Socioeconomic Classification

10 Key excerpts on "Socioeconomic Classification"

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  Encyclopedia of Epidemiology

  • Sarah Boslaugh, Sarah E. Boslaugh(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Social sciences, as well as social epidemiology, consistently recognize that behind any Socioeconomic Classification there is a multidimensional construct comprising diverse social and economic factors. It is increasingly acknowledged that a fundamental distinc-tion between ‘‘social class,’’ ‘‘social status,’’ and mea-sures of material living standards is needed to clarify definitions, measures, and interpretations associated with a given Socioeconomic Classification. This would include distinguishing between income , assets , and wealth (i.e., those based on individual and household ownership of goods), terms frequently used loosely and interchangeably despite their different theoretical foundations. Social classes— hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures—are social groups arising from interdependent economic relationships among people. These relationships are governed by the social structure as expressed in the customs, values, and expectations concerning property distribution, ownership, and labor and their connec-tions to production, distribution, and consumption of goods, services, and information. Hence, social clas-ses are essentially shaped by the relationships and conditions of employment of people in the society and not by the characteristics of individuals. These class relationships are not symmetrical but include the ability of those with access to resources such as capi-tal to economically exploit those who do not have access to those resources. Unlike social class, social status involves the idea of a hierarchy or ranking based on the prestige, honor, and reputation accorded to persons in a society. Socie-tal sources for attribution of status, that is, a relative position in the social ladder, are diverse but chiefly concern access to power, knowledge, and economic resources. Both social class and social status can be regarded as representations of social position.

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  Measures Of Socioeconomic Status

  Current Issues

  • Mary G Powers(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  2.

  Measurement of Socioeconomic Status from United States Census Data

  Charles B. Nam, E. Walter Terrie

  DOI: 10.4324/9780429049170-2

  Introduction

  The origin of the term “socioeconomic status” (SES) is difficult to determine, but social scientists have long used the phrase to denote the relative location of an individual or group within a socially desirable hierarchy. Max Weber identified three distinct but interrelated aspects of the social hierarchy--namely, class, status, and party (Gerth and Mills, 1958). He regarded “party” as the power to influence one’s own affairs and that of others, “status” as the regard with which individuals are held by others, and “class” as the social and economic life chances which people experienced. It is in this latter sense that researchers have looked for measures of socioeconomic status as a basis for indicating social class, and it is this common understanding of the term that led to the definition of “socioeconomic” in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1976) as “of, relating to, or involving a combination of social and economic factors; specifically, of or relating to income and social position considered as a single factor.”

  The inability of social researchers to develop consensus on the real distinctions between class, status, and party, and further difficulty in specifying the nature of the interrelationships and the variables which are determinants of each aspect, has placed measurement of socioeconomic status in an uncertain position. The numbers and types of indexes and scales of SES are considerable and, while most of them are highly intercorrelated empirically, they each offer variations in concept and in procedures for their calculation.

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  Diversities in Education

  Effective ways to reach all learners

  • David Mitchell(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  1

  In this chapter, I address four key questions relating to the OECD’s desire for equitable education systems, while also considering Dickens’s ‘furniture of their pockets’ and Matthew’s notion of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer:

   

  A What do we mean by social class/socio-economic status (hereafter SES)?

  B How do students from different SES backgrounds differ in educational achievement?

  C What causes SES differences?

  D How should education accommodate to any SES differences?

  A What do we mean by social class/socio-economic status?

  3.1 Definitions of social class/socio-economic status

  Although they are often used interchangeably, the terms ‘social class’ and ‘socio-economic status’ (SES) refer to different concepts, with the former referring to one’s relatively stable socio-cultural background and the latter referring to one’s current social and economic situation and, consequently, being more changeable over time.2 More specifically, SES refers to an individual’s or family’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education and occupation.3 Poverty forms a subset of SES and is usually, but not always, highly correlated with SES.

  Internationally, for the purposes of the PISA assessments of 15-year-old students, the OECD measures the socio-economic background of students from all participating countries, using an index of economic, social and cultural status. This index is based on students’ responses to questions about their family and home background, including their parents’ education and occupations and their home possessions, such as a desk to use for studying and the number of books in the home. Using this index, participating students are distributed into deciles of SES background representing a scale of relative disadvantage (bottom decile) through to relative advantage (top decile). It must be noted that the reliance on student reports on family background could lead to a considerable amount of measurement error, which needs to be taken into account when interpreting SES findings from PISA.4

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  Population Health in America

