1. Class and Stratification in
the U.S.
GS 138: Intro. to Sociology

2. Questions for you…
 How much is “social class” a factor in people‟s lives?
 How many social classes are there in the United
States?
 Is there still a “middle class,” given the economic
challenges of today?
 Can individuals change their social class location?

3. Common myths about social class
 There are 3 social classes.
Class is multi-dimensional, involving wealth, power, and prestige, dimensions
that are always changing.
• The amount of money you earn determines your social
class.
Some people don‟t earn money at all. Mitt Romney has a net worth of $200
million, yet did not work in 2010. (link)
 Your social class depends on your individual effort.
Not all societies, at all times, are 100% meritocratic (in other words, there
are no obstacles to mobility).

4. Social Stratification
Definition: “Hierarchy of social groups based on differential
control over resources”
In 3rd grade geology, you learned that the earth has multiple
layers. So does a society.

5. Social Class as Type of Stratification System

6. Slavery
 Five major examples of slave societies from history:
 ancient Greece
 Roman Empire
 United States
 Caribbean and Brazil.
 There are an estimated 27 million people held as
slaves worldwide.

7. Caste System
 Status is determined at birth based on parents‟
ascribed characteristics.
 Cultural values sustain caste systems and caste
systems grow weaker as societies industrialize.
 Vestiges of caste systems can remain for hundreds of
years after they are officially abolished.
 The American South prior to the 1960‟s has been
described as a unofficial caste system

8. The Class System
• A type of stratification based on the ownership and control of
resources and on the type of work people do.
• Horizontal mobility occurs when people experience a gain or
loss in position and/or income that does not produce a change
in their place in the class structure.
• Vertical mobility is movement up or down the class structure
is.
• Sociologists analyze class systems by observing „life chances‟
and socioeconomic statuses

9. Life Chances
 Access to resources such as
food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care.
 Affluent people have better life chances because they
have greater access to:
 quality education
 safe neighborhood
 nutrition and health care
 police protection

10. Socioeconomic Status (SES), Wealth, &
Income
 A combined measure that, in order to determine class
location, attempts to classify individuals, families, or
households in terms of factors such as income,
wealth occupation, and education.
 Income - wages, salaries, government aid, and
property
 Wealth - value of economic assets, including income
and property.

11. Measuring Social Class
AKA
Socioeconomic status
AKA
Social class

12. Measuring Class in the U.S.
Go to New York Times “Class Matters” Website
Let‟s analyze the class of several people:
-Barbara, a 43 year old social worker, holds a Master‟s
degree, earns $44,000 per year, and has $60,000 in
assets (banking accts., car, possessions in her house)
-Tim, a 25 year old construction worker, has a high school
diploma, earns $28,000 per year, has $4,000 in assets
-Mitt, a 55 year old venture capitalist, has a J.D. degree,
earns $3 million per year, has $2 billion dollars in assets
-Sandy, a 58 year old senior editor, has a Bachelor‟s
degree, and earns $70,000 per year

13. Measuring Class in the U.S. – Discussion
•What are the components of the socioeconomic status?
Why use the term socioeconomic status instead of social
class?
•Compare the life chances of any one of the 4 people in
the exercise. How would these life chances affect their
ability to:
•Send their children to college?
•Purchase a home?
•Leave an inheritance for their children?
•Rebound from the personal consequences of a
recession?

14. Stratification
EXAMPLES:
Upper-Upper Class:
Rockefeller Family
Lower-Upper Class: Oprah
Winfrey (worth only $2 billion)
Upper-Middle Class:
Physicians, Lawyers
Middle Class: Librarians
Working Class: Factory
workers
Working Poor: Fast Food
Employees
Underclass: Homeless, Long-
Term or Routinely Employed

15. Consequences of Social Class in the United
States
1. Physical Health
2. Mental Health
3. Family Life
Parents must approve choice of spouse in upper classes.
Field of “eligible” partners is narrow for upper classes.
Divorce more likely in lower classes.
Children in lower classes more likely to grow up in “broken” homes.
4. Cultural values
Tolerance and gratification – it is easy to be tolerant of others when they do not threaten
you… and it is easy to delay gratification when you know you will get what you want.
5. Politics
Wealthy people are involved in politics because they can see tangible results.
Wealthy are economically conservative but socially liberal.
Lower classes are economically liberal but socially conservative.
6. Religion
Class is correlated with denominational affiliation:
Upper and Middle classes: Episcopalian
Middle class: Methodist
Lower classes: Baptist

16. Pew Forum on
Religion and Public
Life 2009 Survey
Highlights:
•Over 4 in 10 Hindus
and Jews make over
$100,000
•Nearly half of
Jehovah‟s Witnesses
and Members of Black
Protestant churches
make less than $30,000
Why do you think that
evangelicals and Black
protestants make less
than Jews, Hindus, or
mainline protestants?

17. Defining Poverty
 Sociologists distinguish between absolute and
relative poverty.
 Absolute poverty exists when people do not have the
means to secure the most basic necessities of life.
 Relative poverty exists when people may be able to afford
basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an
average standard of living.

