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Social inequality can be analysed in terms of three factors:
1. Power, which means the extent to which one individual or group can impose their will over another individual or group without that individual or group’s consent.
2. Prestige, which means the extent to which individuals or groups are esteemed, honoured or respected by the rest of society.
3. Wealth, which means the extent of an individual or group’s possessions, including land, property, commodities, cash, bank deposits, shares, stocks, bonds and any other form of security.
Marxists believe that power and prestige are dependent on wealth, so effectively the only prime form of social inequality is wealth. However, others disagree.
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It is usual to draw a distinction between the working class and the middle class. From a Marxist perspective both belong to the proletariat as a whole. Usually, the working classes are regarded as undertaking manual jobs, and the middle-classes as undertaking non-manual jobs. The working classes are further sub-divided into unskilled, semiskilled and skilled manual workers.
The middle classes are sub-divided into routine nonmanual labour, such as clerical and secretarial work, intermediate non-manual labour, such as teachers and nurses, and professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants and senior managers. Owing to deindustrialisation, there has been a general shift in the proportion of those working in manual jobs to those working in non-manual jobs.
There are also gender differences to consider – women are less likely to have manual jobs than men, but they are more likely to have jobs belonging to the lower grades of the nonmanual spectrum – that is, have routine non-manual jobs, or occupy the lower grades of intermediate non-manual labour, such as nursing.
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Functionalists maintain that a system of social inequality serves the needs of society as a whole. In other words, all benefit from such a system, including those at the lowest levels of the social ladder. For example, they argue that a system of stratification maintains the order and stability of society.
Talcott Parsons is a prominent functionalist who argues that the stability and functioning of society is maintained by a value consensus, that is, an agreement among members of society that the social order is worth preserving. Hence, functionalism is also known as consensus structuralism; it states that society is structured into functionally distinct groups, including classes, but that the cohesion of society as a whole is maintained by a consensus held by members of society that such as structure is natural and fair. Parsons also maintains that American society, for instance, is a meritocracy since social status within it is achieved rather than ascribed; that is, the American system of stratification is open as opposed to closed. He argues that American businessmen deserve their high social status because they have achieved it through their own work and skills.
In this way, Parsons argues that American society is fair.
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It is believed that social mobility in industrial societies is greater than in pre-industrial societies. That is, people can progress from one social stratum to another with more ease in modern society than in agricultural society. The system of social stratification has become more open; status is more achieved rather than ascribed. It is usual to study social mobility in terms of occupational mobility. David Glass et al conducted a study of intergenerational mobility in 1949, using occupational categories as follows:
1. Professional and high administrative
2. Managerial and executive
3. Inspectional, supervisory and other non-manual (higher grade)
4. Inspectional, supervisory and other non-manual (lower grade)
5. Skilled manual and routine grades of non-manual
6. Semi-skilled manual
7. Unskilled manual
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Bottomore defines social stratification to be “any hierarchical ordering of social groups or strata in a society.” The older forms of social stratification are based on slavery, caste or estate; newer forms are based on social class (that is, economic class) or status group.
He takes the view that social stratification does not rest on biological difference. He also quotes T.H. Marshall (1950) who wrote, “the institution of class teaches the members of a society to notice some differences and to ignore others when arranging persons in order of social merit.” Class is maintained through inheritance: “... inequalities of incomes depends very largely upon the unequal distribution of property through inheritance, and not primarily upon the differences in earned income..”
Class differences do not arise out of differences in abilities – we do not live in a meritocracy: “... intellectual ability ... is by no means always rewarded with high income or high social status, nor lack of ability with the opposite.”
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Psychological theories of racism argue that racism is a form of extreme prejudice and is a manifestation of the psychological process of social perception. A prejudice is a form of extreme stereotype, and a stereotype is an attitude of one person towards another individual or group. Prejudices are forms of group stereotypes, and the formation of group stereotypes is a product of the formation of attitudes.
Prejudices are linked to ego-defence – the adoption of attitudes that serve to bolster the selfesteem of the individual that holds them.
Tajfel’s social identity theory maintains that individuals naturally strive for positive self-image, and social identity is enhanced by the process of categorising people into in-groups and out-groups. In other words, social psychologists have a tendency to see no need to look outside the concepts of social psychology in order to explain the formation of prejudice. Some psychologists also maintain that there is a distinct personality type that is inclined to adopt racist attitudes. The Frankfurt school in particular ...
