Social stratification is seen everywhere within the United States and around the world. As discussed in lecture, there are two types of stratification systems, and both are prominent in the United States. The first type is achievement based, which depends on a person’s wealth and accomplishments (Wadsworth). In the film, “People Like Us,” this system is presented. A teenage boy is embarrassed of his mother and his family’s social status, so he hides is social class from his friends. The second system is ascription-based stratification which has to do with what an individual is born with. The school that was interviewed and observed in “People Like Us,” prove that the family you are born into plays a huge role in popularity, and the group of friends you choose to surround yourself with. Another example in this film was the WASP label. The man they interviewed, explained that you are …show more content…
The article, “Keeping Up with the Trumps,” discusses how television and the amount of television a person watches, affects a person’s spending habits. I was not surprised at all to find out that there is a correlation between a person’s spending and the amount of television they watch. Because many Americans are always wanting the nicest and best new things, it is easy to fall for product placements in movies and shows, and it is easy to see commercials and want to imminently go out and buy the products the commercials are selling. This is because, today we label people based on what they own, so people feel included to spend to keep up with the in crowd. A thought that cross my mind while reading this article, is how things might have changed in recent years, now that many families own DVRs. Now when people tune in to watch shows and movies, they can record them ahead of time and skip commercials. I would be curious to see how the results would change if this study was redone
Long, Russ. "Social Class (Stratification)." Introductory Sociology. Del Mar College, 16 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Fussel, Paul. "People Like Us: Social Class in America." PBS. PBS, Web. 14 Mar 2014.
Through an analysis of private equity in America, the book Black Wealth/White Wealth published in 1997 by Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro depicts the often-unseen differences in accumulated wealth between whites and blacks. Through their research, Oliver and Shapiro found that the racial disparity of accumulated wealth explains why a large majority of blacks have been unable to rise from the bottom of the social structure. Looking back 52 years ago, we find that Oliver and Shapiro’s findings are given further legitimacy when Melvin Tumin’s critique of Kingsley-Davis and Wilbert Moore’s theory on social stratification is examined.
Socioeconomic status is one measure of social stratification that is demonstrated in the recent support for legislation favoring the legal use and possession of marijuana. Prior to the passing into law of Initiative 502 in Washington State, there was little legislative support for the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana. Preceding initiatives in Washington did not have the level of popular support that Initiative 502 enjoyed. This initiative was openly supported by mayors, senators, state representatives, religious leaders, professors, law enforcement and medical professionals (New Approach, 2012). These supporters enjoyed power, property and prestige as the result of their elected status, their financial well-being, professions and community roles. The socioeconomic status of these supporters brought with it the demonstrated support of a certain class of society, and lent a certain level of respect and legitimacy to the initiative. Even the President of the United States spoke on the issue, commenting that the federal government should not target marijuana users abiding by state laws, and that “you've seen the voters speak on this issue.”
Social stratification is a system that ranks people in categories based off of social inequality that arises between groups of people. As Melanie grew up in a low-income area and decided to move out to New York to make it big in New York, she was more well-liked and accepted by her peers. However, once Melanie went back to Alabama, the locals weren't a big fan of her new social status and her rich-folk, better than us, attitude. But Melanie was also guilty of pre-judging her old friends due to their lower social standings and simplistic lifestyles, even going so far as to accuse Jake of doing illegal activities when she found out he had made a sizable amount of
In the land of the “American Dream,” it is the common belief that there is a direct relationship between hard work and success. In this ideal prototype, those who put in long hours are bound for success and movement up the social ladder. Theoretically, one could be born into the “bottom of the food chain,” and with some hard work, rise into the realm of the social elite. As a testament to this global view of the United States, immigrants from all over the world have made the journey to the “land of opportunity” in hopes of better education, jobs, government, communities and lives for themselves and the generations following them. All of this is based on a system of social stratification – a guide to how successful one has been at achieving the American Dream. This evaluation of social class is based on many components, some of which are presented to people at birth, and not gained through hard work or money. The class system at play in the United States has become extremely complex – no longer adhering to the basic class values of our forefathers. Those trying to move up in the class system of America are often caught emulating the behaviors of the rich and famous, but this does not necessarily make them higher class. Many people think that there is a checklist to fill on their way up in the class system, but there is more to being upper class than just talking the talk or having the right credentials.
