Session 1: Social Inequality & Stratification

Describe the concept of stratification and how it links with unequal distribution of wealth, income, status and power Explain the major concepts involved in the analysis of stratification, including class, status and life chances Identify and describe forms of stratification based on class, gender, ethnicity, age and religion Describe different sociological explanations of poverty, the cycle of poverty, the culture of poverty, structural explanations, welfare dependency, long-term unemployment and social exclusion.

Quick recap: With your partner, discuss the meanings of the keywords underlined.

EQ: Explain what sociologists mean by the term social inequality (4 marks)

More power, wealth, income and status

Less power, wealth, income and status

EQ: Identify two ways in which sociologists decide an individual’s social status. (2 marks)

Social inequality

More power, wealth, income and status

Less power, wealth, income and status

Professional occupations

Registrar general’s scale

Managerial

Skilled non manual

Skilled manual

Partly skilled

Unskilled

Solicitors, surgeons, architects

Teachers, nurses, pilots

Secretary/receptionist

Bus driver, electrician, hairdresser

Postal worker, bartenders, caretaker

Refuse collectors, cleaners

What are the problems with using occupation to measure social class?

Measuring social class

More power, wealth, income and status Less power, wealth, income and status

Higher managerial

NS-SEC class scale

Semi routine

Routine

Never worked

Lower supervisory

Employers

Intermediate

Lower managerial

Higher managerial

solicitor

teachers

secretaries

farmers

Car mechanic

Bus driver

cleaner

Unemployed

Why is this better than the Register general’s scale?

Measuring social class

EQ: Identify two reasons why some occupations have higher status than others. (2 marks)

1) Doesn’t include groups such as…

2) Married women were classed as….

3) Doesn’t reflect other factors such as…

NS-SEC scale now reflects levels of authority

Problem’s with the Registrar General’s scale

Students, retired, unemployed…

the same as their husbands…

Wealth, status, property…

Describe one way of measuring social class and explain how accurate this measurement is. (5)

One way could be using the registrar general’s scale. For example a surgeon is upper class professionalThey are not accurate because people may have a professional job but not a lot of money.This means that it doesn’t take into account other factors.For example a newly qualified surgeon may still be paying off university debt which means that he does not have the wealth or status of most upper classes people.

2/2

3/3

Identify

Explain

5/5

Describe one social class and explain how it could be measured . (5)

One social class could be the upper classFor example people with wealth, status and powerThis could be measured using the registrar general’s scaleThis means that a person’s occupation is used to judge their classFor example a brain surgeon would be judged as upper class as they have a professional job.

2/2

3/3

Identify

Explain

5/5

Exam questions

• Describe one way that social class can be measured and explain why it is measured in this way (5)

Keyword check!

What do these three terms mean?

• Ascribed status

• Achieved status

• Social mobility

How do people become socially mobile?

Factors affecting peoples’ ability to become socially mobile

Family background

EducationTalent/ ability

Marriage

Inheritance

Changes in occupational structure

Social mobility EQ: Identify two reasons why an individual’s social class may change during his or her lifetime. (2 marks)

Examples of social mobility: 1) Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher• born 13 October 1925• served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. •She is the only woman to have held either post.•Born in Grantham in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, she read chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford and later trained as a barrister.

Thatcher spent her childhood in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, where her father owned two grocery shops. She and her older sister were raised in the flat above the larger of the two located near the railway line. Her father was active in local politics and religion, serving as a lay preacher. He came from a Liberal family but stood—as was then customary in local government—as an Independent. He lost his post as Alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950.

Social mobility

Examples of social mobility: 2) Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson born 18 July 1950best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies.Branson's first successful business venture was at age 16, when he published a magazine called Student.He then set up an audio record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded after a management buyout as Zavvi in late 2007. Richard Branson is the 261st richest person in the world according to Forbes' 2009 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately £1.5 billion

Branson was born in Blackheath, the son of barrister. His grandfather the Right Honourable Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson, was a judge of the High Court of Justice. Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School (now Bishopsgate School)

until the age of thirteen. He then attended Stowe School until he was sixteen. Branson has mild dyslexia and had poor academic performance as a student, but discovered his ability to connect with others.

Social mobility

EQ: Discuss how far sociologists would agree that improving access to high-quality education is the most effective way to increase upward social mobility. (12 marks)

What do sociologists think about social mobility?

Marxists

• Does social mobility exist?

• Do people have achieved status or ascribed status?

• Who is at the top of the social hierarchy?

Functionalists

• Does social mobility exist?

• Do people have achieved status or ascribed status?

• How do people become socially mobile?

Functionalist views on social class

We live in a meritocracy = through talent & determination you can become socially mobile.

Theories of social class

Marxism

• Workers are exploited and alienated from their work

• The upper class maintain the status quo using the family, education and religion to make people think that they should work hard.

Theories of social class

New Right

People should not get social security benefits if they do not have a job as it encourages them to be lazy.

Tax payers money should not be spent on providing others with job seekers allowance.

People become dependent on welfare benefits.

