Stratification refers to systematic inequalities between groups that arise from social processes and relationships. Social stratification creates a hierarchy in society where groups have unequal access to resources, power, and social worth. It can take many forms like class, race, and gender, which overlap and influence life chances. There are functional and conflict theories for stratification - functionalism sees it as motivating productivity while conflict theory sees it as exploitation. Inequality in the U.S. is growing, with the wealthiest 1% controlling most wealth and CEO salaries far exceeding average incomes. Poverty disproportionately affects minorities and reasons for homelessness include unemployment, lack of affordable housing and support.

1. Stratification

2. What Is Stratification?
 Stratification refers to systematic inequalities
between groups of people that arise as intended or
unintended consequences of social processes and
relationships.
2

3. Social Stratification
 A relatively fixed, hierarchical arrangement in
society by which groups have different access to
resources, power, and perceived social worth.

4. Social Statification
 In a sports organization:
◦ Owners control the resources of the teams.
◦ Players earn high salaries, yet do not control
the team resources.
◦ Sponsors provide the resources.
◦ Fans provide revenue.

5. Diverse Sources of Stratification
 Race, class, and gender are overlapping systems
of stratification.
 Class position is manifested differently,
depending on race and gender.
 Example: A Black middle-class man who is
stopped by police when driving through a White
middle-class neighborhood may feel his racial
status is his most outstanding characteristic, but
his race, class, and gender always influence
his life chances.

6. Forms of Stratification
class
The
estate
The
caste
The
system is an
system is a system is a economically based
system of
politically based system of stratification
stratification with
system of stratification based on hereditary
somewhat loose
characterized by notions of religious
social mobility based
limited social and theological
on roles in the
mobility. purity and generally
production process
offers no prospects for
rather than individual
social mobility.
characteristics.
6

7. Functional and Conflict Theories of
Stratification
Inequality
Motivates people to fill
Functionalism positions that are needed
for the survival of the whole.
Results when those with the
Conflict Theory most resources exploit
others.

8. Functional and Conflict Theories of
Stratification
Class Structure
Differentiation is essential
Functionalism
for a cohesive society.
Different groups struggle
over resources and
Conflict Theory
compete for social
advantage.

9. Functional and Conflict Theories of
Stratification
Life chances
Those who work hardest
Functionalism and succeed have greater
life chances.
The most vital jobs in
Conflict Theory society are usually the least
rewarded.

10. Social Stratification
 Why Is There Inequality?
 The Class Structure of the United States
 Diverse Sources of Stratification
 Poverty

11. How Is America Stratified Today?
 The income gap between
high-income and low-
income individuals has
increased dramatically
over the last 30 years.
 One out of two people
are living in or heading to
poverty in the United
States
11

12. Inequality in the United States
 Nearly 1 in 6 children in the U.S.
live poverty:
◦ 30% of African American
children
◦ 29% of Hispanic children
◦ 12% of Asian American children
◦ 9.4% of White non-Hispanic
children

13. Inequality in the United States
 15% of the U.S. population has no health
insurance.
 The average cost of a day’s stay in the
hospital is $1, 217—two weeks’ pay for
the average worker

14. Inequality in the United States
 1% of the U.S. population controls 38% of the
total wealth in the nation.
 The bottom 20% owe more than they own.
 CEOs of major companies earn an average of
$13.1 million dollars per year.
 Workers earning the minimum wage make
$10,712 per year, if they work 40 hours a week
for 52 weeks per year and hold only one job.

15. Social Class in the U.S.
 Upper class
 Upper-middle class
 Middle class
 Lower-middle class
 Lower class
People Like Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8VXrH
eLqBA&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2dScTl
vOQ `

16. The Laddered Model of Stratification

17. The Double Diamond Model of Stratification

18. Median Income by Race and Household Status

19. Wealth and Income
 Wealth is the monetary value of
everything one owns, minus debt.
◦ It is calculated by adding all financial assets
and subtracting all debts.
 Income is the amount of money brought
into a household from various sources
during a given period.

20. Distribution of Wealth and Income
 The wealthiest 1% own 38% of all net
worth; the bottom 80% control only
17%.
 The top 1% also owns almost half of all
stock; the bottom 80% own only 4% of
total stock holdings.

21. The Tax Burden: For Whom?

22. Defining Social Mobility
 Social mobility is a person’s movement over
time from one class to another.
 Social mobility can be up or down, although the
American dream emphasizes upward
movement.
 Mobility can also be either intergenerational,
occurring between generations; or
intragenerational, occurring within a generation.

23. You May Ask Yourself, 2nd Edition
Table 7.1 Relative Social Prestige of Selected U.S. Occupations Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

24. Social Mobility
 Mobility is a collective effort that involves kin
and sometimes community.
 Upward Mobility
◦ People who are upwardly mobile are often
expected to distance themselves from their
origins.
 Downward Mobility
◦ As income distribution is becoming more
skewed toward the top, many in the middle
class are experiencing mobility downward.

25. Who are the Poor?
 In 2002, there were 34.6 million poor
people in the U.S.
 The poor:
◦ 31% of Native Americans
◦ 24% of African Americans
◦ 22% of Hispanics
◦ 10% of Asians and Pacific Islanders
◦ 10% of Whites
U.S. Poverty Rate Climbed To 15.1 Percent in
2011, Total Number Hit All-Time Record Total
Population - 312,000,000 – 47,000,00 in poverty

26. How do we compare to the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpKbO6O3O3M

27. The lines at the local food bank.

28. Who are the Homeless?
 A 2001 survey of 27 cities found that the
homeless population is:
◦ 50% African American
◦ 35% White
◦ 12% Hispanic
◦ 2% Native American
◦ 1% Asian

29. Who are the Homeless?
 Battered women
 Elderly
 Disabled
 Mentally Ill (20-25%)
 Veterans
 AIDS victims

30. What do you think are the Reasons
for Homelessness?
 Unemployment and/or eviction
 Reductions in federal support for
affordable housing
 Eroding work opportunities
 Inadequate housing for low-income
people

31. What do you think are the Reasons
for Homelessness
 Reductions in public assistance
 Inadequate health care
 Domestic violence
 Addiction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-
naXAOUslM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICx
3AfSlc-w&feature=related

32. Explanations of Poverty
 Culture of poverty - poverty is a way of
life that is transferred from generation to
generation.
 Structural causes of poverty - poverty
is caused by economic and social
transformations taking place in the U.S.

33. Arguments Against
“The Culture of Poverty”
 Fewer than 5% of the poor are chronically
poor.
 41% of the able-bodied poor work.
 The pattern of “welfare cycling” is
promoted by wages too low to support a
family.