Structured Inequality (Ch. 7)

Question 1

institutionalized inequality

Answer 1

determined by distribution of scarce resources (anything people want that isn’t abundant enough for everyone to have as much as they want -> income/wealth, prestige, power)

Question 2

What does the fact that 1/2 of global wealth is held by top 1% of people indicate?

Answer 2

Inequality/disparity is increasing

Question 3

significance of structured inequality

Answer 3

• inequality determines life chances -> access to power and resources to control life (ie. going to university) - lack of resources = vulnerability (ie. chronic illness, victimization, etc.) - more equal society -> less social/health problems

Question 4

absolute poverty

Answer 4

lack basic necessities of life (clothing, food, shelter)

Question 5

relative poverty

Answer 5

poor compared to average Canadian

Question 6

3 measures of poverty

Answer 6

• low-income cut-off - market-basket measure - low-income measure

Question 7

LICO (low-income cut-off)

Answer 7

spending over 55% of salary on food and shelter

Question 8

Market-basket measure

Answer 8

based on purchases of food

Question 9

LIM (low-income measure)

Answer 9

fixed percentage of average household income

Question 10

who are the poor?

Answer 10

• well-educated and underemployed -> “working poor” -> 1/3 work full or part time, but work minimum wage labour - 20% of recent uni grads earn 1/2 of average salary - women, aboriginals, people with disabilities, etc. at higher risk for poverty

Question 11

liberal ideology

Answer 11

• fairness - equal opportunity -> everyone gets a chance -> winners and losers are self-made - supports capitalism

Question 12

meritocracy

Answer 12

society where advancement is based on individual achievement

Question 13

social mobility

Answer 13

since the 70’s, wealth Canadian families saw income increase, middle class income stayed the same, and the lowest 20% of families saw income decrease

Question 14

achieved status

Answer 14

• occupation: jobs that require extensive training and have higher income - schooling, which affects occupation and income -> prepares you for work - influenced by ascribed status

Question 15

ascribed status

Answer 15

• ancestry: social standing of family you’re born into

Question 16

occupational mobility

Answer 16

only exists in middle of hierarchy, very rare to go “from rags to riches” and move from bottom of hierarchy to top

Question 17

education and economic inequality

Answer 17

• liberal ideology: stay in school, get a degree, you’ll be rewarded with a good job - fact: regardless of education, racialized people are still more likely to have lower-paying jobs, work less hours, or get paid less for same work

Question 18

gender and economic inequality

Answer 18

women get paid less -> “women’s work” jobs like teachers, nurses, etc. are underpaid as well

Question 19

power and economic inequality

Answer 19

power is source of wealth, occupation, schooling, etc.

Question 20

how change theorists react to economic inequality

Answer 20

• advocate for equality of opportunity (same life chances for everyone) - this isn’t possible in a capitalist society though, because those with greater wealth/power control competition between people, born into privilege or not

Question 21

why is there economic inequality?

Answer 21

• designed into structure of capitalism -> scarcity of work promotes competition and weakens class solidarity - surplus population of unemployed workers will accept cheaper wages - class system uses meritocracy to control who has access to middle class

Question 22

criminalizing poverty

Answer 22

people in poverty aren’t contributing to capitalism, so they are criminalized (ie. squeegee kids, homeless people)