Download Social Stratification

Social Stratification
Spring 2017
Rowan University
Dr. Tony Sommo [email protected] Ext. 3784
Location: Savitz 217
Time: Mondays & Wednesdays 3:30—4:45
Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 5:00--6:00 and by appointment.
Office: 5th floor library Room 547
Attendance: Punctual attendance, that is for every class meeting, is required. Roll will be
taken at the beginning of each class meeting. Noticeable and continued absenteeism will be
factored into the final grade.
Required Reading: Read in the Following Order:
Half the Sky, by Nicholas Kristof
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matt Desmond
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
The Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo
Savage Inequalities, by Jonathon Kozol
Grading:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Writing assignment on Half the Sky
20%
First Midterm Exam Deer Hunting with Jesus
Multiple Choice 20%
Second Midterm Exam FAST FOOD NATION
multiple choice
20%
Writing assignment on The Beautiful Forevers
20%
Final Exam Savage Inequalities
Multiple Choice 20%
All exams will be proctored. Missing any exam must be documented, e.g, signed doctor's note
or parental confirmation in writing. Exams are not cumulative.
All papers must both be sent to me by way of email AND given to me in person as a hard copy on
the same day it is due.
IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THIS RULE YOU WILL BE DEDUCTED A FULL LETTER GRADE.
DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS IN THE EMAILS. Copy and paste your paper in the message section of the
email.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR VIRUSES BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR PAPER. I WILL DEDUCT ONE WHOLE
GRADE IF I FIND VIRUSES. MY COMPUTER HAS RECENTLY RECOVERED FROM A SERIOUS BOUT WITH A
CYBERNETIC DISEASE.
DO NOT RELY ON SPELLCHECKS FOR SPELLING ERRORS.
YOUR PAPERS.
PROOFREAD AND/OR HAVE SOMEONE ELSE PROOFREAD
Course Objectives: Below, course objectives are framed as questions. Upon completion of this
course, the student should be able to intelligently and critically respond to, discuss,
analyze and write clearly on the following salient issues:
1.
Definitions:
2.
What is Inequality?
Explanations:
Why Does Inequality Exist?
3.
The Historical Process: How did inequality develop?
inequality maintained and passed on to descendants?
When?
How is
4.
Describing Various Types of Inequality:
existed in the past and persist today?
5.
Empirical Indicators of Inequality: How do sociologists measure or
count inequality? How Do They Arrive at Comparisons Between and Within
Societies?
6.
Finding the Real People Who Are Affected by Inequality: The Haves, the
Have-Somes and the Have-Nots: Who are the real flesh-and-blood winners
and losers?
7.
Ideology, Morality and Action: How Do People Perceive Inequality?
Do They Talk About It? What Do They Do About It? Is Inequality
Fair? Is Inequality Good? Is Inequality Bad? Is Inequality
Inevitable?
Which forms of inequality
How
Classroom Behavior:
I have found it necessary to include the following rules of etiquette which I expect to be
observed during our time together in class.
1. Refrain from conducting ongoing conversations irrelevant to classroom
objectives. Whispering from anywhere in the class can be heard all over the
room. This behavior shows a lack of concern for the issues discussed during the course
and is disruptive to the thinking process of myself and your fellow students who have
to work hard at tuning you out.
Not only is this behavior disruptive, disrespectful and discourteous, but it tends to
be contagious. Others join in. It takes only a few students to jeopardize the mood or
morale of the class. I assume all of my students are adults and treat them that way.
2. DO NOT USE CELL PHONES OR ANY OTHER DEVICES SUCH AS IPODS, VIDEO GAMES, OR MINI
TELEVISIONS DURING MY CLASS. Do not use a laptop to take notes. The old-school way is
the best. Bring a pencil and a notebook. STAY FOCUSED; PAY ATTENTION. I will report
anyone who violates this rule to the Dean of Students. In addition your final grade
WILL be knocked down.
3. Do not walk out of the room once class has begun. If necessary, roll will be taken
at the end of every class to account for students who have left. Let me know before we
begin class if you need to leave early for legitimate reasons.
4. Let me know if you have special reasons for arriving late.
5. If you arrive after roll has been called, let me know after class.
Otherwise, you will be marked absent.
6. No Incompletes will be accepted at the end of the semester.
work on time.
Do the
7. Do not blow off this class by only showing up for the tests. I especially consider
this negligent behavior to be a grave violation of the rules. If you make this choice,
I’ll lower your final grade at least one or two grades, e.g, an A will become a C.
