The Impacts of Social Class: Crash Course Sociology #25

Summary

このビデオスクリプトでは、社会階層が現代生活の最も基本的な側面に大きな影響を与えると示されています。教育、信仰、価値観、職業、収入、そして生死に関する多角的な観点から、アメリカ人における階層の影響について議論されています。特に、親の育児スタイル、政治的見解、宗教、教育の達成度、さらには健康と寿命においても階層による差が見られます。教育は社会的階層による不平等を強化する可能性があると警告されており、社会的地位がどのように健康や寿命に影響を与えるかについても触れられています。

Takeaways

• 🏫 社会阶层在教育、信仰、价值观、职业、收入以及生活方式和死亡方式等方面起着巨大的决定性作用。
• 👶 社会阶层从生命的开始就很重要，父母通过阶级社会化将与上层、中层或工人阶级相关的价值观传递给子女。
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 美国社会学家Annette Lareau的研究发现，不同社会阶层的父母在教育孩子和纪律方面有着非常不同的方法。
• 🎓 上层中产阶级的父母倾向于更多地参与孩子的社交和学术生活，而工人阶级父母可能更倾向于放手，强调服从和纪律。
• 💼 政治观点、宗教信仰和社会阶层之间存在差异，上层阶级倾向于经济上保守、社会上进步，而下层阶级则相反。
• 🏛️ 教育被认为是“大均衡器”，但教育质量的差异实际上可能帮助将不平等从一代传递到下一代。
• 🏘️ 收入隔离导致家庭根据收入水平居住在相似的社区，富裕社区的孩子们通常能够获得更好的学校资源。
• 🎓 精英学院的学生大多来自收入分布的顶端，这反映了教育机会的不平等。
• 💼 没有大学学位的工作通常伴随着较低的声望、较低的薪酬和更大的职业危险。
• 💔 社会阶层影响人们的寿命和健康状况，上层阶级美国人通常活得更长久、更健康。
• 🚑 低收入美国人倾向于吃不健康的食物，这可能与他们较少的休闲时间和用于烹饪健康餐食的资金有关。

Q & A

社会階層はなぜ現代生活にとって重要な要因となるのでしょうか？

社会階層は教育、信仰、価値観、職業、収入、そして生死においても大きな決定要因となるためです。

子供がブロッコリーを食べたがらない場合、異なる社会階層の親はどのように対応するか教えてください。

上層中産階級の親は子どもの自己決定を促すため、話し合いを通じて対応する傾向があります。一方、労働階級の親は従順と規律を重視し、「私がそう言ったから」と命令する傾向があります。

Annette Lareauが見た親の育児スタイルの違いとは何ですか？

Lareauは上層中産階級の親は子どもの社会生活と学業に深く関わり、労働階級の親は子どもの自由時間を手放しにし、規律と従順を重視する傾向があると見つけました。

社会階層は政治的見解にどのように影響を与えるのでしょうか？

上層階級のアメリカ人は財政的に保守的で社会的に進歩的である傾向があります。一方、下層階級のアメリカ人はその逆である傾向があります。

収入レベルが高い人々はどのような宗教に属する傾向があるのでしょうか？

上所得のアメリカ人はエピスコパリアンや長老教会、ユダヤ教、ヒンズー教、無神論に属する傾向があります。

教育は社会階層によってどのように影響を受けるのでしょうか？

教育の質は生まれた社会階層によって変わり、所得が近い家庭が同じ地域に住む傾向があることから、裕福な地域の子どもはより良い学校にアクセスする傾向があります。

私立学校と公立学校の違いはどのような意味を持っていますか？

上層階級の子供は私立学校に通う傾向があり、高等教育でも同じ傾向が続き、エリート大学では低所得家庭からの学生が少なく、高所得からの学生が多い傾向があります。

「レガシー」学生の優遇政策とは何ですか？

「レガシー」学生とは、親または家族が同じ大学を卒業している学生を指し、彼らへの優遇政策は社会階層の不平等を強化する要因の一つです。

社会階層は健康や寿命にどのように影響を与えるのでしょうか？

上層階層のアメリカ人はより長い健康的な生活を送り、低所得階級の人々はその逆です。所得レベルが高いほど、健康ケアにアクセスしやすく、健康的な食品を食べる選択肢も増えます。

