Social Stratification

Do you think we can predict what social class a person is in by his or her appearance? The house he or she lives in?  What about if the person has a big screen television? Actually the big screen is not a characteristic of the upper class. What social class has big screens? What a person does for leisure? Does the person play golf or tennis, attend debutant balls, or mud dive? What a person eats? How a person speaks? Usually the different social classes are vastly different in all of the characteristics. Sometimes we think we know what social class a person is in, and sometimes we are wrong…and do we treat the person different based upon our assumptions?   (Image courtesy of Ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

SOCIAL CLASS
What is social class? What are the dimensions of social class? What does Weber state are the dimensions of social class? What are the characteristics of the jobs at the top levels? What are the specific social class positions in the United States? There are several consequences of being in a specific social class. Our physical and mental health is affected by our social class. Our family life is vastly different than those in other social classes. For instance, who we marry, the acceptable choices of mates, how we rear our children, how we discipline our children, and even our expectations of our children. Education is also affected by our social class standing as discussed in the previous section. What religion we are. Our political affiliation. If we are deviant or if we experience crime against us, not to mention how we are treated by the criminal justice system if we do commit a crime.

Consequences of Social Class

Class Inequality and Social Mobility
The saying, “the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer” has never been more apparent than today. Upward social mobility is very difficult and if obtained usually it results in a person moving up just one level. Intergenerational mobility is difficult on families as it can result in the two generations becoming vastly different from one another in terms of values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes and the end result can be the two no longer having contact with one another. Downward mobility is very difficult for individuals as a drastic resocialization has to take place. And, how do you think status inconsistency affects an individual?

We see a cycle of poverty. One of the reasons for this is that there is a culture of poverty which is the idea that those in poverty have specific values, beliefs, and behaviors that are vastly different from the other social classes and causes them to remain in their social position. This means that if we grow up in and are socialized in poverty we will adopt the specific values and actions of those in poverty and are likely to remain in poverty.

What is the feminization of poverty? What is the cause of the feminization of poverty? Many times we blame one thing, such in this instance men not paying child support, on a specific social problem. Rarely, if ever, is there one cause of a major social problem or one cause of anything for that matter. Yes, a lack of child support is one cause, however, there are more causes, such as lower wages paid to women (I better come back in my next life as a man!), unwed mothers, and divorce (what happens to a woman’s resource availability in a divorce?).

“I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others.”
-BURKE

What does this mean? How do our individualistic values play a role in this? Every heard of “not in my backyard?” When there are layoffs at work have you ever heard of someone who says “lay me off instead because he has a wife and kids to support and he is 50 years old and I don’t have anyone but myself and I am 30 years old, I can find another job much easier”? Or do you hear more often “whew, thank goodness it is not me!”

Does poverty happen in our backyards? Do we choose to ignore it?

Learn more:

What is stratification? What does Weber state about stratification? What is global inequality and what are the effects? Is stratification functional for society? What is the purpose of maintaining stratification? What is the conflict perspective of stratification? What are the systems of stratification? What are the characteristics of each of the systems of stratification? Does slavery exist today? What is meritocracy? Does meritocracy only exist in theory? Are the inequalities that exist today based on race or class? What role does gender play as basis for social standing in most, if not all, societies?

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