SOCULPO/SOCULFA Mr. R.

Maligaya
2015

SOCULPO QUIZ 5 COVERAGE

IV. Social Structure

A. INEQUALITY, CLASS AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Some people get more than others in societies – more money, more prestige, more power, more life, and
more of everything that human value. Such inequalities create divisions in society –divisions with respect to age, sex,
wealth, power and other resources.

Social inequality refers to the uneven distribution of privileges, material rewards, opportunities, power, prestige and
influence among individuals and groups.

 When social inequality becomes part of the social structure and is transmitted from one generation to the next,
stratification exists.

Social Stratification

Is the division of society into levels, steps or position, is perpetuated by the major institutions of society such as the
economy, the family, religion and education.

 Certain groups have greater access than others do to better education, medical care, and jobs and those
advantages perpetuate their privileged position in our society.

Social Mobility – is the movement of an individual or group from one society to another.

1. Horizontal mobility – movement that involves a change of status with no corresponding change in social class.
2. Vertical mobility – movements up or down in the hierarchy resulting in a change in social class.
3. Intergenerational mobility – a comparison of the social status of parents and their children at some point in
their respective careers.
4. Intragenerational mobility – a comparison of the social status of a person over an extended period of time.

Patterns of Social Stratification

 Open System – attempts to provide equal opportunity to everyone to compete for desired roles and status
regardless of race, religion, gender or family history.
 Closed System – fixes at birth the various aspects of people’s lives.

Stratification Systems

The Caste System – is a rigid form of stratification based on ascribed characteristics such as skin color or family
identity, that determines a person’s prestige, occupation, residence, and social relationships. e.g. Hindu caste system
(Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras)

The Estate System – is a closed system of stratification in which a person’s social position is defined by law, and
membership is determined primarily by inheritance. e.g. estate system of Medieval Europe

The Class System – consists of a category of people who share similar opportunities, similar economic and
vocational positions, similar lifestyles, and similar attitudes and behaviors.

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Dimensions of Social Stratification

1. Wealth – total economic assets of an individual or a family

2. Power – according to Max Weber is the ability to attain goals, control events, and maintain influence over the
others –even in the face of opposition.
Power elite – the group of people who control policymaking and setting priorities in one country

3. Prestige – consists of the approval and respect an individual or group receives from other members’ society.

Social Class

Social classes appear in every society and serve the function of determining the relative status of large groups of
people.
 defined as a “broad category of people sharing the same economic position, plus similar values, life-style, etc.”
 It is defined by wealth, income, education, heredity standard of living, circle of friends, pattern of etiquette and
occupation.
 One way to judge social class is by occupation but it is also judge by education, income, and general life-style.

Poverty

Poverty is defined as a situation in which people lack enough money to maintain a minimum a standard of
living that includes the basic necessities of life. It is caused by individual problems and general socio-economic
difficulties. In developing countries, poverty is due to socio-economic conditions which an individual has little control.
Unemployment, low wages, and low farm production are major causes of poverty.

 Culture of poverty – the poor in class-stratified capitalist societies lack effective participation and integration
within the larger society (Lewis 1966)

Typical Class System according to Joseph Fichter:

1. The upper class. Members of the upper class have great wealth, often going back for many generations. They
recognize one another and are recognized by others by reputation and lifestyle. They usually have high prestige
and a lifestyle that excludes those from other classes. Members of this class often have influence on the
society’s basic economic and political structure. The upper class usually isolates itself from the rest of the society
by residential segregation, private clubs, and private schools.

2. The upper-middle class. Made up of successful business and professional people and their families. They are
usually below the top in an organizational hierarchy but still command reasonably high income. These people
often have a college education, own property and have money savings. They live in comfortable homes in the
more exclusive areas of a community, are active in civic groups and carefully plan for the future.

3. The lower-middle class. Shares many characteristics with the upper-middle class style but they have not been
able to achieve same lifestyle because of economic and educational shortcomings.

4. The working class. Made up of factory workers and other blue-collar workers. These are people who keep the
country’s machinery going. They live adequately but little left over for luxuries.

5. The lower class. These are people at the bottom of the economic ladder. They have little in the way of
education or occupational skills and are consequently either unemployed or underemployed. Lower-class

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2015
families often not involved with their communities and for them, life is a matter of surviving from one day to the
next.

GENDER, SEXUALITY AND ETHNICITY

Gender pertains to the socially learned patterns of behavior and the psychological or emotional expressions
of attitudes that distinguish males from females. Ideas about masculinity and femininity are culturally derived and
pattern the ways in which males and females are treated from birth onward. Gender is an important factor in shaping
people’s self-image and social identities. Gender is learned through the socialization process and thus an achieved
status while sex is an ascribed status.

Gender-Role Socialization – is a lifelong process whereby people learn the values, attitudes, motivations and
behavior considered appropriate to each sex by their culture.

 In our society, as in all others, males and females are socialized differently. This process is not limited to
childhood but continues through adolescence, adulthood and old age.

 Even before a baby is born, its sex is a subject of speculation, and the different gender-role relationships it will
form from birth on already are being decided.

 During the adolescence, most societies have different expectations for adolescent girls and boys and at this
stage according to Erik Erikson that this is where the period of establishing a sense of identity where both boys
and girls undergo severe emotional crises centered on questions of who they are and what they will be.

Feminism – is an ideology and a social movement which explains the origins, causes, nature and manifestations of
women’s oppression in terms of inadequacy of laws and structures, patriarchy, sex or capitalism.

Sexuality

Permissiveness vs. Restrictiveness

 All societies seek to regulate sexual activity to some degree, and there is a lot of variation cross-culturally. Some
societies allow premarital sex, others forbid it. The same is true for extramarital sex, others forbid it.

 The degree to which sex before marriage is approved or disapproved of varies greatly from society to society.
But then societies change over the time thus restriction can change into permission.
 Societal attitudes towards homosexuality are not completely consistent with attitudes toward sexual relationship
between the sexes. Societal tolerance of homosexuality is associated with tolerance of abortion and infanticide
and with famines and food shortages.

Concept of Race

Race – refer to a category of people who are defined as similar because of a number of physical characteristics.
Often the category is based on an arbitrary set of features chosen to suit the labeler’s purposes and convenience.

Genetic Definitions

Geneticists define race by noting differences in gene frequencies among selected groups. The number of
distinct races that can be defined by this method depends on the particular genetic trait under investigation.

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2015
Differences in traits, such as hair and nose type, have proved to be of no value in making biological classifications of
human beings.

Concept of Ethnic Group

Ethnic group - has a distinct cultural tradition that is own members identify with and that may or may not be
recognized by others. An ethnic group need not necessarily be a numerical minority within a nation.

Minority - as a group of people who, because of physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from others in
society for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective
discrimination.

Problems in Race and Ethnic Relations

 Prejudice – as an irrationally based negative, or occasionally positive, attitude toward certain groups and their
members.

 Discrimination – refers to differential treatment, usually unequal and injurious, accorded to individuals who are
assumed to belong to a particular category or group.

Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Relations

 Assimilation – the process whereby groups with different cultures come to have a common culture.

 Pluralism – or the development and coexistence of separate racial and ethnic group identities within a society.

 Subjugation – the subordination of one group and the assumption of a position of authority, power and
domination by the other.

 Segregation– a form of subjugation, refers to the act, process, or state of being set apart.

 Expulsion – is the process of forcing a group to leave the territory in which it resides.

 Annihilation - refers to the deliberate extermination of a racial or ethnic group.