CHAPTER 7:  SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
 
 SOciety is organized around a HIERARCHY of status and reward systems
 based on this.
 
 STRATIFICATION: Ranking of some individuals and groups as more
 deserving than others.
 
 SOCIAL HIERARCHY: A set of RANKED STATUSES
 
 POWER: The ability to impose one's will
 
 INFLUENCE: The ability to persuade others to follow
 
    a) STATUS: The ranking of a person (social position in society)
         1) Ascribed
         2) Achieved
         3) Status group (From WEBER--refers to people who
            share same prestige or lifestyle independent of
            of class position (eg, wealth, income, ed)
         4) Situs (age, race) ascribed status characteristics
 
    b) Prestige: Resect with which in occupation or quality
                 is valued by society
 
 POINT: YOU CAN HAVE LOW PRESTIGE (JANITOR) BUT HAVE HIGH STATUS
 (LEADER IN COMMUNITY, son/daughter of president)
 
 POINT: Status, prestige, etc, all all characteristics that shape
 social existence.
 
 STRATIFICATION not only RANKS people, but is a way of distributing
 resources (jobs, life chance, credibility, etc), and this creates a
 "ladder" of rewards.
 
 EXAMPLES:
    a) Imitation (following "high status" people" (jay-walking)
    b) POWER: Ability to exercise our will over others
             (give examples)
 
 POINT:  STRATIFICATION CAN CAUSE CONFLICT, CREATE SOCIAL TENSIONS,
 ETC; It is often the basis of behavior (fussell, etc), and shapes
 political, economic activity (elections, revoutions)
 
 IS STRAT INEVITABLE?
 
 In developed societies, probably.
 
 POINT IS A) HOW DOES IT WORK, B) IS IT "EQUITABLE" (INTRODUCE "EQUALI
         ---
 
 1.  FUNCTIONALIST VIEW:  It is useful---helps organize and reproduce
 society---motivation, etc
 
 2. CONFLICT THEORISTS: Maybe yes, maybe no! (what does schaefer
 say)--Key here is the EQUALITY ISSUE---built-in rules make some people
 are more-likely winners than others---it is the RULES and how they operate
 rather than the actual existence of stratifiction (ie, society may be
 structured or organized in a way that some will more likely loose, and
 this should be opposed).

3. Marx (See Handout)

HOW DO WE MEASURE STRATIFIATION?
 
 A. SOcial class:
    OBJECTIVE METHOD:--a statistical category
     1. Prestige (see above)
     2. Esteem--Reputation of a specific person WITHIN
        a category or occupation
       (drs, college teachers, lawyers, dentists, etc---from
       1982 norc survey)---low include janitor, ushers, shoeshiners
 
   REPUTATINAL METHOD: View class as SOCIAL catgory--evaluation of
 observers--"judging" etc--p/o observation,
 interviews, etc
 
 SUJECTIVE METHOD: people locate themselves (rather than have it done)
 
 DISCUSS MORE ON IMPORTANCE HERE:
   a) Carry it with us---part of our identity
   b) Social "fact"--shapes how others treat us (how?)
   c) Shapes the kinds of rewards we receive (going to
      college, socialization, even IQ)
 
 SOCIAL MOBILITY:
 Moving from one status to another, or from one stratum to another.
 
 OPEN SYSTEM/CLOSE SYSTEMS (give examples)
 
    a) Intergeneratinal (kids/parents)
    b) Intra-generational (within our own life)
    c) Structural (stratum) mobility---defs may
       change, as may some occupations (name some)
 
 CULTURAL IMPORTANCE:
    a) Helps understand our cultural values
    b) Gives insights into how we're organized
    c) Helps compare with other cultures
    d) Can make "value statements" about our "freedom"
       or level of democracy.
 
 POLICY ISSUES:
 
 1.  How we reward people
 
 2. How we treat (taxes, benefits, advantages (aff. action)
 
 3. How we change problems
    a) Welfare vs. private sector
       (ie, poverty issue)
    b) Political power/powerlessness
       (do lawyers have more relative power?)

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