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Miles defines racism “as any set of claims or arguments which signify some aspect of the physical features of an individual or group as a sign of permanent distinctiveness and which attribute additional, negative characteristics and/or consequences to the individual’s or group’s presence.” For this to mark a racist attitude the biological difference must be genetically inheritable.
Whilst not all sociologists would accept this definition of racism, it has the use of indicating that any theoretical justification of racism is underpinned by a pseudoscientific theory that there exist different races, and furthermore, that these races have distinct abilities that justify the use of terms such as “superior race” and “inferior race”.
This in turn is used to justify the domination of “inferior races” by “superior races”.
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It is generally accepted that the Americans are not class conscious, and that American workers are not motivated by the desire for class struggle. American seems to be the exception – for example, in Europe worker’s unions have actively sought to replace private ownership of the means of production by a system of collective ownership.
This is called the thesis of American Exceptionalism.
Europe during the C19th provoked a working-class resistance that became of “spectre” threatening revolution. America, by contrast, was by the beginning of C20th remarkable for the weakness of the working-class.
As early as 1906 the German sociologist Werner Sombart asked the question, “Why is there no socialism in the United States?” Various answers have been proposed.
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To understand the different perspectives on education, it is necessary to understand the concept of class. From this point of view the conflict structuralism of Marx is the starting point. This states that individuals are born into different classes where their consciousness and opportunities are determined by their economic situation. A member of the working class leads one kind of life; a member of the bourgeoisie leads another.
To say that there exist classes in society is to say that society is stratified. Here the essential claim of Marxism is that the educational system serves to perpetuate stratification.
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The background concept here is that of the divisions introduced into society by the existence of distinctions between groups of people along the lines of race and ethnicity. Does membership of a non-white racial or ethnic group mean that, on average, your educational opportunities in Britain, or elsewhere, are lower? The answer to that appears to be “yes”!
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Absolute poverty, also known as subsistence poverty, is usually defined in terms of food, clothing, shelter and health. This concept is used in Drewnowski and Scott’s “level of living index”, where nutrition is defined in terms of calories and protein, shelter in terms of quality of dwelling and degrees of overcrowding, and health in terms of infant mortality and the quality of available medical facilities. Some sociologists attempt to include measures of education, security, leisure and recreation as basic cultural needs to be added to the notion of subsistence.
However, the obvious criticism of this that in fact all notions of absolute poverty turn out to be applications of the notion of relative poverty. For example, the subsistence level of nutrition is relative to the job and lifestyle of each person. The addition of basic cultural needs also fudges the boundary between absolute and relative poverty.
There are also difficulties in defining security, although the number of violent deaths per 1000 is one putative measure.
Budget Standards and Poverty
Seebohm Rowntree conducted a study of poverty in York in 1899 using a definition of poverty close to the concept of absolute poverty.
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The central background concept in the study of gender and educational attainment is that of patriarchy. It is claimed that society is dominated economically and politically by men. Feminists sometimes argue that despite the apparent liberation of women, women are still oppressed in modern society by men. It is often claimed that there is a link between patriarchy and capitalism. Patriarchy can be seen as a consequence of capitalism. Capitalism perpetuates itself through male domination of women.
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Employment by sector The source of all this data is the Labour Market Trends for March 2003, published by the DfEE. The following table shows the numbers employed, in thousands, according to the various sectors of the economy.
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It is noted by Gans that poverty research is conducted by middle-class people. In line with this observation, the approach to poverty that has been primarily adopted has been motivated by the theory of a “culture of poverty”. In the words of Valentine: “the poor must become ‘middle class’”. The programme to eradicate poverty in the US, declared by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 as a “war on poverty” was motivated by the theory that the poor are to blame for their poverty.
The American anthropologist Thomas Gladwin claims that “The whole conception of the War on Poverty rests upon a definition of poverty as a way of life. The intellectual climate in which it was nurtured was created by studies of the culture of poverty, notably those of Oscar Lewis … [which] provide the basis for programs at the national level designed very explicitly to correct the social, occupational and psychological deficits of people born and raised to a life of poverty.
Under this initiative an Office of Economic Opportunity was created. This office in turn created (1) a Jobs Corps which set up residential camps for the unemployed designed to build character; (2) work experience programmes designed to instill work habits; (3) training schemes aiming to create ‘work incentive’. Operation Head Start started in January 1965 and was designed to attack the culture of poverty at grass roots level – inculcate middle-class culture into the poor at school. The Office of Economic Opportunity sought to inculcate middle-class values with the idea of community action – initiatives to get the poor to help themselves.