  • Robert A. Hummer, Erin R. Hamilton(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  3 At the same time, we discuss the impor-tance of socio-spatial context for understanding why U. S. society seems to be currently characterized by such enormous socioeconomic dispari-ties in population health. We close the chapter by discussing some key research needs on SES and health and policy implications of work in this critical area of study. what is socioeconomic status and how is it measured? Formally, we define socioeconomic status (SES) as differences between individuals and groups in the possession of highly valued societal 100 | Chapter 5 resources, most importantly educational attainment, occupational sta-tus, income, and wealth. 4 This definition explicitly reflects the multidi-mensional character of SES. Moreover, the concept of socioeconomic status taps into the absolute level of resources that each individual or group possesses along these multiple dimensions. Thus, SES differs from the Marxist-based idea of social class, which is based upon an individ-ual’s relationship to the means of production. According to Marx, social class is determined by whether individuals are workers (i.e., the prole-tariat) or owners (i.e., the bourgeoisie) in capitalist society. 5 In such a conceptualization, the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat for their labor, leading to social class conflict between those who own the economic means of production and those who provide their labor for the profit of the owners. Social class distinctions are thus economic based, relational, and structurally imposed upon individuals; individuals’ relationship to the means of production is the sole determinant of social class. Contem-porary studies of U. S. population health using such a strictly social class perspective are few and far between, given that there is much greater complexity in contemporary patterns of socioeconomic status than the owner-worker dichotomy defined in the Marxist tradition.

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  Inequality

  A Contemporary Approach to Race, Class, and Gender

  • Lisa A. Keister, Darby E. Southgate(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Naturally, the relevance of class identity varies across people, over time, and from place to place. We discuss this in more detail later in the chapter, but for now it is useful to be aware that class can be an important part of a person’s identity. This suggests that people have a conception of class groups and, therefore, that the groups are real. To fully understand the definition and measurement of class and why debates arise regarding its meaning and implica- tions, it is helpful to consider two dimensions: economic and cultural. We address those dimensions before considering how many classes there are, class consciousness, and implications of social class. 100 4 The Structure of Inequality and Social Class American Class Structure: Economic Dimensions A common way to identify class position is to use economic traits. From this perspective, social class is seen as a group of people with relatively common wealth, income, occupation, and education. Social classes typically are relatively large groups of people who are similar to one another on these measures and distinct from others. Using economic characteristics to identify class is a relatively objective method of categorizing people. Sociologists often refer collectively to these traits as socioeconomic status (SES). The process of grouping people based on these traits can be complicated because the measures are interrelated but not perfectly correlated, which leads to difficulty when deciding where one group ends and the other begins. For example, people with high incomes usually have high wealth because greater income makes it easier to save money. Figure 4.1 uses income, wealth, and occupational prestige to array the U.S. population in a way that might be useful for identifying class boundaries. Disagreements arise when identifying social classes because the relationships among these variables are not perfect.

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  Social Mobility and Education in Britain

  Research, Politics and Policy

  • Erzsébet Bukodi, John H. Goldthorpe(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  1 | Social Class as the Context of Social Mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals over time between different social positions. Insofar as positions are taken to be in some way more or less advantaged, mobility can be characterised as being upward or downward in direction: that is, as being from a less to a more advantaged position or vice versa. To this extent, the understand- ing of social mobility in the social sciences is on much the same lines as it is in everyday life. However, where questions arise concerning actual rates, patterns and trends of mobility, and the systematic collection and analysis of relevant data have to be undertaken, it is necessary for social scientists to think about mobility in ways that are conceptually more explicit and precise than those that serve for less demanding purposes. First and foremost, it is essential that the context of mobility – that is, the positions between which mobility is seen as occurring – should be clearly specified. Within the social sciences there are in fact signifi- cant differences in this regard. Sociologists, who, as indicated in the Introduction, have thus far carried out the greater part of research into social mobility, tend to focus on mobility between social strata, as characterised, for example, in terms of social class. In contrast, econo- mists, among whom a sustained interest in social mobility is, at least in Britain, a relatively recent development, focus on mobility in terms of income – that is, on the mobility of individuals between different levels within the overall income distribution. In this book we will, as sociologists, be concerned primarily with social class mobility: that is, with mobility between different class positions.

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  Stereotypes During the Decline and Fall of Communism

  • Gyorgy Hunyady(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The two extremes of the financial situation, the groups of the rich and the poor, are two living and opposing categories that have endured persistently, despite all historical changes. The division into higher, middle and lower social classes, in addition to indicating financial situation and income, implies differences in influence, prestige, educational level, and lifestyle. This categorization is more formal, yet more flexible, and is easier to apply in modern industrialized countries than the Marxist contrast between capitalists and the proletariat based on the ‘ownership of the instruments of production’. Everyday language often distinguishes the middle class from the working class. These large social groups differ considerably in the nature of the work they do: members of the latter group perform manual work, while those in the former group do not. Thus, occupational groups have a status hierarchy of their own, while individual occupations also have a special image arising from the activity, the demands, and the concomitant income and social liberty of the occupation.

