Essentials of Sociology, 6th Edition

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Chapter Eight Social Class in the United States
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Chapter Overview

• What is Social Class?
• Sociological Models of Social Class
• Consequences of Social Class

• Social Mobility
• Poverty

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What is Social Class?

• Social Class
• A large group of people who rank
  closely to one another in wealth, power, and
  prestige.

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Components of Social Class

• Wealth - Value of a Persons Assets
• Property and Income
• Distinguishing Between Wealth Income
• Distribution of Income
• Power
• Democratic Façade
• Power Elite

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Components of Social Class

• Occupations and Prestige
• They Pay More
• They Require More Education
• They Entail More Abstract Thought
• They Offer Greater Autonomy

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Components of Social Class

• Displaying Prestige
• Status Inconsistency

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Sociological Models of Social Class

• Updating Marx
• Capitalists
• Petty Bourgeoisie
• Managers
• Workers

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Sociological Models of Social Class

• Updating Weber
• Capitalist Class
• The Upper Middle Class
• The Lower Middle Class
• The Working Class
• The Working Poor
• The Underclass
• Social Class in the Automobile Industry

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Consequences of Social Class

• Family Life
• Choice of Husband or Wife
• Divorce
• Education
• Religion

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Consequences of Social Class

• Politics
• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Mental Illness and Inequality in Health Care

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Social Mobility

• Three Types of Social Mobility
• Upward
• Downward
• Exchange

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Social Mobility

• Women and Social Mobility
• New Technology and Fears of the Future

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Poverty

• Who are Poor?
• Geography
• Race-Ethnicity
• Education

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Poverty

• Who are Poor?
• Feminization of Poverty
• Old Age
• Children of Poverty

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Dynamics of Poverty

• Culture of Poverty
• Most Poverty is Short-lived
• Number of Poor Relatively Stable

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Poverty

• Welfare Reform
• Welfare Restructured in 1996
• Conflict Theorists Take on Welfare

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Why are People Poor?

• Social Structure
• Features of Society
• Characteristics of Individuals

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Poverty

• Where is Horatio Alger?
• Social Functions of a Myth