Exam 3 Study Guide PDF

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CHAPTER 8 SUMMARY What Is Global Inequality?  Global inequality refers to the systematic differences in wealth and power that have resulted from globalization.  In defining poverty, a distinction is usually made between absolute and relative poverty. Absolute poverty means that a person or family can’t get enough to eat. Relative poverty is a measure of inequality. It means being poor as compared with the standards of living of the majority population.  An estimated 1.3 billion people in the world, or nearly one in four people, live in poverty today, an increase since the early 1980s. Many are the victims of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or tribal affiliation. What Is Daily Life Like in Rich vs Poor Countries?  In general, people in high-income countries enjoy a far higher standard of living than their counterparts in low-income countries. They are likely to have more food to eat, less likely to starve or suffer from malnutrition, and likely to live longer. Additionally, they are less likely to have large families, and their children are much less likely to die in infancy of malnutrition or childhood diseases.  Lower income countries lack sophisticated educational systems. Education contributes to economic growth, may offer hope for escaping the cycle of harsh working conditions and poverty, and educated people tend to have fewer children.  In lower-income countries, children are often forced to work because of a combination of family poverty, lack of education, and traditional indifference to their condition. Can Poor Countries Become Rich?  Several lower-income countries in East Asia have undergone a process of industrialization in the past few decades, and most of them have become middle-income countries while some have moved into the high-income category.  A combination of historical, cultural, and economic ethos has complimented this rising trend in economic growth, although many of these changes have also been accompanied by social problems such as the withholding of labor and civil rights. How Do Sociological Theories Explain Global Inequality?  Market-oriented theories of global inequality, such as modernization theory and neoliberalism, claim that cultural and institutional barriers to development explain the poverty of low-income societies. In this view, to eliminate poverty, fatalistic attitudes must be overcome, government meddling in economic affairs ended, and a high rate of savings and investment encouraged.

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Dependency theories claim that global poverty is the result of the exploitation of poor countries by wealthy ones, beginning with colonialism. Even though the economic fate of poor countries is ultimately determined by wealthy ones, some development is possible within dependent capitalistic relations. World-systems theory argues that the capitalist world system as a whole—not just individual countries—must be understood if we hope to make sense of global inequality. World-systems theory focuses on the relationships of core, peripheral, and semiperipheral countries in the global economy; long-term trends in the global economy; and global commodity chains that erase national borders. An update to the world-systems theory has come in the form of global-capitalism theory. Contrary to world-systems theory, which views the state as a national actor serving to advance the interests of its national business class, the global capitalism approach sees stateless corporations as the key actors in the global economy.

What Does Rapid Globalization Mean for the Future of Global Inequality?  No one can say for sure whether global inequality will increase or decrease in the future. It is possible that some leveling out of wages will occur worldwide, as wages decline in wealthy countries and rise in poor countries. It is also possible that all countries will someday prosper as the result of a unified global economy. CHAPTER 9 SUMMARY Are Gender Differences Due to Nature, Nurture, or Both?  Sex in the sense of physical difference is distinct from gender (masculine and feminine), which concerns cultural and psychological differences. It is no simple matter to determine which observable differences are due to biology (sex) and which are socially constructed (gender). The gender binary is the classification of sex and gender into two discrete, opposite, and nonoverlapping forms of masculine and feminine. Nonbinary is a gender identity that does not fit squarely into the male-female gender binary classification. Arguments from animal behaviorists are usually ambiguous. Some researchers claim, for instance, that hormones explain such differences as greater male aggressiveness, but it may just as easily be the case that aggressive behavior causes changes in hormone levels. Studies of gender differences from a variety of human societies have shown no conclusive evidence that gender is biologically determined; rather, biological differences seem to provide a means of marking or differentiating social roles.  Studies of parent-infant interactions reveal that boys and girls are treated differently right from birth; the same features and behaviors are interpreted as either "masculine" or "feminine" depending on the parents' expectations.  Studies of other cultures show that gender is expressed in a variety of ways, not related to biology. How Do Gender Inequalities Play Out in Social Institutions?  Patriarchy refers to male dominance over women. The degree and character of inequalities between the sexes varies considerably across cultures. In the United States, women have made considerable progress yet are still unequal in many ways.  Women's participation in the paid labor force has risen steadily, especially married women's. Many women, however, are poorly paid and have dim career prospects. Even women who are

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successful in the corporate world face discrimination in the form of deeply held cultural expectations about the proper role of women in society. The increasing number of women in the labor force has had a big impact on family responsibilities like child care and housework in the United States. Although men are contributing more to these responsibilities, women still shoulder the bulk of the work. For working women, these household obligations constitute a second shif. Women throughout the world work in the lowest-wage jobs, and are likely to make less than men doing similar work—although there is some evidence that the wage gap is decreasing slowly, at least in industrialized countries. In developing countries, women are likely to experience exploitative job conditions. Yet at the same time, their enhanced economic role has sometimes resulted in increased economic independence and greater social status.