The War on Poverty did not favour the use of direct transfer payments to the poor. It reflects the American dream, which is that America is a land of opportunity where every individual can succeed through his own efforts. One welfare recipient commented. “It’s great stuff this War on Poverty! Where do I surrender?”
Most sociologists have rejected the “culture of poverty” theory on which the War on Poverty rested. Gans comments that “the prime obstacles to the elimination of poverty lie in an economic system which is dedicated to the maintenance and increase of wealth among the already affluent.”
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Stanley Parker
Stanley Parker categorises activities as
(1) work (paid employment);
(2) work obligations – for example, traveling to work;
(3) non-work obligations – for example, housework;
(4) physiological needs – sleep, eating;
(5) leisure.
He claims that the type of work people do and the degree of autonomy they have in it is related to their leisure activities. He claims that there are three main patterns of leisure activity:
(1) In the extension pattern, work is central to life rather than the family and leisure is an extension of work. This pattern occurs with occupations where there is a high level of autonomy and intrinsic job satisfaction.
(2) In the neutrality pattern leisure is family centred, such as a family outing. The work is undertaken for pay and conditions rather than intrinsic satisfaction.
(3) In the opposition pattern leisure is very different from work, and leisure is the central focus of interest. This pattern occurs with jobs with very low levels of autonomy.
Parker claims that the opposition pattern is shown by the studies of coal miners by Dennis, Heriques and Slaughter (in Coal is our Life) and fishermen by Jeremy Tunstall (The Fishermen). In both cases leisure activities involve drinking in pubs and working men’s clubs and can be viewed as a relief from the pressures and dangers of work, which encourage an attitude of living for the moment.
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Title : Social Inequality
I - Social stratificationSocial inequality can be analysed in terms of three factors:
1. Power, which means the extent to which one individual or group can impose their will over another individual or group without that individual or group’s consent.
2. Prestige, which means the extent to which individuals or groups are esteemed, honoured or respected by the rest of society.
3. Wealth, which means the extent of an individual or group’s possessions, including land, property, commodities, cash, bank deposits, shares, stocks, bonds and any other form of security.
Marxists believe that power and prestige are dependent on wealth, so effectively the only prime form of social inequality is wealth. However, others disagree.
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Title : Class Structure in Western Societies
I - How many classes are there?It is usual to draw a distinction between the working class and the middle class. From a Marxist perspective both belong to the proletariat as a whole. Usually, the working classes are regarded as undertaking manual jobs, and the middle-classes as undertaking non-manual jobs. The working classes are further sub-divided into unskilled, semiskilled and skilled manual workers.
The middle classes are sub-divided into routine nonmanual labour, such as clerical and secretarial work, intermediate non-manual labour, such as teachers and nurses, and professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants and senior managers. Owing to deindustrialisation, there has been a general shift in the proportion of those working in manual jobs to those working in non-manual jobs.
There are also gender differences to consider – women are less likely to have manual jobs than men, but they are more likely to have jobs belonging to the lower grades of the nonmanual spectrum – that is, have routine non-manual jobs, or occupy the lower grades of intermediate non-manual labour, such as nursing.
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Title : Modern Functionalism and Social Stratification
I - Modern FunctionalismFunctionalists maintain that a system of social inequality serves the needs of society as a whole. In other words, all benefit from such a system, including those at the lowest levels of the social ladder. For example, they argue that a system of stratification maintains the order and stability of society.
Talcott Parsons is a prominent functionalist who argues that the stability and functioning of society is maintained by a value consensus, that is, an agreement among members of society that the social order is worth preserving. Hence, functionalism is also known as consensus structuralism; it states that society is structured into functionally distinct groups, including classes, but that the cohesion of society as a whole is maintained by a consensus held by members of society that such as structure is natural and fair. Parsons also maintains that American society, for instance, is a meritocracy since social status within it is achieved rather than ascribed; that is, the American system of stratification is open as opposed to closed. He argues that American businessmen deserve their high social status because they have achieved it through their own work and skills.
In this way, Parsons argues that American society is fair.