低所得階級の人々が健康的な食事を摂取しにくい理由は何ですか？

不健康な食品は時間とお金の面で安価であり、低所得階級の人々は健康的な食事を作るための余裕が少ないことが多いです。また、食料品の沙漠地帯と呼ばれる地域に住む人々にとっては、新鮮な食品にアクセスすることも困難です。

社会階層は職業的リスクにどのように影響を与えるのでしょうか？

上層および中産階級のアメリカ人は白領のフルタイムの仕事に就く傾向があり、危険性の高い物質にさらされるリスクが低いため、健康状態も良くなります。

社会階層がもたらすさまざまな違いを理解することの重要性はなぜでしょうか？

社会階層は異なる人々が共有する利点と欠点を特定し、それらの利点と欠点の結果を理解する手段を提供するためです。

Outlines

00:00

📚 ソーシャルクラスと教育の関係

第1段落では、社会階層が現代生活の基本的な側面に大きな影響を与えること、特にアメリカにおけるクラスの重要性が議論されています。教育、信仰、価値観、職業、収入、そして生死においてもその影響力が大きいとされています。また、子供の教育においては、上層中産階級と労働階級の親が異なるアプローチを取ることに焦点が当てられており、Annette Lareauの研究に基づいて、親の育児スタイルの違いが紹介されています。上層中産階級の親は子供の社会生活や学業に積極的に関わり、計画的な遊びの時間、学校活動、宿題のチェックなどを通じて子育てに取り組む一方で、労働階級の親は子供の自由時間を手放しにし、服従と規律を重視する傾向があります。これらの育児スタイルの違いは、社会階層による価値観と信念の違いを反映していると示唆されています。

05:04

🏛️ ソーシャルクラスと教育・健康への影響

第2段落では、社会階層が教育の機会に与える影響と、それが社会の不平等を強化する仕組みとして働くことについて詳細に説明されています。教育は「偉大な平等の原則」と呼ばれていますが、実際には社会階層によって質の高い教育にアクセスする機会が異なると指摘されています。さらに、所得の分離により、裕福な地域に住む子供たちはより良い学校に通うことができるとされています。また、上層階級の子供たちは私立学校に通う傾向があることが強調されています。さらに、社会階層は健康と寿命にも影響を与えるとされ、上層階級のアメリカ人は平均して健康で長生きする傾向があると報告されています。所得が低い人々は健康に有害な食べ物を食べる傾向があり、健康的な食事を準備する時間や金銭が不足していることが理由として挙げられます。また、低所得者は「食品の砂漠」と呼ばれる地域に住む傾向があり、新鮮な食品にアクセスするのが困難です。さらに、社会階層によって職種が決まり、上層階級は白領の仕事に就くことが多く、危険性やストレスが少ないことが健康に良い影響を与えるとされています。

Keywords

💡社会阶级

社会阶级は、人々が社会において占める経済的・社会的立場を指します。ビデオでは社会階層が教育、信仰、価値観、職業、収入、そして生死に大きな影響を与えると述べています。ビデオのテーマは社会階層が現代生活の基本的な側面にどのように大きな決定要因となるかを探求することです。

💡階層社会化

階層社会化は、子供たちが上流階級、中流階級、または労働階級として育つ際に親から受け取る価値観を学ぶプロセスです。ビデオでは、親が子供たちに対して食べ物を摂るかどうかの態度が階層社会化の一例として挙げられており、これは子供たちが異なる社会階層に属する際の価値観を学ぶ方法を示しています。

💡親の育児スタイル

親の育児スタイルは、子供たちの社会生活や学業生活に親がどの程度関与するかを指し、社会階層によって異なるとビデオでは述べています。上流中流階級の親は子供たちの生活に積極的に関与し、計画的な遊びの時間や学校の宿題をチェックする傾向があります。一方、労働階級の親は子供たちの自由時間を手放しで管理し、より従順性と規律を重視する傾向があると紹介されています。

