What's covered
Key facts
Functionalist theory of stratification — Davis and Moore
A criticism of Davis and Moore is that the theory ignores inherited wealth and status, which give some people unequal starting points so rewards are not simply earned through merit.
Life chances and social mobility
Feminists point to the gender pay gap and the "glass ceiling" as evidence women have poorer life chances in employment.
Poverty — Townsend and Murray
Absolute poverty means lacking the minimum income needed to meet basic needs for survival, such as food, shelter and clothing.
Power and authority — Weber
Authority is power people willingly obey because they see it as legitimate — the right thing to do — so force is unnecessary.
Power relationships and the welfare state — Walby
Feminists argue the welfare state was built on the assumption that women would be financially supported by men, so it reinforces patriarchy and penalises women.
Social class — Marx and Weber
The bourgeoisie are the ruling class who own the means of production and employ others.
Functionalist theory of stratification — Davis and Moore
A criticism is that the stratification system tends to reproduce existing inequalities across generations rather than reward pure merit.
Life chances and social mobility
Intergenerational mobility is movement between social classes from one generation of a family to the next (e.g. child reaches a different class from parents).
Poverty — Townsend and Murray
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's UK Poverty 2024 report found that around 22% of the UK population — about 14.4 million people — were living in poverty.
Power and authority — Weber
Charismatic authority rests on the extraordinary personal qualities of a leader that inspire followers to obey.
Sample questions
A taste of the 83 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
According to Davis and Moore, why does social stratification exist in all societies?
- •It exists only in capitalist economies
- •It is created by powerful groups to exploit workers
- ✓It is functional, necessary and useful for society
- •It results from random historical accidents
What are life chances?
- •A government scheme giving everyone equal opportunities at birth.
- •Random luck that decides whether a person succeeds in life.
- •The number of years a person is expected to live from birth.
- ✓Your likelihood of positive or negative outcomes in health, education and employment
How did Townsend (1979) define poverty?
- •Being unable to afford food and shelter needed for survival
- •Choosing not to work despite jobs being available locally
- •Earning less than half the minimum wage in any given year
- ✓Relative deprivation — lacking resources to share in society's normal activities
According to Weber, what is power?
- •Belonging to a higher social class
- ✓Getting what you want despite opposition
- •The right to vote in elections
- •Wealth inherited from your family
How does Walby define patriarchy?
- •A belief held by individual sexist men that women are inferior to them
- •A society where women hold most positions of power and authority
- •A stage of capitalism where the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat
- ✓Social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women
According to Marx, what defines which social class a group belongs to?
- •Their level of social prestige and honour
- •Their market situation and qualifications
- •Their political power and party membership
- ✓Their relationship to the means of production
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