Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Essentials of Essentials of SociologySociology

9th Edition

CChapter 8: Social hapter 8: Social ClassClassThis multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are

prohibited by law:any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program

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Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Components of Social Class

Sociological Models of Social Class

Consequences of Social Class

Poverty Line

Who Are the Poor?

Dynamics of Poverty

Why Are People Poor?

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Chapter OverviewChapter Overview

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Class A large group of people who rank

closely to one another in wealth, power, and prestige.

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What is Social Class?What is Social Class?

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

W

ealth – Value of a Person’s Assets

Wealth consists of property and income

Wealth and income not necessarily the same

P

ower – ability to get your way despite resistance4

Components of Social ClassComponents of Social Class

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Prestige – respect given to one’s occupation

Jobs that have greater levels of prestige:

1. Generally pay more2. Entail more abstract thought3. Require more education4. Have greater autonomy

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Components of Social ClassComponents of Social Class

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6

Figure 8.1 Distribution of the Property of AmericansSource: By the author. Based on Beeghley 2008.

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Status Consistency: when a person has the same levels of wealth, power, and prestige they are status consistent

Status Inconsistency: when a person ranks higher on one level of social class and low on another level they are status inconsistent

People who are status inconsistent are more likely to be politically active

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Status Consistency and Status Status Consistency and Status InconsistencyInconsistency

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Updating Marx: Marx argued that there just two classes-capitalists and workers.

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Figure 8.4 Marx’s Model of the Social ClassesSource: By the author.

Sociological Models of Social Sociological Models of Social ClassClass

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sociologist Erik Wright suggests that some people are members of more than one class at the same time. They occupy what he calls contradictory class locations.

i.e. Mechanic-turned-business owner

Wright identified 4 classes:

1) Capitalists

2) Petty Bourgeoisie

3) Managers

4) Workers

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Sociological Models of Social Sociological Models of Social ClassClass

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gilbert and Kahl-Updated Weber’s model

Capitalist Class The Upper Middle Class The Lower Middle Class The Working Class The Working Poor The Underclass

Social Class in the Automobile Industry

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Sociological Models of Social Sociological Models of Social ClassClass

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 11

Figure 8.5 The U.S. Social Class LadderSource: By the author. Based on Gilbert and Kahl 1998 and Gilbert 2008; income estimates are modified from Duff 1995.

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Family Life

Choice of Husband or WifeDivorceChild Rearing

Education

Religion

Politics

Mental Health

Physical Health

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Consequences of Social ClassConsequences of Social Class

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

1.Intergenerational Mobility - a change that occurs between generations – can be either upward or downward

2.Structural Mobility – a change in the social structure that causes a large number of people to move either up or down the social class ladder

3.Exchange Mobility – a change in the social structure that causes a larger number of people to move up and down the social class ladder at the same time 13

Three Types of Three Types of Social MobilitySocial Mobility

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The government figures out the poverty line by taking a low cost food budget and multiplying it by 3.

This poverty line was created in 1965.

It does take into account family size and cost of living.

This line has been criticized for being too low, many think it should be increased by 50 %.

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The Poverty LineThe Poverty Line

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Geography: There is a clustering of poverty in the South. The rate of rural poverty (16 %) is higher than the national average of 13 %.

Race Ethnicity: 9 % of whites are poor, followed by Asian Americans at 11 %. The rate of poverty among Latinos is 21 % and among African Americans it is 25%. Overall, 41 % of all of the poor are whites (largest group in the U.S.).

Education: Only 3 out of 100 people who finish college end up poor.

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Who are the poor?Who are the poor?

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The biggest subgroup living in poverty in the U.S. are children

The group least likely to live in poverty are the elderly

Feminization of Poverty – the association of poverty with women, especially single parent households headed by women

The more education a person has, the least likely they are to live in poverty

42 % of the poor live in the inner cities

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Who are the poor?Who are the poor?

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 17

Figure 8.9 Births to Single MothersNote: Based on a sample of all U.S. births in the preceding 12 months.Source: Dye 2005.

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 18

Figure 8.7 Patterns of PovertySource: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009:Table 687.

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

C

ulture of Poverty

M

ost Poverty is short-lived – people are constantly moving in and out of poverty

N

umber of Poor Relatively Stable

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Dynamics of Dynamics of PovertyPoverty

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Two competing points of view:

1) Social Structure – the components of the social structure play a strong contributing factor in the poverty rate

2) Characteristics of Individuals – people are poor because of their own attitudes

Sociologists tend to focus on components in the social structure to explain poverty

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Why are people poor?Why are people poor?

Social Class in the United StatesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The U.S. welfare system was restructured in 1996. The maximum length of tie that someone can collect welfare is now 5 years. This has caused some controversy.

Welfare rolls plummeted, dropping by 60 %.

3 out of 5 are still in poverty or back on welfare after coming off out of the system.

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Welfare ReformWelfare Reform