Study guides › P/S › Sociology
Social Stratification & Inequality
This chapter covers how societies rank people, Weber's and Marx's models of class, social mobility, income, wealth and poverty, the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient, education and capital, and global stratification. You will match theorists and terms to scenarios and read inequality data.
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What this chapter covers
- Class, Status & Power: Marx and Weber. Weber's three dimensions and Marx's two classes are tested by scenario, so learn what each theorist emphasizes.
- Social Mobility. Mobility terms come in pairs: direction, time frame, and cause each have a name you must apply to a story.
- Income, Wealth, Poverty & the Lorenz Curve. Know the difference between income and wealth, and read a Lorenz curve or Gini coefficient as a measure of inequality.
- Education, Cultural Capital & Social Reproduction. Bourdieu's forms of capital explain why schools can reproduce class differences, a frequent passage theme.
- Global Stratification. Modernization theory, dependency theory, and world-systems theory give competing explanations for global inequality.
Key points to know
- Marx: class = relation to the means of production
- Weber: class, status, power (party)
- Intergenerational = between generations; intragenerational = within a life
- Vertical changes rank; horizontal does not
- Wealth = assets minus debts; income = earnings per period
- Lorenz curve bows below the equality line as inequality rises
- Bourdieu: economic, social, cultural, symbolic capital
- Habitus = ingrained dispositions from class background
Try a practice question
According to Weber, the three dimensions of stratification are
- income, education, and occupation
- wealth, prestige, and power
- bourgeoisie, proletariat, and peasantry
- class, caste, and race
Show the answer
B. Weber's dimensions are class (economic), status (prestige), and power (party). Income, education, and occupation make up SES, which is a different framework.
Common questions
What does this chapter cover?
Social Stratification & Inequality covers Class, Status & Power: Marx and Weber, Social Mobility, Income, Wealth, Poverty & the Lorenz Curve, Education, Cultural Capital & Social Reproduction, Global Stratification.
What should I know first?
Marx: class = relation to the means of production Weber: class, status, power (party) Intergenerational = between generations; intragenerational = within a life
23 original practice questions accompany this chapter in the app. Spaced review brings missed ideas back at the right time; it helps memory but cannot promise you will not miss an idea again.