Concept Summary

Social Class

• Social stratification is based on socioeconomic status (SES). Socioeconomic status depends on ascribed status and achieved status.

  • Ascribed status is involuntary and derives from clearly identifiable characteristics, such as age, gender, and skin color.
  • Achieved status is acquired through direct, individual efforts.
• A social class is a category of people with shared socioeconomic characteristics. The three main social classes are upper, middle, and lower class. These groups also have similar lifestyles, job opportunities, attitudes, and behaviors.
• Prestige is the respect and importance tied to specific occupations or associations.
• Power is the capacity to influence people through real or perceived rewards and punishments. It often depends on the unequal distribution of valued resources. Power differentials create social inequality.
• Anomie is a state of normlessness. Anomic conditions erode social solidarity by means of excessive individualism, social inequality, and isolation.
• Social capital is the investment people make in their society in return for economic or collective rewards. Social networks, either situational or positional, are one of the most powerful forms of social capital and can be achieved through establishing strong and weak social ties.
• Meritocracy refers to a society in which advancement up the social ladder is based on intellectual talent and achievement.
• Social mobility allows one to acquire higher-level employment opportunities by achieving required credentials and experience. Social mobility can either occur in a positive upward direction or a negative downward direction depending on whether one is promoted or demoted in status.
• Poverty is a socioeconomic condition. In the United States, the poverty line is determined by the government’s calculation of the minimum income requirements for families to acquire the minimum necessities of life.
• Social reproduction refers to the passing on of social inequality, especially poverty, from one generation to the next.

• Poverty can either be absolute or relative.

  • Absolute poverty is when people do not have enough resources to acquire basic life necessities, such as shelter, food, clothing, and water.
  • Relative poverty is when one is poor in comparison to a larger population.
• Social exclusion is a sense of powerlessness when individuals feel alienated from society.

• Spatial inequality is a form of social stratification across territories and their populations, and can occur along residential, environmental, and global lines.

  • Urban areas tend to have more diverse economic opportunities and more ability for social mobility than rural areas. Urban areas also tend to have more low-income racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods than rural areas.
  • Formation of higher-income suburbs is a common occurrence, and is due in part to the limited mobility of lower-income groups in urban centers.
  • Environmental injustice refers to an uneven distribution of environmental hazards in communities. Lower-income neighborhoods may lack the social and political power to prevent the placement of environmental hazards in their neighborhoods.
• Globalization has led to further inequalities in space, food and water, energy, housing, and education as the production of goods shifts to cheaper and cheaper labor markets. This has led to significant economic hardship in industrializing nations.

Epidemiology and Disparities

• Incidence is calculated as the number of new cases of a disease per population at risk in a given period of time: for example, new cases per 1000 at-risk people per year.
• Prevalence is calculated as the number of cases of a disease per population in a given period of time: for example, cases per 1000 people per year.
• Morbidity is the burden or degree of illness associated with a given disease.
• Mortality refers to deaths caused by a given disease.

• Health is dependent on geographic, social, and economic factors.

  • The second sickness refers to an exacerbation of health outcomes caused by social injustice.
  • Poverty is associated with worse health outcomes, including decreased life expectancy, higher rates of life-shortening diseases, higher rates of suicide and homicide, and higher infant mortality rates.
  • Certain racial and ethnic minorities have worse health profiles than others. African Americans are, on average, the worst off; white Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans are next; and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have the best health profiles.
  • Females have better health profiles than males, including higher life expectancy, lower rates of life-threatening illnesses, and higher rates of accessing and utilizing health resources. However, females have higher rates of chronic diseases and higher morbidity rates.
• Efforts to improve healthcare for underserved populations include the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

• Healthcare access and quality differ across the population.

  • Low-income groups and racial and ethnic minorities (specifically, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans) receive worse care than white Americans.
  • Biases against overweight or obese patients are associated with lower-quality treatment, including less preventative care and fewer screenings.
  • Women tend to have better access to healthcare and utilize more healthcare resources than men.
  • LGBT men and women may have barriers to care due to prejudices, discrimination, and homophobia.