refers to those who make the big decisions in the U.S. society, also stressed how wealth and power coincide with like minded individuals who share ideologies and values

 ranking high on some dimensions of social class and low on others

Marx and Weber’s perspectives on class structure:

Marx- only two classes, capitalists and workers, believes that their membership is based on means of production

Weber- believes that there is a class ladder, capitalists, upper-middle class, lower class, working class, working poor class, under class

Consequences of being in different class levels:

Physical health- the lower a person’s social class, the more likely that individual is to die before the expected age

Mental health- mental health in lower classes is worse than that of the higher classes

Family life- lower classes have a higher rate of divorce due to insecure jobs and inadequate incomes, children have different development and choosing your spouse is also different

Education- education increases as one goes up the social class ladder

Religion- the lower classes are attracted to more expensive worship services and louder music, while the middle and upper classes prefer more “subdued” worship

Politics- the higher that people are on the social class ladder, the more likely they are to vote republican, most members of the working class vote democratic

Crime and criminal justice- upper class commits white-collar crimes and lower class is more likely to commit robbery, murder, rape

Characteristics of different social mobility terms:

Intergenerational- the change that family members make in social class from one generation to the next

Upward- movement up the social class ladder

Downward- movement down the social class ladder

structural- movement up or down the social class ladder because of changes in the structure of society, not to individual efforts

Exchange- about the same numbers of people moving up and down the social class ladder, such that, on balance, the social class system shows little change

Dimensions used to calculate the poverty level:

Poverty line- the official measure of poverty; calculated to include incomes that are less than three times a low-cost food budget

Groups with the largest percentage in poverty:

African Americans have the largest percentage, and latinos have the second largest percentage

Competing explanations of why people are in poverty:

The first explanation focuses on social structure. Sociologists stress that features of society deny some people access to education or the learning of job skills therefore they do not have adequate incomes.

The second explanation focuses on the characteristics of individuals, laziness and lack of intelligence make people poor because they are unmotivated to get a good job.

wealth- the total value of everything someone owns minus their debts, income- money received, usually from a job, business, or assets

Status: the position that someone occupies in society or a social group

Feminization of poverty and its effects: a trend in the U.S. poverty whereby most poor families were headed by women

a belief that due to limitless possibilities anyone can get ahead if he or she tries hard enough