Natural parts of a capitalist economy?
- income gap is trapping the lowest-paid workers in poverty.
- importance of the gap in wages: they worked hard
Slum
Gecekondu
Social stratification
a system in which groups of people are
divided into layers according to their relative property, power, and prestige.
four major systems of social stratification
- slavery
- caste
- estate
- class
Slavery
a form of social stratification in
which some people own other
people
- Slavery was not necessarily inheritable
- Slaves were not necessarily powerless and poor. But mostly they were
- Enslavement of children for work and sex is a problem in Africa, Asia, and South America
Bonded labor (indentured
service)
a contractual system in which someone sells his or her body (services) for a specified period of time in an arrangement very close to slavery, except that it is entered into voluntarily
Caste
- birth determines status, which is lifelong.
- ascribed status not achieved status
Endogamy
the practice of marrying within one’s own group
Apartheid
the enforced separation of racial–ethnic groups as was practiced in South Africa
Estate stratification system
the stratification system of medieval Europe, consisting of three groups or estates: the nobility, clergy, and commoners
Clergy
individuals who have been authorized or certified by a religious community to perform religious duties such as presiding over ceremonies and providing spiritual guidance
Class system
a form of social stratification based primarily on the possession of money or material possessions
Social mobility
movement up or down the social class ladder
What determines social class? (Karl Marx)
The Means of Production
the tools, factories, land, and
investment capital used to
produce wealth
the only distinction that counted was property
Bourgeoisie
Marx’s term for capitalists, those
who own the means of production
Proletariat
Marx’s term for the exploited class(sömürülmüş kesim),
the mass of workers who do not own the means of production
Class consciousness
Marx’s term for awareness of a common identity based on one’s position in the means of production
False class consciousness
Marx’s term to refer to workers identifying with the interests of capitalists
Infrastucture
the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies)
Superstructure
a structure built on top of something else
the part of a building above its foundations
What determines social class? (Max Weber)
Property, Power, and Prestige are interrelated
Property: ownership is not the only significant aspect of property. Managers.
Power, the second element of social class, is the ability to control others, even over their objections.
Prestige can be based on other factors.
Why is social stratification universal? (The Functionalist View)
Functionalists argue that some positions are more important to society than others. Offering higher rewards for these positions motivates more talented people to take them.
Davis and Moore’s Explanation
Stratification of society is inevitable because:
1.Society must make certain that its positions are filled.
2.Some positions are more important than others.
3.The more important positions must be filled by the more qualified people.
4.To motivate the more qualified people to fill these positions, society must offer them
greater rewards.
Tumin’s critique of Davis and Moore
1- how do we know that the positions that offer the higher rewards are more
important?: surgeon or garbage collector (paper/recycle collector?)
2- if stratification worked as it, society would be a meritocracy (positions would be awarded on the basis of merit)
3- If social stratification is so functional, it should benefit almost everyone.
-stratification is dysfunctional for many
Why is social stratification universal? (The Conflict Perspective)
Class Conflict and Scarce Resources
Conflict theorists stress that in every society groups struggle with one another to gain a larger share of their society’s resources. Whenever a group gains power, it uses that power to extract what it can from the groups beneath it. This elite group also uses the social institutions to keep itself in power.
