more movement thanslave or caste systems.

Even so, it remains quite difficult to achieveupward, intergenerational social mobility.

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Social Mobility


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Poverty

Despite the wealth of resources andopportunities, poverty remains a significantsocial problem.

Sociologists discuss two general types ofpoverty: absolute poverty and relativepoverty.

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Relative poverty: a level of poverty in which a

person lacks resources that other members ofher society has access to.

Absolute poverty: less than 1 $ per capitaincome per day

This is a life-threatening level of poverty, a

situation in which a person faces the prospect ofhunger and disease on a daily basis


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Poverty in the United States

A full 12.5 percent of the population in 2007was in poverty (more than 37 million people);this is the highest rate among the major

industrialized nations. One-third of these people is working.

Poverty is calculated using a formula from the1960s, whereby the poverty line is based on an

income three times the cost of monthlygroceries.

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Why are the poor poor?

Poverty is not simply the result of not workinghard.

Explanations for poverty are diverse.

What we know is that low earnings (often basedon a low minimum wage) make it very hard toget ahead.

Also, the poor have less educational attainment,

less health insurance, and more broadly,diminished life chances.

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Explanations for poverty

Sociologists have many empiricalexplanations for poverty, but by and largethey all fall under one of two themes:

Blaming the victim (culture of poverty arguments)

Blaming the system (social exclusion, structuralarguments)

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Gender and poverty

Sociologists often discuss what is called the

feminization of poverty.

Because of social changes, including divorce and

the increasing normalization of single-parenting,there are more female-headed households today

than throughout modern history.

Of these families, 28 percent were poor in 2007.

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Poverty and social problems

Social welfare systems

Homelessness

Lack of basic medical care

Educational segregation

People turn to non-conventional means tomake money.

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Does inequality affect you?

The world economy is changing; that meanschanging jobs, changing wages, and newcompetition.

Inequality has been on the rise for the pastthree to four decades.

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SOME EXPERIMENTS


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Paul Piff


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30 Studies, 1000s of people, all over the U.S.


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Rich people are more likely to break the lawwhile driving; help themselves with childrenscandy; and cheat in a game of chance.


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Key Questions

What is the scale of global economicinequality?

What is the extent of poverty across the

globe? How can we explain the existence of global

economic inequality?

modernization theory, dependency theory,world systems perspective


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THE SCALE OF GLOBAL INEQUALITY

Some facts:

World population is more than 6 billion

1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar aday they are in absolute poverty

** richest 20 percent of world populationreceives 80 percent of world income

** poorest 20 percent of world populationreceives 1 percent of global income!!!


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Some Basic Terms

GDP (gross domestic product) all the goods andservices produced on record in a country in ayear

GNP (Gross national product) all the goods andservices produced in a country plus all foreignearnings in a given year


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High income countries

40 countries (Western Europe, USA, Canada,Japan, Australia, New Zealand)

Per capita annual income: USD 9,360 andabove

15 percent of world population (870 millionpeople)

More than half the worlds total income


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Middle Income Countries

About 90 countries fall in this category.

One third of humanity lives in middle income countries.Latin America, the Middle East, East Asia, West Africa

Per capita annual income between USD 760 and 9,360. Halfof the population lives in cities. They have moderatelevels of industrialization.

Several distinct groups within this category:

*Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs): Brazil, Argentina,

Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan.*Oil-producing nations of the Middle East

*Former Soviet bloc countries


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Low income countries

Half of humanity lives in low incomecountries

About 60 countries, mostly in central andeastern Africa and South Asia

Per capita annual income less than USD 760

25 percent of the population lives in cities

Little industrialization, mostly agricultural


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The world according to

incomes


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THE EXTENT OF POVERTY GLOBALLY

Poverty exists in all countries of the world;but it is most severe in low and middleincome countries

Poverty rates are highest in countries thathave weak economies, weakindustrialization, and high rates of population

growth


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Groups most affected by

poverty Women Children

Refugees and displaced people (

peopleaffected by wars and disasters)


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SOME STATISTICS(UN/WORLD BANK)


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If you want to live their American Dream,they should go to Denmark


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Children and poverty

Poverty forces children to work or to desert their

families

Results

-- children working on the streets

-- street children (living on the streets)

-- exploitation of child labor

-- sexual exploitation

-- criminal activities such as drug abuse and theft

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Displaced people

Every year, millions of people are displaced fromtheir homes and lands because of armedconflicts and wars, natural disasters anddevelopment projects

Refugees: are the people who flee their owncountry and cross international borders to avoidwar or political/economic oppression.

