Social Stratification and Socioeconomic Inequality: Study Notes

Social Stratification

Definition and Key Concepts

Social stratification refers to the hierarchical arrangement of individuals in society based on the distribution of wealth, power, and prestige. It shapes life chances and opportunities for individuals and groups.

• Wealth: Money and economic assets, including property, income, stocks, bonds, savings, and possessions. Wealth is cumulative, passed on to the next generation, and produces income.

• Income: Money received regularly, such as wages, salaries, or government benefits. Income inequality is increasing in the U.S.

• Power: The ability to achieve goals, control events, and influence others despite opposition. Power is based on tradition, charisma, and social class.

• Power Elite: A small group of individuals (often white men) who make important decisions in U.S. society.

• Prestige: Respect, recognition, or regard attached to social positions, based on wealth, family background, fame, occupation, and leadership.

• Prestigious Occupations: Require more formal education, pay more, involve mental activity, offer autonomy, and are seen as socially important.

Types of Stratification Systems

Closed Stratification

Closed systems limit movement between social positions, often based on ascribed statuses.

• Slavery System: People are owned as property and have almost total control over their lives. Slaves may be abducted, inherited, or given as gifts to pay debts.

• Caste System: Positions are ascribed at birth and largely fixed. Social categories are based on heredity, restricting relationships, residence, and occupation.

Open Stratification

Open systems allow movement up or down the hierarchy, influenced by achievements.

• Class System: Positions are based on both birth and achievement. Social classes are relatively fluid and based on achieved statuses.

• Social Class: Groups of people with similar standing or rank in society, based on wealth, education, power, prestige, and other valued resources.

Basis of Stratification

Wealth

• Economic Assets: Money, property, stocks, bonds, retirement and savings accounts, personal possessions, and income.

• Characteristics: Wealth is cumulative, passed on to the next generation, and preserves privilege.

Prestige

• Prestige: Respect or recognition attached to social positions.

• Characteristics of Prestigious Occupations: Require more formal education and abstract thought, are primarily nonmanual, paid more, seen as socially important, involve greater self-expression, autonomy, and freedom from supervision.

Power

• Power: Ability to influence the behaviors of others despite opposition.

• Status Consistency: When a person is equal in terms of wealth, prestige, and power (e.g., a doctor).

• Status Inconsistency: When a person ranks differently on stratification factors (e.g., a PhD teaching high school math).

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Definition and Effects

Socioeconomic status (SES) is the overall ranking of a person's position in society, based on income, education, and occupation. Social classes differ in values, power, prestige, social networks, and lifestyles.

• Life Chances: Opportunities to access social and economic resources that improve one’s quality of life.

Poverty

Types of Poverty

• Absolute Poverty: Not having enough money to afford the basic necessities of life.

• Relative Poverty: Not having enough money to maintain an average standard of living.

The Poverty Line

• Definition: Minimal income level that the federal government considers necessary for basic subsistence, estimated based on annual cost of food meeting nutritional guidelines.

• Criticism: Does not include value of noncash benefits, childcare, or cost-of-living expenses, especially housing. Many above the poverty line rely on food banks, soup kitchens, and thrift stores.

Who are the Poor?

Category	Poverty Rate	Notes
Children under 18	14%	23% of population
Female-headed families (no spouse)	21.8%	Compared to 4.6% for married-couple families
Women	Higher than men	Feminization of poverty
American Indian/Alaska Native	19.3%	Highest among racial/ethnic groups
Black Americans	19.3%	High poverty rate
Asian Americans	7.5%	Lowest among racial/ethnic groups
Young adults without HS diploma	23.1%	Education is a key factor
Nonworkers	28.2%	Highest poverty rate
Older adults (65+)	Rising in 2024	Recent increase

Explanations for Poverty

• Individual Failings: Culture of poverty perspective suggests poor do not succeed due to "deficiency" or "inadequacy." Remedy: Change attitudes and behavior.

• Structural Characteristics: Macro-level factors create and sustain poverty. Remedy: Change structural forces.

Social Mobility

Types of Social Mobility

• Intragenerational Mobility: Movement up or down a social class over one’s lifetime.

• Intergenerational Mobility: Movement up or down a social class over two or more generations.

Examples of Social Mobility

• Cameron: Graduated from college, left welfare, and secured a semiprofessional position (intragenerational mobility).

• Cecelia: Grew up with a mother who worked cleaning motels, but Cecelia is a doctor (intergenerational mobility).

