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Criteria of Stratification
- Wealth: the accumulation of material resources or access to the means of producing these resources; can take different forms ($$$)
- Power: the ability to control reources in one's own interest; can use money to influence ppl- media, politics
- Prestige: social honor or respect within a society
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Egalitarian Societies
- Societies that recognize a few differences in status, wealth, or power
- Inequality is discouraged among foragers because they rely on one another for survival
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Rank Societies
- Societies in which people have unequal access to prestige and status but not unequal access to wealth and power
- Found in redistribution
- Kinship-based prestige
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Stratified Societies
- Societies characterized by considerable inequality in all forms of social rewards---pwr, wealth, prestige
- All complex societies
- Caste (ascribed social position, closed sys. of strat.) vs. Class (achieved social position, open sys. of strat.)
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Caste System in traditional India
- 4 Varnas:
- Brahmins (priests and scholars)
- Kshatriyas (warriors)
- Vaisyas (merchants)
- Shudras (cultivators and servants)
- (Untouchables (Dalits))
- Sanskritization: upward social mobility; dress like Brahmins, become vegetarian, move to urban areas
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Social Class in the United States
- Material basis of class: yacht, big house, fancy car
- Social classes as subcultures: determined by income
- Privileged class (CEO's) = 1%
- Upper middle class (professionals) = 14%
- Middle class (teachers) = 30%
- Working class (factory wrkrs) = 30%
- Working poor (service jobs) = 13%
- Under class (unemployed) = 12%
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Explaining social stratification
- The Functionalist Interpretation: soc. strat. exists b/c it contributes to the overall well-being of a society (teachers do a more important job than singers but are paid less)
- The Conflict Theory Interpretation: soc. strat. results from the constant struggle for scarce goods and sevices btwn the bourgeoisie(those who own the means of production) and the proletariat(the wrking class who exchange their labor for wages); by Karl marx; greed? (gov't may need to close gap btwn the haves and the have nots)
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Racism
- The belief that some races are superior to others.
- Race: no biological differences btwn races; race is not scientific
- IQ: intelligence as a mix of different faculties IQ test as culturally coded test; 1950's, Asian Americans scored the highest and African Americans scored the lowest
- Social Darwinism: ?
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Ethnicity
- Objective Aspect: the observable culture and shared symbols of a particular group (ex: head scarf; flag; language; food; clothing)
- Subjective Aspect: the internal beliefs of the people regarding their shared ancestry (ex: share a history; have an emotional attachment)
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Patterns of Ethnic Relations
- Pluralism: different ethnic groups co-exist (Little Italy)
- Assimilation: cultural assimilation (take up beliefs and behaviors of a more dominant group); biological assimilation (inter-racial marriage)
- Segregation: physical and social segregation (Jim Crow Laws)
- Ehtnic Cleansing: remove certain ethnic groups
- Genocide: the Holocaust- 6 mil; Yolanda- 5 mil
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Ethnic Relations in the USA
- 3 Tiers
- "Old Immigration" (1820-1880): Irish, Germans
- "New Immigration" (1880-WWI): Eastern Europeans(Jews), Italians
- The Newest Immigration (after the 1960's): all over, Latin America, Asians
- Multiculturalism: ?
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