A person’s socio-economic status influences her
or his personal and social identity. In society, we rank
individuals on their wealth, power, and prestige (Weber [1968]
1978). The calculation of wealth is the addition
of one’s income and assets minus their debts. The net
worth of a person is wealth whereas income from work and
investments is the resources a person has available to access.
Power is the ability to influence others directly
or indirectly and prestige is the esteem or respect associated with
social status (Carl 2013). This social stratification system or
ranking creates inequality in society and determines one’s social
position in areas such as income, education, and occupation.
Multiple factors influence social standing, however, people
often assume hard work and effort leads to a high status and
wealth. Socialization reinforces the ideology that social
stratification is a result of personal effort or merit (Carl 2013).
The concept of meritocracy is a social ideal or value, but no
society exists where the determination of social rank is purely on
merit. Inheritance alone shows social standing is not always
individually earned. Some people have to put little to no effort to
inherit social status and wealth. Additionally, societies operating
under a caste system where birth determines lifelong status
undermines meritocracy. Caste systems function on the structure
that someone born into a low-status group remains low status
regardless of their accomplishments, and those born into
high-status groups stay high status (Henslin 2011). The caste
system reinforces ascribed status rather than achieved to ensure
sustainment of multiple roles and occupations in society.
In modern societies, there is evidence of merit based standing
in academics and job performance but other factors such as age,
disability, gender, race, and region influence life’s opportunities
and challenges for obtaining social standing. A major flaw of
meritocracy is how society measures social contributions.
Janitorial and custodial work is necessary in society to reduce
illness and manage waste just as much as surgery is to keep people
healthy and alive, but surgeons receive greater rewards than
janitors do for their contributions.
Marx and Engels (1967) suggested there is a social class
division between the capitalists who control the means of
production and the workers. In 1985, Erik Wright interjected that
people can occupy contradictory class positions throughout their
lifetime. People who have occupied various class positions (e.g.,
bookkeeper to manager to chief operating officer) relate to the
experiences of others in those positions, and as a result may feel
internal conflict in handling situations between positions or
favoring one over another. Late in the twentieth century, Joseph
Kahl and Dennis Gilbert (1992) updated the theoretical perspective
of Max Weber by developing a six-tier model portraying the United
States class structure including underclass, working-poor, working,
lower middle, upper middle, and capitalists. The social class model
depicts the distribution of property, prestige, and power among
society based on income and education.
Each class lifestyle requires a certain level of wealth in order
to acquire the material necessities and comforts of life (Henslin
2011). The correlation between the standard of living and quality
of life or life chances (i.e., opportunities and barriers)
influences one’s ability to afford food, shelter, clothing,
healthcare, other basic needs, and luxury items. A person’s
standards of living including income, employment, class, and
housing effects their cultural identity.

Figure
\(\PageIndex{1}\): Man Praying on Sidewalk with Food in
Front. (CC BY 4.0; Sergio
Omassi).
Social class serves as a marker or indication of resources.
These markers are noticeable in the behaviors, customs, and norms
of each stratified group (Carl 2013). People living in impoverished
communities have different cultural norms and practices compared to
those with middle incomes or families of wealth. For example, the
urban poor often sleep on cardboard boxes on the ground or on
sidewalks and feed themselves by begging, scavenging, and raiding
garbage (Kottak and Kozaitis 2012). Middle income and wealth
families tend to sleep in housing structures and nourish themselves
with food from supermarkets or restaurants.
Language and fashion also vary among these classes because of
educational attainment, employment, and income. People will use
language like “white trash” or “welfare mom” to marginalize people
in the lower class and use distinguished labels to identify the
upper class such as “noble” and “elite.” Sometimes people often
engage in conspicuous consumption or purchase and use certain
products (e.g., buy a luxury car or jewelry) to make a social
statement about their status (Henslin 2011). Nonetheless, the
experience of poor people is very different in comparison to others
in the upper and middle classes and the lives of people within each
social class may vary based on their position within other social
categories including age, disability, gender, race, region, and
religion.
Similar to people, nations are also stratified. The most extreme
social class differences are between the wealthiest in
industrialized countries and the poorest in the least developed
nations (Kottak and Kozaitis 2012). The most industrialized or
modern countries have the greatest property and wealth. Most
industrialized nations are leaders in technology and progress
allowing them to dominant, control, and access global resources.
