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| a term that refers to the placement of people separate from the placement of resources. In the stratification literature, this most often refers to the placement of African American individuals in urban areas while jobs have increasingly gone to the suburbs (individuals live in the core while jobs are on the ring). This leads to African Americans facing disadvantages in the labor market as they may not know where to look for jobs and may be disadvantaged in terms of commute times even if they can obtain a job. This theory was originally developed by Kain and suggested that even when employers were neutral in their work location, minorities were disadvantaged and has since received mixed support (see a review by Holzer). A firm based study by Fernandez of a food retooling plant seems to support spatial mismatch theory and shows even when an employer is trying to maximize worker utility, minority workers face disproportionately longer commute times. It has also been suggested by Kornrich in a 2009 paper that spatial mismatch theory, urban decline and threat theory, are not competing but can all be understood in a queing framework. |
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| microclass—microclass is sometimes termed class at the site of the occupation. The microclass concept is developed by Grusky and colleagues as a neo-Durkheimian alternative to Marxist and Weberian schemes for understanding class. Microclass is supposed to be the building block of mechanical solidarity for individuals within the class and organic solidarity as individuals within the microclass recognized the importance of other microclasses in the functioning of society. This is distinctly anti-Marxian who suggests occupation is alienating. Kim and Sakamoto note that occupations as the site of occupation may be increasingly less relevant as wage inequality within occupation has been increasing, suggesting occupations are less salient. |
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| Wisconsin Model of Status attainment— |
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| this model was developed at the University of Wisconsin by Sewell and colleagues and later used extensively by Bob Hauser. It is part of what Granzeboom (1991) calls the second generation of stratification research and is a path model. It is an alternative to the Blau and Duncan model of status attainment. It relates occupation of father to occupation of child including as a mediator not only the child’s educational attainment but also the child’s aspirations and significant others. It is the introduction of social psychology that makes the model different from Blau and Duncan’s. A criticism of this model is made by Kerckheroff, it assumes people compete for resources and largely ignores institutions. |
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| Motherhood penalty—the motherhood penalty refers to a disadvantage in the labor market women face upon becoming mothers. Generally, mothers are rated as less committed and receive lower salaries. Correll (2007) showed that mothers were generally rated as less competent and were suggested to receive lower starter salaries compared to men. Upon becoming fathers, men face no disadvantage and in fact receive small advantages. |
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| g. Sibling models—a class of models where information is taken from all siblings in a household and compared on some outcome such as occupation or education. The correlation between siblings on these indicators is generally thought to be an indicator of the openness of a society. In a castelike society, the correlation between siblings approaches 1 whereas in open societies it should approach 0. This is a measure of family position effects. Dalton Conley notes however, that focusing on the correlation can be deceiving if societies have policies where parents invest all resources in the first child and no resources in the second child, which could result in a net 0 correlation but reflect a castelike property. |
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| —practices of promoting individuals from within an organization, often the firm. These jobs are closed to outsiders. Althauser in his 1988 review of the topic notes that within the stratification literature there are multiple definitions of internal labor markets, some refer to within firms, others refer to within occupations. Internal labor markets are important because they represent a sociological alternative to neoclassical economic theory. In the case of firms, firms often promote from within because of firm specific capital, neoclassical economics and human capital theory does not acknowledge this. It is an important structure not accounted for in economic theory. |
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| Skill based technology Change |
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Definition
| skill biased technological change refers to the development of technology which has largely replaced many jobs previously held by semi-skilled workers. This decreases the demand for people with low skills. In many contexts, the development of such technology is important, and it is one explanation for changes in inequality in the United States and other industrialized countries (Alderson and Nielson 2002). There is a growing wage gap between those who didn’t finish high school, whose skills are not in demand and those who did complete high school and whose skills are in demand). At a micro level, support for the existence of SBTC has been found by Fernandez in a plant retooling study. Fernandez finds that following the retooling, an exogenous shock, workers with lower skills received lower wages while those with the greatest skills received higher wages, this led to some polarization in wages as has been observed in the broader economy. Fernandez also notes the effect of this technological change was also attenuated by institutions such as firm commitment to workers and unions which prevented layoffs. |
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| Effectively maintained inequality |
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Definition
| developed by Lucas in 2001 this term refers to the capacity of middle and upper class individuals to better position their children within educational institutions and to keep their children in advantaged positions once obtained. The well-off are able to get and keep their kids in the best tracks. EMI is one way in which social reproduction is achieved. Examples of the effects of effectively maintained inequality can be seen in Annette Lareau’s unequal childhoods where middle class parents are more successful in guiding their children through the best school trajectories and into college through practices she refers to as concerted cultivation and a general alignment with the dominant educational paradigm. It should be noted that EMI is a qualitative difference in educational trajectories and might be commensurate with (tho is distinct from) MMI developed by Raftery and Hout 1993 which suggests that those in advantaged social positions can maintain their relative advantage in educational systems even as educational achievement increases in a society. |
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| Maxium matained inequality |
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Definition
MMI developed by Raftery and Hout 1993 which suggests that those in advantaged social positions can maintain their relative advantage in educational systems even as educational achievement increases in a society.
