Diferentierea claselor sociale

8/13/2019 Diferentierea claselor sociale

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Social stratification


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What is social stratification?

Work in pairs and provide a definition


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Stratification describes the way in which different

groups of people are placed within society

Thestatus of people is often determined by how society is stratified - the basis of

which can include;

Wealth and income - This is the most common basis of stratification

Social class

Ethnicity

Gender

Political status

Religion (e.g. the caste system in India)


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The stratification of society is also based

upon either an open, or closedsystem.

OPEN

Status is achievedthroughmerit, and effort. This issometimes known as a

meritocracy. The UK is arelatively open society,although disadvantagedgroups within society face aglass ceiling.

Closed

Status is ascribed, rather thanachieved. Ascribed status canbe based upon several factors,

such as family background(e.g. the feudal system consistsof landowners and serfs).Political factors may also playa role (e.g. societies organised

on the basis of communism),as canethnicity (e.g. theformer apartheid regime inSouth Africa) and religion.


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Structure of inequalityThe power of the elite within society is based upon:

Income

Wealth

A network of social connections


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The power of the elite within society is based

upon;

Income

Wealth

A network of social connectionssometimes

known as the old boys network


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Work in pairs and find the connection between these

words/phrases.

povertyleast powerfulfew opportunities

neither rich nor poorpeoplemiddle-class


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In contrast the least powerful within society havefew opportunities to escape from poverty. Thereare different explanations for this. For examplethe New Right sociologist Charles Murray argued

that the poorest members of society had becometoo reliant upon welfare benefits. This had led toa gradual loss in the ability of the poor to adoptvalues that would take them out of poverty; such

as self-reliance and personal initiative. Mostpeoplewithin society are neither rich nor poor.They form part of the middle-classwhich is themost numerical social class within society.


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Factorsthat determine

life chances

Social class

Gender

Schooling

Ethnicity,


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Work in pairs and find the connection between these words/phrases.

Life chances exist

glass ceiling

work discrimination


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REVISION


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Life chances exist

For example ethnic minorities often face a

glass ceiling at work due to discrimination

upon racial grounds; which can be either overt

(or obvious), or covert (in other words,

hidden). Women also face the same problem.


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underclass

term associated with the work of John Rex

and Robert Moore. Members of theunderclass form norms and values that often

differ to the rest of society. They are caught in

a poverty trap (or cycle) from which they findvery difficult to escape from. This is despite

changes to the welfare and benefits system

designed to get welfare claimants into work.


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Social stratification

(sociology)

classification of persons into groups based on

shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational

set of inequalities with economic, social, political

and ideological dimensions.

It is a system by which society ranks categories of

people in a hierarchy.

(hierarchy/`ha.r:ki/)


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Four basic principles

Social stratification is based on four basic

principles:

1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply

a reflection of individual differences;

2. Social stratification carries over from generation

to generation;

3. Social stratification is universal but variable;4. Social stratification involves not just inequality

but beliefs as well.


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Organization of Modern Western

societies

In modern Western societies, stratification is

broadly organized into three main layers:

upper class,

middle class

lower class

Each of these classes can be further subdivided into smaller

classes e.g occupational


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Karl Marx

The philosopher, social scientist, historian and

revolutionary, Karl Marx, is without a doubt

the most influential socialist thinker to emerge

in the Nineteenth Century. Although he waslargely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime,

his social, economic and political ideas gained

rapid acceptance in the socialist movementafter his death in 1883.


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He said: "The worker becomes all the poorer

the more wealth he produces, the more his

production increases in power and range. The

worker becomes an ever cheaper commoditythe more commodities he creates"


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Karl Marx


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Compare these two quotes:

Teach a man how to fish and he eats for a

lifetime

"Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a

man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful

business opportunity."


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Our resident language expert, Professor David Crystal, explains how Marx's influence

spread...

This is a quotation about a quotation. In several cultures there are proverbs whichcontinue, after 'teach a man how to fish', with something like 'and he eats for alifetime'. Marx knows this, and he assumes we know it too. So he sets out to turn ourexpectations upside down.

The two part structure sets up the expectation: 'sell a man...' vs 'teach a man...'. Andbecause there is a contrast, we expect the two parts to be balanced. We expect thebouncy rhythm of the first two clauses to be matched by a similarly bouncy rhythm in

the next two. But we don't get it. A clause of five syllables ('he eats for a day') is followed by one of

fourteen syllables: 'you ruin a wonderful business opportunity'. The extra weight of thisclause hammers the point home.

