SOCA01H3 Lecture Notes - Consumerism, Petite Bourgeoisie, Open Society
Document Summary
Social inequality: inequality in the distribution of societal values (wealth, power & prestige), caused by any ascribed or achieved characteristics. Includes gender, ethnic, racial, etc. inequality and socioeconomic (class/status) inequality. Socio-economic inequality is a relatively stable pattern (hierarchy) of socially sanctioned, economic inequality. Inequality exists in all known societies, socio-economic inequality exists in nearly all known societies (hunting/gathering societies: gender and age inequality, but no economic inequality) Socio-economic inequality can be described and analyzed in 2 ways: distributional: the hierarchical arrangement of individuals based upon wealth, power, and prestige. Socio-economic status (ses) is an individual"s position in this hierarchy. Ses indicators: property, income, education, occupation, occupational prestige, political participation, political power, consumption patterns, etc. Stratum is a category of people with similar amount os wealth, power, and prestige. Assumed value consensus, therefore exceptionality of conflict: relational: socio-economic inequality is a relationship between classes, groups who differ in their access to means of production.
