SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Social Stratification, Conspicuous Leisure, Social Inequality
16 Oct 2011
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Social stratification: society"s hierarchical ranking of people into social classes. Social class: group of individuals sharing a position in a social hierarchy, based on birth and achievement. Social status: individual"s position within the class structure. Based on a few key principles: all societies redistribute materials and social rewards to individuals. Based on the principle that people achieve what they deserve: system is relatively stable over time as it transcends any single generation, social mobility: movement between social classes. Few people actually move out of their social class, our social class is relatively stable. Measured by comparing children"s status to that of their parents (intergenerational mobility); or by comparing an individual"s status position over her or his lifetime (intragenerational mobility). Also used to measure society"s equality of opportunity: social class varies in how it presents itself: income vs. prestige. Results from collective decisions about what is important in evaluating a person or a group.
