Social Class - National Paralegal College

Essentials of Sociology 9th Edition

Chapter 8: Social Class

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Chapter Overview 

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Components of Social Class

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Poverty Line

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Who Are the Poor?

Sociological Models of Social Class  Consequences of Social Class

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Dynamics of Poverty Why Are People Poor?

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What is Social Class? Social Class A large group of people who rank closely to one another in wealth, power, and prestige.

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Components of Social Class Wealth – Value of a Person’s Assets Wealth consists of property and income Wealth and income not necessarily the

same

Power – ability to get your way despite resistance

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Components of Social Class Prestige – respect given to one’s occupation Jobs that have greater levels of prestige: 1. Generally pay more 2. Entail more abstract thought 3. Require more education 4. Have greater autonomy

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Figure 8.1 Distribution of the Property of Americans Source: By the author. Based on Beeghley 2008.

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Status Consistency and Status Inconsistency Status Consistency: when a person has the same levels of wealth, power, and prestige they are status consistent Status Inconsistency: when a person ranks higher on one level of social class and low on another level they are status inconsistent People who are status inconsistent are more likely to be politically active

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Sociological Models of Social Class 

Updating Marx: Marx argued that there just two classescapitalists and workers.

Figure 8.4 Marx’s Model of the Social Classes Source: By the author.

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Sociological Models of Social Class Sociologist Erik Wright suggests that some people are members of more than one class at the same time. They occupy what he calls contradictory class locations.  i.e. Mechanic-turned-business owner Wright identified 4 classes: 1) Capitalists 2) Petty Bourgeoisie 3) Managers 4) Workers Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Sociological Models of Social Class Gilbert and Kahl-Updated Weber’s model  Capitalist Class  The Upper Middle Class  The Lower Middle Class  The Working Class  The Working Poor  The Underclass

 Social Class in the Automobile Industry Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Figure 8.5 The U.S. Social Class Ladder Source: By the author. Based on Gilbert and Kahl 1998 and Gilbert 2008; income estimates are modified from Duff 1995.

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Consequences of Social Class  Family Life  Choice of Husband or Wife  Divorce  Child Rearing

 Education  Religion  Politics  Mental Health  Physical Health

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Three Types of Social Mobility 1. Intergenerational Mobility - a change that occurs between generations – can be either upward or downward

2. Structural Mobility – a change in the social structure that causes a large number of people to move either up or down the social class ladder 3. Exchange Mobility – a change in the social structure that causes a larger number of people to move up and down the social class ladder at the same Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 time Social Class in the United States

The Poverty Line  The government figures out the poverty line by taking a low cost food budget and multiplying it by 3.  This poverty line was created in 1965.  It does take into account family size and cost of living.  This line has been criticized for being too low, many think it should be increased by 50 %.

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Who are the poor? Geography: There is a clustering of poverty in the South. The rate of rural poverty (16 %) is higher than the national average of 13 %. Race Ethnicity: 9 % of whites are poor, followed by Asian Americans at 11 %. The rate of poverty among Latinos is 21 % and among African Americans it is 25%. Overall, 41 % of all of the poor are whites (largest group in the U.S.). Education: Only 3 out of 100 people who finish college end up poor. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Who are the poor?  The biggest subgroup living in poverty in the U.S. are children  The group least likely to live in poverty are the elderly  Feminization of Poverty – the association of poverty with women, especially single parent households headed by women  The more education a person has, the least likely they are to live in poverty  42 % of the poor live in the inner cities Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Figure 8.9 Births to Single Mothers Note: Based on a sample of all U.S. births in the preceding 12 months. Source: Dye 2005.

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Figure 8.7 Patterns of Poverty Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009:Table 687.

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Dynamics of Poverty  Culture of Poverty  Most Poverty is short-lived – people are constantly moving in and out of poverty  Number of Poor Relatively Stable

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Why are people poor? Two competing points of view: 1) Social Structure – the components of the social structure play a strong contributing factor in the poverty rate 2) Characteristics of Individuals – people are poor because of their own attitudes

Sociologists tend to focus on components in the social structure to explain poverty

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Welfare Reform The U.S. welfare system was restructured in 1996. The maximum length of tie that someone can collect welfare is now 5 years. This has caused some controversy. Welfare rolls plummeted, dropping by 60 %. 3 out of 5 are still in poverty or back on welfare after coming off out of the system.

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