Assignment 4

1. According to the slides how do we define power, prestige, and privilege and give an example of each. Power: ability to force another person to do something even against their will, and example would be if you have a boss and they want you to clean the bathroom even if it is something that you don’t want to do you have to because your boss has power over you. Prestige: respect and status in society, an example is people who own companies, and run business are more likely to be given more respect. The more money that you have the higher up in a social class you are which makes more people under you have more respect for you. Privilege: special advantage or benefit enjoyed by individuals, but not all, if you have more money than it is easier to get what you want. Sometimes people can pay their way to get a table at a restaurant or cut a line because they paid for it. 2. Also, what three variables do Sociologists use to define social class. When Sociologist define social class they use three variable they are income, occupation and Education. 3. After reading the textbook and reviewing the lecture slides, how would you define your social class (using terms from the lecture and textbook) and why? There are two ways to look at my social class if I was just looking at me apart from my family I would probably be in the lower class because I have a part time job, cannot support myself, having college loans, but If I was looking at my families social class then I would be middle class. My mom owns her own house, three cars, works, can support a family, a college education, a job. There are different ways to look at social class in my option. 4. Briefly describe what is happening to the upper class (the rich), the middle class, and the working and lower classes according to Chapter 13 in the Benokraitis textbook. The upper class are making more and more money, there are not a lot of people that are being added to the upper-class but the people there are taking more and more of the wealth. The middle class is shrinking because of the way it is defined. Many people just place themselves in the middle class because they aren’t rich and they aren’t poor. The lower is barely able to service the rich has so much money and are constantly taking more of the overall wealth that there is very little lift for the poor. 5. Lastly, your importance in U.S. society is often linked to race/ethnicity, education, age, income, and gender. Think about how your race/ethnicity or gender or age has blocked your from an opportunity or given you an advantage. Please identify your age, education, gender of race/ethnicity and then tell me your story of an opportunity or disadvantage you have experienced in your life. I am a 19 year old white American female, in college getting my undergraduate degree. When getting my job in retail now my boss hired me because I was white. My boss is in some ways races when it comes to blacks or African Americans because she says they never work out. This was beneficial for me.