Human societies are highly stratified which results in different social and economic class which in turn lead to glaring inequalities. The efforts to reduce these obvious inequalities are often met with resistance, as there are individuals who would rather stick to the status quo. As such one group of humans continue to enjoy lives privileges when the other continues to languish in poverty and underdevelopment. A theoretical look into the concept of class and inequality by Herbert Gans establishes that poverty is functional since it helps the affluent in society to maintain their position. On the other hand, Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore assert that stratification is necessary as it distributes individuals to various positions where they perform specific tasks. These two theories can be applied to the issue of public school funding which is characterized by numerous inequalities owing to racism and class stratification.
Core Ideas of the Theories
The Positive Functions of Poverty: Herbert J. Gans
Poverty, which is at the center of inequalities in the society, is often viewed as a negative concept but Gans asserts that it serves fifteen positive functions. According to Gans poverty is necessary as it helps to keep society stable and balanced since there are people who should do the dirty work. The poor in society do dangerous, physically dirt, undignified, underpaid, and menial jobs. Furthermore, poverty is crucial as it helps subsidize many activities such as education, taxation, and healthcare, which in turn benefit the affluent. Moreover, poverty helps to create numerous jobs, which serve the poor or buffer the rest of the inhabitants from the effects of poverty. Gans asserts that poverty is functional as it helps shape American politics making them centrist considering the fact that the poor rarely get involved in politics. Of importance is the fact that the poor provide a market for cheap and unwanted goods such as second-hand clothes, which fosters economic growth by reducing wastage.
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Poverty is crucial in any developed nation when it comes to enforcing the societal norms and values as it is, it is the poor who are mostly punished for the crimes of other affluent people in the society. This proposition can be evidenced by the fact that most of the American prisoners come from poor backgrounds. Additionally, poverty is important in the community as it helps other people to get emotional satisfaction. This proposition is possible especially when the poor are disabled evoking compassion and empathy from the rest of the population. Moreover, individuals tend to feel good about themselves that they have been spared from the deprivations that are associated with poverty. Gans goes ahead to point out that poverty acts as a measuring rod on which others gauge their social status. Overall Gans asserts that poverty is necessary at it guarantees the existence of any society. Without poverty, society would not have any focus as everyone would be satisfied with the status quo.
The Functions of Stratification by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore
Davis and Moore assert that social stratification is necessary for any society, which is keen on motivating its individuals. In essence, a social stratification is a tool, which is used to distribute members into various positions and then induce these members to perform the duties of each post. Of importance here, is the need to motivate the individuals to be ready to fill those positions in as much as these levels may be static. Davis a Moore establishes that the positions must require various levels or talents and engagements if they are to be attractive to the members. If the positions required similar skills and engagement then they could not be appealing to the members, which would threaten stratification. Society rewards its members differently depending on which position they occupy. Some of the rewards are meant to contribute to sustenance, comfort, humor, diversion, self-respect and ego expansion depending on the position one occupies.
Positional ranks as established by Davis and Moore point to the fact that individuals are ranked differently to create a harmonious and connected society. As it is, there are two determinants of positional rank namely the differential functional importance and differential scarcity of personnel. In differential functional importance individuals, occupying the less essential positions cannot compete successfully with individuals from more essential areas. Furthermore, if a position can be filled quickly then it is not as important. On the other hand, differential scarcity of personnel asserts that some positions require individuals with a high level of skills and individuals bound to fill them are rare. As such, an individual who will fill these positions will need higher pay to match their sacrifice. Overall, Davis and Moore establish that stratification is necessary and religion, government, wealth, property, labor assist in establishing societal functions and stratification.
Applying the Theories in the Issue of Inequalities in Public School Funding
Public school funding is one of the issues that is highly related to the concept of class and inequality. Most citizens who take their children to public schools are from poor backgrounds who cannot afford the high fees paid in private schools. As it is, these citizens rely on government funding to ensure that their children get quality education just like their peers in private schools. However, this is not usually the case considering that the funds allocated to public schools are negligible pointing to so many inequalities. The situation is made worse as it has racial connotations. According to Camera (2019), public schools with the majority of color students receive $23 billion less as compared to public schools where the majority of students are White. This glaring inequality continues to take root in as much as the number of students in these two kinds of schools is the same. Interestingly the disparity is still evident even when comparing both poor white and poor, nonwhite public schools (Klehr, 2019). In this case, racism and poverty interact with widening the inequality gaps even further.
The issue of inequality in public school funding is not a new phenomenon, and efforts to reverse this issue have not yielded fruits, the reason for this can be found in the two theories. As it is poverty is considered necessary in any society as it serves various functions. As it is, there is a group of individual mainly the policymakers who would prefer for the status quo to remain as it. If the poor public school get equal funding with the affluent or white public schools, it means that these students will have similar opportunities and academic outcomes. If this is permitted to ensue, it means that there will be no poor people in the society to serve the interests of the affluent. One would see less funding as a deliberate step to keep the poor in a perpetual poor state to keep the society stratified. According to Gans, the poor are quite functional as they are used as a measure to determine how far from poverty individuals are. In essence, a society without poverty would not be attractive for the affluent who use poverty to feel good about the achievement.
The issue of inequalities in public funding reflects a society, which is keen on thriving on social stratification as established by Davis and Moore. As it is, education plays a crucial role as it offers relevant training to help society place individuals in different positions. Individuals with high levels of skills are placed at the highest level while those with no or fewer skills are placed in the lowest level. Students in the schools, which receive more funding, will have better opportunities to advance to higher institutions of learning where they will acquire the right skills, which will guarantee them a position at the higher level. On the other hand, the students from the poor public schools with limited funding will lack this opportunity. In the end, they will fill the low levels in the strata working at menial, undignified and dirty jobs. At the end of the day, society will succeed in establishing social and economic classes. From the theoretical perspective, it is clear that discrepancies in public school funding are a deliberate effort to maintain the status quo where the poor continue serving the interests of the affluent.
In conclusion, class and inequalities can be explained by Gans Positive Functions of Poverty Theory and Davis and Moores the Functions of Stratification. According to these theorists, poverty though deemed detrimental by others plays positive roles in social, political and economic functions of any society. The poor help advances the agenda of the affluent as they do the dirty jobs, act as the market for goods that would otherwise have been thrown away and serve as measuring rod. According to Davis and Moore, any society must place its members in different positions depending on their skills. Individuals with high and rare skills take more senior positions while individuals with low skills are placed in the lower levels. As it is inequality in public school funding can be seen as a deliberate effort to ensure that the society will always have poor people to fill the lower levels and satisfy the needs of the affluent.
References
Camera, L. (2019). White Students Get More K-12 Funding Than Students of Color: Report. US News. Retrieved on 27 February 2019 from https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-02-26/white-students-get-more-k-12-funding-than-students-of-color-report
Davis, K., & Moore ,W. E. (1945). Some Principles of Stratification. American Sociological Review , 10(April), 242–249.
Gans, H. (1972).The Positive Functions of Poverty. American Journal of Sociology , 78(2), 275-289.
Klehr, D. G. (2019). Pa.'s budget must address glaring inequities in school funding/ Opinion. The Inquirer. Retrieved on 27 February 2019 from https://www.philly.com/opinion/commentary/tom-wolf-pennsylvania-budget-education-funding-20190222.html
