This document discusses social stratification and class structure in the United States. It defines social stratification as a society's categorization of people into socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, education, and power. In the US, social classes include the upper class (1% of population), upper and lower middle classes, working class, working poor, and underclass. Social mobility and markers of class are also examined.

1. 9 Social Stratification in the
United States
 This house, formerly owned by the famous television
producer, Aaron Spelling, was for a time listed for $150
million dollars. It is considered one of the most
extravagant homes in the United States, and is a
testament to the wealth generated in some industries.

2. WHAT IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
 Social Stratification refers to a society’s
categorization of its people into rankings of
socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth,
income, race, education, and power.
 It is a system of social standing.
 Society’s layers are made of people, and society’s
resources are distributed unevenly throughout the
layers.
 The people who have more resources represent
the top layer of the social structure of stratification.
 Other groups of people, with progressively fewer
and fewer resources, represent the lower layers of
our society.

3.  Sociologists recognize that social
stratification is a society-wide system that
makes inequalities apparent.
 Sociologists are interested in larger social
patterns.
 Social stratification is created and supported by
society as a whole.

4.  The people who live in these houses most likely share
similar levels of income and education. Neighborhoods
often house people of the same social standing.
Wealthy families do not typically live next door to poorer
families, though this varies depending on the particular
city and country.

5.  In most societies, stratification is an economic
system based on wealth (the net value of money
and assets a person has) and income (a person’s
wages or investment dividends.
 Things that influence social standing in other
cultures include:
 Wisdom and charisma
 The elderly

6.  One key determinant of social sanding is the social
standing of our parents.
 Parents tend to pass their social position on to their
children.
 A society’s occupational structure is another
determining factor.

7. SYSTEMS OF STRATIFICATION
 The Caste System is one in which people are
born into their social standing and will remain in it
their whole lives.
 People are assigned occupations regardless of their
talents, interests, or potential.
 There are virtually no opportunities to improve a person’s
social position.

8. Caste System in India

9.  Meritocracy is an ideal system based on
the belief that social stratification is the
result of personal effort (or merit) that
determines social standing.
High levels of effort will lead to a high
social position, and vice versa.
 This type of system has never existed, but
aspects of it are seen in modern societies.

10. Status Consistency is the term used to
describe the consistency, or lack thereof, of an
individual’s rank across factors such as
income, education, and occupation.
 Caste systems correlate with high state
consistency, whereas the class system has
lower status consistency.
 In a class system, a person can work hard and
have little education and still be in middle or
upper class.
 In a caste system, that would not be possible.

11.  Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who
is in line to be king of England, married
Catherine Middleton, a so-called
commoner, meaning she does not have
royal ancestry.

12.  Primogeniture was a law stating that all
property would be inherited by the firstborn
son.
 If the family had no son, the land went to the
next closest male relation.
 Women could not inherit property, and their
social standing was primarily determined
through marriage.
 Wealth was passed from generation to
generation.
 Common in Britain before the Industrial
Revolution.

13. Social Stratification and Mobility in
the United States
 Social stratification reflects an unequal
distribution of resources.
 Categories that affect social standing
include family ancestry, race, ethnicity, age,
and gender.
 In the Unites States, standing can also be
defined by characteristics such as IQ,
athletic abilities, appearance, personal skills,
and achievements.

14. Standard of Living is the level of wealth
available to a certain socioeconomic class in
order to acquire the material necessities and
comforts to maintain its lifestyle.
 It is based on factors such as:
 Income
 Employment
 Class
 Poverty rates
 Housing affordability

15.  Standard of living can represent factors such
as the ability to afford a home, own a car,
and take vacations.
 In the US, a small portion of the population
has the means to the highest standard of
living.
 1% of the population holds 1/3 of our nation’s
wealth.
 The wealthy receive the most schooling, have
better health, and consume the most goods and
services.
 The wealthy also wield decision-making power.

16.  In the US, social stratifications and
standards of living are in part based on
occupation.
 Occupations also influence social standing
through the relative levels of prestige they afford.

17. Highest Paid Careers

19.  The most significant threat to the relatively
high standard of living in the US is the
decline of the middle class, which has been
declining since the 1970s.
 At the same time, corporate profits having
increased more than 141%, and CEO pay
has risen more than 298%.

