Sociology

the ranking of ppl into defined layers. exists in all societies and is based on things like wealth, race, and gender

social system in which the greater the funtional importance of the job, the more rewards it brings in salary, perks, power, and prestige

a fixed and permanent stratification system to which one is assigned at birth

a fixed and permanent social structure based on mutual obligation, in which peasants worked the estates belonging to a small group of feudal lords, who fed and protected them. a peasant's only avenue to social advancement was to enter a convent or monastery

a group of ppl sharing the same social position in society. class is based on income, power, and prestige

the movement from one class to another, it can occur in two forms

your parents are working class, but you became lower, or your parents are middle class, but you became upper class

you move from working to lower or from middle to upper class, all w/in your lifetime

system of stratification in which ppl are ranked according to their economic position

upper class capitalists (Marx)

lower class (Marx)

the amt of honor, respect or deference accorded to social roles or statuses

one's socially defined position in a group; it is often characterized by certain expectations and rights

the degree of status accorded to an occupation

the ability to extract compliance despite resistance or the ability to get others to do what you want them to do, regardless of their own desires

your social connections, your taste in art, your ascribed and attained statuses, and more. b/c there are so many components, sociologists today tend to prefer the concept of this to that of social class, to emphasize that ppl are ranked through the intermingling of many factors, economic, social, political, cultural, and community

a person's abilities to have access to material goods (food and shelter) and social resources (health care, education) that together control the quality of life

4% of the US population who has no income, connection to job market, little education, inadequate nutrition, no possibility of social mobility.

a global problem that afflicts half the world's pop, the term for ppl who are so poor they do not have the ability to sustain their lives and lack the most basic necessities like food and shelter

a measure of the extent to which a household's financial resources fall below an average income threshold for that economy

estimated minimum income required to pay for food, shelter, and clothing. anyone falling below this income is categorized as poor.

a worldwide phenomenon that also afflicts US women, this term describes women's over-representation among the world's poor and tendency to be in worse economic straits than men in any given nation or population

Oscar Lewis's theory that poverty is not a result of individual inadequacies but larger social and cultural factors. the poor are taught from childhood that there is no hope for them to move up, so they have no motivation to move up, and then teach their children they can't move up.

a general upward trend of the entire society. structural mobility means that the entire society got wealthier, as occurred in post-WWII America

systematic differences in wealth and power among countries, often involving exploitation of the less powerful by the more powerful countries

WW Rostow's theory focusing on the conditions secessary for a low-income country to develop economically. Arguing that a nation's poverty is largely due to the cultural failings of its ppl, Rostrow believed poor countries could develop economically only if they give up their "backward" way of life and adopt modern Western economic institutions, technologies, and cultural values that emphasize savings and productive investment

theory of poverty that focuses on the unequal relationship between wealthy countries and poor countries, arguing that poverty is caused by policies and practices by the rich that block economic growth of poor countries and exploit workers

a political-economic system under which powerful countries establish, for their own profit, rule over weaker ppl or countries and exploit them for natural resources and cheap labor

large, international companies that manage production and/or deliver services in more than one country at once. they have a powerful influence in the local economies of the countries in which they operate, and in the global economy

Immanuel Wallerstein's theory that the interconnectedness of the world system began in the 1500's, when Europeans began their economic and political domination of the rest of the world. Because capitalism depends on generating the maximum profits for the minimum of expenditures, the world system continues to benefit rich countries (which acquire the profits) and harm the rest of the world (by minimizing local expenditures and therefore perpetuating poverty)

worldwide network of labor and production processes, consisting of all pivotal production activities that form a tightly interlocked "chain" from raw materials to finished product to retail outlet to consumer. the most profitable activities in the commodity chain (engineering, design, advertising) are likely to be done in core countries, while the least profitable activities (mining or growing the raw materials, factory production) are likely to be done in peripheral countries