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Title : Social Mobility
I - Early studies of social mobilityIt is believed that social mobility in industrial societies is greater than in pre-industrial societies. That is, people can progress from one social stratum to another with more ease in modern society than in agricultural society. The system of social stratification has become more open; status is more achieved rather than ascribed. It is usual to study social mobility in terms of occupational mobility. David Glass et al conducted a study of intergenerational mobility in 1949, using occupational categories as follows:
1. Professional and high administrative
2. Managerial and executive
3. Inspectional, supervisory and other non-manual (higher grade)
4. Inspectional, supervisory and other non-manual (lower grade)
5. Skilled manual and routine grades of non-manual
6. Semi-skilled manual
7. Unskilled manual
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Title : Tom Bottomore: Classes in Modern Britain
I - The Nature of Social ClassBottomore defines social stratification to be “any hierarchical ordering of social groups or strata in a society.” The older forms of social stratification are based on slavery, caste or estate; newer forms are based on social class (that is, economic class) or status group.
He takes the view that social stratification does not rest on biological difference. He also quotes T.H. Marshall (1950) who wrote, “the institution of class teaches the members of a society to notice some differences and to ignore others when arranging persons in order of social merit.” Class is maintained through inheritance: “... inequalities of incomes depends very largely upon the unequal distribution of property through inheritance, and not primarily upon the differences in earned income..”
Class differences do not arise out of differences in abilities – we do not live in a meritocracy: “... intellectual ability ... is by no means always rewarded with high income or high social status, nor lack of ability with the opposite.”
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Title : Theories of Racism
Psychological theories of racismPsychological theories of racism argue that racism is a form of extreme prejudice and is a manifestation of the psychological process of social perception. A prejudice is a form of extreme stereotype, and a stereotype is an attitude of one person towards another individual or group. Prejudices are forms of group stereotypes, and the formation of group stereotypes is a product of the formation of attitudes.
Prejudices are linked to ego-defence – the adoption of attitudes that serve to bolster the selfesteem of the individual that holds them.
Tajfel’s social identity theory maintains that individuals naturally strive for positive self-image, and social identity is enhanced by the process of categorising people into in-groups and out-groups. In other words, social psychologists have a tendency to see no need to look outside the concepts of social psychology in order to explain the formation of prejudice. Some psychologists also maintain that there is a distinct personality type that is inclined to adopt racist attitudes. The Frankfurt school in particular ...
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Title : Concepts of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism
The concept of ‘race’Miles defines racism “as any set of claims or arguments which signify some aspect of the physical features of an individual or group as a sign of permanent distinctiveness and which attribute additional, negative characteristics and/or consequences to the individual’s or group’s presence.” For this to mark a racist attitude the biological difference must be genetically inheritable.
Whilst not all sociologists would accept this definition of racism, it has the use of indicating that any theoretical justification of racism is underpinned by a pseudoscientific theory that there exist different races, and furthermore, that these races have distinct abilities that justify the use of terms such as “superior race” and “inferior race”.
This in turn is used to justify the domination of “inferior races” by “superior races”.
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Title : American Exceptionalism
I - American ExceptionalismIt is generally accepted that the Americans are not class conscious, and that American workers are not motivated by the desire for class struggle. American seems to be the exception – for example, in Europe worker’s unions have actively sought to replace private ownership of the means of production by a system of collective ownership.
This is called the thesis of American Exceptionalism.
Europe during the C19th provoked a working-class resistance that became of “spectre” threatening revolution. America, by contrast, was by the beginning of C20th remarkable for the weakness of the working-class.
As early as 1906 the German sociologist Werner Sombart asked the question, “Why is there no socialism in the United States?” Various answers have been proposed.
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Title : Perspectives on Education
I - Class and alienationTo understand the different perspectives on education, it is necessary to understand the concept of class. From this point of view the conflict structuralism of Marx is the starting point. This states that individuals are born into different classes where their consciousness and opportunities are determined by their economic situation. A member of the working class leads one kind of life; a member of the bourgeoisie leads another.
To say that there exist classes in society is to say that society is stratified. Here the essential claim of Marxism is that the educational system serves to perpetuate stratification.
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Title : Education and Etnicity
I - Race and ethnicityThe background concept here is that of the divisions introduced into society by the existence of distinctions between groups of people along the lines of race and ethnicity. Does membership of a non-white racial or ethnic group mean that, on average, your educational opportunities in Britain, or elsewhere, are lower? The answer to that appears to be “yes”!