Theories of social class

Feminism

• Women face a glass ceiling at work

• Sexism still exists at work

• Women are still a minority in top jobs

Theories of social class

Exam Questions 2

• Explain what sociologists mean by life chances (4)• Explain what sociologists mean by institutional racism. (4)• Explain what sociologists mean by social exclusion (4)• Explain what sociologists mean by the glass ceiling. (4 marks)

• Describe one way in which governments have attempted to increase upward social mobility and explain why this may not have been successful. (5)

• Describe one possible cause of social exclusion and explain why people often find it hard to escape from this situation. (5)

• Describe one way in which the status of the elderly may be lower than that of other age groups in society and explain how this may lead to discrimination against them (5)

Session 2: Life chances & PovertyDescribe and explain the ways in which life chances are influenced by differences in wealth, income, power and status; and describe and explain the relationship between such inequalities and social factors such as class, gender and ethnicity. Describe different sociological explanations of poverty, the cycle of poverty, the culture of poverty, structural explanations, welfare dependency, long-term unemployment and social exclusion.

EQ: Explain what sociologists mean by the poverty trap. (4)

Benefits such as childcare vouchers and housing benefit are means-tested, which means they are calculated based on income. Some people find that if they get a job and their income increases, their entitlement to these benefits will also stop and sometimes this means that they are actually worse off financially if they work than if they don’t. This is called the poverty trap as it traps people into poverty.

EQ: Describe one reason why people find themselves in poverty and explain why it might be difficult for them to get out of this situation. (5 marks)

Which sectors of society do you think are more likely to be poor?

• Single parents

• Elderly

• Working class/underclass

• Ethnic minoritiesEQ: •Describe one social group whose members are more likely than others to experience poverty and explain why this group is more at risk of experiencing poverty (5)•Describe one consequence of child poverty and explain why the problem of child poverty still exists (5 marks)

The Elderly People with disabilities

Children and poverty Women and poverty

Single parents Ethnicity and poverty

EQ: Describe one way in which ethnicity and social class may be linked and explain the possible consequences of this link (5)

• Living on state pension• Limited means of income• Health problems can cause expense• Cost of private healthcare

• More likely to experience discrimination and not get a higher paid job

• More likely to be in low skilled, low paid manual work – racism/ discrimination

• Culturally seen as socially unacceptable to claim benefits they may be entitled to

• Under achievement at school – less qualifications – lower paid work

WomenMarried women rely husbandsFewer women have occupational pensionsWomen live longer, their pension has to last longer.Women earn less than men on average.Women are more likely to be single mums.

• Only one income• More likely to be in part time, lower paid work to fit around child care• Benefits not high enough to keep single parents out of poverty, but a

soon as they earn more money they lose their benefits.

children

- Rely on parents income, who may not have enough money to give them. (don’t work)

- Children in single parent families are more likely to be in poverty

- Arrival of new children, can push parents into poverty.

- Young people may be put off going to Uni by the debt they will accumulate. (Graduates generally earn more than those without higher educational qualifications.)

- Disabilities make it difficult to find work, may be restricted with choice of work/ face discrimination.

- There are extra costs such as adapting the home which very expensive.

- Changes by the conservative government means that benefits were lower for people with disabilities.

Poverty can be measured by life chances…

Life chances = measurable positive or negative outcomes across a person’s lifetime e.g. based on education, health, income, housing, employment.

•Describe one way in which some minority ethnic groups have fewer life chances than others and explain why this appears to continue over time. (5 marks)

What would a Marxist say when asked if life

chances are distributed unequally

in society?

What would a Functionalist say when asked if life chances

are distributed unequally in society?

A: Competition in society creates winners and losers. The winners are rich and powerful & have the best life chances – best education, healthcare etc. The losers are poor and have the worst life chances…

A: Welfare benefits, free education and free healthcare mean that individuals can improve their life chances if they want to. Hard work and a sensible lifestyle can turn these opportunities into better life chances…

To what extent what sociologists agree that if people are in poverty they only have themselves to blame (12)

It is peoples own fault they are in poverty

It’s not peoples own fault they are in poverty

Culture of poverty

Welfare dependency

Cycle of deprivation

Marxist views

Unemployment

Social exclusion

Poverty Exam Questions

• Identify two sources of income (2)

• Describe one reason why some sociologists use relative definitions of poverty and explain why some politicians might prefer to use absolute definitions. (5 marks)

• Describe one way in which poverty can be defined and explain the problems with defining poverty in this way (5)

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that poverty is likely to persist from one generation of a family to the next generation (12)

Session 3: Social issuesAnalyse whether Britain is becoming a meritocracy/classless society, whether class inequality/division has become less significant than inequalities/divisions based on gender, ethnicity or age.

Starter: Identify two things that the government has done to try to help with each of these social issues:

•Racism

•Gender inequality

•Age discrimination

•Poverty

EQ:• Identify two ways in which British governments have tried to reduce

inequalities between different ethnic groups over the last 50 years (2 marks)

• Describe one way in which governments have attempted to end gender discrimination in the workplace and explain why this policy might not have been successful. (5 marks)

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that gender discrimination in the workplace remains an issue in Britain today. (12 marks)

• Describe one way in which the social position of women in Britain has changed over the last 50 years and explain the reasons for this change (5)

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the growth of an underclass has led to an increasing number of social problems in Britain today. (12 marks)

Discuss how far _____is a more significant

cause of poverty/social division than other

factors… (12)

Gender

Social class

EthnicityAge

Unemployment

Welfare dependency

Exam Questions 3

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that modern Britain is a meritocratic society (12)

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that Britain is now a classless society (12)

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that there is less class inequality now than 50 years ago. (12 marks)

• Discuss how far sociologists would agree that there is still a traditional working class in Britain today. (12 marks)