Leonard Beeghley - The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States, The, CourseSmart eTextbook

THE STRUCTURE OF
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
IN THE UNITED STATES

LEONARD BEEGHLEY

First published 2008, 2005, 2000, 1996, 1989 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright 2008, 2005, 2000, 1996, 1989 Taylor & Francis. All right reserved.

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ISBN: 9780205530526 (pbk)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beeghley, Leonard.
The structure of social stratification in the
United States / Leonard Beeghley.5th ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-53052-6
ISBN-10: 0-205-53052-4
1. Social classesUnited States.
2. Social stratificationUnited States.
3. Social structureUnited States.
I. Title.
HN90.S6B44 2007
305.50973dc22

2007002621

CHAPTER ONE
Sociology and Stratification

CHAPTER TWO
Race/Ethnicity And Stratification

CHAPTER THREE
Gender and Stratification

CHAPTER FOUR
Social Class and Stratification: Occupational Prestige and Class Identification

CHAPTER FIVE
Social Class and Stratification: Mobility and Status Attainment

CHAPTER SIX
Political Participation and Power

CHAPTER SEVEN
The Rich

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Middle Class

CHAPTER NINE
The Working Class

CHAPTER TEN
The Poor

CHAPTER ELEVEN
The United States in Global Context

CHAPTER TWELVE
Reflections on the Study of Social Stratification

In this book, I have tried to distill out of the rich vein of sociological research some of what is known about the structure of stratification in the United States. The term refers to the distribution of resources in society, such as income, prestige, and power. The structure of stratification affects every aspect of life: where (and whether) one lives, who one marries, how (and whether) one earns a living, who ones friends are, and much more. In revising the book, my objective has been to make each chapter factually accurate, interesting to read, and relevant to readers lives. In the process, the book has been completely reorganized, updated, and rewritten for this fifth edition.

In making these revisions, I have tried to keep in mind that science is the art of asking questions. But questions are always asked in light of an intellectual frameworkwhich needs to be explicit. In , the ideas of the most important theorists of stratification are reviewed, and a coherent strategy for studying stratification is developed and used throughout the book. This strategy has three elements: First, as often as possible, I place data in a historical and cross-national context. This information leads to important questions. For example, if the rate of poverty has fallen in all Western societies (and it has), one wants to know why. But if, even given the historical decline, the rate of poverty in the United States is much higher than in Western Europe (and it is), one again wants to know why. Second, I distinguish between social psychological explanations of individual actions and structural explanations of rates of behavior. Just as one obtains different insights from examining a painting up close and afar, these two levels of analysis provide complementary but different insights into social life. For example, the reasons why individuals become poor (for example, they lack skills) have nothing whatsoever to do with why so many people are poor (for example, macroeconomic policy restricts the number of jobs that are available whenever it is necessary to control inflation). There is an enduring insight here: Regardless of the topic, the variables explaining why individuals act differ from those explaining why rates of behavior vary. This fact will be illustrated throughout the book. This distinction aids in understanding issues as diverse as poverty, mobility, voting, gender stratification, and racial/ethnic stratification. Third, I emphasize the importance of power for understanding the structure of stratification. The story of the last century is one of increasing control over human affairs. As just one example, nations now control how much inequality and poverty exist. Hence, the periodic use of macroeconomic policy to restrict the number of jobs provides one example (there are others) of how poverty is created and maintained in this country. More generally, I argue that the level of inequality in the United States reflects the power of the rich and middle class to protect their lifestyles. Again, there is an enduring insight here: The higher the social class, the greater the influence over the distribution of resources in the society.

This statement is called the Political Power Hypothesis in . It is just one of many hypotheses and findings presented in the book. The importance of hypothesis testing is emphasized throughout. This is, in part, a pedagogical device. It illustrates for students (rather than merely asserting) the possibilities of scientific sociology by showing both how much we know and, by implication, how much remains to be learned. Most hypotheses and empirical generalizations (stable findings) are phrased as statements of covariance. This tactic shows students how a change in one phenomenon is associated with change in another. This point is typically made in methods and (less often) theory courses, but neglected elsewhere. Too frequently, I think, text writers give the impression that sociological knowledge depends upon the assumptions observers make. Nothing could be further from the truth. In part, however, the emphasis on hypothesis testing is also a statement about the nature of social science. If science is the art of asking questions, then our answers must reflect knowledge based on observation.

Yet how observations are to be interpreted remains a vexing issue. In the study of stratification, for example, the relationship among class, race, and gender as systems of domination has become controversial in recent years. Throughout this book, I try to show how they are interrelated. Minorities remain unequal to Whites; women remain unequal to men. This inequality reflects the historical legacy and continuing impact of prejudice and discrimination. Yet these forms of inequality have declined in recent years. In considering these issues, the larger question is the degree to which peoples location in the stratification structure is determined by birth or achievement. One of the paradoxes of modernity is that our very concern with gender and racial/ethnic stratification reflects a degree of movement (I would say progress) toward class-based stratification structures. When societies are stratified by class, unlike medieval estates, there is an increased emphasis on achievement. This historical transformation is one example of what I meant earlier in saying that people and, indeed, entire societies, now have greater control over how they organize themselves.