SOC 105 Final - Chapter Notes PDF

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Review for MT 2 Questions - In a meritocracy, you advance in status based on your abilities on exams and other formal tests of your ability. - How did defenders of South African's racist regime try to undermine the authority of the African National Congress in the international community as the ANC fought against apartheid? They called them communists. - From the list below, what is the least amount of money a family of four could earn and not be considered poor by the federal government? $30,000 - An H-1B visa is for people with special job skills that are deemed to be highly desirable in the U.S. - All of the following were agricultural products produced primarily through the labor of enslaved people that helped Britain establish economic and political dominance in the 18th century EXCEPT mustard. - Colorblind racism occurs when white people ignore (or pretend to ignore race), thus ignoring the reality of racism - During what period did African Americans migrate in large numbers from the U.S. South to cities in the rest of the nation? The Great Migration - On average, women earn ________ for every dollar a man earns. 80-85 cents - Jonah is a gay man who chooses not to share information about his sexuality with his work colleagues. His co-workers assume that he is straight, and he makes considerable efforts to foster this impression to benefit from the gender order in his workplace, where women and men viewed as not sufficiently masculine are often given fewer opportunities for advancement. Jonah is participating in complicit masculinity. - In which region of the world is there greater tolerance toward homosexuality? Western Europe - In what decade did the Supreme Court recognize the right to a legal abortion? 1970s - In a binary gender system, only two genders are recognized. - A cosmology is a model for understanding how the world is organized and how it works. - A diaspora is the dispersion of a people group from an ancestral land.

- According to research, married women are more likely to keep their last names if they are single mothers and have an advanced degree. - According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which of the following is considered a non-family household? A cohabitating opposite-sex couple - A pink collar job typically has no or only a very short internal career path. - According to Max Weber, class systems function most effectively when they are organized around status groups. - All of the following true-life examples illustrate how masculinity is socially constructed EXCEPT When Lego began making plastic toys in the 1940s, they marketed the same toys to both boys and girls. - Black immigrants to the U.S. often consciously hold on to their cultural heritage for all of the following reasons EXCEPT to criticize American culture. Textbook Notes Chapter 7: Inequality, Mobility, and Social Change (Tasfia) What is Inequality? - Inequality: unequal distribution of social goods, such as money, power, and status - Singapore is very expensive to live in. - You need an annual salary of about $200k would allow you to live comfortably - Boise, Idaho is one of the most affordable places to live in the U.S. - You can live comfortably in Idaho with an annual income of 60k/ - Inequality is based on relationships and comparison - How you compare to the people around you - Which people serve as your reference group Is inequality natural or social? - Natural differences in strength, intelligence, age, beauty, and technical ability (similar to survival of the fittest. - Natural: - Aristotle argued good governments and good societies were those in which the naturally gifted were able to develop the virtue to lead their inferiors without exploiting them. - Social: - Jean-Jacques Rousseau believes the existence of social relationships leads to social comparisons and the desire for personal gain and advantages - He said we want to have higher status than others and become jealous of those who have more prestige or wealth - People may use their wealth and power to pursue their private interests instead of the public good.

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These social causes of inequality were more important than any natural differences in ability that may exist. - Karl Marx believed that as soon as people begin to cooperate and divide up necessary labor, inequality and exploitation will follow. - The interests of those who control the work are in direct conflict with the interests of the workers under their control - The dominant class controls the means of production and they organize society to their benefit to maximize their profit and exploit workers - The history of society is the history of increasing inequality and exploitation Is inequality good or bad? - Marx and Rossau had a negative view of inequality - They believed that equality created the conditions for human freedom, happiness, and self-fulfillment. - Inequality was a source of slavery, misery, and wasted potential - Their beloved inequality was a social problem that needed to be solved through better social proof or movements to mobilize popular support for more social inequality or social conflicts. - Inequalities in income are associated with differences in health, education, and family stability, social development, and collective good. - Categorial inequality (Charles Tilly): increase in political violence - Relative deprivation: happens when people believe they are being treated unequally in comparison to another group they view as similar to themselves - Increases in relative deprivation lead to higher levels of crime - High economic inequality is associated with negative health and wellness outcomes, such as higher rates of infant mortality, mental illness, drug use, and obesity (Wilkinson and Pickett 2009). - Inequality between groups is associated with an increase in political violence. - Adam Smith was concerned extreme levels of inequality encouraged people to worship the rich and scorn the poor. - He thought that normal levels of inequality were unimportant as long as everyone in the society could satisfy their basic needs - He believed that normal levels of inequality encouraged people to work harder, leading to greater levels of innovation and economic growth that will benefit everyone. - Davis-Moore Theory (Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore): - Some level of inequality is necessary to motivate people to do the most difficult and important jobs in society. - Sociologists today are critical of the Davis-Moore theory because they make unrealistic assumptions about how the job market works - People can only compete for vacant jobs, which means there is a systematic bias in favor of people who discover such opportunities first, which has nothing to do with who has the most talent - People are restricted to job search by geographic ties to their families or other personal obligations