  Social-economic divisions within different countries vary considerably; the terminology and methodological traditions of their sociology are also different/Accordingly, sociological studies regarding social categories in public thinking and the self-categorization of respondents are very heterogeneous. Many of them aim at revealing what people rely on when they assign themselves and others to particular social classes.

  Financial situation, that is, differentiation according to property and income, is an obvious consideration when social groups are differentiated. This was supported by an exceptionally early American study (Centers, 1949), where a sample of 1100 respondents defined the upper and middle classes primarily on the basis of financial criteria. Those concerned— especially those in the higher classes—also strongly emphasized family background, origin, and level of education. As to the lower, working classes, the respondents often mentioned the necessity and fact of working for a living, and the physical nature of the work.

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  Social Class and Classism in the Helping Professions

  Research, Theory, and Practice

  • William M. Liu(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Besides analyzing the data, the final step would be to contextualize the social class-related data. Contextualizing the data means the researcher should provide social class data about the population being studied (e.g., income, education, occupation) and the locale in which the study is taking place (e.g., the annual income of people in that community). Contextualizing the study also means providing social class data about participants in other relevant studies. Is this current study’s population higher, lower, or within a reasonable standard deviation in comparison to other study participants? I offer these considerations not as an exhaustive list but to provide a place for researchers and other helping professionals to understand how social class may be better used and integrated into research.

  Appendix A

  Social class and classism terms in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Counseling and Development, and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, years 1981–2000.

  academic success academically disadvantaged adequate financial resources adequate financial sources adequate income administrative jobs affluent suburb affluent/more affluent annual income average yearly income bachelor or advanced degree better educated Black middle class blue collar broad socioeconomic range cannot find employment career and achievement career identification class and status variables class-distinctions class education class elitism class factors class income class occupation class populations class privilege class respect class-conscious class-economic status

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  Classical Sociology

  • Bryan S Turner(Author)
  • 1999(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 12 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION Introduction In the twentieth century, the sociological analysis of social class, and more broadly the study of social stratification, became a basic and defining char-acteristic of the sociological curriculum and a major focus of empirical research. In the universities, sociology as a discipline developed in part as a contribution to the analysis of the negative functions and consequences of social inequality in industrial capitalism, where social inequality was seen to stem largely from economic inequality and ultimately therefore from the location of individuals and families within the class structure of industrial capitalism. Sociology attempted to provide answers to the question, how does economic class difference function in a welfare-capitalist system? Although the study of social class came, as a consequence, to structure the sociological understanding of industrial society, there were traditional difficulties with the analysis of class. These analytical problems were simple, but enduring: 1 How can class be adequately defined so as to distinguish clearly class inequality from other forms of stratification? 2 How many classes are there? 3 What, if any, are the main patterns of mobility between classes? 4 Is class inequality an inevitable, necessary and permanent feature of human society, or merely a consequence of the growth of the capitalist mode of production? Class analysis became, therefore, an essential feature of the study of a capitalist industrial system and the political search for alternatives, parti-cularly in the debate about socialism as a revolutionary stage of social history beyond capitalism.

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  Social Stratification, Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective, Second Edition

  • David Grusky(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Each author sees his scheme as a theoretically refined basis for identifying the membership of real and dis-crete social classes. In Wright's neo-Marxian classification, the aim is to identify modes of labor exploitation in the relations of produc-tion. In Erikson and Goldthorpe's neo-Weber-Ul/ The Structure of Contemporary Stratification ian classification, the class categories are de-signed to identify distinct combinations of oc-cupational function and employment status. In our opinion, differences between the two class schemes and between them and our oc-cupational status measures lie more in the proximity of constituent variables to jobs and persons than in other theoretical or concep-tual distinctions that have been debated by their authors. Other things being equal, we should expect a classification based partly upon personal and job characteristics to be more direct and powerful in its influence than a classification based on occupational charac-teristics would be alone. Rather than relying on a predetermined combination of occupa-tion and other social or economic characteris-tics, we suggest that investigators should use data on individual education and income, and on other job characteristics, as well as on oc-cupational standing (see Jencks, Perman, and Rainwater 1988). In working with measures of occupational social standing, we emphasize the social and economic grading of the occupational struc-ture, rather than a priori constructions of dis-tinct social classes. People are linked to jobs, not only through job-holding, but also through their relationships with others who hold or have held jobs. Jobs can be mapped into standard occupational classifications, and the categories of those classifications may be linked to occupational characteristics. By working back through this series of linkages, we can describe people in terms of occupa-tional characteristics.

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