8. If you are having difficulty with my presentation of the material in class, please
let me know.
9. Do not bring any friends or other people into this class without my
Ask me first.
permission.
For the duration of the course, students and teacher enter into a mutually agreed upon
contract. I am responsible for imparting information in a clear organized manner, generating
your interest and facilitating discussion about issues relevant to the course. You are
responsible for learning by keeping up with the readings, paying attention in class and making
relevant and intelligent contributions to our discussions.
To maintain consistent and positive student-teacher interaction in class, I will assign a
different student monitor for each session who will recognize and acknowledge students with
comments or questions by watching for hands. This task will be rotated alphabetically
throughout the semester.
Thank you for your cooperation on these matters.
Additional Rules
1. Written in stone:
final grade
No "extra credit" or "makeup work" will be accepted to improve your
2. Your final grade for the course will not be changed, unless you can show that the
instructor made a statistical error.
3. Sociology majors cannot take this course pass/fail. Other students must decide whether or
not to take the course pass/fail no later than the end of the fourth week.
4. A formal charge of plagiarism means a failing grade for this course.
to appeal. See the Student Handbook online.
You have the right
5. If some major event affects your attendance in this class, let me know immediately. For
example, do not tell me about a family death or major illness at the end of the semester.
Overview:
1-18
Social Stratification and structured social inequality "Based On" Class, Race, Age,
Gender and Stigma (Or social devaluation of people because of Disability, . . .)
Nine Salient Variables Which Measure Social Inequality
A.
B.
C.
Economic Variables
1.
Occupation
2.
Income
3.
Wealth
Status Variables
4.
Personal Prestige
5.
Socialization
6.
Association
Political Variables
7.
Power
8.
Class Consciousness
9. The Dual Concept of Succession and Mobility
1-23
Open and Closed Societies:
I. Classless Societies
II. Slavery
III. Estate Societies
IV. Caste Societies
V. Class Societies:
1-25
I.
Post-industrial Pluralistic Democracies
Social Mobility
A. Vertical Mobility
B. Horizontal Mobility
C. Intergenerational Mobility
D. Intragenerational Mobility
II. Measuring Inequality: Taking a look at Census Statistics
1-30
III. Is Class Real? Four General Measures of Social Stratification
A. The reputational Method
B. The Subjective Method
2-1
III. Is Class Real?
Continued
C. The Objective Method
D. The Historical/Analytical Method
2-6
Class Exercise: The Inequalities Game
2-8
Perspectives on Social Inequality
I.
The Functionalist Perspective
A. Plato: Society as an Organism
B. Aristotle: The Happy Medium
C. The Davis-More Hypothesis
2-13
Reaction Paper Due: Half the Sky
2-15
II. The Conflict Perspective
A. The Conflict Principle
B. The Change Principle
C. Power
D. Scarcity of resources
A. Karl Marx: Class: The Two-dimensional View of Social Inequality
1.
The Materialist View: Work and Productivity as Central to Life
2. Two Divergent Hypotheses: Economic Determinism and the Dialectical View of
History
3.
Contradictions of Capitalism
4. Preparing The Way for a Classless Society and The Withering Away of The
State
5.
Criticisms of Marx
a. The state has not withered away
b. The working class is not the vanguard of social
revolution
c. Revolutions have not taken place in industrial societies as
Marx predicted
d. There are many sources of conflict (including religious,
ethnic, political, status) beside class
2-20
B. Max Weber: The Multidimensional View of Social Inequality
1. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: The Influence of Ideas on Economic
Production
2.
Class, Status, and Power
a. Class Based on The Competitive Market
b. Status Groups (an ingrown circle) Based on Life Style, and Consumption
Activities
c. Defining Power: Power Based on Affiliation with Political Parties
3.
2-22
Society is Made up of Many Strata with Subtle Gradations of Distinction
Prestige
I.
II.
W. Lloyd Warner: The Six Prestige Classes in Yankee City
The Deep South: Davis, Gardner and Gardner
III. The NORC University of Chicago Survey Research Studies: North and Hatt: Ranking
Prestige by
Occupation
IV.
V.
