SOC100H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Social Stratification, Cultural Capital, Social Capital
Chapter 6: Social Stratification
1
⇒ Social stratification: The way society is organized in layers or strata.
● Movement of individuals up & down the stratification system
Patterns of Social Inequality
⇒ Wealth is assets minus liabilities. (House minus mortgage, car minus the loan, etc..)
● can result in more political influence, better health care and more leisure
● Dividing Canadian families into poorest fifth (quintile) we see richer family win
○ rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer
⇒ Income is the amount of money earned in a given period
● Average number of earners per family increases as more women entered the paid labour force
○ Resulted in more income than average
○ we are more productive than before, allows us to make more income
○ more skilled and used to sophisticated technology to produce more and work more
● Canada is a welfare state that collects taxes and redistributes them in the form of welfare payments,
○ Employment Insurance payments, child tax credits, GST credits
● Distribution of income is extremely unequal in Canada
○ Bottom quintile of Canadians earn 4.8% of all income, top quintile earn 44.3%
■ These results were after money was taxed from the rich and given to the poor, meaning if we
relied on only the market, it would be much worse
● If we relied only on the market to distribute income, inequality would be much greater
Explanations of Income Inequality
⇒ Distribution of income?
● A person’s job has a significant influence, people who work more earn more
● Some individuals earn high salaries because of their natural talent
⇒ Genetics may have to do w/ income inequality
● A reason for inequality in income is genetics gift making them better at a certain skill or talent.
● Some people have autism/a condition that prevents them from earning big salaries
○ However, sociologist believe that for most people genes play minor roles in determine income
○ Although diligence & perseverance might be necessary for conditions for rewards, not sufficient
● Physical capital is investment in industrial plants/equipment
⇒ Human Capital: Investment in education/training.
● Just as productivity increases by upgrading manufacturing plants and introducing new technology,
productivity gains can also result from investment in the skills and abilities of people.
● Much evidence supports a human capital interpretation of the link between schooling and incomes
○ Lawyers have law degrees, yet female lawyers are paid less on average
⇒ They possess different amounts of social capital
○ Social capital: The networks/connections that individuals possess
● Individuals are more likely to succeed if they have strong bonds of trust, cooperation, mutual respect,
obligation w/ well-positioned individuals/families
● notion of social capital stresses your networks and connections w/ others
● Social capital cause people with same human capital to receive different economic rewards
⇒ Cultural capital: The widely shared, high-status cultural signals (attitudes, preferences, formal knowledge,
behaviours, goals, and credentials) used for social & cultural inclusion/exclusion.
● Cultural capital comprises the set of social skills people have: their ability to impress others
○ To use tasteful language/ images effectively to influence and persuade people.
● The idea of cultural capital emphasizes your impression management skills, your ability to influence others.
● Higher in social hierarchy enjoy more capitals of all types (common in both capital)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Chapter 6: Social Stratification
2
Poverty
● It’s at the bottom of income distribution is homeless, lacks agreed definition
● Analyst disagree whether poverty should be defined in absolute or relative terms
○ And should it be based on income or consumption?
■ “Bare essentials” is a core idea in any definition of poverty
● Canada doesn’t have an official poverty line
○ Statistics report low-income cut-off that marks “income level at which a family may be in strained
circumstances bc it has to spend a greater proportion of income on necessities than average family of
similar size”
⇒ An absolute definition of poverty focuses on essentials, suggesting that poor families have inadequate resources to
acquire the necessities of life (food, clothing, and shelter).
● Essentials depend on values and judgements & vary from time to time, group to group
⇒ Relative poverty line have certain drawbacks:
● (1) Relative to what & (2) how relative?
● Should poverty be defined in terms of economic measures (e.g., income) or more w/ community standards
(ex, safety of working conditions, environmental quality, type of housing)
● Deprivation- when a family cannot acquire the essentials, not necessarily when income is too low.
● Income & consumption are correlated
○ However, wealthy people can live off their savings even w/ low income.
● A definition of poverty showing fewer poor Canadians implies little need for government action.
○ For politicians supporting the poor, a definition of poverty showing a growing proportion of poor
people is beneficial to their cause.
● Poverty definitions are also important for political reasons.
○ A democratic society depends on the full participation of all citizens
■ Has right to vote/ can run for political office/ voice should influence political choices
Myths about poverty
1. People are poor because they don’t want to work, it ignores:
a. Ppl may not be able due to disabilities/need to take care of children due to inadequate childcare
b. Many poor ppl have jobs, but having a job does not guarantee instant wealth
2. Most poor people are immigrants
a. Only recent immigrants experience poverty rates higher than Canadian born, and recent immigrants
are only a small fraction of all Canadian immigrants
b. They are established, immigrants have lower poverty rates than do people born in Canada
3. Most poor people are trapped in poverty
a. More than 92% of people w/ low income are given year escape poverty in less than two years, 80%
in less than a year
Explaining Poverty
● Individual attributes explain a small amount of poverty (ex, Ppl w/ disabilities, though it’s not that the
majority of people with disabilities live in poverty, it’s that the majority of people in poverty have disabilities)
● Poverty is seen as culture of depression, lack of hope, fatalism, but these are effects of poverty, not its causes
● Many people who are poor do work, don’t smoke, are religious, don’t drink
● In sociology: It stresses the organization of the economy as the principal cause of poverty.
○ Capitalist economies feature cyclical booms/busts, periods of low unemployment and high profits,
followed by high unemployment and low profit
● Social policy is an explanation behind poverty; if you earned min wage working year-round, you’d be poor
○ This isn’t to say min wage should increase, because if it did employers might have to fire employees
to compensate for paying more
● Negative images of certain social groups lead to an undervaluing of the ways of life of those people
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
30
SOC100H5 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
30 documents
Document Summary
Movement of individuals up & down the stratification system. Social stratification: the way society is organized in layers or strata. Wealth is assets minus liabilities. (house minus mortgage, car minus the loan, etc) Income is the amount of money earned in a given period. Can result in more political influence, better health care and more leisure. Dividing canadian families into poorest fifth (quintile) we see richer family win rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Average number of earners per family increases as more women entered the paid labour force. We are more productive than before, allows us to make more income. More skilled and used to sophisticated technology to produce more and work more. Canada is a welfare state that collects taxes and redistributes them in the form of welfare payments, Employment insurance payments, child tax credits, gst credits. Distribution of income is extremely unequal in canada.
