This document provides an overview of social stratification in the United States. It defines social stratification as a society's categorization of people into socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, and race. The US has an open system with social mobility between classes, though one's class still influences outcomes. Classes are defined by income, wealth, education, and occupation. The upper class wields significant power and influence, while the lower class faces more difficulties maintaining a decent lifestyle. Global stratification also creates a rich/poor dynamic between industrialized and non-industrialized nations dating back to the Industrial Revolution. Theoretical perspectives on stratification like functionalism and conflict theory view it differently in terms of merit, power

1. Social Stratification
in the United States
Chapter 9
Based on OpenStax
Introduction to Sociology 2e

2.  All societies have some form of stratification into groups, where
some groups are ranked higher and receive more rewards
 Systems of social stratification are long lasting and difficult to
change.
 Our beliefs and ideologies about why some are ranked higher than
others do not always reflect reality.
 The focus here will be on stratification according to class, but there
are many other categories we use as a basis of stratification
including age, race, ethnicity and sex.
Introduction

3. What is Social
Stratification?

4.  Resources are distributed unevenly in society.
 Social stratification: society’s categorization of its people into
rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth,
income and race.
– Wealth: net value of money and assets, minus debt
– Income: wages and dividends from investments (earnings)
What is Social Stratification?

5.  Stratification does not refer to divisions according to individual
ability, but systematic inequalities between groups.
 Factors that define stratification vary in different societies
 Open system of stratification: people have the opportunity to
change their position
 Closed system of stratification: people have no opportunity to
change their position
What is Social Stratification?

6. Great Recession (December 2007 – June 2009)
 GDP fell 4.3% (worst decline since WWII ended)
 Unemployment rose from 5% to 10% (Oct. 2009)
 Home prices dropped 30%
 Net worth of US households and nonprofits fell from $69 trillion to
$55 trillion
Now in recovery, but not fully recovered
Source: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great_recession_of_200709
Recent Economic Changes and
US Stratification

7.  A closed system
 People are born into their social standing and cannot change it
 Assigned occupations or a selection within a limited group of
occupations
Example – the Hindu caste system in India pre 1950 (officially abolished
in 1950, but still influential)
 Occupation and social interaction limited by caste
 Marriage must be endogamous – within the same social background
 Religion was used to support the caste system
Systems of stratification:
the Caste system

8.  An open system
 Class: a set of people who share similar status with regard to
factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation.
 People are free to chose varied occupations and education, but
social structure still plays a part in outcomes.
 People can have exogamous marriages– from outside their social
category
Systems of stratification:
the Class system

9. Meritocracy
 The idea that people get to their position in the stratification system
through their merit.
– If you work hard, you’ll get ahead
 Meritocracy doesn’t really exist
 Multiple social factors affect position in stratification system
Systems of stratification

10.  Refers to the consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s rank
across factors that influence social position.
Example
 A professor at Oxford is prestigious and her opinion is sought after,
but she earns the same income as a mid-level HR at the same
college.
Status Consistency

11. Social Stratification
and Mobility

12. Social Stratification and
Mobility: class
 Class – When sociologists refer to class, they are usually referring
to income, wealth, education and occupation
 Socio-economic status (SES)

13. Social Stratification and
Mobility: Standard of living
 Relates to material comforts and necessities needed to maintain a
lifestyle associated with a particular class.
 Very few Americans have the highest standard of living
– 1% of Americans hold over 1/3 of the nation’s wealth
– The next 19% of Americans hold 53.5% of the nation’s wealth
– The bottom 80% of Americans own only 11% of the nation’s wealth

14. Social Stratification and
Mobility: Standard of living
 Absolute poverty: a standard beneath which nobody could be
reasonably expected to survive
 Relative poverty: defined in relation the social expectations and
standard of living within a society