The ways schools are organized and how classes are taught have tended to sustain gender inequalities. There is evidence that teachers treat girls and boys differently in the classroom. Worldwide, women do not share the same political power as men, although thirty-eight countries have been headed by a woman since World War II. The United States is about average among countries in terms of women's representation in the national legislature, but has never had a woman president.

Why Are Women the Target of Violence?  Violence perpetrated by men against women is found in many societies—in the form of spousal abuse, rape, and sexual harassment, for example. One of the most common manifestations of violence against women is rape, which is the forcing of nonconsensual intercourse. Some scholars argue that women are often the targets of sexual violence because men are socialized to see women as sex objects and to feel a sense of sexual entitlement to women. How Does Social Theory Explain Gender Inequality?  In explaining gender inequality, functionalists have emphasized that gender differences and the sexual division of labor contribute to social stability and integration. Feminist approaches reject the idea that gender inequality is somehow natural. Liberal feminists have explained gender inequality in terms of social and cultural attitudes, such as sexism and discrimination. Radical feminists argue that men are responsible for the exploitation of women through patriarchy—the systematic domination of females by males. Black feminists have seen factors such as class and ethnicity, in addition to gender, as essential for understanding the oppression experienced by nonwhite women. How Can We Reduce Gender-Based Aggression?  Sociologists have argued that gender inequalities are not fixed and are rooted in power differentials. They have also drawn attention to the links between gender inequality and race and class.  Programs that focused on helping students escape and end situations that could potentially escalate have shown to be successful in reducing gender-based violence on college campus. A more important goal though is to change beliefs about sexual violence and entitlement in male students.

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Osler 4 CHAPTER 10 SUMMARY What Are Race and Ethnicity?  Ethnic groups have common cultural characteristics that separate them from others within a given population. Ethnic differences are wholly learned, although they are sometimes depicted as "natural."  Race refers to physical characteristics, such as skin color, that are treated by members of a community or society as socially significant—as signaling distinct cultural characteristics. Many common notions about "race" are based on myths and stereotypes. There are no distinct characteristics by means of which human beings can be allocated to different races. Why Do Racial and Ethnic Antagonism Exist?  Racism is prejudice based on socially significant physical distinctions, such as skin tone or hair texture. A racist is someone who believes that some individuals are superior, or inferior, to others as a result of racial differences.  Displacement and scapegoating constitute psychological explanations of prejudice and discrimination. In displacement, feelings of hostility become directed against objects that are not the real origin of these anxieties. People project their anxieties and insecurities onto scapegoats. Prejudice involves holding preconceived views about an individual or group; discrimination refers to actual behavior that deprives members of a group of opportunities open to others. Prejudice usually involves stereotypical thinking—thinking in terms of fixed and inflexible categories.  The social processes involved in discrimination involve three sociological ideas – ethnocentrism, group closure, and resource allocation.  Four main models can be distinguished in the ways different societies have approached ethnic integration, stressing assimilation, the melting pot, pluralism, and multiculturalism. In recent years there has been a tendency to emphasize the fourth of these avenues, whereby different ethnic identities are accepted as equal and separate within the context of the overall national culture. How Does Racism Operate in American Society Today?  Theories of institutional racism propose that racism is entrenched in societal structures and pervades all of society in a systematic way. For example, targeted police brutality against racial minorities, especially Black men.  Interpersonal racism includes blatant bigotry, but it is also complicated by seemingly benign instances of color-blind racism and microaggressions. What Are the Origins and Nature of Ethnic Diversity in the United States?  Beginning in the fifteenth century, global migratory movements resulting from exploration, colonialism, and slavery created multiethnic populations in various regions of the world, resulting in ethnic and racial antagonism. Today, migration appears to be on the rise as part of the process of globalization. 

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An important distinction must be drawn between those minorities that came to America as willing immigrants and the colonized peoples who either were here already (Native Americans, Mexican Americans) or were brought by force (African Americans) and who were generally incorporated by violence.

Osler 5 How Do Race and Ethnicity Affect the Life Chances of Different Groups?  There are stark differences in the life chances of individuals of different races and genders because of differences in levels of educational attainment, employment and income, health, residential segregation, and amount of political power. How Do Sociologists Explain Racial Inequality?  One of the most controversial explanations for inequalities among racial groups has been racial differences in IQ, but these have very little to do with the genetic makeup of the races and are much more influenced by social factors.  Cultural explanations – which claim that the inequalities between Blacks and Whites are more determined by the cultures of different groups – for racial inequalities are controversial but have more adherents. Those who believe in cultural explanations argue that the wrong values are passed on from generation to generation.  Many sociologists reject the economic explanations of racism, and point to the historical oppression of Black people which points to a strong case of anti-Black racial discrimination in the form of discriminatory hiring practices, and physical spaces known as ghettos.