Industrializing nations have much lower incomes and standards of
living than those living in most industrialized nations (Henslin
2011). The least industrialized nations are not modern, and people
living in these nations tend to be impoverished and live on farms
and in villages.
HIDDEN RULES OF CLASS
Could you survive in poverty, middle class, or wealth? In her
book A Framework for Understanding Poverty (2005), Dr.
Ruby K Payne presents lists of survival skills needed by different
societal classes. Test your skills by answering the following
questions:
Could you survive in . . . (mark all
that apply)
POVERTY
- ____ find the best rummage sales.
- ____ locate grocery stores’ garbage bins that have thrown away
food.
- ____ bail someone out of jail. ____ get a gun, even if I have a
police record.
- ____ keep my clothes from being stolen at the laundromat.
- ____ sniff out problems in a used car.
- ____ live without a checking account.
- ____ manage without electricity and a phone.
- ____ entertain friends with just my personality and
stories.
- ____ get by when I don’t have money to pay the bills.
- ____ move in half a day.
- ____ get and use food stamps.
- ____ find free medical clinics.
- ____ get around without a car.
- ____ use a knife as scissors.
MIDDLE CLASS know how to....
- ____ get my children into Little League, piano lessons, and
soccer.
- ____ set a table properly.
- ____ find stores that sell the clothing brands my family
wears.
- ____ use a credit card, checking and /or savings account.
- ____ evaluate insurance: life, disability, 20/80 medical,
homeowners, and personal-property.
- ____ talk to my children about going to college.
- ____ get the best interest rate on my car loan.
- ____ help my children with homework and don’t hesitate to make
a call if I need more information.
WEALTH, check if you....
- ____ can read a menu in French, English and another
language.
- ____ have favorite restaurants in different countries around
the world.
- ____ know how to hire a professional decorator to help decorate
your home during the holidays.
- ____ can name your preferred financial advisor, lawyer,
designer, hairdresser, or domestic-employment service.
- ____ have at least two homes that are staffed and
maintained.
- ____ know how to ensure confidentiality and loyalty with
domestic staff.
- ____ use two or three “screens” that keep people whom you don’t
wish to see away from you
- ____ fly in your own plane, the company plane, or the
Concorde.
- ____ know how to enroll your children in the preferred private
schools.
- ____ are on the boards of at least two charities.
- ____ know the hidden rules of the Junior League.
- ____ know how to read a corporate balance sheet and analyze
your own financial statements.
- ____ support or buy the work of a particular artist.
IDENTITY TODAY
All forms of media and technology teach culture including
values, norms, language, and behaviors by providing information
about activities and events of social significance (Griffiths et
al. 2015). Media and technology socialize us to think and act
within socio-cultural appropriate norms and accepted practices.
Watching and listening to people act and behave through media and
technology shows the influence this social institution has like
family, peers, school, and work on teaching social norms, values,
and beliefs.
Technological innovations and advancements have influenced
social interactions and communication patterns in the twenty-first
century creating new social constructions of reality. These
changes, particularly in information technology, have led to
further segmentation of society based on user-participant affinity
groups (Kottak and Kozaitis 2012). The internet and web-based
applications link people together transecting local, state, and
national boundaries centered on common interests. People who share
interests, ideas, values, beliefs, and practices are able to
connect to one another through web-based and virtual worlds. These
shared interests create solidarity among user-participants while
disengaging them from others with differing or opposing interests.
Cybersocial interactions have reinforced affinity
groups creating attitudes and behaviors that strongly encourage
tribalism or loyalty to the social group and indifference to
others.
Even though there are so many media, news, and information
outlets available online, they are homogenous and tell the same
stories using the same sources delivering the same message (McManus
1995). Regardless of the news or information outlets one accesses,
the coverage of events is predominantly the same with differences
focusing on commentary, perspective, and analysis. Shoemaker and
Vos (2009) found this practice allow outlets to serve as
gatekeepers by shaping stories and messages into
mass media-appropriate forms and reducing them to a manageable
amount for the audience. Fragmentation of stories and messages
occurs solely on ideology related to events rather than actual
coverage of accounts, reports, or news.
