Chapter 7 Vocabulary - Social Inequality

The division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy

• social stratification

• social class

• caste system

• apartheid

The unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society.

• social stratification

• social class

• social inequality

• caste system

The most extreme form of social stratification, based on the ownership of people.

• apartheid

• caste system

• social inequality

• slavery

a form of social stratification in which status is determined by one’s family history and background and cannot be changed.

• social class

• caste system

• apartheid

• social class

The system of segregation of racial and ethnic groups that was legal in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.

• social stratification

• apartheid

• social class

• caste system

A system of stratification based on access to such resources as wealth, property, power, and prestige.

• social stratification

• social class

• caste system

• apartheid

A measure of an individual’s place within a social class system; often used interchangeably with “class”.

• social class

• socioeconomic status

• social stratification

• social inequality

A concept that identifies how different categories of inequality(race,class,gender,etc.) intersect to shape the lives of individuals and groups.

• social class

• upper class

• social structure

• intersectionality

An elite and largely self-sustaining group who possess most of the country’s wealth; they constitute about 1 percent of the U.S. population.

• upper class

• upper-middle class

• middle class

• lower class

Social class consisting of mostly highly educated professionals and managers who have considerable financial stability; they constitute about 14 percent of the U.S.population.

• upper class

• upper-middle class

• middle class

• lower middle class