Chapter 7- Global Stratification

StudyBlue printing of Chapter 7- Global Stratification html, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre, a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code, del, dfn, em, font, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp, small, strike, strong, sub, sup, tt, var, b, u, i, center, fieldset, form, label, legend, table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td { margin: 0; padding: 0; border: 0; outline: 0; font-size: 100%; background: transparent; } body { line-height: 1; } blockquote, q { quotes: none; } blockquote:before, blockquote:after, q:before, q:after { content: ''; content: none; } /* remember to define focus styles! */ :focus { outline: 0; } /* remember to highlight inserts somehow! */ ins { text-decoration: none; } del { text-decoration: line-through; } /* tables still need 'cellspacing="0"' in the markup */ table { border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0; } /* end RESET */ .header { min-width:800px; } .logo { padding:6px 20px 2px 20px; margin:0; font-size:25px; font-weight:bold; color:#808285; position:relative; border-bottom: 1px solid #c5c5c5; } .logo-blue { color:#70adc4; } .logo-desc { font-weight:normal; font-size:19px; color:#cccccc; margin-top:50px; position:absolute; display: none; } .back-button { position:absolute; top:20px; right:20px; font-size:13px; line-height:25px; color:rgb(0,175,225); font-weight:normal; } .back-button a { color:rgb(0,175,225); } .instructions { padding:0; margin:0; width:100%; position:relative; color:rgb(100,100,100); } .step-holder { border-left:1px solid #ededed; margin-left:20px; } .steps { padding:15px 0; float:left; width:24%; border-right:1px solid #ededed; text-align:center; } .steps-01 { } .steps-02 { } .steps-03 { } .steps-04 { } .label { padding:5px 10px; } .print-button { } .print-button a { background-color:rgb(0,175,225); color:white; line-height: 19px; padding:9px 8px 5px 30px; font-size:14px; text-decoration:none; background-image: url(images/printer.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 7px 50%; -moz-border-radius: 5px; -webkit-border-radius: 5px; } .print-button a:hover { background-color:black; } .theNote .content { width: 8.0in !important; margin: 5px auto; padding:20px; background-color:white; } .theNote .header { border-bottom: 1px dashed #C8C8C8; font-size: 17px; padding: 0 0 10px; line-height: 19px; color: #00ADE1; min-width:500px; } .theNote .body { font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 10px 0; } .theNote{ padding:6px 0; clear:both; background-color: rgb(200,200,200); } .theNote h3{ color: rgb(100,100,100); } .theNote h1, .theNote h3{ background-color:white; padding:2px 20px; width:8.0in !important; margin: 0 auto; font-size: 15px; } .theNote h1{ padding-top: 10px; font-size: 15px; } .theNote h1:first-child{ font-size: 20px; } .theNote h3 { font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; } #options { border: 3px double #ccc; padding: 5px 12px; margin: 10px 50px 10px 20px; float: left; } #info { border-top: 1px solid #ccc; padding-top: 5px; font-style: italic; } li { margin: 5px 10px 5px 25px; } ul li { list-style: disc; } ol li { list-style: decimal; } img { border: 0; } table { clear: both; width: 100%; border: 1px solid #c5c5c5; border-width: 1px 0; margin: 0; page-break-after: always; } table#page { page-break-after: auto; } td { text-align: center; font-size: 12px; border-bottom: 1px dashed #c5c5c5; height: 1.75in; width: 50%; padding-left: 15px; } .leftside { border-right: 1px solid #cccccc; padding: 0 15px 0 0; } .bottom td { border-bottom: none; } .clearfix { clear:both; line-height:1px; height:1px; } img { max-width:80%; max-height:150px; margin:20px; } @media print {.header { display: none; } .content .header{ display:inherit; } table { border: 1px dashed #bbb; border-width: 1px 0; } .theNote{ background-color:white; } } Chapter 7 Social Stratification - division of nations as well as the layering of groups of people within a nation; it profoundly affects our life chances from our access to material possessions to the age at which we die; also affects the way we think about life- it brings with it ideas of what we can expect out of life; a system in which groups of people are divided into layers according to their relative property, power, and prestige; it does not refer to individuals- it is a way of ranking large groups of people into a hierarchy according to their relative privileges; applies to both nations and to people within a nation, society, or other group Every society stratifies its members. Some societies have greater inequality than others, but social stratification is universal. In every society of the world, gender is a basis for stratifying people. On the basis of their gender, people are either allowed or denied access to the good things offered by their society. Three major systems of social stratification: Slavery, caste, and class Slavery - essential characteristic is that some individuals own other people Slavery was most widespread in agricultural societies and least common among nomads, especially hunters and gathers Causes: Contrary to popular assumption, slavery was not based on racism but three other factors. One- DEBT - in some societies, creditors would enslave people who could not pay their debts. Two- CRIME - instead of being killed, a murderer or thief might be enslaved by the victim's family as compensation for their loss. Three- WAR - when one group of people conquered another, they often enslaved some of the vanquished. Women were the first people enslaved through warfare (they were valued for sexual purposes, reproduction, and their labor)~ Slavery was not a sign