💡政治的見解

政治的見解は、階層によって異なる傾向があるとビデオでは説明しています。上流階級のアメリカ人は財政的に保守的で社会的に進歩的である傾向がある一方、下流階級のアメリカ人はその逆であるとされています。これは社会階層が人々の価値観や信念に影響を与える例としてビデオ内で取り上げられています。

💡宗教

ビデオでは宗教も社会階層によって異なる傾向があると述べています。上流所得のアメリカ人はエピスコパリアンや長老教会、ユダヤ教、ヒンズー教、無神論などの自由派の宗教グループに多く属する一方、下流所得のアメリカ人はエバンジェリカル・プロテスタントやカトリックとして特定の宗教に属する傾向があると紹介されています。

💡教育獲得

教育獲得は、人が教育を受ける機会とその質を指し、ビデオではそれが成功の鍵であり社会階層によって異なると述べています。教育は社会的不平等を埋める「偉大な平等の原理」とされているが、ビデオでは実際には社会階層によって教育の質が決定され、その結果不平等が受け継がれる可能性があると警告しています。

💡居住地域

居住地域は、ビデオ内で教育にアクセスする能力に影響を与える要因として挙げられています。アメリカでは所得レベルに応じて同じ地域に住む傾向があり、それにより良い地域に住むことで教育施設や技術、良い教師、多様なクラスやクラブ活動にアクセスする機会が増えると説明されています。

💡私立学校

私立学校は、ビデオ内で上流階級の子供たちが受けることが多く、教育の質においても重要な役割を持っていると述べています。私立学校はより良い教育環境を提供し、子供たちが大学進学においても有利な立場にあるとビデオでは紹介されています。

💡大学進学

大学進学は、ビデオ内で社会階層によって異なる傾向があると述べられています。下流階級や低所得の子供たちは大学進学が難しく、もし進学しても州立大学やコミュニティ・カレッジに行く傾向がある一方、上流階級の子供たちは私立大学や名門大学に進学する傾向があると紹介されています。

💡健康

健康はビデオ内で社会階層によって異なる生活と寿命に影響を与える要因として取り上げられています。上流階級のアメリカ人はより長い健康的な寿命を持ち、所得階層によって死亡率と疾病率が異なると説明されています。ビデオでは健康ケアへのアクセス、食事習慣、職業的危険性、そして休暇などの要素が健康結果にどのように影響を与えるかを探求しています。

Highlights

Social class is a significant determinant of various aspects of modern life, including education, beliefs, values, occupation, income, and even lifespan.

Class socialization starts early in life, influencing children's values through parenting styles that differ across social classes.

Parenting styles vary significantly between upper-middle class and working class families, with the former being more involved and the latter emphasizing obedience.

Upper-middle class parents are more likely to encourage autonomy in their children, in contrast to working class parents who focus on obedience.

Political views and religious beliefs are influenced by social class, with distinct preferences among upper and lower class Americans.

Educational attainment is closely tied to social class, with quality education being more accessible to those from higher income backgrounds.

Public schools in the US are primarily funded locally, leading to better educational resources in affluent neighborhoods.

Upper class children have greater access to private schools and are more likely to attend prestigious colleges.

Elite colleges often admit more students from the top 1% than the entire bottom 60% of the income distribution.

Preferential admission policies for legacy students contribute to the entrenchment of class inequalities in higher education.

Social networks formed in prestigious colleges can lead to job opportunities and financial success, perpetuating class inequalities.

Political and economic power are concentrated among the upper social classes, with most recent presidents having Ivy League educations.

Lack of a college degree limits job opportunities and often leads to lower prestige, pay, and higher occupational risks.

Social class affects not only lifestyle but also life expectancy, with upper class Americans living longer and healthier lives.

Systematic class differences in health outcomes are linked to factors such as occupation, neighborhood, income, and education.

Lower class Americans often face challenges such as less healthy food options, food deserts, and limited access to healthcare.

Social class provides a framework for understanding the advantages and disadvantages that shape people's life courses.

Transcripts

Class matters. You probably already know that.

And not only because you’re a student of sociology, but because you’re a person who lives in a society.

