1. Why does poverty exist, and why and how do poor people end up being poor? 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 What is the functionalist theory of social stratification? According to symbolic interactionism, social class affects how people interact in everyday life and how they view certain aspects of the social world. The key limitation of the postmodernist theory of social stratification is that it overemphasises the element of choice in shaping differential life experiences. Conflict theorists hold that competition and inequality are not inevitable but are created and maintained by people trying to gain access to scarce resources. What is accurate regarding the educational experience of African Americans? It has been reported that LGBT youth are ______ ______than their heterosexual counterparts to attempt suicide. Yet they purchase these products to show off their wealth and to feel better about themselves. Duncan, C. M. (2000). American Sociological Review, 10, 242249. gender is a standalone form of stratification. Weber believed stratification to be multi-dimensional, with aspects related to class, status, and power impacting people's, Feminists believe that society is stratified by gender, wherein men are dominant and women are subjected to inferior. Some principles of stratification. For example, high incomes and job satisfaction are necessary motivations that incentivise people to work hard and take up important functions. Theory. Attributions for poverty among college students: The impact of service-learning and religiosity. It is neither necessary nor inevitable. Chapter 5: Sexual Orientation and Inequality, Chapter 15: Population and the Environment, Chapter 1 Understanding Social Problems, http://www.salon.com/2012/03/15/the_truth_about_the_poor/, http://www.gallup.com/poll/105550/among-americans-smoking-decreases-income-increases.aspx, http://www.alternet.org/story/151830/debunking_the_big_lie_right-wingers_use_to_justify_black_poverty _and_unemployment_?page=entire, http://chronicle.com/article/Charles-Murray-Author-of-The/130722/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. As this example suggests, many people might not choose to become brain surgeons unless considerable financial and other rewards awaited them. We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. Alyson Hurt - Back Porch - CC BY-NC 2.0. Sociologists trying to answer these questions have developed two very different macro explanations of stratification, while symbolic interactionists have examined the differences that stratification produces for everyday interaction. So, functionalists argue that stratification exists because there are important roles to be played within the institutions whose core functions keep society running smoothly. Upload unlimited documents and save them online. Demographics on the African American population show, The poverty rate of African Americans remains nearly two times as high as that of White Americans. Weber (1922) suggested that there are three dimensions to social stratification. Explain your answer. Identify your study strength and weaknesses. 1.2 Sociological Perspectives on Social Problems, 1.3 Continuity and Change in Social Problems, 2.1 The Measurement and Extent of Poverty, 2.2 Who the Poor Are: Social Patterns of Poverty, 3.1 Racial and Ethnic Inequality: A Historical Prelude, 3.5 Dimensions of Racial and Ethnic Inequality, 3.6 Explaining Racial and Ethnic Inequality, 3.7 Reducing Racial and Ethnic Inequality, 4.4 Violence against Women: Rape and Sexual Assault, 5.2 Public Attitudes about Sexual Orientation, 5.3 Inequality Based on Sexual Orientation, 5.4 Improving the Lives of the LGBT Community, 6.3 Life Expectancy and the Graying of Society, 6.4 Biological and Psychological Aspects of Aging, 6.6 Reducing Ageism and Helping Older Americans, 7.5 Drug Policy and the War on Illegal Drugs, 7.6 Addressing the Drug Problem and Reducing Drug Use, 10.2 Sociological Perspectives on the Family, 10.3 Changes and Problems in American Families, 11.1 An Overview of Education in the United States, 11.2 Sociological Perspectives on Education, 11.3 Issues and Problems in Elementary and Secondary Education, 11.4 Issues and Problems in Higher Education, 12.2 Sociological Perspectives on Work and the Economy, 13.1 Sociological Perspectives on Health and Health Care, 13.2 Global Aspects of Health and Health Care, 13.3 Problems of Health in the United States, 13.4 Problems of Health Care in the United States, 14.2 Sociological Perspectives on Urbanization, 15.1 Sociological Perspectives on Population and the Environment, 15.4 Addressing Population Problems and Improving the Environment, 16.1 Sociological Perspectives on War and Terrorism, 16.4 Preventing War and Stopping Terrorism. The three main branches are: Walby (1989) identifies six key structures as the root of a gender stratification system characterised by inequality (i.e. 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. The functionalist view sounds very logical, but a few years after Davis and Moore published their theory, other sociologists pointed out some serious problems in their argument (Tumin, 1953; Wrong, 1959). As per the Weberian theory, what are the three requirements for inequalities to translate into a system of stratification? Conflict theorists hold that competition and inequality are not inevitable but are created and maintained by people. Marxists understand social class in empirical terms related to wealth, income and occupation. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. Functionalism fails to explain inequalities brought about by discrimination based on identity markers such asgender, ethnicity or age. International data underline this American ideology. The conflict-theory approach offers a critique of structural-functionalism. For example, in the film Pretty Woman, Richard Gere plays a rich businessman who hires a prostitute, played by Julia Roberts, to accompany him to swank parties and other affairs. They argue that all functions and institutions are characterised by. By extension, we might not have enough people filling societys important jobs unless they know they will be similarly rewarded. 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. Additionally, we do not get to choose where we are born, our gender at birth, our sexuality, our ethnicity, or our family. Weber developed a multidimensional approach to social stratification that reflects the interplay among wealth, prestige and power. Conflict. