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5.8: End of the Chapter Material

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    Key Takeaways

    • While sociologists debate exactly how social classes are divided, there is substantial evidence that socioeconomic status is tied to tangible advantages and outcomes.
    • Social class in the United States is a controversial issue, with social scientists disagreeing over models, definitions, and even the basic question of whether or not distinct classes exist.
    • Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes the rich or upper class, the middle class, and the poor or working class.
    • Social class is correlated to environmental hazards that increase one's risk of contracting a disease or sustaining an injury; low access to fresh produce, exercise facilities, and preventative
      health programs are all environmental hazards that negatively impact health outcomes.
    • Health inequality refers to the unequal distribution of environmental hazards and access to health services between demographic groups, including social classes, as well as to the disparate health outcomes experienced by these groups.
    • In addition to environmental hazards, lower socioeconomic classes have lower levels of health insurance than the upper class. Much of this disparity can be explained by the tendency for lower status occupations to not provide benefits to employees.
    • Mental health describes a person's level of psychological well-being, or the presence/absence of mental disorder. Mental health can include one's ability to enjoy life and demonstrate psychological resilience.
    • Mental health is socially constructed and defined; it is determined by both scientific and cultural knowledge, and it is understood differently by various groups, institutions, and professions.
    • The evaluation of which mental states can be considered healthy and which require medical intervention also varies by class.
    • In the United States, the probability of a first marriage ending is substantially higher for couples with low socioeconomic statuses than for those in the middle or upper class.
    • Globally, the birth rate in countries with large impoverished populations is much higher than in wealthier countries.
    • In nations with high levels of fertility, upper class individuals tend to have more children than their lower class peers, while in nations with low levels of fertility, upper class families exhibit even lower fertility than average.
    • Social class has both a cause and an effect relationship with family composition, and lower social class is often correlated with one-parent households.
    • Those in high social classes are likely to have greater educational attainment than those in low social classes.
    • Educational inequality is also perpetuated by legacy admission.
    • Because members of high social classes tend to be better educated and have higher incomes, they are more able to provide educational advantages to their children as well.
    • Educational inequality is one factor that perpetuates the class divide across generations.
    • Social class is an indicator of religious affiliation, with upper class members concentrated in formal denominations and lower class members concentrated in informal denominations.
    • Social class is not an indicator of religiosity; members of each social class practice their faiths with a range of intensities.
    • Income, and therefore social class, is related to an individual's denomination. Religion is also strongly linked to level of education.
    • Political office holders tend to be of high socioeconomic status, furthering the impact of class on American politics.
    • Wealthy, well-educated Americans are more likely to vote and to donate money to politicians than lower class individuals are.
    • Those who vote as members of a social class can be said to be participating in identity politics.
    • When a person is suspected of violating a law, they are processed through the criminal justice system.
    • The criminal justice system includes law enforcement (such as police or sheriffs), the courts, and corrections authorities (such as prison wardens and social workers).
    • Legislation can attempt to refocus and restructure the criminal justice system in the United States, as when the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice issued recommendations to improve the efficacy of criminal justice.
    • These reforms reflected a change in the purpose of the criminal justice system. Historically, it had been used as a way to deter crime and punish criminals, but it now has the added goal of rehabilitating offenders.

    References

    Birth rate. (2020, January 29). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia.org/w/ index.php?title=Birth_rate&oldid=938230085
    Criminal justice. (2020, January 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Criminal_justice&oldid=934990442
    Educational attainment in the United States. (2020, January 29). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Educational_ attainment_in_the_United_States&oldid=938187143
    Health care in the United States. (2020, February 9). In Wikipedia. https:// en.Wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Health_care_in_the_United_ States&oldid=939993144
    Health equity. (2020, February 17). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Health_equity&oldid=941219790

    Hierarchy. (2019, September 29). In Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary. org/w/index.php?title=hierarchy&oldid=54378944

    Identity politics. (2020, February 17). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Identity_politics&oldid=941294253
    Introduction to sociology/family. (2017, August 16). In Wikibooks. https:// en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Introduction_to_Sociology/ Family&oldid=3269745
    Introduction to sociology/politics. (2017, August 6). In Wikibooks. https:// en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Introduction_to_Sociology/ Politics&oldid=3259674
    Introduction to sociology/religion. (2018, July 14). In Wikibooks. https:// en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Introduction_to_Sociology/ Religion&oldid=3442359

    Legacy preferences. (2020, February 17). In Wikipedia. https://en. Wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Legacy_preferences&oldid= 941192697
    Mental health. (2018, October 28). In Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary. org/w/index.php?title=mental_health&oldid=50594437
    Mental health. (2020, February 10). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Mental_health&oldid=940015217
    President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. (1967). The challenge of crime in a free society: A report. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/42.pdf

    Social class. (2020, February 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.Wikipedia.org/w/ index.php?title=Social_class&oldid=939931063#Consequences_ of_class_position
    Social determinants of health. (2019, December 14). In Wikipedia. https:// en.Wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_determinants_of_ health&oldid=930655316


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