SOC 1305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Economic Mobility, Georg Simmel
Document Summary
The desire for material rewards definitely motivates some people to work hard, and inequality assures that all roles in society, even undesirable ones, are filled (functionalism) It is clearly bad for those at the bottom of the distribution, and perhaps even those in the middle, when it stifles economic growth. There is also a lot of manipulation of the economy by powerful people (conflict theory) Most americans accept (and even endorse) some degree of inequality; however, they also assume certain standards of equality exist . Simmel believed that most social relationships in the world were based on a master-slave model in which the master becomes as dependent on the slave as the slave is on the master. He also believed that over time, society would have more and more free people and the master- slave model would die out as the primary social relationship.