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There are less prestigious kobs and more poorly paid jobs and minorities have been working in the less paid jobs historically - Even when minority groups work in prestigious jobs, they are still not paid enough for their talents and efforts. - Think gender wage gap - Marginal Productivity Theory: inequality is a way of rewarding people who make a greater contribution to society, encouraging them to work hard and use their talents - Giving bigger rewards to the most productive and talented people will benefit everyone Inequality and Stratification: - Stratification: a central sociological idea that describes structured patterns of inequality between different groups of people - People are sorted into different social layers - There are patterns of inequality in almost every area of social life - These patterns are shaped by family, gender, social class, etc… Types of Stratification - Researchers examine the distribution of scarce but desirable resources and how inequality emerges and is maintained - Inequality has multiple intersecting dimensions - The firstborn son may automatically inherit all of the family’s wealth - Certain races can be the most powerful in a certain society - Karl Marx and Ralf Dahrendorf argue that the most important features of inequality can be understood by distinguishing between social classes: dominant and dominated class. - Types of measurements common to sociological research - Degree of inequality: level of concentration of a specific asset within the larger population - Would want to know how much of the total income is controlled by the top 1% when studying income stratification - Rigidity: how likely it is that people can move from one part of the stratification system to another - Ascriptiveness: refers to the degree to which patterns of inequality are connected to traits that are present at birth - Race, gender, etc - Degree of crystallization: refers to how likely it is that somebody at the top or bottom of one inequality category will also appear at the top or bottom of other inequality categories Caste Systems - People are born into a particular group and have no opportunity to change their social position - India - Brahmans, Shudras, Dalits (untouchables) - Untouchables did the most undesirable jobs. - Today, there is change but the upper classes still control government and politics - Intermarriage is increasing - American South during slavery is another example

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Apartheid in South Africa - Power and resistance took place to end apartheid - Apartheid: legally justified racial segregation in South America - Different entrances from whites and blacks - South Africans gained autonomy from Great Britain - Protestors: musicians refused to play in South Africa until apartheid ended - Nelson Mandela played a huge role in this Clearly defined hierarchy of social groups Friendships are even discouraged Residential and occupational segregation - Don’t share public spaces generally

Class Systems - Inequality is created primary by differences in economic power - Marx: capitalism - At the top were people who own property and own economic production - They exploit their workers - Money = power Lass systems of inequality have less rigidity and descriptiveness - Different classes have different access to resources - In today’s global economy, the people who control economic production have more advantages than ever - They use the cheapest labor in the WORLD so that they can maximize profits - Global business and global markets are being created because they can buy properly and material all over the world - Wealth gives them global power and prestige which means that virtually every society in the world has to deal with class-based inequality Status Systems - Max Weber argued that class systems function most effectively when they are organized around status groups - Status group: help together by common lifestyle and shared characteristics of social honor - Bond of solidarity amongst members - High-status groups (elites) send their children to the same schools and limit friendships with children from the “right families” - Gaetano Mosca said these high-status groups come to see themselves as being economically, intellectually, and morally superior - Think Gossip Girl Party Systems: Inequality through Meritocracy - Party system: power and privilege come through effective leadership of important organizations - Bureaucracy allows people to follow the rules rather than exercise their power. - Communism - Meritocracy: the people who control society are the ones who perform the best on examinations and other formal tests of ability

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Those who do better believe they are better than everyone else and they can become unsympathetic toward less successful people The Role of Consumption in Reproducing Inequality - Conspicuous consumption: happens when people buy things to display their wealth and social status - Ex: brand names like Prada, Fendi - Lead to consumerism: encourages people to buy more than they need - Leads to debt - Many households may stop saving A Portrait of Stratification Today - socioeconomic status: income, education, occupation - Individual’s position in society - Wealth: stock of valuable assets - Real estate, stocks, etc - Income: the flow of earnings over a delimited period - Net worth: the measure of commonly used to gauge economic position - Wealth - debt owed - Many upper-class people have inherited wealth from centuries of their parents - Upper middle class: salaries exceed 100k - Lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc - Live in comfortable neighborhoods - Invest time and resources so their children can become successful - Middle class: 60k-90k - Lower middle class: families with a household income of 15k to 60k - Less job security - May live paycheck to paycheck - Working poor: in poverty even though one member is working at least half the year - The government considered poor to be family of four making under 20k - Underclass: socially isolated people, usually living in impoverished urban neighborhoods - Depend on welfare, street crime, and the drug trade - World-systems theory: focuses on the different roles available to countries based on their level of economic power Social Mobility - Vertical social mobility: people change their position in the social stratification system - Social mobility: vertical can include upward as well as downward mobility, but upward mobility stores are much more common in popular culture - horizontal mobility: happens when people experience change without altering their position in the socioeconomic stratification system - Ex: the family moves to a new town to enroll their kids in a better school district - Intergenerational mobility: refers to changes in social status between different generations in the same family - Relative mobility: understanding of change in social position compared to other groups

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Absolute mobility: have more things than you are used to but it does take into account what is happening to other people - Cultural capital: education, cultural knowledge, and cultural consumption that signals privilege to others (Pierre Bourdieu) - Structural Mobility: happens when changes in society lead to larger changes in the stratification system Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality - Contentious politics: use of social conflict and other disruptive techniques to make a political point and to change government policy...