today in my sociology class, we were talking about how society is structure or layered (stratification). things like caste, social class, etc are some of the systems of stratification. social class is influenced by several things such as wealth and prestige. we get wealth. do you have money or not. but prestige? how is that determined? frequently, occupation helps determine prestige. so, i asked my class what were prestigious jobs. i didn't give them any ideas, or really prod any certain directions.
prestigious jobs (under top label) are on the left. the jobs they didn't think so prestigious on the right. (hope you're able to read my handwriting/chicken scratch.)
first freaking thing out of their mouths on non-prestigious: teachers.
damn.
i laughed though, it was sort of funny. i guess if we were more prestigious we'd get paid better.
4 comments:
That "bottom" list kinda makes me sad.
the thing is, it's not like they were saying that any of those were bad jobs, just that they're not prestigious.
and really, i sort of agree. i think those are all good, important jobs, but aren't generally valued by society.
i ran into an old friend last night and he had seen the blog post. his last two jobs: teacher & farmer.
Not all jobs can be prestigious, despite their difficulty or neccesity in society. I would agree with most of that list too, except teacher. I think a college professor would be seen as prestigious, but I guess that might be a different category in their minds. That is pretty funny that that was the first thing out of their mouths though. You would think they would at least wait for #3 out of curtesy to you!
Honestly though teacher probably wouldnt have come to my mind because you have to be educated and have qualifications whereas the rest on the list is hard work but you dont need special skills or experience neccesarily. I think that is the difference in prestige for most people can anyone get a job in those industires or do you need an education etc. I miss having conversations like this with students, always interesting.
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