18. Official Poverty Line
• The federal income standard that is based on what is considered
to be the minimum amount of money required for living at a
subsistence level.
• “Minimally Nutritious Diet”
▫ Set in the early 1960s
▫ The amount of food necessary to keep a human alive.
• Since it is known how much of what type of food it takes to provide a minimally nutritious
diet, if we actually purchase that food we know how much it costs to feed a person.
• “Human Needs”
▫ Food
▫ Clothing
▫ Shelter
▫ If, as is STILL taught in high schools, we only need three equally valued things and we know
how much one of them costs, then simple math (i.e., food $ x 3) will produce an estimate of the
money necessary to attain those three things.

19. Feminization of Poverty
 The trend in which women are disproportionately
represented among individuals living in poverty.
 Women bear the major economic and emotional burdens
of raising children when they are single heads of
households but earn 70 and 80 cents for every dollar a
male worker earns.
 More women than men are unable to obtain regular, full-
time, employment.

20. Marx’s View of Stratification (Conflict)

21. The Conflict Perspective Exemplified

22. Discussion Questions
•In this video, who would be the proletariat? Who would be the
bourgeoisie?
•What would be the „means of production‟ at the Smithfield plant?
•Do you think that the owners of Smithfield enjoy the profits at the
expense of the workers?
•Marx stated that in capitalism, workers owned their labor and nothing
else.
•What threat might a union pose to Smithfield? Do they pose a threat to
capitalist order?

23. Weber’s Multidimensional Approach to
Social Stratification

24. Functionalist Perspective: Davis-Moore Thesis
1. Societies have tasks that must be accomplished and
positions that must be filled.
2. Some positions are more important for the survival of
society than others.
3. The most important positions must be filled by the most
qualified people.
4. The positions that are the most important for society
and that require scarce talent, extensive training, or
both must be the most highly rewarded.
5. The most highly rewarded positions should be those
that are functionally unique (no other position can
perform the same function) and on which other
positions rely for expertise, direction, or financing.

25. Testing the Davis-Moore Thesis
The Occupation Outlook Handbook, compiled by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, provides comprehensive
statistics on average earnings, educational requirements,
and years of on-the-job training for different occupations.
Let‟s visit the site and look up some occupations.
Librarians ($54,000-requires Master‟s degree)
Post-Secondary Instructors ($62,050-requires Masters or
PhD)
Mechanic ($34,000-requires H.S. diploma)
Animal Care & Service Workers-$19,000-no educational
requirements)
Firefighters ($45,000-requires H.S. diploma)

26. The „Functions‟ of Poverty According to Herbert
Gans
Taken from “The Positive Functions of Poverty” (1972)
•Poverty ensures that society's 'dirty work' •The poor help to keep the aristocracy busy
will get done. as providers of charity.
•subsidize a variety of economic activities•The poor, being powerless, can be made
that benefit the affluent. to absorb the costs of change and growth in
American society (e.g., 'urban renewal' vs.
•Poverty creates jobs for many occupations 'poor removal').
that serve the poor: police, gambling,
peacetime army, etc. •The poor facilitate and stabilize the
American political process because they
•The poor buy goods others do not want vote and participate less than other groups.
and thereby prolong their economic
usefulness. •The poor aid the upward mobility of groups
just above them in the class hierarchy
•The poor can be identified and punished
as alleged or real deviants to uphold the
legitimacy of conventional norms.

27. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
•Focuses on how people perceive their social
class and other social classes-several polls
suggest that 90% of Americans consider
themselves working class or middle class (Link)
•The study of relative poverty lends itself well to
the S-I perspective
•Example-The „War on Poverty‟ in the midst of the
rapidly growing economy of the 1960‟s
•Symbolic interactionists also study the nature
of interactions to detect ways in which members
of different class interact with one another
•Example-Servers in a country club

28. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
Data taken from a January 2012 survey at the Pew Research Center

29. Sociological Explanations of Social
Inequality in the U.S.
Functionalist Some social inequality is necessary for the
smooth functioning of society and thus is
inevitable.
Conflict Powerful individuals and groups use
ideology to maintain their favored
positions in society at the expense of
others. Wealth is not necessary in order to
motivate people.
Symbolic The beliefs and actions of people reflect
interactionist their class location in society.

30. U.S. Stratification in the Future
 Many social scientists believe that trends point to an
increase in social inequality in the U.S.:
 The purchasing power of the dollar has stagnated or
declined since the early 1970s.
 Wealth continues to become more concentrated at the top
of the U.S. class structure.
 Federal tax laws in recent years have benefited
corporations and wealthy families at the expense of middle
and lower-income families.
 Disappearance of middle-income jobs („bifurcated labor
market‟)

31. Income Share of Top 1%

32. Income Share of Top 0.1%

33. “The Sound of Inequality”

34. Quick Quiz
True or False?
1. The conflict perspective analyzes people‟s subjective perceptions of
their social standing?
2. The poverty level in the U.S. is determined by the cost of a
minimally adequate diet multiplied by 3. Anyone earning below that
amount is considered poor.
3. Social stratification is synonymous with social class.
4. Socioeconomic status is a more precise definition of social ranks
than social class.
5. Karl Marx measured class by three factors: wealth, power, and
prestige.
6. It is possible to be wealthy and lack prestige OR to hold a
prestigious rank in society but have little wealth.