Currently, there are more than 20 million refugees

in the world.Examples of recent refugee flows: Afghanistan,

Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraqi Kurds

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Refugees

Why might refugees be poor?

Because they leave everything behind. And often, they might not

get sufficient aid and basic services in the countries they

arrive. Since, not all refugees are granted asylum.

Current international refugee regime was established in 1951 in

response to the population displacement after WWII.

UNHCR was established.

The greatest refugee flow was between India and Pakistan in the

late 1940s after the Partitionmore than 20 million peoplecrossed borders, thousands died on the road.

ll di l d l


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Internally displaced people

IDPs flee their homes because of wars, disasters

or development projects, but unlike refugees,

do not cross international boundaries.

Thus, they do not have the same rights as peoplewho are recognized by the UNHCR as refugees.

Today, there are nearly 20 million IDPs globally.

Do you know which country in Europe has one ofthe greatest numbers of IDPs right now?


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Turkey!

An estimated 350,000 to 1 million people(overwhelmingly Kurds) have been displacedsince the late 1980s from their homes in theSoutheast.

Why?

low intensity conflict, fear of terror, villageevacuations, collapse of the regional pastoraleconomy and agriculture


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Why are IDPs poor?

They leave behind property and belongings.They do not have skills required for finding

jobs in their new environment.

HOW CAN POVERTY BE


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HOW CAN POVERTY BE

EXPLAINED?1) Technology: most poor nations are still agricultural; they dont

have much industry

But does this explain poverty?

2) Population growth: the poorest nations have the highestpopulation growth rates

But whats the correlation between poverty and high birth rates?

3) Cultural patterns: Some poor nations are more traditional.

But what does this mean?

4) Social stratification: income distribution in poor countries is very

uneven. That is correct, but it is also uneven in some wealthynations.

5) Gender inequality: women are more subordinated in some poorcountries than in rich ones.


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6) Global power relationships: historically, wealth

flowed from poor to rich nations

Colonialism: political domination and economic

exploitation of some countries by othersNeo-colonialism: economic exploitation of some

nations by multinational corporations and

wealthy countries, but without political

domination

Th th i l b l


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Three theories on global

inequality and development

Modernization theory (W.W. Rostow)

Dependency theory (A.G. Frank)

World systems approach (I. Wallerstein)

M d i ti th


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Modernization theory

It is a theory of social and economic development

which explains global inequality between

countries in terms of different levels of

technological developmentTraditional societies are backward,

underdeveloped, and poorer.

Societies which embrace modernity and changeare wealthier and more developed

M d i ti th


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Modernization theory

Western Europe, and then North Americamodernized and developed thanks to theIndustrial Revolution.

If traditional societies industrialize and embracemodernize, they will also become developed.

So, the path to modernization is open to all whowant it.

Rostows stage theory of


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Rostows stage theory of

modernization

W.W. Rostows book : The Stages of EconomicGrowth. A Non-Communist Manifesto (1960)

All societies will eventually pass through the

following stages1) Tradition

2) Preconditions for take-off

3) Take-off

4) Drive to technological maturity

5) High mass consumption

Rosto s moderni ation


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Rostows modernization

theory Each country reaches the take-off for

industrialization when a market economy

emerges. Britain reached that stage in 1800.

Non-western nations will reach that stage whentheir productive investments grow. How?

Through foreign aid and technology transfer.

By the 1950s, the US reached the stage of high

mass consumption.

Modernization


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Modernization

Role of rich nations in the modernization ofthe poor

-- foreign aid

-- industrial technology transfer

-- transfer of food production technology theGreen Revolution

Criticism of Modernization


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Criticism of Modernization

Theory

1) Modernization theory is the ideologicaljustification of Western-led capitalism

2) Modernization theory does not take into

account the colonial exploitation of the non-Western world by Europe

3) Wealthier nations are often the cause of

poverty, rather than being a solution for it

Contd


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Contd

4) The wealth gap between the rich and the poorcountries is not diminishing; in fact, it hasincreased since the 1950s

5) Industrialization does not guarantee an

increase in living standards6) Modernization theory looks for internal causes

of poverty; doesnt consider any externalfactors

7) It holds the life style of Western countries as ayardstick to judge the development of othernations. Hence, it is ethnocentric.

Dependency theory


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Dependency theory

A model of economic and social development thatexplains global inequality in terms of thehistorical exploitation of poor societies byWestern nations.

