SOCIOL 2R03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Income Distribution, Deindustrialization, Social Class

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCIOL 2R03
• Professor: Lena Samuel

Document Summary

Income there"s going to be a flux in your earnings throughout your year (flow) Wealth is a stock type item (which is your sum of earnings across the years) Metaphor of a pyramid: there are many at the bottom (poor), and a moderate number in the middle, and very few at the top. Inequality refers to how far that top part is to the bottom. Income distribution in terms of a pot bellied stove (many at the bottom, few at the top) Polarization requires both wealth and poverty, but its conceptually missing the middle part. Under polarization: the population is grouped into 2 different poles (going in the opposite direction of one another one poorer and one richer) The upper middle class have moved up with rising income, the unfortunate group have not moved up and are still stuck in the middle class (have declining incomes, accumulation of debt) Middle class are now very close to falling to the bottom.