unit 3: social inequality

• social stratification: the division of society into different social classes based on wealth, occupation, education, and other factors.
• social class: the social position of an individual or group in society, based on their wealth and social status.
• Age: a form of stratification.
• status: a position someone has in society.
• power: the ability to influence people's behavior.
• industrial societies: societies that use technology for mass production, in contrast to traditional societies.
• minority group: a category of people lacking power; can be based on factors such as religion, disability and age.
• slavery: a stratification system in which one group is treated as the legal property of another group.
• caste: a closed stratification system traditionally found in India.
• CS: The Indian Caste System:

  • People inherited their status at birth and could not change it.
  • They also had to marry within their caste.
  • Members of lower castes were considered inferior by the higher castes and there were strict rules about ritual, purity and contact between different castes, because having contact with someone from a lower caste was thought to pollute a higher caste member.
• closed society: a society in which mobility between different levels of stratification is not possible.
• ascribed status: a status that is given to individuals by their society or group, over which they have little or no control.
• traditional societies: societies that are still predominantly agricultural and have not yet become industrial.
• discrimination: when an individual or group suffers a disadvantage because of their characteristics, for example being refused a job.
• ageism: prejudice or discrimination against someone based on their age.
• achieved status: a status the individuals acquire through their own effort.
• life chances: the opportunities that people have to improve their lives
• human rights: a wider category than civil rights, including political rights.
• civil rights: rights that protect the freedom of individuals.
• working class: manual or blue-collar workers.
• fatalism: individuals' belief that they cannot control what happens to them.
• deferred gratification: being able to set long-term goals, planning for the future.
• immediate gratification: choosing instant satisfaction rather than waiting for a greater reward in the future.
• middle class: professional and other non-manual workers, below the upper class and above the working-class.
• minority ethnic group: a minority group with a distinct national or cultural tradition:
• social inequality: the inequality between groups in a stratification system, for example in income or wealth.
• wealth: money, savings and property that can be bought and sold to generate income.
• distribution of wealth: the distribution of wealth in a society, measured by the Gini coefficient.
• income: the sum of earnings from work and other sources.
• welfare state: the way in which the governments try to provide for the less well off and reduce social inequality.
• meritocracy: a society in which individuals achieve the level that their talents and abilities deserve.
• redistribution of wealth: advocated by Marxists and others to achieve greater equality by giving some of the wealth of the better off to those who are less wealthy.
• dependency culture: a set of values leading people to lose the ability to look after themselves so they become dependent, for example, on welfare benefits.
• underclass: a group below the working class that is effectively cut off from the rest of society.
• marxism: a theoretical perspective that sees conflict between classes as the most important feature of society.
• equal opportunities: when all people are given the same chances regardless of differences such as age, gender and social class.
• disability: covers a wide range of types of impairment in how the body functions in carrying out activities:
• relative poverty: being poor in relation to others in the same society.
• absolute poverty: being without some or all of the basic necessities of life.
• poverty line: the level of income below which people are judged to be in poverty.