that the slave was viewed as inherently inferior Conditions: In some places, slavery was temporary . In most instances, slavery was a lifelong condition . Slavery was not necessarily inheritable . The children of slaves could be adopted by the family. Slaves were not necessarily powerless and poor . (This was rare) Colonists turned to enslaving Africans in the New World. Some analysts conclude that slavery led to racism and not vice versa. Colonists viewed their slaves as inferior. They wove elaborate justifications for slavery, built on the presumed superiority of their own group. Ideology - beliefs that justify social arrangements; leads to a perception of the world that makes current social arrangements seem necessary and fair. Although officially abolished, slavery in this region continues. Caste System - status is determined by birth and is lifelong; built on ascribed status, achieved status cannot change an individual's place in this system; societies with this form of stratification try to make certain that the boundaries between castes remain firm; they practice endogamy -marriage within their own group; and prohibit intermarriage; ritual pollution-touching an inferior caste contaminates the superios caste-keeping contact between castes to a minimum India's Religious Castes: not based on race but on religion; devided into four main castes that are then divided into jati (subcastes); each jati specializes in a particular occupation: The four castes are: BRAHMAN - priests and teachers, KSHATRIYA - rulers and soldiers, VAISHYA - merchants and traders, SHUDRA - peasants and laborers, DALIT (UNTOUCHABLES) - the outcastes; degrading or polluting labor; anyone who touches a dalit becomes contaminated and must follow ablution -washing rituals, to restore purity When slavery was ended in the US, it was replaced by a racial caste system; All whites considered themselves to have a higher status than all African Americans. Class System - based primarily on money or material possessions, which can be acquired (much more open than slavery and caste); goes into effect at birth when children are ascribed the status of their parents, but individuals can change their social class by what they achieve in life; no laws specify people's occupations on the basis of birth or prohibit marriage between the classes A major characteristic is its relatively fluid boundaries Social Mobility - movement up or down the class ladder In every society of the world, gender is a basis for social stratification. In no society is gender the sole basis for stratifying people, but gender cuts across all systems of social stratification. In every society of the world men's earnings are higher than women's. Of the several hundred million adults who cannot read, about 2/3 are women. Global superclass- wealth and power are more concentrated than ever before; the growing interconnections among the world's wealthiest people have produced this; There are only about 6,000 members of this class- the richest 1,000 of them have more wealth than the 2 1/2 billion poorest people on this planet. Almost all of them are white and few women are an active part of this superclass. (The wealthiest 10% of adults worldwide own 85% of the earth's wealth. The wealthiest 1% of adults worldwide own 40% of the earth's wealth). Karl Marx: The Means of Production He concluded that social class depends only on people's relationship to the means of production - the tools, factories, land and investment capital used to produce wealth Argued that the distinctions people often make among themselves are superficial matters Bourgeoisie - capitalists; those who own the means of production Proletariat - workers; those who work for the owners People's relationship to the means of production determines their social class He recognized other groups: farmers and peasants, a lumpenproletariat (people living on the margin of society, such as beggars, vagrants, and criminals), and a middle group of self-employed professionals. Class Consciousness - awareness of a shared identity based on their position in the means of production False Class Consciousness - workers mistakenly thinking of themselves as capitalists Max Weber: Property, Power, and Prestige Social class has three components: property, power and prestige (the Three P's of social class) Weber used the terms class, power, and status but sociologists find the three p's to be more clear (you could substitute wealth for property) Property- ownership is not the only significant aspect of property; some control the means of production without owning them Power-the ability to control others, even their objections; prestige can be turned into power (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan) Prestige- often derived from property and power, for people tend to admire the wealthy and powerful; some are able to exchange their prestige for property For Marx, the only distinction that counted was property, more specifically people's relationship to the means of production. Whether we are owners or workers decides everything else, for this determines our lifestyle and shapes our orientation to life. Social stratification is universal The Functionalist View: Motivating Qualified People The patterns of behavior that characterize a socity exist because they are functional for society. Because social inequality is universal, inequality must help societies survive. 