Duncan's Socio-economic Index of Occupations
Coleman and Rainwater: Social Standing in America
2-27
FIRST EXAM
VI. The Middletown Studies
VII. Occupational Change and the Future of the Class Structure
A. Wattenberg: The White-collarization of America
B. Braverman: The De-Skilling of Labor
3-1
Income, Wealth, and Life Chances (The Titanic) Gilbert and Kahl: The Parade Metaphor
of Social Inequality
I.
Income
A.
Sources of Income: Wages/Salaries
B.
The Distribution of Income
A.
Classes of Wealth Holders
B.
Measuring Inequality by Wealth
3-6
II.
Wealth
C.
Categories
Eric Ohlin-Wright: Four Structural Class
D.
Explaining Inequality of Wealth
1.
Individualistic/Genetic Explanations
2.
Structural Explanations
3-8
a.
b.
c.
3/13—-3/18
The dual Labor market hypothesis
The Human Capital Hypothesis
The Clustering Hypothesis
SPRING BREAK
3-20
Socialization: Melvin Kohn
Values and Child rearing Practices by Class
3-22
Second Midterm
3-27
Association Patterns: Who Hangs with Whom and Why?
A. Warner: The Concept of Cliques
B. Laumann: Maintaining Class Endogamy
C. Rainwater: Class Differences in Marital Patterns
D. LeMasters--The Blue-collar Aristocrats: New Strains in
Blue-collar Marriage
E. Rubin: Worlds of Pain
F. Warner: Formal and Informal Associations
3-29
The Inequality of Power
Three Perspectives on Power
4-3
I.
The Elite Perspective
B.
The Pluralist Perspective
C.
The Class Perspective Elitist Thinkers on the Political Right
Mosca: The Ruling Class
II.
III.
4-5
A.
Pareto--The Circulation of Elites: The Lions and the Foxes
Micheles: The Iron Law of Oligarchy
Elitist Thinkers on the Political Left
I.
Floyd Hunter: Community Power Structure, 1953 Power in Atlanta
II.
C. Wright Mills: The Power Elite
III.
4-10
Critics of Hunter and Mills
The Pluralist Perspective
SECOND REACTION PAPER ON BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS IS DUE
I. Robert Dahl--the decisional method: Who Governs: Power in New
Haven Critics of The Decisional Method Refuting the Pluralist
Hypothesis
II.
G. William Domhoff: Who Really Rules, 1978: New Haven Revisited
III.
4-12
Walton's Analysis of the Research First Quarter Concluded
The Class Perspective on Power
I. G. William Domhoff: An Attempt to Prove that the ones with the
prestige and the money are also the ones who rule
A.
The Mechanisms of Capitalist Class Power
1.
Participation in Government
2.
The Class Background of Congress
3.
Money and PAC's
4.
Business lobbies
5.
Policy Planning Groups
6.
Think Tanks
B. Indirect Mechanisms of Capitalist Class Power
1.
Recruitment to Decision-making Positions
2.
Campaign Financing
3.
Lobbying
4.
Policy Planning
5.
Controlling the Economy
6.
Controlling the Media
4-17 Class Consciousness
I.
Marx:
A.
Class in Itself
B.
Class for itself
C.
False Consciousness
Studying Causes of Class Consciousness
I. John Leggott: A Study of Working-class Consciousness in Detroit
II. Richard Centers: Class Identification
III. Elizabeth Bott: How Do People Experience Class Position
IV. Hamilton: Class and Politics in the United States
V. Class Conflict and the Labor Movement
I. Succession and Mobility Blau and Duncan: The American
Occupational Structure
II. Featherman and Hauser: Opportunity and Change
4-19
Poverty: How Do We Measure Poverty?
1.
Economic Definitions
2.
Cultural Definitions
3.
Absolute Definitions
4.
Relative Definitions
5.
Government Definitions: The Official Poverty Line
4-24
6.
The Orshansky Index
7.
Census Bureau Statistics: Are They Accurate?
8.
Cash Benefits and In-kind Benefits (noncash benefits)
The Nature and Causes of Poverty
A.
The Individual/Genetic Explanation
B.
Cultural Explanations
1.
2.
The Culture of Poverty Thesis
a. Lewis
C.
Banfield
c.
Miller
The Cultural Deprivation Thesis
c.
4-26
b.
a.
Rodman
b.
Valentine
Ryan: Blaming The Victim
Structural Explanations
1. W.J. Wylson: The Social Isolation of the
Ghetto
2.
5-1
Critics of Structural Explanations
Welfare: Fact and Fiction
Anti-poverty Programs
5-2—5-8
Finals Week