It's a nice joke - but it's more than just a joke. The cliched business jargon adds an ironicnote to the whole utterance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/movingwords/quotefeature/marx.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/movingwords/quotefeature/marx.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/movingwords/quotefeature/marx.shtml


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The capitalist mode of production consists of

two main economic parts:

the Substructure

the Superstructure.


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Classes -> people's relationship to the means

of productionsin two basic ways:

they own productive property

labour for others


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The base comprehends the

relations of production

employer-employee work conditions,the technical division of labour , and property

relationsinto which people enter to

produce the necessities and amenities of life


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Capitalism System

the ruling classes own the means of

production, which essentially includes the

working class itself as they only have their

own labour power(wage labour) to offer inorder to survive.

These relations fundamentally determine the

ideas and philosophies of a society,constituting the superstructure.


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Max Weber Arguably the foremost social theorist of the twentieth century, Max Weber is also

known as a principal architect of modern social science along with Karl Marx andEmil Durkheim. Weber's wide-ranging contributions gave critical impetus to the

birth of new academic disciplines such as sociology and public administration aswell as to the significant reorientation in law, economics, political science, andreligious studies.

His methodological writings were instrumental in establishing the self-identity ofmodern social science as a distinct field of inquiry; he is still claimed as the sourceof inspiration by empirical positivists and their hermeneutic detractors alike. Moresubstantively, Weber's two most celebrated contributions were the rationalization

thesis, a grand meta-historical analysis of the dominance of the west in moderntimes, and the Protestant Ethic thesis, a non-Marxist genealogy of moderncapitalism. Together, these two theses helped launch his reputation as one of thefounding theorists of modernity. In addition, his avid interest and participation inpolitics led to a unique strand of political realism comparable to that of Machiavelliand Hobbes. As such, Max Weber's influence was far-reaching across the vast arrayof disciplinary, methodological, ideological and philosophical reflections that are

still our own and increasingly more so.


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Max Weber was strongly influenced by Marx'sideas, but rejected the possibility of effective

communism, arguing that it would require aneven greater level of detrimental socialcontrol and bureaucratization than capitalist

society. Weber criticized the dialectical presumption

of proletariat revolt, believing it to be unlikely.Instead, he developed the three-component

theory of stratification and the concept of lifechances. Weber supposed there were moreclass divisions than Marx suggested.


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He emphasized the difference between class,

status, and power,and treated these as

separate but related sources of power, each

with different effects on social action.


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Four main classes (Working at half a century later thanMarx, Weber claimed there to be in fact four main classes )

the upper class,

the white collar workers, The petite bourgeoisie,

and the manual working class.


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few general concepts(work in pairs and analyse what each concept is about and after that share your information with your classmates )

Power

Domination

Communal & Societal Action


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Power

POWER -> ability of an actor (or actors) to realize hisor her will in a social action, even against the will ofother actors. Power relates to the ability to commandresources in a particular domain.

Economic power, then, is the ability to controlmaterial resources: to direct production, tomonopolize accumulation, to dictate consumption.

Societal power includes economic power, socialpower, legal or political power, and so forth. Although

the control of these domains of resources usually gotogether, they represent different mechanisms ofpower, and are conceptually distinct.


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Domination

Dominationis the exercise of authority .

Possession of power in a sphere results in

dominance. Weber articulated three ideal

types of domination: charisma, tradition and

rational-legal.


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Communal & Societal Action

A communal action is oriented on the basis of ashared belief of affiliation. In other words, actorsbelieve that they somehow belong together insome way. Their action stems from, and is co-

ordinated by this sentiment. In contrast, societalaction is oriented to a rational adjustment ofinterests. The motivation is not a sense of sharedpurpose, but rather, a recognition of shared

interests.

societal/ssatl/


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Work in groups and summarise the key concepts and

share your findings with the rest of the class .

Class

Status

Party


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Class

three aspects of class:

(i) a specific causal component of actors life

chances

(ii) which rests exclusively on economic

interests and wealth,

(iii) is represented under conditions of labour

and commodity markets.


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The possession of property defines the main

class difference, according to Weber


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Status

status groupsnormally are communities

(class groups do not constitute communities,

according to Weber)

Statusis defined as the likelihood that life

chancesare determined by social honour, or,

prestige. Status groups are linked by a

common style of life, and the attendant socialrestrictions.


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Party

Class and status interests interact in the realm

of the legal order, the arena of politics.

Political power is, obviously, often based on

class and status interests. Parties are theorganizations of power.

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