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Title : Definitions Of Poverty
I Absolute PovertyAbsolute poverty, also known as subsistence poverty, is usually defined in terms of food, clothing, shelter and health. This concept is used in Drewnowski and Scott’s “level of living index”, where nutrition is defined in terms of calories and protein, shelter in terms of quality of dwelling and degrees of overcrowding, and health in terms of infant mortality and the quality of available medical facilities. Some sociologists attempt to include measures of education, security, leisure and recreation as basic cultural needs to be added to the notion of subsistence.
However, the obvious criticism of this that in fact all notions of absolute poverty turn out to be applications of the notion of relative poverty. For example, the subsistence level of nutrition is relative to the job and lifestyle of each person. The addition of basic cultural needs also fudges the boundary between absolute and relative poverty.
There are also difficulties in defining security, although the number of violent deaths per 1000 is one putative measure.
Budget Standards and Poverty
Seebohm Rowntree conducted a study of poverty in York in 1899 using a definition of poverty close to the concept of absolute poverty.
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Title : Gender and Educational Attainment
I - PatriarchyThe central background concept in the study of gender and educational attainment is that of patriarchy. It is claimed that society is dominated economically and politically by men. Feminists sometimes argue that despite the apparent liberation of women, women are still oppressed in modern society by men. It is often claimed that there is a link between patriarchy and capitalism. Patriarchy can be seen as a consequence of capitalism. Capitalism perpetuates itself through male domination of women.
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Title : The Structure of UK Employment
The Structure of UK EmploymentEmployment by sector The source of all this data is the Labour Market Trends for March 2003, published by the DfEE. The following table shows the numbers employed, in thousands, according to the various sectors of the economy.
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Title : Solutions to Poverty
I - The War on PovertyIt is noted by Gans that poverty research is conducted by middle-class people. In line with this observation, the approach to poverty that has been primarily adopted has been motivated by the theory of a “culture of poverty”. In the words of Valentine: “the poor must become ‘middle class’”. The programme to eradicate poverty in the US, declared by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 as a “war on poverty” was motivated by the theory that the poor are to blame for their poverty.
The American anthropologist Thomas Gladwin claims that “The whole conception of the War on Poverty rests upon a definition of poverty as a way of life. The intellectual climate in which it was nurtured was created by studies of the culture of poverty, notably those of Oscar Lewis … [which] provide the basis for programs at the national level designed very explicitly to correct the social, occupational and psychological deficits of people born and raised to a life of poverty.
Under this initiative an Office of Economic Opportunity was created. This office in turn created (1) a Jobs Corps which set up residential camps for the unemployed designed to build character; (2) work experience programmes designed to instill work habits; (3) training schemes aiming to create ‘work incentive’. Operation Head Start started in January 1965 and was designed to attack the culture of poverty at grass roots level – inculcate middle-class culture into the poor at school. The Office of Economic Opportunity sought to inculcate middle-class values with the idea of community action – initiatives to get the poor to help themselves.
The War on Poverty did not favour the use of direct transfer payments to the poor. It reflects the American dream, which is that America is a land of opportunity where every individual can succeed through his own efforts. One welfare recipient commented. “It’s great stuff this War on Poverty! Where do I surrender?”
Most sociologists have rejected the “culture of poverty” theory on which the War on Poverty rested. Gans comments that “the prime obstacles to the elimination of poverty lie in an economic system which is dedicated to the maintenance and increase of wealth among the already affluent.”
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Title : Leisure
I - The influence of work on leisureStanley Parker
Stanley Parker categorises activities as
(1) work (paid employment);
(2) work obligations – for example, traveling to work;
(3) non-work obligations – for example, housework;
(4) physiological needs – sleep, eating;
(5) leisure.
He claims that the type of work people do and the degree of autonomy they have in it is related to their leisure activities. He claims that there are three main patterns of leisure activity:
(1) In the extension pattern, work is central to life rather than the family and leisure is an extension of work. This pattern occurs with occupations where there is a high level of autonomy and intrinsic job satisfaction.
(2) In the neutrality pattern leisure is family centred, such as a family outing. The work is undertaken for pay and conditions rather than intrinsic satisfaction.
(3) In the opposition pattern leisure is very different from work, and leisure is the central focus of interest. This pattern occurs with jobs with very low levels of autonomy.
Parker claims that the opposition pattern is shown by the studies of coal miners by Dennis, Heriques and Slaughter (in Coal is our Life) and fishermen by Jeremy Tunstall (The Fishermen). In both cases leisure activities involve drinking in pubs and working men’s clubs and can be viewed as a relief from the pressures and dangers of work, which encourage an attitude of living for the moment.
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