Factors Affecting Social Mobility

• Structural: Changes in the economy, government policies and programs, immigration.

• Demographic: Education, gender, race and ethnicity, place.

• Family Background: Family wealth, parent’s income level, socialization (habitus), social connections.

• Habitus: The habits of speech and lifestyle that determine where a person feels comfortable and knowledgeable.

Global Stratification

Patterns and Effects

Global stratification refers to worldwide patterns of inequality resulting from differences in wealth, power, and prestige. It varies across regions and is pervasive.

• Women and Children: Face the greatest inequality across all nations.

• Infant Mortality Rate: Number of babies under age 1 who die per 1,000 live births in a year. Linked with women’s low education level, poverty, lack of health insurance/health care, and race/ethnicity.

• Extreme Poverty: Living on less than $1.90 a day.

• Chronic Hunger: Almost one in two people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger and malnourishment.

• Richest One Percent: Use their wealth to get political favors, bypass environmental laws, and diminish others’ opportunities for upward mobility.

Theories of Global Stratification

• Modernization Theory: Leaders of low-income countries lack attitudes and values that lead to experimentation and use of modern technology.

• Dependency Theory: Low-income countries are exploited and dominated by high-income countries.

• World-Systems Theory: World economic systems help rich countries stay rich while poor countries stay poor.

Perspectives on Social Stratification

Functionalism

• Davis–Moore Thesis: Social stratification benefits society by motivating people to work hard and succeed.

• Meritocracy: Belief that social stratification is based on people’s accomplishments.

Critical Evaluation of Functionalism

• Tumin challenged the Davis–Moore thesis, arguing societies don’t always reward the positions most important for survival.

• Functionalism overlooks how stratification limits upward mobility and ignores the critical role of inheritance.

• Does not explain limited upward mobility in the U.S., low-paying jobs for college graduates, or persistent racial and ethnic income and wealth gaps.

Conflict Perspective

• Social stratification is dysfunctional and hurts individuals and societies.

• Marx predicted capitalist societies would be reduced to bourgeoisie (owners) and proletariat (workers).

• Economic struggles are due to government policies favoring the rich (corporate welfare: subsidies, tax breaks, government assistance for businesses).

• Ongoing economic inequity intensifies poverty, undermines trust in institutions, and erodes national solidarity.

Critical Evaluation of Conflict Perspective

• Exaggerates the existence and effects of economic inequality.

• Overlooks that government programs have reduced poverty.

Feminist Perspective

• Gender Stratification: Unequal access to wealth, power, status, prestige, and other valued resources because of one’s sex.

• Patriarchal systems allow men to dominate the stratification system.

• Gender gaps in wealth, income, and household burdens make it harder for women to build a strong future.

Critical Evaluation of Feminist Perspective

• Often focuses only on poor women in showing how patriarchy affects stratification and social class.

• Does not explain why many women succeed despite patriarchal barriers.

• Does not account for cross-cultural variations.

Symbolic Interaction Perspective

• People create, change, and reproduce social class through everyday interactions.

• Social context affects mobility.

Critical Evaluation of Symbolic Interaction Perspective

• Does not explain why stratification exists.

• Does not explain why some siblings are more upwardly mobile than others.

• Ignores structural factors.

Summary Table: Types of Social Stratification Systems

System	Basis	Mobility	Example
Slavery	Ownership of people	None	Ancient Rome, U.S. pre-Civil War
Caste	Heredity	None	India (historically)
Class	Wealth, achievement	Possible	Modern U.S., Western Europe

Key Terms and Concepts

• Social Stratification

• Wealth

• Income

• Power

• Prestige

• Socioeconomic Status (SES)

• Absolute Poverty

• Relative Poverty

• Social Mobility

• Intragenerational Mobility

• Intergenerational Mobility

• Modernization Theory

• Dependency Theory

• World-Systems Theory

• Davis–Moore Thesis

• Meritocracy

• Corporate Welfare

• Feminization of Poverty

• Habitus

Formulas and Equations

• Infant Mortality Rate:

$\text{Infant Mortality Rate} = \frac{\text{Number of deaths of infants under 1 year}}{\text{Number of live births in a year}} \times 1000$

• Poverty Rate:

$\text{Poverty Rate} = \frac{\text{Number of people in poverty}}{\text{Total population}} \times 100$

Additional info: Academic context and examples were expanded for clarity and completeness.