Sociology Chapter 9 Vocabulary
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social stratification
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ranking of individuals or categories of people on the basis of unequal access to scarce resources and social rewards
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social inequality
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unequal sharing of social rewards and resources
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caste system
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system in which scarce resources and rewards are distributed on the basis of ascribed statuses
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exogamy
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marriage outside of one's own social category
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endogany
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marriage within one's own social category
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class system
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system in which scarce resources and rewards are determined on the basis of achieved statuses
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bourgeoisie
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owners of the means of production in a capitalist society
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proletariat
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workers in a capitalist society who sell their labor in exchange for wages
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social class
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grouping of people with similar levels of wealth, power, and prestige
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wealth
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most obvious dimension of social stratification because it is made up of the value of everything the person owns and money earned through salaries and wages
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power
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ability to control the behavior of others, with or without their consent
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prestige
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respect, honor, recognition, or courtesy an individual receives from other members of society
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socioeconomic status
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rating that combines social factors such as level of education, occupational prestige, and place of residence with the economic factor of income in order to determine an individual's relative position in the stratification system
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reputational method
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techniques used to rank individuals according to social class. This is done by asking individuals in the community to rank other community members based on what they know of their characters and life-styles
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subjective method
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technique used to rank individuals themselves according to social class in which the individuals themselves are asked to determine their own social rank
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objective method
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technique used to rank individuals according to social class in which sociologists define social class in terms of factors such as income, occupation, and education
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social mobility
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movement between or within social classes or strata
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horizontal mobility
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type of social mobility in which the individual moves from one position in a social-class level to another position in that same social-class level
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vertical mobility
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movement between social classes or strata in which the individual moves from one social-class level to another
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intergenerational mobility
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form of vertical mobility in which status differs between generations in the same family
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poverty
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standard of living that is below the minimum level considered decent and reasonable by society
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poverty level
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minimum annual income needed by a family to survive
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life chances
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likelihood individuals have of sharing in the opportunities and benefits of society
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life expectancy
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average number of years a person born in a particular year can be expected to live
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transfer payments
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principal way in which the government attempts to reduce social inequality by redistributing money among various segments of society
