Sociology test 3 – Flashcards
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Wealth
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inclusive term encompassing all a person's material assets
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Income
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salaries and wages
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Stratification
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structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society
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Social inequality
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Situation where members of society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
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Ascribed status
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social position assigned to person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics
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Slavery
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Individuals owned by other people, who treat them as property
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Class
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Group of people who have similar level of wealth and income
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Class system
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A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility.
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Capitalism
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Means of production held largely in private hands and main incentive for economic activity is accumulation of profits
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Karl Marx
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failed to anticipate the emergence of labor unions and did not foresee individual workers striving for improvement within free societies offering substantial mobility.
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Proletariat
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Working class
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Bourgeoisie
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Capitalist class; owns the means of production
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Class consciousness
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Subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political
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False consciousness
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Attitude held by members of class that does not accurately reflect their objective position
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Primary mode of economic production
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social relations during any period of history depend on who controls the primary mode of production
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One shortcoming of Karl Marx's work
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Marx failed to anticipate the emergence of labor unions and did not foresee individual workers striving for improvement within free societies offering substantial mobility.
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Max Weber uses the term class to refer to
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Class is a group of people who have a similar level of wealthe and income.
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Life Chances
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Opportunities to provide material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experience Wealth, status, and provide additional ways of coping with problems and disappointments
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stratification according to Max Weber
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No single characteristic totally defines a person's position within the stratification system
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Status group
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people who have the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class positions
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Class
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Group of people who have similar level of wealth and income
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power
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Ability to exercise one's will over others
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Functionalist perspective
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Social inequality necessary so people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions
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Conflict perspective
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Human beings prone to conflict over scarce resources such as wealth, status, and power
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Interactionist perspective
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interested in importance of social class in shaping a person's lifestyle
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Conspicuous consumption
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buying expensive services and products in order to flaunt your wealth
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Conspicuous leisure
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the demonstration of one's high social status through forms of leisure.
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Gerhald Lenski and social inequality
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Situation where members of society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
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Herbert Gans
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poverty and the poor satisfy positive functions for many non-poor groups
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Prestige
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Respect and admiration an occupation holds in society
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The underclass
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long-term poor who lack training and skills
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Relative poverty
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Floating standard by which People at the bottom of a society are judged as Being disadvantaged in comparison to the nation as a whole
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Absolute poverty
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Minimum level of subsistence that no family should live below
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Upward intergenerational mobility
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Changes in children's position relative to their parents
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Social mobility
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Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another
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Horizontal mobility
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Movement within same range of prestige
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Vertical mobility
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Movement from one position to another of a different rank
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Intergenerational mobility
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Changes in children's position relative to their parents
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Intragenerational mobility
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Changes in social position within a person's adult life.
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Welfare
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Government aid to the poor
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Corporate welfare
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Tax breaks, direct payments, and grants government makes to corporations
