class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide # SOC 2208 Discussion Section ## Week 3 ### Xuewen Yan ### 2020-02-09 --- # Concept discussion - **Power Elite** (Mills and Domhoff) - Poverty measures - Working poor  --- # Power Elite: C. Wright Mills - Military leaders, Political leaders, Economic leaders - Exert near complete control over national decision - Cohesive group/Socially integrated - Class awareness - Status similarity: patterns of deference - Source of power is in position --- # Power Elite: Domhoff - Corporate, social elite intertwined - Corporate community as dominant power group - Membership largely hereditary, reinforced through schools, clubs - Elite class awareness and consciousness - Focus on institutions that connect elites, facilitate exercise of power --- # Concept discussion - Power elite - **Poverty measures** - Working Poor --- # Official poverty measure - Dollar value of nutritionally adequate diet in1963!! - Household size and composition (number of adults, kids, elderly) - x3 (average US family spent 1/3 of income on food in1955) - compare to pretax income from wages, self-employment - Updated to present-day dollars with Consumer Price Index-Urban - This is the only update since mid-1960s --- # Supplemental poverty measure - Food, shelter, clothing, medical care, utilities - Adjusted for geographic area - All income from wages, self-employment - EITC, cash value of near-cash benefits - work-related expenses (transportation, child care) --- # Relative poverty measure - Pegged to median incomes i. Less affected by economic cycles than official measure ii. If median income increases greater than inflation, poor worse off - Reasoning i. Social psychological: relative deprivation ii. Structural: how far from “middle class” lifestyle --- # Concept discussion - Power elite - Poverty measures + Official poverty measure + Supplemental poverty measure + Relative poverty measure - **Working Poor** --- # Working Poor - Defined by income AND position in productive system --- # Section activity: work sheet - 10 minutes pair discussions --- # Section activity: class discussion You are now 30 years old. Congratulations! This whole time, you have been working at the job you chose when you graduated from law school. Now, I am interviewing you for a competitive and career-changing position in the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Based on what you’ve written in your worksheet, why should I choose you? --- # Possible apects to consider - Status (prestige) vs income - Family resources - Selection effects - Aspirations (Significant others: family, teacher, friends)