01:920:101 Chap.5 Social Stratification and Class Inequality
Social Stratification and Class Inequality
Stratification is the ranking of groups so that some receive more of a society's rewards than others. The review sheet pairs it with structured inequalities to stress that the ranking is built into institutions and persists across generations. This is the longest block on the Exam 1 sheet, with terms that range from systems of stratification to specific anti-poverty policies.
The chapter begins with the systems themselves, slavery, caste and class, and the difference between ascribed status, assigned at birth, and achieved status, earned through action. It then separates the measures used to place people in a class: income, wealth and occupation. They rank people differently, which is why sociologists use several models of class, and life chances and social mobility follow from where people land.
Three theorists explain the pattern. Marx locates class in ownership of the means of production. Weber divides advantage into class, status and party. Bourdieu adds cultural and social capital to economic capital. The chapter then covers poverty: absolute and relative poverty, the official poverty line and the self-sufficiency standard, the minimum wage, and the 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit.
The recitation for this block gives each group a family profile and a price list and asks them to build a monthly budget and discuss how it would feel to live on. The full chapter works that exercise for Family Profile #1 step by step and shows what the result says about full-time work at minimum wage.
The stratification block is the longest on the Exam 1 review sheet, and several items are marked as needing specific numbers, such as how the United States compares with other developed countries on income inequality and poverty. Those figures come from the lecture slides, so add them to your notes document.
Many other items reward precise contrasts: ascribed versus achieved status, income versus wealth, absolute versus relative poverty, and the poverty line versus the self-sufficiency standard.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Systems of stratification: slavery, caste and class
- 02
Ascribed and achieved status, life chances and mobility
- 03
Income, wealth and occupation
- 04
Marx, Weber and Bourdieu on class
- 05
Poverty lines, self-sufficiency and the Child Tax Credit
- 06
Budgeting a family profile
Worked example · free
Pricing health cover for a four-person family
- 1Bronze premium: 4 × $90 = $360 a month.
- 2Silver premium: 4 × $150 = $600 a month, $240 more.
- 2Interpret: lower premium, higher share of costs if someone falls ill.
Key terms
- Ascribed status
- A social position assigned at birth or without choice, such as race, sex or family of origin.
- Relative poverty
- Falling far below the typical standard of living in one's own society, even if basic survival needs are met.
- Self-sufficiency standard
- An estimate of what a specific family type needs to cover basic costs in a specific place without public or private assistance.
- Life chances
- The opportunities a person has to improve their quality of life, shaped strongly by class position.
- Wealth
- The value of assets a person or household owns minus its debts, as distinct from income received over a period.
- Absolute poverty
- Lacking the basic resources needed for survival, such as adequate food, shelter and clothing.
- Social mobility
- Movement of individuals or groups between positions in a stratification system, upward or downward, within or across generations.
Social Stratification and Class Inequality FAQ
How is wealth different from income?
Income is money received over a period, such as wages. Wealth is what a household owns minus what it owes, such as a home or savings. Wealth is more unequal, earns returns and passes to children, so wealth gaps outlast income gaps.
What did Weber add to Marx's view of class?
Weber agreed that economic position matters but separated three dimensions: class, status or prestige, and party or political power. A person can rank high on one and low on another, so inequality is not purely economic.
What is the difference between absolute and relative poverty?
Absolute poverty means lacking the basic resources needed to survive, such as food and shelter. Relative poverty means falling far below the typical standard of living in one's own society, even when survival needs are met.
Exam move
Rework the Week 7 budget yourself with a different profile from the handout, then write two sentences linking the result to the poverty line and the self-sufficiency standard. Note which of the review-sheet items need exact figures and copy them from the slides.
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