20.  William Donhoff reports:
 The top 1% of households (the upper class) own
35.4% of all privately held wealth
 19% (the managerial, professional, and small
businesses) have 53.5%
 Just 20% of people own 89%
 11% of the wealth is left for the bottom 80%
(wage and salary workers).

21. American Class Structure

22.  The Upper Class is considered the top, and
only the powerful elite get to see the view
from there.
 The make up 1% of the population, and they
own ½ of the country’s wealth.
 Money provides access to material goods and
access to a lot of power.
 “Old money” is inherited wealth passes from one
generation to the next.
 “New money” is the wealth you have earned and
built yourself.

23.  People with old money have higher prestige
because they have been in the upper class
for generations.
 They know the customs, norms, and
expectations that come with having money.
 New money members aren’t oriented to the
customs and mores of the elite.
 They don’t have old-money social ties.
 They flaunt their money and still exhibit middle
and lower class behaviors.

24.  Members of the upper class can afford to
live, work, and play in exclusive places
designed for luxury and comfort.

25.  The middle class is broken into upper and
lower subcategories.
 Upper middle class people tend to hold
bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees.
 Business, management, law, medicine
 Lower middle class members hold
bachelor’s degrees from 4 year colleges or
associate’s degrees from community or
technical colleges.

26.  Comfort is the key concept to the middle
class.
 They work hard and live fairly comfortable
lives.
 Upper middle class tend to pursue careers
that earn comfortable incomes.
 They provide their families with large homes and
nice cars.
 They may go skiing or boating on vacation.
 Their children receive high-quality education and
healthcare.

27.  In the lower middle class, people hold jobs
supervised by members of the upper middle
class.
 They fill technical, lower-level management
or administrative support positions.
 Their jobs are different from the lower class
jobs because they carry more prestige and
slightly higher paychecks.
 They can afford a decent, mainstream lifestyle,
but they struggle to maintain it.
 Have little or no savings.

28.  These members of a club likely consider
themselves middle class.

30.  The lower class is also referred to as the
working class.
 It is also divided into 3 sub-classes:
 The working class
 The working poor
 The underclass
 They have less of an educational
background and earn smaller incomes.
 Their jobs required little prior skills or
experience and require close supervision.

31.  Working class people have decent jobs like
custodial or food service.
 Their work is hands-on and physically
demanding .
 Landscaping, cooking, cleaning, building
 The working poor have unskilled, low-paying
employment.
 Their jobs don’t have health or retirement
benefits.
 Jobs are often seasonal or temporary.
 Sharecroppers, migrant farm workers, housecleaners,
day laborers.

32.  The underclass live in mainly in inner cities.
 Many are unemployed or underemployed.
Those who do have a job typically perform
menial tasks for little pay.
Some are homeless.
Welfare systems provide support through
food assistance, medical care, housing,
etc.

33.  This man is a custodian at a restaurant.
His job, which is crucial to the business, is
considered lower class.

34. Percentage of the U.S. Population in
Poverty

35. These 11 states now have more people on welfare than
they do employed.
In 2013, between food stamps, housing support, child care, Medicaid and
other benefits, the average US household below the poverty line received
$168 a day in government support.
The median income household (those who WORK and make just over
$50,000 a year), make an average of $137.13 a day.

36. Social Mobility
 Social mobility – the movement of individuals or
groups within a stratification structure.
 upper mobility – an increase or upward shift in
social class.
 Earning a college degree
 Getting a job promotion
 Marrying someone with a good income
 downward mobility – a lowering of one’s social
class.
 Business setbacks, unemployment, illness
 Dropping out of school, losing a job, getting a divorce

37. Social Mobility
 Intragenerational mobility is a difference in
social class between different members of the
same generation.
 Intergenerational mobility is a difference in
social class between different generations of a
family.
 One family member experiences wealth and prestige
far greater than the rest of the family.

38.  Structural mobility happens when societal
changes enable a whole group of people to
move up or down the social class ladder.
 The industrial revolution led to and expanded US
economy which led to raising the standard of
living and upward structural mobility.