People no longer form and take on identity solely from
face-to-face interactions; they also construct themselves from
online communication and cybersocial interactions. Approximately 73
percent of adults engage in some sort of online social networking
extending their cultural identity to virtual space and time (Pew
Research Center 2011). Technological innovations and advancements
have even led some people to re-construct a new online identity
different from the one they are in face-to-face contexts. Both
identities and realities are real to the people who construct and
create them, as they are the cultural creators of their
personas.
Technology like other resources in society creates inequality
among social groups (Griffiths et al. 2015). People with greater
access to resources have the ability to purchase and use online
services and applications. Privilege access to technological
innovations and advancements depend on one’s age, family,
education, ethnicity, gender, profession, race, and social class
(Kottak and Kozaitis 2012). Signs of technological stratification
are visible in the increasing knowledge gap for those with less
access to information technology. People with exposure to
technology gain further proficiency that makes them more marketable
and employable in modern society (Griffiths et al. 2015). Inflation
of the knowledge gap results from the lack of technological
infrastructure among races, classes, geographic areas creating a
digital divide between those who have internet access and those
that do not.
NATIVE ANTHROPOLOGIST
Native anthropologists study their own culture. For this
project, you will explore your own culture by answering the
questions below. Your response to each question must be a minimum
of one paragraph consisting of 3-5 sentences, typed, and in ASA
format (i.e., paragraphs indented and double-spaced). You must
include parenthetical citations if you ask or interview someone in
your family or kin group to help you understand and answer any one
of the questions. Here is a helpful link with information on citing
interviews in ASA format:
libguides.tru.ca/c.php?g=194012&p=1277266.
PART 1
- In examining your background and heritage, what traditions or
rituals do you practice regularly? To what extent are traditional
cultural group beliefs still held by individuals within the
community? To what extent and in what areas has your ethnic or
traditional culture changed in comparison to your ancestors?
- What major stereotypes do you have about other cultural groups
based on age, gender, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity, region, and
social class?
- Reflecting on your cultural background, how do you define
family?
- What is the hierarchy of authority in your family?
- What do you think are the functions and obligations of the
family as a large social unit to individual family members? To
school? To work? To social events?
- What do you think are the rights and responsibilities of each
family member? For example, do children have an obligation to work
and help the family?
- In your culture, what stage of life is most valued?
- What behaviors are appropriate or unacceptable for children of
various ages? How might these conflict with behaviors taught or
encouraged in the school, work, or by other social groups?
- How does your cultural group compute age? What commemoration is
recognized or celebrated, if any (i.e., birthdays, anniversaries,
etc.)?
PART 2
- Considering your cultural heritage, what roles within a group
are available to whom and how are they acquired?
- Are there class or status differences in the expectations of
roles within your culture?
- Do particular roles have positive or malevolent
characteristics?
- Is language competence a requirement or qualification for
family or cultural group membership?
- How do people greet each other?
- How is deference or respect shown?
- How are insults expressed?
- Who may disagree with whom in the cultural group? Under what
circumstances? Are mitigating forms used?
- Which cultural traditions or rituals are written and how
widespread is cultural knowledge found in written forms?
- What roles, attitudes, or personality traits are associated
with particular ways of speaking among the cultural group?
- What is the appropriate decorum or manners among your cultural
group?
- What counts as discipline in terms of your culture, and what
doesn't? What is its importance and value?
- Who is responsible and how is blame ascribed if a child
misbehaves?
- Do means of social control vary with recognized stages in the
life cycle, membership in various social categories (i.e., gender,
region, class, etc.), or according to setting or offense?
- What is the role of language in social control? What is the
significance of using the first vs. the second language?
PART 3
- What is considered sacred (religious) and what secular
(non-religious)?
- What religious roles and authority are recognized in the
community?
- What should an outsider not know, or not acknowledge knowing
about your religion or culture?
- Are there any external signs of participation in religious
rituals (e.g., ashes, dress, marking)?
- Are dietary restrictions to be observed including fasting on
particular occasions?
- Are there any prescribed religious procedures or forms of
participation if there is a death in the family?
- What taboos are associated with death and the dead?
- Who or what is believed to cause illness or death (e.g.,
biological vs. supernatural or other causes)?