But do you know how much it really matters?

Social class is huge determinant of many of the most fundamental aspects of modern life

– from your education, to your beliefs, as well as your values, your occupation, your income, and not only how you live, but also how you die.

So let’s talk about how class plays out in the lives of Americans today.

[Theme Music]

Class starts to matter at the very beginning of your life.

When we discussed socialization a few episodes ago,

we talked about anticipatory socialization, or learning to fit into a group you’ll someday be a part of, like a gender or a race.

And one type of anticipatory socialization is class socialization,

where parents convey to their children the values that go along with being upper class or middle class or working class.

Let’s take a simple example.

Suppose you’re a parent and your kid absolutely refuses to eat broccoli.

How do you respond?

Do you make them clear their plate and say that they shouldn’t waste food?

Or do you allow them to make decisions for themselves about what they eat?

Now, you may be thinking, “What?

How does eating broccoli have anything to do with class?”

But how parents from different walks of life approach parenting can differ a lot by class,

as American sociologist Annette Lareau found in her research on parenting styles.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble to look at how social class can affect what kind of parent you are, or what kind you have.

In the 1990s, Lareau’s research focused on observing families of elementary school students from upper-middle class and working class backgrounds.

In doing this, she realized that parents had very different approaches to how they educated and disciplined their kids.

She found that upper-middle class parents tend to be very involved in their kid’s social and academic lives.

Think scheduled play dates, after school activities, checking their homework assignments every night.

The stereotype of a suburban helicopter mom isn’t too far from the mark for some of these families.

By contrast, working class parents – who were more likely to have less time and money to devote to these activities –

were more likely to be hands off in structuring their kid’s free time.

These kids might be more likely to be playing with whoever is around their neighborhood than going on playdates.

Working class parents also tend to put a greater emphasis on obedience and discipline compared to their upper middle class counterparts, Lareau found.

While a working class parent might tell their kids to eat their broccoli

“Because I said so,” an upper middle class parent is more likely to talk through decisions with their children in an effort to encourage autonomy.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

So, yes, a toddler’s distaste for broccoli and their parents’ reaction to it, can tell us something about class.

And these trends in parenting aren’t the only difference in values and beliefs that we see across classes.

Political views tend to vary across class groups, too,

with upper class Americans being more likely to be fiscally conservative and socially progressive, and lower class Americans being more likely to be the opposite.

Even religion varies by class.

Upper income Americans are more heavily represented in liberal Protestant groups like Episcopalians and Presbyterians, as well as Judaism, Hinduism and Atheism,

whereas lower income Americans are more likely to identify as Evangelical Protestants or Catholics.

But beliefs and values aren’t the only thing that vary by social class.

A large component of class differences plays out through educational attainment and its consequences for success later in life.

Education is sometimes called the “Great Equalizer.”

The more people who have access to quality education, the more equal a society gets.

Or so the thinking goes.

But whether you get a quality education varies by the social class you’re born into.

So we might be concerned that education will have the opposite effect, and will actually help pass inequalities from one generation on to the next.

There are a few ways that social class comes into play when we talk about education in the US.

First, where do you live?

Income segregation, or the tendency for families of similar income levels to live in the same neighborhoods, is incredibly common in the United States.

If you’ve ever gone apartment hunting in a big city, this might not come as a surprise to you.

An apartment in a “good” neighborhood, or an area with low crime, good schools, and better quality housing,

costs way more than a home where crime and pollution are higher and education and job access is inconsistent.

One reason that access to education varies by class is that public schools in the US are funded mainly at the local level,

so kids who grow up in affluent neighborhoods tend to have access to better schools, because those communities provide more funding.

So, living in a better neighborhood tends to mean access to better educational facilities,

as well as to technology like computers, good teachers, and a wider variety of classes and extra-curriculars.

And that’s assuming you go to a public school.

Upper class children are more likely to attend private schools – and this trend continues when we get past high school.

We mentioned this last week –

children who grow up working class or low-income are much less likely to attend college,

and those who do are much more likely to attend public state schools or two-year community colleges.

Among elite colleges, most students don’t come from low-income families; they come from the very top of the income distribution.