Larkin, Timothy. (2015). Our Social World: An Introducation to Sociology. Chapter 8: U.S. Organizing Principles of Stratification—Class, Race, and Gender. http://lc.gcumedia.com/soc102/our-social-world-an-introduction-to-sociology/v1.1/#/chapter/8.
There are many opportunities in America that can improve one’s wealth and power, thus leading to the mass amount of immigrants coming to American. Most immigrants that come to American usually are categorized as the lower class immigrants, but they take any opportunities to improve their economic status. In an article by Howard P. Chudacoff, it states “immigrants generally chose upward paths that led from manual labor into small proprietorships” (Chudacoff 1982: 104). This explains the reason why immigrants choose to come and stay in America. They start out small as laborers then over time they will work to own a small business. Even though immigrants gets to grow to move from the lower class to the middle class, the natives will be always
People Like Us: Social Class in America. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Center for
Paul Fussell wrote; Class a Guide through the American Status System in 1983. Fussell introduces interesting points that suggests how we, as Americans are viewed through social class. This book will have you contemplate about where you fall in line in terms of the social hierarchy system. As I read, the book I analyzed how our social status is revealed not only in terms of money, but other significant characteristics that define our habitas. As humans we are social beings, and we all make assumptions about the people around us or label them. Fussell argues that social class and social status can be defined in many ways. In fact, he enlists the nine American class structures that according to his opinion American society are comprised. He investigates
Social Stratification has a stronger based argument in its description of contemporary Caribbean Social life than Pluralism, however can both be used to analyze aspects of all societies to varying degrees. They are not mutually exclusive, both consensus and dissensus, cohesion and conflict, are present in varying degrees in all societies (van den Berghe 1963; Lenski 1966; Williams 1966; Mitchell 1970). Pluralism, according to Furnival is where different ethnic groups in a society remain separate and distinct except for when they converge or meet in the market place. The market place lacks the distinctive characteristics required for the organic solidarity Durkheim had envisioned, instead involving brutal conflict and exploitation. The norms,
Social Stratification in the African American community has changed over the years. Social stratification is defined as a rigid subdivision of a society into a hierarchy of layers, differentiated on the basis of power, prestige, and wealth according to Webster’s dictionary. David Newman in Sociology Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life describes stratification as a ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society. From slavery to the present, the African American community has been seen to have lower status compared to white people. Today, the stratification or hierarchy difference between whites and black are not really noticeable, but it is still present. However, during slavery, the difference in social stratification was noticeable. Whites dominated over the blacks and mulattoes (offspring of a white and black parent). The mulattoes were seen to have a higher stratification than an offspring of black ancestry. Because the mulattoes were related to the whites, they were able to obtain higher education and better occupations than blacks. For example, most slaves of a lighter skin tone worked in the houses and darker slaves worked in the fields. As the people of light skin tone had children, they were able to have advantages too. The advantages have led into the society of today. In this paper I will discuss how stratification has been affected in the African American community over time by skin tone to make mulattoes more privileged than dark skin blacks.
Social inequality and stratification are becoming increasingly prevalent in Australian society, consequently becoming more harmful towards individuals receiving the short end of the stick (M. McCrindle, 2016). Looking at the recent figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from around 2014, Australia is above the OECD average Gini coefficient and is the 15th most unequal country of the 34 OECD countries (ref). This may come as a surprise for many Australians, an idea of an egalitarian and classless society had been established firmly into Australian identity, however, these ideologies are under threat and becoming further from the truth.
Stratification across the states has created a divide between classes. It has allowed the upper class to solely remain with the upper class, while the working class only associates with the working class. It has caused people to only feel comfortable within their own class. Stratification has allowed people to see others as those to be feared or as those to be ignored. It has also created an unspoken boundary that says it is wrong to associate with another class. In the film, it was evident how the people only felt comfortable to associate with those who were like them. Even more than that, though, it revealed how it was not expected for the classes to intertwine. The system of stratification has created a vicious system that ranks people based on the amount of money they have, instead of valuing people as
As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. A lot of people don't realize that although things are improving with time, inequality is still prominent in our society. The people that are failing to realize that there still is inequality, are the fortunate ones. They rise well above the poverty line, and usually live relatively economically sound lives. They are the people who are supplied with our society's benefits.