ng)+ power- aim: EMPIRICAL description of a society (MERTON vs. Parsons)Merton: middle-range theories; link theories to empirical testingParsons: “grand theory”; purely theoretical construct of AGIL-scheme - empirical examples for stratification in contemporary societies1. the poor 2. working class (unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled manual workers) 3. middle class (e.g. white collars) 4. upper class (ELITE: who can influence the most important DECISIONS in a field)- STATUS:a composite index of several social characteristics (e.g.: income, occupation, education, place of living, life style, ethnicity, gender etc.) which create social layers (strata)- STATUS INCONSISTENCY: different characteristics seem to contradict(e.g.: a top manager of a MNCs, living in a small village, having only a primary level of education etc.) - Incongruence: your occupational POSITION does not fit to your level of education (e.g. ELITE in early stage of State Socialism) - a contemporary theory of social stratification: theory of capitalsBOURDIEU 1. economic (material): wealth, income 2. cultural (human): embodied (education) and symbolic (life style, cultural patterns) 3. social (friends, kinship networks e.g to get INFORMATION, getting a JOB, to have material or emotional SUPPORT in case of problems)- Examples for MEASUREMENT- Meritocracy: your position based on your KNOWLEDGE (often identified by your level of education), your WORK PERFORMANCE- Reproduction of inequalities? In contemporary societies by the institutions of the EDUCATION (a possible conversion of the different forms of capitals: e.g. if you pay more, you can get into better schools)- MOBILITY: change in socio-economic status(e.g from an unskilled worker to a top manager at an MNCs)- intragenerational (inside one life history, e.g. as a 20-years-old unskilled worker vs. a 45-years-old top manager) and intergenerational (from one generation to the other; compared to your father and...
