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Summary SOC100 chapter 7-10
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Summary of 21 pages for the course SOC100 at U of T (Chapter 7-10)
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Chapter 77.1 Connecting Sociology to Socioeconomic Status and Inequality
- Meritocracy a system where people are sorted based on their talent and hard work
- Socioeconomic status A person’s economic and social standing in society, usually based
on their income, wealth, education, and occupation.
- However, the higher your parents’ education, the more likely it is that you will go on to
pursue post-secondary education.
- In other words, people who happen to be born into families with college- or
university-educated parents are also more likely to go on to post-secondary education
themselves
7.2 Stratification and Inequality
- Social inequality The differential and unequal distribution of goods, services, resources,
and power creating a hierarchical social system.
- The concept of inequality can be used to examine legal, racial, linguistic, gendered,
economic, political, and social hierarchies within a society
- Social stratification Where individuals or groups in society are ranked hierarchically
based on a set of shared characteristics, like wealth, income, status, power, or education
Income Inequality
- Income the amount of money you earn over time
- Income inequality The unequal distribution of income between individuals or
households.
- The Gini index is a measure of social inequality that looks at the actual distribution of
income in a country compared to an equal distribution of all income
Wealth Inequality
- Wealth The value or worth of all possessions and assets owned by an individual.
- Higher wealth contributes to greater upward social mobility, provides financial resources
to pursue education, and can also contribute to stronger employment opportunities
- Wealth inequality The unequal or disproportionate accumulation and distribution of
wealth among individuals.
Structural Functionalism
- Davis-moor hypothesis The most important and necessary jobs are also the most
difficult and therefore require the highest associated rewards.
- The Davis-Moore hypothesis is not without its problems One critique is the subjective
ranking of importance of any particular occupation
- it ignores how inequalities affect access to education and high-paying or prestigious jobs
, - The prevalence of structural disadvantage limits an individual’s ability to pursue
opportunities that may result in higher levels of income
Symbolic Interaction
- Conspicuous leisure The use of time non-productively as a sign of social status.
- according to symbolic interactionists, is that we give meaning and value to items like
these and elevate them to the status of luxury
- Symbolic interactionists start from the position that inequality is a label that people
ascribe to a given set of circumstances.
- Functionalists and conflict theorists see inequality as part of the social landscape, an
objective fact of the world that needs to be explained.
- Symbolic interactions see inequality as an interpretation of that landscape. Nothing is
objectively equal or unequal, but instead, people give meaning to contexts that they
interpret to be equal or unequal
Human, Social, and Cultural Capital
- Human capital Valuable knowledge, skills, and experiences possessed by an individual.
It is often acquired through investment in education, training, and work experience.
- Social capital the resources an individual accrues through connection with other people
or a social network
- Cultural capital Cultural resources like knowledge, traits, preferences, and behaviours
that act as status cues for high culture
- People at different levels in society use cultural capital as a way to promote their relative
social advantage by using knowledge of high-status cultural signals to exclude others
from advantageous social positions or high-status groups
7.4 Explaining Inequality
- Intersectionality the idea that the overlap of social categories like race, class, and gender
can create layers of inequality
- many of those who are wealthy in Canada didn’t get there through hard work or
ingenuity; instead, they were born into wealthy or upper-class families.
- Moreover, conflict theorists have observed that those who hold higher status are
afforded more prestige, have more access to economic power and resources, have more
access to educational opportunities, have greater access to networks of power, and face
less social exclusion than those of lower status
- Habitus The habits, skills, and dispositions that we acquire based on our life experiences.
Habitus is the embodiment of our cultural capital.
- Feminist sociologists have highlighted how inequality emerged from cultures that
associate masculinity with authority and power
, - poverty is more likely to affect women due to lower employment rates, lower earnings,
lower-paying jobs, more part-time work, and social and cultural norms that compel
women to miss work due to caregiver obligations
- racial identity is a key aspect of social inequality, and sociologists have pointed to issues
like discrimination, racism, minority rights, and immigration when it comes to
socioeconomic outcomes
- conflict and critical theorists have focused on how powerful groups discriminate
against and subordinate groups to retain power and privilege
- Educational attainment The highest level of education an individual has completed.
- Another important component to income and wealth inequality is occupation
- Institutional inequality emerges from systems put in place by governments such as
systems of taxation or minimum wage rates.
- taxation policies benefit the top income earners, whereas bottom and middle-income
earners pay a larger share of taxes
- Progressive taxation Imposing higher taxes on higher-income earners and lower taxes
on lower-income earners
- Progressive taxation addresses economic inequality by placing a greater burden on
higher-income earners while providing tax credits to lower-income earners
- It can be especially effective in reducing inequality when combined with the practice of
redistribution
- Regressive taxation Where everyone pays the same tax regardless of their tax bracket. It
ultimately takes a larger percentage from lower-income earners.
- Redistribution When the government sets aside and transfers funds to programs that
may mediate the effect of income inequality, like old age pension, child tax benefits,
low-income tax credits, and social assistance.
- The highest earners in Canada now pay a lower tax rate than in the 1990s, even though
their share of total income has skyrocketed (Osberg 2015), while the bottom 10% of the
economy found their tax rate increasing by 5%
- Capital gains Profit from the sale of a capital asset like real estate or other investments.
- redistribution often faces political opposition. Redistribution in the form of social
assistance or welfare is subject to government cuts or is recast as “workfare” style
programs that focus on quick roads to employment rather than assistance
What is Poverty?
- Absolute poverty The deprivation of basic human needs like food, water, sanitation,
health, and shelter
- Relative poverty Deprivation compared to an average standard of living in a society.
- High concentrations of poverty can also increase some crime. In addition, poverty can
have negative effects on parenting due to depression and self-doubt about a person’s
parenting abilities, both of which can have long-term effects on children
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