A recent study of social class and college attendance found that 38 elite colleges including five in the Ivy League – Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton, and Yale –

had more students who came from the top 1% than the entire bottom 60%of the income distribution.

Some of this inequality in college access is helped along by the policy of preferential admittance for so-called “legacy” students,

whose parents or other family members attended the college.

Policies like this entrench class inequalities across generations by making it less likely that those from lower socioeconomic classes will move up the ladder.

Plus, the social networks formed within prestigious colleges often are the stepping stones toward jobs and financial success later in life,

which again makes it more likely that inequality will get passed on to a new generation.

And of course, political and economic power tend to be concentrated among those at the top of the social class ladder.

Dreaming of being president when you grow up?

Of the ten presidents who have held office in the last 50 years, 6 attended an Ivy League school for either their undergrad or postgrad studies.

Every single one had at least a bachelor’s degree.

So education can seem less like the great equalizer in this case than the great barrier.

Without a college degree, there are jobs that are pretty much impossible to get.

The jobs that you can get without a college degree tend to come with lower prestige, lower pay, and a greater risk of occupational dangers.

Which brings us to the last class difference we’ll be talking about today: health.

Social class affects how you live – but it also affects how you die.

Mortality and disease rates vary by social class, with upper class Americans living longer and healthier lives.

A man in the 80th percentile, or top of the income distribution, lives an average of 84 years,

while a man at the bottom, in the 20th percentile, lives an average of 78 years.

Women live longer than men typically. Yay for us!

But the income gap is still similar here, with women in the 80th percentile living about 4.5 years longer than those in the 20th percentile.

Why the huge gap?

Some reasons might seem obvious – if you have more money, you can probably afford better health care.

Or for that matter, afford any health care.

Others are maybe less straightforward.

For example, low income Americans tend to eat less healthy food.

Now, is that just a matter of different choices made by different people, or is it a systematic pattern that links class with eating habits?

Well, oftentimes unhealthy foods are cheaper, both in terms of money and time.

Lower class Americans tend to have less leisure time and less money to spend on cooking healthy meals.

After all, it takes a lot less time and money to pick up McDonald’s than to spend an hour cooking a meal with expensive organic vegetables.

Additionally, many low income Americans live in what are known as food deserts,

or neighborhoods without easy access to fresh foods, like fruits and vegetables.

Other systematic class differences come from the occupations that different classes tend to hold.

Upper and middle class Americans are more likely to be in white collar, full time jobs,

which generally have lower exposure to dangerous materials and lower risks of accidents on the job.

Not to mention more flexible work schedules.

Less danger and less stress = better health.

Plus, full-time jobs are more likely to provide benefit packages including health insurance and paid sick days.

It’s much harder to take care of your health if you can’t take the time off work to go to the doctor or rest and recover.

But that’s the reality for many working class Americans.

Class gaps in health outcomes are clearly about more than just having the money to pay for better healthcare.

It’s about occupation, neighborhood, income, education,

and all the different ways that advantages like these can overlap to determine your life course.

That’s why social class matters;

it gives us a way to identify the advantages and disadvantages that different groups of people share,

and understand the consequences of those advantages and disadvantages.

Today, we discussed three types of class differences we see playing out in the United States.

First, the beliefs and values parents pass on to the next generation will vary by class.

Second, there are class gaps in educational attainment which help perpetuate inequality across generations.

And finally, Americans of lower socioeconomic status tend to have worse health and shorter lifespans than those with higher class status.

Next time we'll focus on a different aspect of socioeconomic stratification: social mobility –

or, how your social position can change over your life time, or across generations.

Crash Course Sociology is filmed in the Dr. Cheryl C. Kinney Studio in Missoula, MT, and it's made with the help of all these nice people.

Our Animation Team is Thought Cafe and Crash Course is made with Adobe Creative Cloud.

If you'd like to keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever, you can support the series at Patreon,

a crowdfunding platform that allows you to support the content you love.

Speaking of Patreon, we'd like to thank all of our patrons in general, and we'd like to specifically thank our Headmaster of Learning Ben Holden-Crowther.

Thank you so much for your support.