- Who or what is responsible for treating or curing illness?
- Reflecting on your culture, what foods are typical or
favorites? What are taboo?
- What rules are observed during meals regarding age and sex
roles within the family, the order of serving, seating, utensils
used, and appropriate verbal formulas (e.g., how, and if, one may
request, refuse, or thank)?
- What social obligations are there with regard to food giving,
preparation, reciprocity, and honoring people?
- What relation does food have to health? What medicinal uses are
made of food, or categories of food?
- What are the taboos or prescriptions associated with the
handling, offering, or discarding of food?
- What clothing is common or typical among your cultural group?
What is worn for special occasions?
- What significance does dress have for group identity?
- How does dress differ for age, sex, and social class? What
restrictions are imposed for modesty (e.g., can girls wear pants,
wear shorts, or shower in the gym)?
- What is the concept of beauty, or attractiveness in the
culture? What characteristics are most valued?
- What constitutes a compliment of beauty or attractiveness in
your culture (e.g., in traditional Latin American culture, telling
a woman she is getting fat is a compliment)?
- Does the color of dress have symbolic significance (e.g., black
or white for mourning, celebrations, etc.)?
PART 4
- In your culture, what individuals and events in history are a
source of pride for the group?
- ow is knowledge of the group's history preserved? How and in
what ways is it passed on to new generations (e.g., writings,
aphorisms or opinions, proverbs or sayings)?
- Do any ceremonies or festive activities re-enact historical
events?
- Among your cultural group, what holidays and celebrations are
observed? What is their purpose? What cultural values do they
intend to inculcate?
- What aspects of socialization/enculturation do holidays and
celebrations observed further?
- In your culture, what is the purpose of education?
- What methods for teaching and learning are used at home (e.g.,
modeling and imitation, didactic stories and proverbs, direct
verbal instruction)?
- What is the role of language in learning and teaching?
- How many years is it considered 'normal' for children to go to
school?
- Are there different expectations with respect to different
groups (e.g., boys vs. girls)? In different subjects?
- Considering your culture, what kinds of work are prestigious
and why?
- Why is work valued (e.g., financial gain, group welfare,
individual satisfaction, promotes group cohesiveness, fulfillment
or creation of obligations, position in the community, etc.)?
PART 5
- How and to what extent may approval or disapproval be expressed
in you culture?
- What defines the concepts of successful among your cultural
group?
- To what extent is it possible or proper for an individual to
express personal vs. group goals?
- What beliefs are held regarding luck and fate?
- What significance does adherence to traditional culture have
for individual success or achievement?
- What are the perceptions on the acquisition of dominant group
culture have on success or achievement?
- Do parents expect and desire assimilation of children to the
dominant culture as a result of education and the acquisition of
language?
- Are the attitudes of the cultural community the same as or
different from those of cultural leaders?
- Among your cultural group, what beliefs or values are
associated with concepts of time? How important is punctuality,
speed, patience, etc.?
- Are particular behavioral prescriptions or taboos associated
with the seasons?
- Is there a seasonal organization of work or other
activities?
- How do individuals organize themselves spatially in groups
during cultural events, activities, or gatherings (e.g., in rows,
circles, around tables, on the floor, in the middle of the room,
etc.)?
- What is the spatial organization of the home in your culture
(e.g., particular activities in various areas of the home, areas
allotted to children, or open to children,)?
- What geo-spatial concepts, understandings, and beliefs (e.g.,
cardinal directions, heaven, hell, sun, moon, stars, natural
phenomena, etc.) exist among the cultural group or are known to
individuals?
- Are particular behavioral prescriptions or taboos associated
with geo-spatial concepts, understandings, and beliefs? What
sanctions are there against individuals violating restrictions or
prescriptions?
- Which animals are valued in your culture, and for what
reasons?
- Which animals are considered appropriate as pets and which are
inappropriate? Why?
- Are particular behavioral prescriptions or taboos associated
with particular animals?
- Are any animals of religious significance? Of historical
importance?
- What forms of art and music are most highly valued?
- What art medium and musical instruments are traditionally
used?
- Are there any behavioral prescriptions or taboos related to art
and music (e.g., both sexes sing, play a particular instrument,
paint or photograph nude images, etc.)?