39.  Class traits, or class markers, are the
typical behaviors, customs, and norms that
define each class.
 They indicate the level of exposure a person has
to a wide range of cultures.
 They also indicate the amount of resources a
person has to spend on items like hobbies,
vacations, and leisure activities.

41. GLOBAL STRATIFICATION AND
INQUALITY
 Global stratification compares the wealth,
economic stability, status, and power of
countries across the world.
 It highlights worldwide patterns of social inequality.
 Sociologists studying global stratification
analyze economic comparisons between
nations.
 Income, purchasing power, and wealth are used to
calculate global stratification.
 It also compares the quality of life that a country’s
population can have.

42. Models of global stratification
 Models of global stratification all have one
thing in common: they rank countries
according to their relative economic status,
or gross national product (GNP).
 Previous models labeled the stratification in
different areas of the world.
 First world-industrialized nation
 Second world- industrial nation
 Third world- undeveloped country

43.  A newer model uses the terms “more
developed” and “less developed.”
 More developed nations have higher wealth.
 Canada
 Japan
 Australia
 Less developed nations have less wealth to
distribute among higher populations.
 Central Africa
 South America
 Some island nations

44.  Another system of global stratification
defines countries based on the per capita
gross domestic product (GPD), which is a
country’s average national wealth per
person.
 It is calculated annually in 1 of 2 ways:
 By totaling either the income of all citizens
 The value of all goods and services produced in the
country during the year.
 It also includes government spending.
 Comparing GDP rates helps establish a
country’s economic health in relation to
other countries.

45.  GDP also helps establish a country’s
standard of living.
 A GDP standard of a middle income nation
represents a global average.
 In low income countries, most people are poor
relative to people in other countries.
 Citizens have little access to amenities such as
electricity, plumbing, and clean water.
 They are not guaranteed education, and many are
illiterate.
 Their life expectancy is lower than in high income
countries.

46.  Luxury vacation resorts can contribute to a poorer
country’s economy. This one, in Jamaica, attracts
middle and upper-middle class people from wealthier
nations. The resort is a source of income and provides
jobs for local people. Just outside its borders, however,
are poverty-stricken neighborhoods.

47. Social Classes in World
Perspectives

48. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
FUNCTIONALISM
 Davis-Moore thesis argued that the greater
the functional importance of a social role,
the greater must be the reward.
 Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore
 It states that social stratification represents the
inherently unequal value of different work.

49.  Certain tasks in society are more valuable than others.
 Qualified people who fill those positions must be
rewarded more than others.
 The degree of skill required for a job determines the
job’s importance.
 The more skill required for a job, the fewer qualified
people there would be to do that job.
 The Davis-Moore thesis states that social
stratification is necessary to promote excellence,
productivity, and efficiency, thus giving people
something to strive for.
 The system serves society as a whole because it
allows everyone to benefit to a certain extent.

50. CONFLICT THEORY AND STRATIFICATION
 Conflict theorists are deeply critical of social
stratification asserting that it benefits only some
people, not all of society.
 They believe that stratification perpetuates
inequality.
 They bring awareness to inequalities, such as how a
rich society can have so many poor members.

51.  Many conflict theorists draw on the work of
Karl Marx.
 Marx believed that social stratification resulted
from people’s relationship to production.
 People were divided by a single line: they either
owned factories or worked in them.
 The 2 groups were divided by differences in
wealth and power.

52.  Today, conflict theorists believe that the
strained working relationship between
employers and employees still exist.
 Capitalists own the means of production,
and a system is in place to make business
owners rich and keep workers poor.
 The resulting stratification creates class conflict.

53. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
 Symbolic interactionists examine stratification
from a micro-level perspective which strives to
explain how people’s social standing affects
their everyday interactions.
 In most communities, people interact with others
who share the same social standing.
 People tend to live, work, and associate with others like
themselves.
 People who share the same income level, educational
background, or racial background, and even tastes in food,
music, and clothing.

54.  Symbolic interactionists note that people’s
appearance reflects their perceived social
standing.
 Housing
 Clothing
 Transportation
 Hairstyles
 Taste in accessories
 Person style

55.  People often engage in conspicuous
consumption, which is the purchase and
use of certain products to make a social
statement about status.