SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: Understanding

and sustaining the well-being of rural

people
The next four classes we focus on aspects of
stratification
 Sociological perspectives on stratification
(broad terms)
 Rural poverty, esp. among children
 Rural workers and human capital
 The rural economy—opportunities (or not)

Within each topic explore why it matters for

rural people and places
 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION:
 the processes by which resources and
opportunities are distributed among
various social actors
 Bases for social stratification
 Social class
 Race and ethnicity
 Sex and age
 Space and place
Why is social stratification important?
 What do the three main theoretical
perspectives have to say about why
social stratification occurs?

Functionalist: What are the functions of

stratification?

What are some dysfunctions of

stratification?

What are the criteria by which rewards

are distributed—Inequality as just
rewards?
 What do the three main theoretical
perspectives have to say about why
social stratification occurs?

Conflict: Who benefits and who loses

from stratification?

What are the criteria by which rewards are

distributed—inequality as exploitation
 What do the three main theoretical
perspectives have to say about why
social stratification occurs?

Culture, ideology and symbols in

stratification: Who is excluded from
access to valuable resources or
opportunities and how?

What are the criteria by which rewards are

distributed?—inequality as social
closure
What do the three main theoretical
perspectives have to say about the
consequences of stratification

Functional
Just rewards

Conflict INEQUALITY
Exploitation

Interaction
Social closure
 How might you distinguish which
theoretical perspective is supported
when inequality results from each?
 Household Income and Wealth, by Household Quintiles

90 84.5

80

70
Percent of Income or Wealth

60
49 Richest fifth
50
Fourth fifth
40 Third fifth
Second fifth
30
23 Poorest fifth
20 15
9 10.7
10 4.4
4
1
0
Income, 1999 Wealth, 1997 -0.7
-10
 Class Differentiation as Marx sees it
What are the criteria by which class is
determined?

Are these based on ascribed or achieved

characteristics?

How have these changed since Marx’s original

description?
 Class, Status and Power as defined by
Weber
What are the criteria by which class is
determined?

What about status?

How is power determined?

Are these three components of stratification

consistent? Are they based on ascribed or
achieved characteristics?
 Social mobility—moving across ‘class’
lines
Intergenerational mobility—change in
social position of children relative to
their parents

Intragenerational mobility—change in
social position of a person within their
life

What factors encourage or discourage

each form of social mobility?
Racial/ethnic, gender, and other bases of
stratification are interwoven with those
based on social class.

The concentration of racial/ethnic groups and

women in lower socio-economic positions is
evidence that other processes of
stratification occur
 Race and ethnicity and gender as bases
for stratification--Functionalism
 Based on equal opportunity and choice,
would we expect to see large racial or
ethnic differences in income, wealth
and poverty within a society?
 Large gender differences?
 How are existing racial and ethnic
differentials in treatment, income and
wealth functional?
 How are they dysfunctional?
 How are gender differences functional
and dysfunctional?
Race and ethnicity and gender as bases
for stratification--Conflict
 How does the exploitation assertion of a
conflict perspective fit with large racial or
ethnic differences in income, wealth and
poverty?
 With large gender differences in income,
wealth and poverty?

 Who benefits and who loses?

 Why don’t the poor and lower class people

from all racial/ethnic groups join together to
improve their positions? Why don’t women
join in with minorities and poor?
 Race and ethnicity and gender as bases
for stratification—culture, ideology and
symbols
 How does social closure in the
symbolic or interactional perspective fit
with racial or ethnic differences in
income, wealth and poverty?
 With gender differences in income,
wealth and poverty?

Prejudice and discrimination as forms of

social closure or exclusion
 Prejudice and discrimination

Prejudice — a negative attitude toward an

entire category of people often based in
ethnocentrism (or sexism)

Discrimination — an action-- the denial of

opportunities and equal rights to
individuals and groups based on some
type of arbitrary bias or prejudice
 Gender Stratification—Interaction
The text suggests that male dominance
continues into individual interactions in
cross-sex groups through males:
interrupting more than females
changing topics of conversation more
ignoring topics suggested by women
minimizing contributions of women
One more subtle way that gender stratification
(with male dominance) is enforced
 Social Construction of Race and
Ethnicity
A process by which people come to define a
group as a race based in part on physical
characteristics, but also on historical, cultural
(religious) and economic factors

Often an ideology constructed by the dominant

or majority group which has the power to
define itself legally but also to shape a
society’s values
What are the consequences of racial and
ethnic stratification?
Inequality—what forms does it take?
 Social Construction of Gender
A process by which people come to define a
gender based on social distinctions between
males and females that do not inevitably
result from biological differences between the
sexes.
Gender-role socialization begins at birth and
continues throughout life
An ideology constructed by the dominant or
majority group which has the power to define
itself legally but also to shape a society’s
values
This should sound familiar….
 Gender Stratification—What are the
consequences?

Inequality—what forms does gender

inequality take?
How are race-ethnic and gender
stratification different?
 Institutional Discrimination
Affects gender, racial and ethnic groups,
and possibly other minorities
 Denial of opportunities and equal rights
to individuals or groups that result from
the normal operations of a society
 Bank loan policy that single women (or
African Americans) are poor lending risks
 Zoning policies that require large lots
 Other examples?
All of these forms of stratification occur
at the same time, with varying intensity
in different places

What might affect the extent of

discrimination against minority groups
and/or women in the labor market?
 Stratification also occurs across place
and space
Cross-national stratification of rich and
poor countries

How would each theoretical perspective

explain this?
 Stratification also occurs across place
and space
Stratification of places within countries—
rich and poor areas in the U.S.

How would each theoretical perspective

explain this?
 Next class we will begin looking at
poverty within rural areas of the U.S.
 Define poverty as an indicator of
stratification
 Consider how rural and urban areas
differ from each other and why?
 Focus on child poverty
Reading: O’Hare and Johnson. 2004.
Child Poverty in Rural America.
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