Andre Gunder Frank: The Development ofUnderdevelopment(1975)

He argued that colonial and post-colonialexploitation by Western Europe and the USA

caused the underdevelopment of non-Westernsocieties, rather than their development

Why?

Dependency theory


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Dependency theory

Rich and poor nations are linked economically.Modernization of countries cannot be considered inisolation from each other.

During colonial period, European countries extracted rawmaterials, mineral and food from their colonies. thisenabled them to industrialize

Exploitation of their resources left colonized societiespoor. They were dependent on imports of industrial

goods from Europe. Most of the peasantry worked onfarms or mines from which products were exported toEurope


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Unequal exchange: the importation ofmanufactures from Europe and theexportation of raw materials and food to

Europe was detrimental for the economies ofcolonial and post-colonial nations. WHY?

Manufactures are more expensive to buy than

to sell raw materials


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Did the end of colonization decolonization bring an end to exploitation of the newlyindependent states?

No.

Political liberation has not translated intoeconomic autonomy.

Criticism of dependency


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Criticism of dependency

theory It only focuses on external factors of global

inequality.

It does not take into account that some

segments of the population in a poor countryalso benefit from dependent development and

from exploiting poor members of their society.

The rapid development of some countries suchas South Korea cast doubt on the thesis that it is

rich nations which make others poor.

World systems perspective


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This perspective builds on the dependency approach. Butit has a world systemic angle.

Immanuel Wallerstein (1974): The Modern World Economy

Wallerstein argues that capitalism is a world economy.The unit of analysis for studying the world economy is the

world rather than individual nation-states (contramodernization theory)

The capitalist world economy emerged in the 16th

century inwestern Europe in the wake of the discovery of theAmericas



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The capitalist world economy consists of a core, a periphery, and asemiperiphery.

Historically, the core was western Europe, which became industrializedby extracting surplus (funneling raw materials and preciousmetals) from the periphery.

The semiperiphery stood in-between the core and the periphery interms of incomes and levels of industrialization.

In this world economy, the core exploited, or extracted surplus from theperiphery in terms of cheap labor, natural resources, raw materialsand as markets for European manufactures.

Example: In the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was an exporter ofdried fruits and nuts to Europe and was dependent on imports ofmanufactures (English cloth, for example). It was heavily indebtedto European countries.



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What is the situation today?

In the postwar period, many countries in theperiphery have become relatively industrialized

For example, Turkey is a relatively industrializednation today, the majority of whose exports aremanufactures (industrial goods)

Does this mean that the core no longer extracts

surplus from the periphery?Or, does it mean that peripheral countries have

entered the core?


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The answer to both questions is no.

1) Surplus extraction from the periphery to the core

is still ongoing.

2) Only a few countries have entered thesemiperiphery or the core (e.g. South Korea) in

the postwar period.

Wallerstein calls this situation, development byinvitation.

Commodity chains


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Commodity chains

1) Peripheral countries are usually specialized inlow-profit and labor-intensive links ininternational commodity chains. Core countriesare usually specialized in high profit links of

commodity chains.A commodity chain: a chain of activities from the

manufacturing to the distribution of a finalproduct.

Example: the apparel (ready-to-wear clothing)commodity chain includes, cotton growing,textile mills, stitching of garments, design,marketing, distribution, retailing

Apparel commodity chain


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Apparel commodity chain

Multinational companies are concentrated in the high profitend of the apparel commodity chains such as design,brand names, high technology and marketing

Companies in countries such as Turkey and Mexico areconcentrated in labor-intensive activities such as thestitching of garments

Example: when Levis manufactures jeans in Turkey andsells them in Europe, it retains a higher proportion of the

profits because of its world-popular brand name.

What about Mavi jeans?


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2) The South Korean miracle

S. Korea was a special case for two reasons:

a) having geo-political importance for the U.S.and therefore a favored economicrelationship with it

b) having an authoritarian state which prioritized

industrialization at the expense of workersrights and democracy until the early 1990s


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In a nutshell, according to the world systemsperspective, the capitalist world economy isstill a system with structural inequalities

between richer and poorer countries


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What is the role of multinational corporations and globalfinancial institutions in perpetuating global inequality?

Examples: the World Trade Organization and the IMF?

WTO (established in 1995) ensures that international trade

takes place in a liberal environment. But by doing so, itprevents poorer countries from protecting theiragricultural and manufacturing sectors.

IMF (established in 1945) extends stabilization loans to

countries, but in turn, it requires them to cut down onsocial spending (education, healthcare, public sectorjobs) and open up (liberalize) their economies.

w 8 stratification, class, and inequality

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