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- many sociologists feel that their explanation comes close to justifying the inequalities in society; the bottom line seems to be, The people who contribute more to society are paid more, while those who contribute less are paid less; Tumin's three arguments: (1) How do we know that the positions that offer the higher rewards are more important? We need independent methods of measuring importance, and we don't have them. (2) If stratification worked the way they described it, society would be a meritocracy - positions would be awarded on the basis of merit; people's positions in society are based on many factors other than merit. (3) If social stratification is so functional, it ought to benefit almost everyone. Yet social stratification is dysfunctional for many. The Conflict Perspective: Class Conflict and Scarce Resources Conflict, not function, is the reason that we have social stratification. Mosca's Argument- (wrote The Ruling Class ) argued that every society will be stratified by power because: (1) no society can exist unless it is organized. This requires leadership of some sort in order to coordinate people's actions. (2) Leadership (or political organization) requires ineqaulities of power. By definition, some people take leadership positions, while others follow. (3) Because human nature is self-centered, people in power will use their positions to seize greater rewards for themselves. Marx's Argument- He would argue that the people in power are not there because of superior traits, as the functionalists would have us to believe. This view is an ideology that members of the elite use to justify their being at the top- and to seduce the oppressed into believing that their welfare depends on keeping quiet and following authorities like sheep. All of human history is an account of small groups of people in power using society's resources to benefit themselves and to oppress those beneath them- and of oppressed groups trying to overcome that oppression. Current Applications of Conflict Theory- In analyzing global stratification and global capitalism, they look at power relations among nations, how national elites control workers, and how power shifts as capital is shuffled among nations. Other conflict sociologists examine conflict wherever it is found, not just as it relates to capitalists and workers. They examine how groups within the same class compete with one another. A special focus has been conflict between racial-ethnic groups as they compete for education, housing, and even prestige- whatever benefits society has to offer. Another focus has been relations between women and men, which conflict theorists say are best understood as a conflict over power- over who controls society's resources. THE FUNCTIONALIST VIEW: Highest resources go to those who perform the most important functions (the most capable and most industrious), lowest resources go to those who perform the least imporant functions and the source of rewards are given to motivate people to sacrifice present rewards for future gains. THE CONFLICT VIEW: Highest resouces go to those who occupy the most powerful positions (in society or in an organization) the lowest resources go to those who occupy the least powerful positions, and sources of rewards are seized by those who gain power (and distributed by them to maintain their power) Lenski's Synthesis- He thought that functionalist and conflict theorists could reconcile their views by surplus ; functionalists are right when it comes to groups that don't accumulate a surplus (hunting and gathering societies), these societies give a greater share of their resources to those who take on important tasks (warriors); it is different in societies that accumulate surpluses- in these, groups fighter over the surplus, and the group that wins becomes an elite that rules from the top controlling the group below it. In the resulting system of social stratification, where you are born in that society, not personal merit, becomes important. 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, it uses that power to extract what it can from the groups beneath it. The elite group uses social institutions to keep itself in power. To maintain social stratification, other than using force, the key is to control people's ideas, information, and technology. Soft Control versus Force- Medieval Europe was a good example of the power of ideology; Divine Right of Kings - idea that the king's authority comes directly from God; in an interesting gender bender, also applies to queens; the elite in every society develops ideologies to justify its position at the topl to the degree that their ideologies are accepted by the masses, the elite remains securely in power Elites try to stifle criticism and control information; lacking such power, the ruling elites of democracy rely on convert means; US presidents withhold information "in the interest of national security" Big Brother Technology- new technology allows the elite to monitor citizens without anyone knowing they are being watched; "Tiny Brothers-" security cameras; new technology makes it more difficult for elites to control information; PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and zFone In a dictatorship, the elite makes the laws. In a democracy, the elite influences the laws. Most power elites prefer to keep themselves in power by peaceful means. Comparative Social Stratification Social Stratification in Great Britain Great Britain has a class system that can be divded into a lower, a middle, and an upper class. Population is about evenly divided between the middle and lower; about 1% is the upper class Very class conscious Characteristics of the British class system are language and education (accent has a powerful impact on British life); accent almost always betrays class; education is the primary way by which the British perpetuate their class system from one generation