SYG 2000: Lecture 20. Chapter 7: Stratification and Social Class

I. How Did the World’s Nations Become Stratified?

  A. Poor nations have few resources?: many rich, yet Japan few

  B. industrialization: begin Eng 1750, gives Eur powerful armaments/fast ships to colonize wld

  C. world system theory (Immanuel Wallerstein ’74,’79 ’90): indus lead 4 group nations:

    1. 1st 2 groups: i. core: indus 1st; ii. Semiperiphery: @Mediterannean/grow dep trade w/ core

    2. next: iii. Periphery/fringe (E Eur) sold cash crops to core; iv. External area: outside cap dev

   D. Globalization of capitalism:  Maquiladoras:  assembly-for-export plants on Mex border

    1. NAFTA: allow US corps on bord to import w/o tax/export to US w/o tax; pay worker $10/d

    2. conditions: 10 hr day/30 min break; live shacks no run H20/sewage disposal (eg. Juarez )

    3. Conflict theory: split labor market; capitalists pit one group of workers against the other

    4. functions/dysfunctions of maqiuladoras?

   E. Culture of poverty:  most wrld poor farmers sm plots/stick to tried/true since no room error

     1. experiment with new farming techniques: could bring hunger/death because on edge starve

     2. Galbraith (’79) bases on Oscar Lewis: way of life that perpetuates pov from 1 gen to next

     3. religion: teach fatalism: individ’s position life is God’s will; eg Dalits told did bad prev life

     4. sociological critique:  places blame on the victim

II. Why is Social stratification Universal? 

  A. functionalist perspective:Kingsley Davis/Wilbert Moore(’45,’53)argue strat inevitable since:

    1. society must make certain that its positions are filled

    2. some positions are more important than others

    3. more important positions must be filled by more qualified people

    4. motivate more qualified people to fill, must be offered greater reqwards

   B. Melvin Tumin critique (’53): indep ways measure pos importance other than $ not exist;

    1. pos society based on other than merit (not just meritocracy);d/l dysfunctional many eg fem

   C. conflict perspective:those in power use resources benefit selves/functionalism legit ideology

    1. attack basic premise:  conflict, not function, is cause social stratification

   D. Karl Marx:  historical materialsim: modes of production det ownership/class conflict

      1. ideology: legitimates privilege/power of owners of production means: capitalists

      2. producers: laborers, who create product, become object manipulated by capitalists

      3. class position: based solely rel to means of production: capitalist (owner), prol (worker)

  E. Max Weber: class made up of property, power, and prestige, not just ownership

   1. power: ability to control others, even over their objections; property just 1 source

   2. prestige: is often based on property, but Olympic gold medalists might turn prestige into $

     a. ranking: U.S. sim to avg 60 countries: highest have > pay, ed, abstract thought, autonomy

III. Social Class in the United States

 A. wealth:Americans have $31 tril (real estate/stocks/bonds/bus. assets); 10% own 2/3; 1% ¼.

 B. income: quintiles: top 20% @ ½ (47%); bottom 20%, 4.2%; in 1940, 41% top, 5.4% bottom

    1. median compensation of CEOs top 350 cos: $3,022,000.00; 83 times > than avg US worker

    2. income: money received from job, business, or assets

 C. C. Wright Mills’ power elite: those who make big decisions in US; corps/military/politics

   1 elite: share ideologies/values; most U.S. presidents millionaire white men from ‘old money’

  D. status inconsistency: ranking high on some dimensions of social class and low on others