文档介绍：I. Video clip from SEIU, Stronger Together: Invisible No More
II. Explaining Social Stratification
A. Functionalist explanations B. Conflict theory explanations
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Invisible No More: Quality Home Care
Why are home health care workers paid so poorly?
Why do many health care workers lack health coverage for themselves and their families?
Is this right? Is this good for society?
What will it take to change this situation?
Functionalist Theory of Stratification
Positions in society vary in their functional importance
Functionally-important positions require advanced training, skill, or special talents
Society needs to motivate people to to through that training and/or to develop skill and talent
The way society does this is by attaching the highest rewards to the functionally most important positions
Social stratification is therefore functional for society
Any problems with this argument?
how to define functional importance?
does acquisition of training or skill have to be unpleasant and costly?
might the scarcity of talents be artificially created through social means?
Might not social stratification prevent the acquisition and recognition of talent?
Even if the theory shows why some level of stratification is necessary, it doesn’t in any way explain the level of inequality that actually exists
Are there ways in which social stratification is dysfunctional?
Stark’s Response: Replaceability
a way of defining functional importance independently of rewards
avoids problem of tautology
those who are least mand the highest rewards
those who are most replaceable receive the lowest rewards
But does this have anything to do with function any more?
Conflict Explanation of Social Stratification
Deals with two other problems with the functionalist theory of stratification:
why inequality in most societies is much greater than it has to be to motivate people (and why it varies between societies)
how replaceability can be manipulate