to the next. Richest 5% own the nation's wealth and send their children to boarding schools (which they call public schools) Social Stratification in the Former Soviet Union Lenin and Trotsky led a revolution in Russia in 1917 Socialism- intermediate step between capitalism and communism, in which social classes are abolished but some inequality remains Their major basis of stratification was membership in the Communist party. The party itself was highly stratified. When Russia's transition to capitalism took a bizarre twist, a powerful Mafia group emerged. The world's nations are stratified too. They used to be stratified in the three worlds. The First World referred to the industrialized capitalist nations, the Second World to the communist (or socialist) countries, and the Third World to any nation that did not fit into the first two categories. The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989 made these terms outdated. People now refer to them as developed, developing, and underdeveloped nations but these seem as though placing maturity on the developed nations and labeling the underdeveloped as retarded. To make these terms more neutral they can be called Most Industrialized, Industrializing, and Least Industrialized nations. The intention is to depict on a global level the three primary divisions of social stratification: property, power, and prestige. The most industrialized nations have much greater property (wealth), power (they usually get their way in international relations), and prestige (they are looked up to as world leaders). The Most Industrialized Nations: the US and Canada in North America; Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the other industrialized countried of western Europe; Japan in Asia; and Australia and New Zealand in the are of the world known as Oceania. These nations are capitalistic. These nations have 16% of the world's people, and 31% of the earth's land. The Industrializing Nations: include most of the nations of the former Soviet Union and its former satellites in eastern Europe. These nations account for 20% of the earth's land and 16% of its people. Most people in these nations have much lower incomes and standards of living than do those who live in the most industrialized Nations. The majority are better off than those who live in the least industrialized nations. Stratification affects even life expectancy. The Least Industrialized Nations: most people live on small farms or in villages, have large families, and barely survive, they account for 68% of the world's people but only 49% of the earth's land; poverty is rampant and people live in the city dumps; most people in the least industrizalied nations are poor; most of the world's population growth occurs in these nations, placing even greater burdens on their limited resources and causing them to fall farther behind each year. Three theories explain how global stratification came about Colonialism - stresses that the countries that industrialized first got the jump on the rest of the world; the process by which one nation takes over another nation, usually for the purpose of exploiting its labor and natural resources; the purpose of colonialism was to established economic colonies; this legacy of European conquests is a background factor in much of today's racial-ethnic and tribal violence: Groups with no history of national identity were incorporated arbitrarily into the same politcal boundaries. World System Theory - proposed by Wallerstein, industrialization led to four groups of nations. The first group consists of the core nations, the countries that industrialized first (Britain, France, Holland, and later Germany), the second group is the semiperiphery, located around the Mediterranean, grew dependent on trade with the core nations. the third group is the periphery, or fringe nations, eastern European countries, which sold cash crops to the core nations; the fourth group includes most of Africa and Asia, called the external area and were left out of the development of capitalism altogether. Economic and political connections that tie the world's countries together; Globalization of Capitalism - the adoption of capitalism around the world; capitalism (investing to make profits within a rational system) becoming the globe's dominant economic system; ALL of today's societies no matter where they are located are part of a world system. The interconnections are most evident among nations that do extensive trading with one another. Culture of Poverty - Galbraith; a way of life that perpetuates poverty from one generation to the next; the assumption that the values and behaviors of the poor make them fundamentally different from other people, that these factors are largely responsible for their poverty, and that parents perpetuate poverty across genderations by passing these characteristics to their children Most sociologists prefer colonialism and world system theory. To them, an explanation based on a culture of poverty plaves blame on the victim Two explanations of how global stratification is maintained: Neocolonialism - Harrington; the economic and politcal dominance of the Least industrialized nations by the most industrialized nations; keeping these nations in debt forces them to submit to trading terms dictated by the neocolonialists; the heritage of this directly affects us Multinational Corporations - companies that operate across many national boundaries, also help to maintain the global dominance of the most industrialized nations; also called transnational corporations China and India are using the capital from these exports to adopt high technology and to modernize their infrastructure