The money a person receives from a wage or salary or from investments is income, and the assets an individual owns are wealth. Why is wealth considered more significant in social stratification?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Here we examine each statement in light of how wealth functions in social stratification, distinguishing it from income.
Option 1: 'Wealth is more predictable and is held only by the top 1 percent.' This is misleading. While wealth can be more predictable over time due to compounding and asset accumulation, saying it is held only by the top 1 percent is inaccurate and ignores a broader distribution across upper-middle and wealthy groups. The claim also overstates how exclusive wealth possession is, which weakens its validity.
Option 2: 'Income tends to favor the lower and middle classes, while wealth is the domain of the superrich.' This reverses the typical pattern. In stratification, income distribution often favors higher earners but is not the sole determinant of social position, and wealth concentrates more heavily at the top than income does. The phrasing suggests an incorrect inversion of the usual relationship between income and wealth and overlooks how wealth amplifies advantage.
Option 3: 'Income is more predictable, but only wealth can create capital.' This mixes two ideas but presents an inaccurate causal emphasis. Income streams can be variable and influenced by job security, hours, or market conditions, so predicting income is not inherently more reliable. Also, while wealth generates capital through returns and investment, saying 'only wealth can create capital' excludes the role that productive income and other factors can play in capital formation, making the claim incomplete.
Option 4: 'Wealth is more predictable and can be used to generate more wealth.' This statement aligns with the concept of wealth as an accumulative stock that provides returns (through investments, property, interest, etc.) and enables the creation of additional wealth over time, reinforcing its central role in long-term social stratification. It captures the idea that wealth creates a self-reinforcing cycle and tends to be more stable and predictive than annual income, contributing to persistent inequalities.
Overall, option 4 accurately reflects why wealth is considered more significant in social stratification: it is a stable, generative stock that enables ongoing accumulation and compounding, whereas income is more of a flow and subject to fluctuations. The other options contain factual inaccuracies or misleading characterizations about distribution, predictability, or the mechanisms by which wealth and income relate to capital formation.

SMC 2025 Smr - SOCIOL 1 (1561,1562) - Introduction to Sociology (O) FINAL EXAM

The money a person receives from a wage or salary or from investments is income, and the assets an individual owns are wealth. Why is wealth considered more significant in social stratification?

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