Week 7 — Readings & Resources · Social Stratification & Class

Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Adeyemi
Objective covered: Objective 5 — Analyze social stratification using the major theoretical perspectives and real income, wealth, and mobility data.

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser, the same way you'd open a YouTube link. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and there is nothing to buy.

This week's load is a short video + a few brief readings + two real data pages from the U.S. Census, grouped by the ideas from the lecture. Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 45–55 minutes if you do everything, far less if you pick one per group.

Reading order that matches the lecture: ① stratification & the systems (caste vs. class, meritocracy) → ② income vs. wealth + poverty (the data pages) → ③ the theories (Davis-Moore vs. Marx/conflict; Weber's class/status/party).

A habit to start now: before you trust any number about inequality — in these readings, in the news, or from a chatbot — ask the sociologist's questions from class: Is this income or wealth (a flow or a stock)? What's the source, and the year? What does the number show — and what does it NOT? Description, or cause?

① Stratification & the Systems · Caste vs. Class · Meritocracy

Maps to Lecture Segments 2 & 7. Stratification ranks categories of people into layers. Caste = closed (rank fixed at birth); class = open (rank can change, in principle). "Meritocracy" is an ideal to test, not an automatic fact.

Video — "Social Stratification: Crash Course Sociology #21"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlkIKCMt-Fs
Why it earns the click: a lively ~11-minute tour of the four basic principles of stratification and the difference between open and closed systems, with caste and class examples — exactly Segment 2. Hosted by Nicole Sweeney.
⏱ ~11 min

Reading — "What Is Social Stratification?" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §9.1)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/9-1-what-is-social-stratification
Why it's assigned: the cleanest plain-language version of the lecture — stratification as a society-wide system, closed vs. open systems, caste vs. class, and meritocracy as an ideal that "no society has ever existed where social standing was based entirely on merit." Free to read online in your browser.
⏱ ~10 min

② Income vs. Wealth · Poverty (read the real data)

Maps to Lecture Segments 3–4. Income is a flow (earned per year); wealth is a stock (owned, minus debts). These two Census pages are the exact sources for the Workshop — open them, find the headline numbers, and note the year.

Data page — U.S. Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2023 (Report P60-282)
🔗 https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-282.html
Why it's assigned: the official source for median household income — the "Highlights" list states real median household income was $80,610 in 2023 (a 4.0% increase from 2022). This is a measure of income (a flow) — note that it does not measure wealth. Read what the number is before you quote it.
⏱ ~8 min

Data page — U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2023 (Report P60-283)
🔗 https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-283.html
Why it's assigned: the official source for the U.S. poverty rate — the "Highlights" state the official poverty rate was 11.1% in 2023 (about 36.8 million people), and it also reports the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) at 12.9%. Notice there is more than one poverty measure, and read what each one counts.
⏱ ~8 min

Reading — "Social Stratification and Mobility in the United States" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §9.2)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/9-2-social-stratification-and-mobility-in-the-united-states
Why it's assigned: connects the data to the concepts — U.S. social classes, income vs. wealth, standard of living, and social mobility (intergenerational, intragenerational, structural). A good bridge from the numbers to the theory.
⏱ ~10 min

③ The Theories · Davis-Moore vs. Marx/Conflict · Weber

Maps to Lecture Segments 5–6. The central contrast: the functionalist Davis-Moore thesis (rewards motivate talent into important roles) vs. the conflict view (stratification is exploitation that reproduces advantage). Plus Weber's multidimensional class, status, party.

Reading — "Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §9.4)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/9-4-theoretical-perspectives-on-social-stratification
Why it's assigned: lays out the three lenses on stratification one at a time — the Davis-Moore thesis (Davis & Moore, 1945) and Tumin's critique (1953), the conflict/Marx view (bourgeoisie vs. proletariat), and the interactionist read (conspicuous consumption) — the same factual contrast we built in class.
⏱ ~10 min

Video — "Why is there Social Stratification?: Crash Course Sociology #22"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtxtI5IGrfw
Why it earns the click: runs stratification through all three paradigms and contrasts Marx and Weber — a tidy companion to Segments 5–6.
⏱ ~10 min

Optional one-stop reference (free online text)

If you'd like one optional reference to skim, OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e, Chapter 9 ("Social Stratification in the United States") is free to read online and covers everything in this week — the systems, U.S. stratification & mobility, and the theoretical perspectives.
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/9-introduction
Why it's here: a reputable, currently-available reference — entirely optional this week.

Pick-one quick path (≈25 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these three and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Watch Crash Course Sociology #21 — Social Stratification (group ①).
2. Open the Census income page and the Census poverty page (group ②) and write down each headline number with its year ($80,610 median household income, 2023; 11.1% official poverty rate, 2023).
3. Read Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification (group ③) for Davis-Moore vs. conflict.

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages, and government data pages update each year — the year attached to a figure matters, so always read it off the page. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Adeyemi and use the OpenStax reference above in the meantime. These links are provided for access only — no claim is made about their licensing or reuse terms.