Exercises 112114 will help you prepare for the material

SOC 100 Week 11 Chapter 8 Social Stratification o Working class 33%  Focus on getting by  Slightly favor liberal, but not by much  Targeted by political candidates due to variability  Value social life, education is necessary evil o Lower class 20%  Living on the edge or apathy  Stays pretty consistent percentage­wise  2008 grew to 25%  Religion – if there is one in the neighborhood they go, if not they don’t  New Class Society o Upper class is 20%  Upper, small diamond shape o Lower/middle is 80%  Lower, large diamond shape o Illustrates distribution better  Does not correspond to wealth distribution  Clicker­ what class did you grow up in o Overwhelmingly middle class  Clicker – where will you be in 20 years o Overwhelmingly middle class, and some upper  Who Gets Ahead – Christopher Jencks o Education *  Years of certain levels of education o Who your parents are *  How many children  Father’s career o Luck o Race o Sex o Hard work o * education and parents are most important)  Functionalist see it as acceptable­ education requires hard work  Conflict – we don’t choose our parents, so it’s not fair  Income has been rising steadily since 1950 o However, distribution does not show change as equal among classes  Highest 20% income has risen greatly  But as you go down the classes, income has remained almost the same  From 1940’s – 1980 the increase in income was relatively equally distributed  Now­ only the upper classes are seeing a rise in income  Clicker – will you be better off fincancially than your parents o 40% yes o 30% no or uncertain  More billionaires than ever o 2003­ 262 billionaires o 2016 – 1810 billionaires o Riches – Bill Gates $75 billion o Richest women ­ $36.1 billion o Oprah – 3 billion o Pat Striker 2.3 billion  From Fort Collins  Likely the “anonymous” donator that donated 25 million for stadium o U.S has 8 of the top 10 billionaires  National study – “Differences in income in US are too large” o Class figures – 61% agree, 10% disagree o National study­ 65% agree, 14% disagree  Some billionaires agree  The Giving Pledge – billionaires donating half of their wealth  Reasons for lower class mobility in US o Rise of the money culture  Making money > content/enjoyment of life o Bank deregulation in 1980’s and 1990’s  Harmful to majority of US, beneficial to super wealthy o Technology – jobs done by machines o Rise of emerging markets, especially in China and India  Clicker­ Emily and Mark are high school teachers, volunteer every weekend, and are very religious­ what class are they in o Correct answer= Average Middle Class  Poverty o Relative poverty: poorer in relation to others with more money o Absolute poverty: deprivation of resources that is life­threatening or inability to afford minimum standards of food, clothing, shelter, and health o Most poverty in US is relative poverty  Who is responsible for poverty o Blame the poor: the poor are mostly responsible for their own poverty (functionalist) o Blame Society: society is primarily responsible for poverty (conflict)  National study­ who’s responsible for helping the poor o 27% government o 24% people should take care of themselves o 46% combination of both  What is major cause of Poverty o US, Japan, Australia – lack of individual effort o Mexico, Sweden, Germany­ societal injustice  Poverty rate in US o Normally assume a family of 4 with 2 kids under 18 o Current­ 47 million  14.5% US population  $24,250/year o 55% more than current poverty rate = 73 million, 22.5% US population  $37,588 / year o Lifestyle of those at 155% of poverty rate  Never go out to eat, to movies, entertainment, don’t take vacations, hire babysitters, buy anything in excess  Who are the poor o Age:  19.9% of children under 18  9.5% of elderly 65 and above o Race/Ethnicity  28% of Native Americans  27% of African Americans  23.5% of Hispanic Americans  10.5% Asian Americans  9.6% white o Sex/gender  31% of female head of household  16% male head of household o Workers  14% of the poor work full­time  45% of the poor work at least part­time  To reach 155% of poverty, you need to make $18.07/hour  Well over minimum wage  Hidden Costs of Class o Judgement from others o Feelings of hopelessness o Acceptance of symbols of inability o Loss of dignity and a sense of accomplishment  Homelessness o 25­40% work o 37% are families with children o 25% are children o 25­30% are mentally disabled o 30% are veterans o 40% drug and alcohol dependent  Cure for poverty o Answer depends on whom you blame  Clicker­ Welfare vs. Wealthfare­ what does government spend most money on o 64% said health care for richest 10% of elderly Medicare Beneficiaries  Correct answer  Clicker – government housing subsidies end up going to ­ o More to the middle class than the poor  Welfare distribution o Distributed unequally in a manner that is deemed best o Everyone gets some sort of entitlement  How are we doing o US is one of richest nations and has one of highest standards of living o Some members of our society are benefitting handsomely while others are not o “Rich getting richer, poor are getting poorer, so it all averages out” 