Walmart s Reputation For Unfair Labor Practices - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Stratification affects our everyday lives. Stratification refers to the hierarchical arrangement of people in a society.

Breadcrumb

Inequality means people have unequal access to scarce and valued resources in society. These resources might be economic or political, such as health care, education, jobs, property and land ownership, housing, and ability to influence government policy. Although inequality is everywhere, there are many controversies and questions about inequality that sociologists are interested in such as where did inequality come from? Why does it continue? Do we justify inequality?

Docket Activity

Can we eliminate inequality? Can we make a society in which people are equal?

Before answering these complex questions, we will broadly define socioeconomic status and social class in America. The chapter then turns to dominant theories on stratification, and explores class, race, and gender inequality in more detail.

We look at how capitalism is an important context in inequality.

We end with consequences of inequality and theories explaining global inequality. Building on the ideas of Max Weber, who saw three main dimensions of stratification class, status, and partycontemporary sociologists often define stratification in terms of socioeconomic status or SES. There are a variety of ways to measure SES, including educational attainment, income, wealth, and occupational prestige. These measures reflect three characteristics of individuals: power, property, and prestige. Legitimate power, power given to individuals willingly by others, is called authority.]