social stratification flashcards

class conflict is associated with early stages of industrialisation and the transition from a traditional to a modern society

it is inevitable to have winners + losers in society and the division of labour requires discipline and authority so there’s a greater tendency for the powerful to exploit the weak

society has to ensure that their most important role goes to the most talented people, therefore society is meritocratic and class position is a fair reflection of talents

the bourgeoisie own the means of production and pay workers less to create a surplus value, eventually the workers will realise their position in society and overthrow the bourgeoisie

the communist rev wasn’t inevitable as it required human agency in the form of educating, but the w/c have accepted the ideas of the capitalists

looks at the way capitalist maintain inequality through excluding poorer, low skill people from access to resources and buying the loyalty of high skill workers with higher wages

looked at the way capitalists kept control through the structure of society, with the ISA and the RSA

the structure of society was biassed towards the needs of capitalism against the interests of the w/c

majority of the w/c aren’t socialists and don’t understand how socialism or marxism will protect them from capitalism

‘the problem without a name’ - the widespread unhappiness of American housewives in the 1950s/60s

women’s changing ambitions mean education and careers are now a priority for young women in the 1990s

patriarchy was a belief system, on the basis of women’s reproductive function, with ideas about women’s ‘natural role’ which served to keep women subordinated

men and women occupied separate classes, a ‘sex class system’ imposed on women because of their biological role

six patriarchal structures = the area of paid work, the household, the state, cultural institutions (eg mass media), sexuality, and violence against women

black men could be victims of racism by white women AND agents of male dominance, leaving black women with divided loyalty

intersectionality of racism and sexism

postmodernism feminism is ‘gender rebellion feminism’ = the problem is the very notion of gender and progress for women and men required a rebellion against the ‘tyranny of gender categories'‘

claims earlier feminists made the mistake of trying to assert that ‘women’ and ‘men’ were a group with common characteristics / interests (gender isn’t something we are but rather what we do)

believes class conflict is possible but not inevitable, and believe in power, class, status, and party

used Weber’s ideas to devise ways of measuring social class, and introduced variables such as employment relationships, conditions of work, and life chances

describes the concept of ‘dual labour’, with the primary market for the m/c and the secondary market for the w/c

develops the dual labour concept, and points out the m/c have skills based that put them at an advantage in the workforce whereas the w/c can only sell their labour

applied weberian ideas to a consideration of race relations in Britain, where ethnic minorities experience low class and low status, compounded by racism so that they also lacked party

in consumer societies like the UK, people’s identity is based more on what they buy vs their job, and the relevance of class has declined (majority who can partake in consumption vs the minority who cannot)

consumerism has become the dominant feature of post-industrial societies, and classes have been replaced by status groups linked to consumption (status conventionalism)

critical of postmodernists because he felt they should look at where society is heading, and class in now redundant as we have moved into a risk society

the terms social class and gender aren’t meaningful anymore because no groups/societies share common values as society is diffused and fragmented

there is greater individuality in modern society so the old categories of class, gender, ethnicity, and age have become meaningless (inequalities have blurred and people don’t act the way they are supposed to eg older people behave in a youthful way)

consumerism / consumer culture is responsible for social change and this began when Thatcher was prime minister in the 1980s, and increasing wealth amongst the elderly meant they have a whole new lifestyle and their political influence has increased

belief is that the wealthy pay less and make more profit, the money they will spend will stimulate the economy, create more jobs and everyone will benefit

poverty was good for society because it encouraged people to work harder - they deserved poverty as they had no morality

- claimed that within the UK a culture of welfare dependency has developed and the underclass were unwilling to work because they had become dependant on state benefits to support them

social inequality is a small price to pay for society as a whole becoming more prosperous, and if incentives didn’t exist, then many consumer goods that we take for granted todays (cars, ipods) would not exist because talented people would not be motivated to make them