ANTH 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Marcel Mauss, Franz Boas, Ascribed Status
Class and Inequality:
● Introduction:
○ Politicians and middle class are typically those who are comfortable in their lives.
They have a house, they’re financially secure, they have a steady supply of good
food with options of what they want to buy, and they have leisure time in which
they can relax and do the things they enjoy without being stressed about
financial responsibilities
○ The idea of middle class implies that there are is also a lower class and an upper
class. Lower class has less than what is necessary to live a comfortable life and
upper class has more than what is necessary to live a comfortable life
○ Class: classes are systems of power. Classes are based on income, wealth and
social status. Classes create an unequal distribution of resources
■ Classes create different opportunities and availability of wealth, income
and social status and creates a section of people that have more power
than others do
■ Classes aren’t necessarily bad or manipulative. They’re a part of the
cultural structure
■ In this society, we make assumptions about people based on their class,
or we judge what class they’re a part of based on what assumptions we
make about them
■ Class, or the appearance of class, is a big part of our day to day lives,
whether we realize it or not
● Baseball Field:
○ Class can be portrayed as the analogy of a baseball field
■ We often see the United States as being “above” class, and that anyone
can do anything that they want. This is an idealistic view
■ We sometimes think that we’re blind to the different classes that
surround us
○ In baseball, some players are paid much higher than others
■ For example: in the Baltimore Orioles the highest paid player makes
$12.3 million while others make $400 thousand. While the lower ($400
thousand per year) is still a very high salary, there’s still a HUGE
difference in this salary
■ Cleaning and concession workers at baseball games make minimum wage
■ Owners and coaches make millions of dollars
○ The different classes are riddled with inequality
● Is Inequality a Natural Part of Human Culture?
○ Inequality can be found everywhere in the world in a number of different facets
39
ANTH 1000 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
39 documents
Document Summary
Politicians and middle class are typically those who are comfortable in their lives. The idea of middle class implies that there are is also a lower class and an upper class. Lower class has less than what is necessary to live a comfortable life and upper class has more than what is necessary to live a comfortable life. Classes are based on income, wealth and social status. Classes create different opportunities and availability of wealth, income and social status and creates a section of people that have more power than others do. In this society, we make assumptions about people based on their class, or we judge what class they"re a part of based on what assumptions we make about them. Class, or the appearance of class, is a big part of our day to day lives, whether we realize it or not. Class can be portrayed as the analogy of a baseball field.
