- "Social class in the United States refers to the idea of grouping Americans by some measure of social status, typically by economic status."
The system of social stratification based on economic status.
Social organization: The ways in which societies structure themselves, including forms of kinship, political systems, and economic organization.
Cultural norms and values: The shared beliefs, practices, and customs that define a group's identity and shape social behavior.
Power and inequality: The ways in which social hierarchies are constructed and maintained, including systems of race, gender, class, and religion.
Cultural diversity: The variety of cultural practices and beliefs that exist across different societies and regions.
Anthropological methods and theories: The strategies and approaches anthropologists use to study cultural phenomena, including participant observation, ethnography, and cultural relativism.
Globalization and modernity: The processes of economic, cultural, and social change that are transforming the world and impacting cultural identities and practices.
Identity and subjectivity: The ways in which individuals construct and express their own sense of self and experience the social world.
Ritual and symbolism: The ways in which cultural practices and symbols communicate meaning and reinforce cultural values and beliefs.
Cultural transmission and tradition: The processes through which cultural norms and practices are passed down from one generation to the next.
Material culture: The physical objects and artifacts that are produced and consumed within a society, and how they reflect and shape cultural practices and values.
Social class: Refers to a system of stratification based on economic or social status. This class system is typically characterized by unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige.
Caste system: A hierarchical system of social organization based primarily on birth and occupation. Individuals are born into a specific caste and it determines their position in society for the rest of their life.
Race and ethnicity: Cultural anthropology recognizes the role of race and ethnic identity in shaping social class dynamics. Economic and social class often intersect with racial or ethnic identity to produce complex forms of inequality and discrimination.
Gender and sexuality: Cultural anthropologists also examine how gender norms and sexual orientation intersect with social class. Gender inequality is prevalent across many societies and is often reinforced by economic and political structures.
Labor and work: The organization of work and labor is also an important dimension of class analysis. This includes the ways in which jobs are created, structured, and compensated, as well as the role of labor in shaping social and economic inequality.
Power and politics: Cultural anthropology also explores the relationship between social class and power dynamics. This includes the ways in which power is exercised within and between social groups, as well as the role of politics in shaping social class and economic systems.
Globalization and neoliberalism: Cultural anthropology also recognizes the impact of globalization and neoliberalism on social class dynamics. These forces have contributed to the creation of a global market economy and have reshaped the labor market and social safety net, contributing to rising inequality and stratification.
- "Many Americans believe in a social class system that has three different groups or classes: the American rich (upper class), the American middle class, and the American poor."
- "More complex models propose as many as a dozen class levels, including levels such as high upper class, upper class, upper middle class, middle class, lower middle class, lower lower middle class, and lower class."
- "Most definitions of a class structure group its members according to wealth, income, education, type of occupation, and membership within a hierarchy, specific subculture, or social network."
- "Most concepts of American social class do not focus on race or ethnicity as a characteristic within the stratification system, although these factors are closely related."
- "Sociologists Dennis Gilbert, William Thompson, Joseph Hickey, and James Henslin have proposed class systems with six distinct social classes."
- "These class models feature an upper or capitalist class consisting of the rich and powerful."
- "An upper middle class consisting of highly educated and affluent professionals."
- "A middle class consisting of college-educated individuals employed in white-collar industries."
- "A lower middle class composed of semi-professionals with typically some college education."
- "A working class constituted by clerical and blue-collar workers whose work is highly routinized."
- "A lower class divided between the working poor and the unemployed underclass."
- "More complex models propose as many as a dozen class levels."
- "Most definitions of a class structure group its members according to wealth, income, education, type of occupation, and membership within a hierarchy, specific subculture, or social network."
- "The idea that American society can be divided into social classes is disputed."
- "Others disagree with the American construct of social class completely."
- "Most concepts of American social class do not focus on race or ethnicity as a characteristic within the stratification system, although these factors are closely related."
- "Most definitions of a class structure group its members according to wealth, income, education, type of occupation, and membership within a hierarchy, specific subculture, or social network."
- "An upper or capitalist class consisting of the rich and powerful."
- "A middle class consisting of college-educated individuals employed in white-collar industries."