15. Social Classes in the United
States
What defines different classes?
 J.D. Foster (economist) defines class as
– Top 20% earners are “upper income” & bottom 20% earners are “lower
income”
– 60% in the middle are “middle income” earning $25,000 to $100,000
 Sociologists prefer to distinguish classes by their relative power,
which can include income but also includes other factors

16. Social Classes in the United
States
Upper Class
 Includes top wealth owners
 Corporate leaders, media owners, board members, philanthropists
– Hold power to make decisions that affect the job status of millions of
people
– Influence information dissemination and national identity
– Support social causes they believe in
 Status divide between “old” and “new” money

17. Social Classes in the United
States
Upper Class
 Includes top wealth owners
 Corporate leaders, media owners, board members, philanthropists
– Hold power to make decisions that affect the job status of millions of
people
– Influence information dissemination and national identity
– Support social causes they believe in
 Status divide between “old” and “new” money

18. Social Classes in the United
States
Middle Class (upper-middle & lower-middle)
 Upper-middle:
– highly college educated;
– comfortable income capable of providing large homes, vacations and
high quality education & healthcare for their children
 Lower-middle:
– also may be college educated;
– struggle a bit more to maintain decent lifestyle;
– Often hold jobs supervised by upper middle class

19. Social Classes in the United
States
Lower Class (working class, working poor & underclass)
 Jobs require little prior skill & often do routine tasks under supervision
 Working Class
– Hold decent jobs, often hands-on and physically demanding
 Working Poor
– Unskilled, low-paying employment with few to no benefits (retirement,
healthcare) in positions that are often seasonal or temporary
 Underclass
– Unemployed or underemployed; some are homeless

20. Social Mobility
 Refers to the ability to change positions within the stratification
system
 Upward mobility: an upward shift in social class
– Rags to riches stories are not typical of upward mobility
 Downward mobility: a downward shift in social class

21. Social Mobility
 Intergenerational mobility: class mobility across generations
 Intragenerational mobility: class mobility within a single generation
 Structural mobility: mobility facilitated by widespread societal
changes that affect large groups of people

22. Class Traits/Markers
 Typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class
– Can reflect level of exposure a person has to multiple cultures
– Reflects resources available to be involved in various hobbies and leisure
activities
 How much do class markers reveal class?

23. Global Stratification
and Inequality

24.  Global stratification compares wealth, economic stability, status
and power of countries
Walt Rostow – Modernization theory
 Origins of current global stratification stem from Industrial
Revolution
– Countries that were industrialized took advantage of the resources of
non-industrialized nations
– Created rich/poor, or core/periphery global economic model with
lasting effects
– Rostow presumed all countries must go through same development
path
Global Stratification and
Inequality

25.  How do we compare countries?
– Economic well-being measures
 Gross National Income (GNI): measures values of goods and
services produced by a country
– Value of tech production is greater than value of olive production
 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): measures the relative power a
country has to purchase the same goods and services
 GNI & PPP are divided by the number of residents to create a
relative international unit to compare
Global Stratification and
Inequality

26. Theoretical
Perspectives on
Social Stratification

27.  Stratification system reflects values
Davis-Moore Thesis
 Stratification based upon merit
 High pay is incentive to take:
 highly specialized jobs that require a lot of training and delay entering
the workforce (e.g. physicians)
 jobs high in responsibility or risk (e.g. CEO, fire fighter)
Functionalism

28.  Stratification does not reward most skilled, but reinforces the
existing power structure
 Haves, or bourgeoisie – own the means of production
 Have-nots, or proletariat – own only their labor
 Bourgeoisie exploit workers to their own benefit; ensure class
stratification system continues
Conflict Theory

29.  Seeks to understand stratification from a micro-level; how social
standing affects their everyday interactions
 People interact primarily with people in similar positions and social
standing to themselves
 Appearance informs perceived social standing
 Conspicuous consumption: we consume goods to symbolically
communicate our social standing.
– We use products as a symbol of our status.
Symbolic Interactionism