CHAPTER 11 SUMMARY How Do Sociological Theories Characterize Families?  Kinship, family, and marriage are closely related terms of key significance for sociology and anthropology. Kinship comprises either genetic ties or ties initiated by marriage. A family is a group of kin having responsibility for the upbringing of children. Marriage is a union of two persons living together in a socially approved sexual relationship.  A nuclear family is a household in which a single parent or married couple live with their children. Where kin in addition to parents and children live in the same household or are involved in close and continuous relationships, we speak of the existence of an extended family.  Functionalists see society as a set of social institutions that perform specific functions to ensure continuity and stability.  In contrast to functionalist approaches, symbolic interactionism emphasizes the contextual, and subjective nature of family relationships in which the behavior or identities of individual family members mutually shape one another over time.  Feminist theories have challenged the vision of the family as harmonious and egalitarian, shining a light on it being a site or exploitation, loneliness, and inequality. How Have Families Changed over Time?  Traditional family forms take on an air of nostalgia, but this often masks the unequal and stark reality – oppressed wives, child labor, high parent mortality rates, etc.  In Western societies, marriage, and therefore families, are associated with monogamy (a culturally approved sexual relationship between one man and one woman). Many other cultures tolerate or encourage polygamy, in which an individual may be married to two or more spouses at the same time. Polygyny, in which a man may marry more than one wife, is far more common than polyandry, in which a woman may have more than one husband.

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There are many types of families in the world, but while there is a trend toward the Western norm of the nuclear family. Some reasons for this trend include the spread of the Western ideal of romantic love, the growth of urbanization and of centralized governments, and employment in organizations outside traditional family influence.

What Do Marriage and Family in the United States Look like Today?  There have been major changes in patterns of family life in the United States during the post– World War II period: A high percentage of women are in the paid labor force, there are rising rates of divorce and remarriage, and substantial proportions of the population are either in single-parent households or are living with stepfamilies.  Family sociologists have detected considerable variations in family structure across racial and ethnic groups; between the family lives of whites and Blacks; Asian American families (which resemble white families in many ways), and Latino and Native American family patterns (which are highly varied). Why Does Family Violence Happen?  Family life is by no means always a picture of harmony and happiness. The "dark side" of family life is found in the patterns of abuse and family violence – child abuse, intimate partner violence - that often occur within it.  Although no social class is immune to intimate partner violence, studies do indicate that it is more common among low-income couples. How Do New Family Forms Affect Your Life?  Cohabitation (in which a couple lives together in a sexual relationship outside of marriage) has become increasingly common in many industrial countries; as has the acceptance of homosexual relationships.  It seems certain that alternative forms of social and sexual relationships – including staying single and deciding to be child-free - to those prevalent in the past will flourish still further. Yet marriage and family remain firmly established institutions.

Practice Problems 8 1. What has been a major trend in global inequality over the last two decades? The rich countries became richer, and the poor countries became poorer. 2. According to world-systems theory, why are core nations wealthy? They have been able to control the economies of peripheral and semi peripheral countries for their own economic advantage.

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Osler 7 3. _____ Theories address poor countries’ ties with wealthy countries by focusing on how wealthy nations have economically exploited poor ones. Dependency 4. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 815 million people, just over one in ____ people in the world, suffer from chronic hunger. nine 5. Countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore are classified as ___________. emerging economies 6. Environmental problems exacerbate global inequality. Recent drought threatens mass starvation in which nations? Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan Practice Problems 9 1. Your friend Meghan overhears you talking about the difference between sex and gender with your classmate Roger. Confused, Meghan chimes in, saying, “Wait a minute! I thought sex and gender were the same thing!” You correct her, explaining that sex refers to the physical differences in the body, whereas gender concerns the psychological, social, and cultural differences between males and females. 2. What is the definition of the term patriarchy? male dominance over women in a society 3. From 1979 to 2017, the gender gap in earnings (women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s) has Narrowed 4. According to sociologists, why are women so often the target of sexual violence? Men are socialized into a sense of sexual entitlement and to regard women as sexual objects. 5. What does it mean for men and women to “do gender”? to present ourselves as “male” or “female” through our choice of behavior and appearance 6. What is gender typing in occupations? It refers to the process of designating occupations as “male” or “female” jobs. Practice Problems 10 1. What is ethnicity? the cultural practices and outlooks of a given community that have emerged historically and tend to set people apart 2. Racism that is embedded in the very structure and operation of society is called __________ racism. Institutional 3. Which of the following is a characteristic of minority groups? The members find themselves in a position of inequality within a society. 4. The planned destruction of a particular group, on the grounds of group members’ ethnicity, religion, culture, or political views is called a genocide. 5. The process by which a society’s understandings of race are used to classify individuals or groups of people is called racialization. 6. How does the experience of Blacks in American cities compare with that of other minority groups? Segregation and poverty have not been reduced in the way they have been for other groups.

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