Sociology / Unit 6 Soc 0857 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Davis-Moore Thesis
Captions available
The idea
The Davis-Moore thesis holds that stratification is functional because unequal rewards motivate the most capable people to fill the most demanding positions.
In practice
Positions requiring long training carry higher rewards, which the thesis reads as the incentive that fills them.
Where people slip
The thesis explains why inequality exists and does not establish that its current size is necessary.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- 0858Objections to Davis-Moore
- 0885Stratification Through Three Lenses
- 0890Two Households
- 1048Functionalism on Race and Ethnicity
- 1098Functionalism on Gender
- 1297Functionalism on Family
- 1329Functionalism on Religion
- 1367Functionalism on Education: Manifest Functions
- 1516Functionalism on Government
- 1540Functionalism on the Economy
- 1608Functionalism on Health
- 1703Functionalism on Media and Technology
- 1747Human Ecology
- 1774Population, Urbanization, and the Environment Through Three Lenses
- 1785Value-Added Theory
- 1901A Factory Closes: Structure, Stratification, and the Life Course
- 1946Three Generations: A Family Across the Whole Course
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for Sociology