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. This emphasis goes back to the work of Marx, who said the ruling class shapes and even controls the ruling ideas of a society. Social stratification is a relatively fixed, hierarchical arrangement in . Underlying anger that oppressed groups feel but do not allow to surface. Substructure: The relationship of the workers comes under the category of the substructure Have all your study materials in one place. Third, the functionalist view assumes that people move up the economic ladder based on their abilities, skills, knowledge, and, more generally, their merit. For this reason, stratification is necessary and inevitable. When applied to American society, their assumptions would be as follows: To illustrate their assumptions, say we have a society where shining shoes and doing brain surgery both give us incomes of $150,000 per year. One of the most important beliefs in the United States is the American Dream, epitomized by the story of Abraham Lincoln. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 629(May), 627. The very rich do not need mansions or other very opulent homes, and neither do they need a motor vehicle costing upward of $100,000 or more or jewelry costing thousands and thousands of dollars. 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. During the first session, it may be beneficial to __________ when working with an African American client. Sign up to highlight and take notes. tax break: A deduction in tax that is given in order to encourage a certain economic activity or a social objective. The solution, according to Firestone, is 'an artificial womb', so that women are no longer restricted by the biological processes of childbirth. Differentiation is the process of distinguishing between different identities and their associated roles. In turn, the workplace depends on education to equip its workers with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed at their jobs. Bagdikian, B. H. (1964). New York, NY: Crown Forum. Explain the focus of symbolic interactionist work on poverty. It strikes at the soul (Blow, 2011). The Weberian theory of stratification is based on two key ideas: the distribution of social resources, and the social inequality that's caused by the unequal distribution of those resources. Feminism takes on several forms within and outside of sociology. Is it possible to have a society without stratification? Dont people take on a CEO job or other high-paying job at least partly because of the challenge, working conditions, and other positive aspects they offer? Pakulski & Waters (1996) argue that class no longer has any impact upon livelihoods and behaviours - 'class is dead'. What is the primary system of stratification in modern society? On the other hand, some ethnographic research supports the individualistic explanation by showing that the poor do have certain values and follow certain practices that augment their plight (Small, et. According to conflict theory, stratification results from lack of opportunity and discrimination against the poor and people of color. Many different explanations grounded in conflict theory exist, but they all assume that stratification stems from a fundamental conflict between the needs and interests of the powerful, or haves, in society and those of the weak, or have-nots (Kerbo, 2009). They argued that stratification is inevitable across all societies. In this way, girls are taught to be more nurturing and gentle, while boys are taught to be more instrumental and hands-on. Differentiationinvolves ranking different social groups. In contrast to structural-functionalists, conflict theorists argue that stratification is dysfunctional and harmful in society. Stratification affects peoples beliefs, lifestyles, daily interaction, and conceptions of themselves. Anderson, E. (1999). Two competing explanations developed, with the basic debate turning on whether poverty arises from problems either within the poor themselves or in the society in which they live (Rank, 2011). In the petit bourgeoisie, managers and intellectual professionals are positioned at the higher end, while self-employed workers are positioned at the lower end. According to conflict theory, stratification results from lack of opportunity and discrimination against the poor and people of color. What are they? For example, despite earning equal salaries, two persons may have differences in power, property, and prestige. Studies of the poor, too, reflect the symbolic interactionist perspective. Gans, H. J. Identify and discuss the three systems of social stratification that were addressed in the textbook. American Sociological Review, 18, 387393. Davis, K., & Moore, W. (1945). Murray, C. (2012). 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. 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. Create the most beautiful study materials using our templates. This means that people's economic rankings have the most impact on their lives and social statuses compared with other forms of inequality, like those related to gender, ethnicity, or age. As a result, he displays masochistic attitudes and behaviors. 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? According to survey evidence, the majority of Americans share this belief (Davidson, 2009). In looking to explain poverty, sociologists have often tried to balance the relative importance of social structures (how society is organised) and the role of individual agency - people's independent . Feminists argue that society is characterised by a system of patriarchy. She examined gender stratification alongside racial inequality, or stratification by ethnicity. Critics say this explanation ignores discrimination and other problems in American society and exaggerates the degree to which the poor and nonpoor do in fact hold different values (Ehrenreich, 2012; Holland, 2011; Schmidt, 2012). Fig. In your sessions, you find that he has an embedded belief that same-sex attraction is abnormal/wrong and that it is better to be heterosexual. This particular functionalist view provocatively argues that poverty exists because it serves certain positive functions for our society. American Sociological Review, 18, 387393. Source: Data from General Social Survey, 2006. Stratification results from lack of opportunity and from discrimination and prejudice against the poor, women, and people of color. Social segregation represents a system of thoughts merged in social sciences and political theory based on societal categorization (Kincaid, 2015). At its core, Karl Marx's theory posits that economic relationships are the most important in any society (compared to, say, cultural and political relationships) and that work is the key to affording the means of survival. 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. When U.S. slavery existed in the South, it was commonly thought that blacks were biologically inferior and suited only to be slaves. Men play the instrumental role of the breadwinner. Stratification results from lack of opportunity and from discrimination and prejudice against the poor, women, and people of color. People can emulate whatever identity they want by purchasing it, which makes the lived experience more individualised and less define-able in group terms.
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