It should be noted that EMI is a qualitative difference in educational trajectories and might be commensurate with (tho is distinct from) |
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Definition
mobility which occurs independent of structural forms, often equated with exchange mobility
Sobel argues future work should abandon distinction between structural and circulation mobility
we could move away from log linear mobility tables and get better structural vs circulation mobility but this would retard our understanding of mobility
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potentially disruptive event that serves to shape life course processes such as childbirth or marital disruption |
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| topological mobility table |
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refers to construction of table with a number of regions in which each cell's value is independent of others in the regiontables
apply a combination of linear models and mobility
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Definition
Weberian concept, refers to non-economic aff liation a person may have
defines status group[1] (also known as status class or status estate[2]) as a group of people (part of a society) that can be differentiated on the basis of non-economical qualities like honour, prestige and religion. |
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Definition
degree to which social origins is associated with destinations
absolute rates, flows between classes and relative rates in odds ratios
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Social closure is a concept that was first introduced by Max Weber and refers to the practice of preserving privilege by restricting other people’s access to resources and rewards. It can take many forms, from residential segregation to marriage rules that forbid unions with anyone from outside the privileged group to keeping women out of “old boys’ networks.” |
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Definition
perfect symmetry would occur if equal exchange between classes in a mobility
table, quasi-mobility indicates this occurs after structural mobility at the margins is taken into account
Relevant to mobility tables, an assumption that group inflows will be compensated by out flows |
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| principles of social transfer |
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Definition
De niton: Principle that measure of inequality should increase whenever wealth is transferred from poorer person to richer person, gini and thiel index fi t this
criterion, adopting a measure implies a judgment about how to maximize social welfare
gini index sensitivity of index to transfers according to rank, people ranked
around the middle have transfers which are most sensitive
thiel index is most sensitive to transfers at the low points int he distribution |
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Term
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Definition
Hauser and Warren 1997 (occupational education) the proportion of occupational incumbents who completed at least one year of post-secondary schooling,
they defined occupational earnings as the proportion of occupational incumbents who earned at
least $25,000 per year. |
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individual access to resources and human capital an individual has through his social network, discussed by Lin in 1999 article |
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ability of family to consume
vs. production |
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| dual labor market vs. neo-classical labor market theory |
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Definition
Dual labor markets differ from neoclassical theory in that dual labor market theorists assume that individuals in core jobs cannot be replaced under neoclassical
assumptions because companies have invested in them firm speci c capital and entry into the primary labor market is controlled because of a greater supply
of workers compared to demand within companies. |
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Definition
focuses on objective class position in relation to others
i.e. Rungs on a ladder |
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Term
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Definition
term originally coined by Merton to describe career
progression in the sciences. Young scientists who had exceptional findings attracted resources that carried them through their careers.
Cumulative advantage is a theory that suggests starting position is correlated with future trajectories.
This can be a purely mathematical relationship, higher principle wealth can get higher interest or in a more complex form where extended exposure to advantage or disadvantage (such as exposure to race).
This de finition is discussed in a 2005 review article by Diprete and Eirich suggests that the term has come to have multiple meanings across many different disciplines. But its salience to social strati fication is in relation to theories of how starting position
either advantaged or disadvantaged perpetuates itself. |
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Definition
inequality is good, but inequality is necessary, do we
accept that some positions are more important than others? (yes?) have no
way of measuring positions and importance, is it the case that we need to
incentivize the important or highly valued position. evolutionary argument
societies must do this in order to survive against other societies. Functionalism
may be undesirable. does not allow accumulation of inequality
Names: Davis and Moore |
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| Skill biased technological change |
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Definition
Skill biased technological change refers to a change in demand for workers operating from around the 1970s to the present. It refers to a decline in employer demand for unskilled workers in favor of those with greater skills. Evidence for this theory is found in a 2008 work by Fernandez.
Skill biased technological change is important to social strati cation because it is believed to be one explanation for increasing inequality in the labor force from the 1970s to the present |
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individual use of resources and human capital available from network
in job search process to; discussed by Lin in 1999 article |
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dimension of inequality
1. resources to consume differ
2. heiarchy of style and tastes (social closure)
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update to dual labor market theory, some jobs are closed to individuals and require seniority within a fi rm. this is an important counter example to neoclassical economic theory |
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opening in position causes shift in all occupations and opening up one location at bottom of chain |
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Constraints on mobility within an organization characterized by a situation where an individual can only move up if there is a vacancy in a higher position in the organization
Useful for understanding an individual's mobility within an organization and intragenerational mobility more generally,
vacancy competition and the related concept of the vacancy chain are violations from assumptions by neo-classical economists |
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| Term: Differential in Scaricity of Personnel |
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Definition
dierential scarcity of personnel depending on training and skill of workers.
This includes inherent ability and training/education. In practice can be primarily innate ability or primarily education/training.
Davis and Moore 1945 |
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Term
| Term: Differential in Functional Importance |
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Definition
the position must both be important and hard to fi ll - reward is high enough to get it filled anyway. So less essential positions do not compete successfully with more essential one
Davis and Moore 1945 |
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Definition
Argued by Becker to be the above market wage an employer is willing to pay for an ascribed market characteristic |
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Definition
scales developed by duncan and colleagues
now measured by Norc, used to rank and discuss the distance of classes from
each other |
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Definition
a person's anxiety when faced with a situation where an individual is fearful of being stereotyped as having characteristics of the group. Steele showed this in
his study of black and whites test scores. Important in strati cation for solving the paradox of why even when matched on ability individuals facing a negative
group stereotype have poorer outcomes |
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