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change over time in the distributions in the US
Since 1973, economic inequality in the U.S. has increased as wealth and income growth have primarily benefited the richest, while middle and lower-income groups have seen less progress. French economist Thomas Piketty explains that investment returns grow faster than wages, widening inequality unless government policies actively reduce it, as they did in the post-war era.
stock market benefits, CEO/worker pay gap and minimum wages
Stock Market Benefits: The top 10% of Americans benefit the most from stock market booms, as they own about 90% of all stocks.
CEO/Worker Pay Gap: In 1965, CEOs earned 20 times more than the average worker; by 2016, the gap grew to 271 times. This is much higher than in other capitalist countries and suggests CEOs’ pay has outpaced their relative contribution.
Nominal vs. Real Wage:
• Nominal wage is the amount on your paycheck.
• Real wage adjusts for inflation, reflecting true purchasing power.
Minimum Wage: Originally intended as a “living wage,” it has not kept up with inflation. In real terms, it has decreased, prompting calls to raise it to $15/hour to restore its original purpose.
Effect of inequality on health (life expectancy)
Life expectancy reflects a society’s health. In poor countries, higher GDP per capita improves life expectancy by meeting basic needs. However, in middle- and high-income countries, inequality (measured by the GINI coefficient) becomes a stronger predictor of life expectancy. More equal societies tend to have healthier people who live longer.
Wages, taxes, and education
Wages = Raises min wage / Institute max wage(not hypothetical)
Education = Public education, not privatization
Taxes = Progressive taxation, not a “flat tax” or a regressive consumption tax
definitions of race and ethnicity
Race-a category of people who have been singled out as inferior or superior, often on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, or other subjectively selected attributes.
Ethnicity- a collection of people distinguished by others or by themselves primarily on the basis of culture or nationality.
what is the correct definition of prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice: an attitude pre-judging individuals based on stereotypes of the group to which they are perceived to be a member
Discrimination: actions by dominant groups that have harmful effects on members of subordinate groups
Racism as prejudice versus racism as institutional discrimination
Racism:
• Individual prejudice refers to personal biases or stereotypes against a racial group.
• Institutional racism involves systemic discrimination embedded in societal structures, such as white supremacy in the U.S.
Examples:
• Housing: Redlining and discriminatory real estate practices historically excluded minorities from homeownership.
• Employment: Disparities in hiring practices led to affirmative action policies aimed at creating equal opportunities.
Allport’s theory of contract
Allport proposed that the conditions of contact were crucially important. Contact under conditions of equality would reduce prejudice, but contact under conditions of inequality would increase prejudice.
Hypothesis 1: inequality conflict > prejudice, discrimination and conflict
Ex: the south during slavery and jim crow segregation(total inequality)
Ex: the military (more equality and meritocracy)
Hypothesis 2: competition > prejudice, discrimination, and conflict
Ex: the boy’s camp experiment
Ex: immigration- real or perceived competition drives prejudice, discrimination and conflict
Mexican immigration
Total number of illegal immigrants in the U.S.
12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. out of a population of 326 million
Percent illegal immigrants of U.S. labor force
12 million illegal immigrants, 7.2 million are workers which is 4.9% of the civilian labor force (7.2/148 million)
Percent Mexican of illegal immigrants in U.S.
12 million about 50% are mexican immigrants
Violent crime rate of illegal immigrants in U.S.
Violent crime dropped 16.6% in Phoenix and homicides were 38% and robberies 27% in 2010
Who is harmed by illegal immigrants in the U.S.?
The only American citizens economically harmed by illegal Mexican immigrants are unskilled workers without a high school diploma. That is the only group competing with the immigrants for jobs
Do illegal immigrants pay into Social Security? If so, how do illegal immigrants pay into Social Security?
Yes, illegal immigrants do pay into Social Security. They often use fake or improperly documented Social Security numbers to work, which allows employers to withhold payroll taxes, including Social Security taxes. These contributions, however, go into the Social Security system and contribute to a funding surplus—estimated at $463 billion—but the workers themselves cannot collect benefits due to their undocumented status. This system was shaped by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which penalized employers for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants but allowed them to rely on seemingly valid identification to avoid liability.
According to Hutchinson, what are realistic options for immigration reform?
Getting a path to citizenship
Guest worker program
Social epidemiology
It is the study of the causes and distribution of health, disease and impairment throughout a population
Age
Sex
race/ethnicity
Social class
Inequality
Disasters
Lifestyle factors
Life expectancy of racial/ethnic groups
Females
Latino: 83.7
White: 81.1
Black: 77.8
Males
Latino: 78.9
White: 76.4
Black: 71.6
Spike in deaths in which group?
Economist Angus Deaton reported that there was a spike in the mortality rate of middle-age (45-54) white Americans.
Due to suicide, alcohol, and drugs- what he calls “death of despair”
U.S health non-system
Health care in the US(Not a system)
Health care has numerous parts. The largest part is provided through private insurance through employers. In addition there are a variety of government programs.
60% of individuals have private health insurance through their employers and an additional 9% purchase their own policies.
64% of total health care cost are paid for through taxes by the government
Origin of government programs and which is the biggest program?
(This isnt the right definition, so this does not count)
Health care has numerous parts. The largest part is provided through private insurance through employers. In addition there are a variety of government programs.
Private health insurance
What is the ACA? whose idea was it?
The Affordable Care Act created by President Barack Obama
• 1) The ACA created insurance exchanges for private insurance with an individual mandate, a mandate that insurance companies must cover individuals with preexisting conditions, and subsidies to assist low-income individuals.
• 2) The ACA provided for expansion of Medicaid, but not all states have taken advantage of this provision.
Democracy – rule by the people
For a society to be a democracy, everyone must participate in decision making. only small groups / societies can therefore be democracies. foraging societies were democracies. They can also be thought of as anarchies since there is no government apart from the people.. Large complex societies cannot be democracies.
Pluralist theory: interest organizations represent everyone versus Elite theory
Pluralist Theory vs. Elite Theory:
• Pluralist Theory argues that everyone has a voice in the political system through interest organizations (special interest groups) that influence legislation. While individual voters may lack power, these groups ensure representation. This is a normative theory, reflecting how democracy should work.
• Elite Theory, on the other hand, finds that power is concentrated in the hands of organized elites, despite democratic ideals. It does not advocate for elite rule but observes this as the reality of political systems. This is a scientific theory, describing how things actually work.
Pluralist theory has more supporters in political science than in sociology due to its optimistic view of democracy.
Interest organizations represent some more than others
It takes money to run an office for an interest organization in Washington DC. A study of Interest organizations in the US found that over 75% of Interest organizations represented corporations, Industries, or the wealthy.
The reality is that the paid lobbyists become Elites themselves, in addition to the elected representatives in other government officials.
The role of money, the electoral college & Senate, winner-take-all elections
The Supreme Court has ruled that political contributions of individuals and corporations are protected political speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Buckley V. Valeo( 1976) and Citizens United V. FEC(2010)
Religion
a social institution composed of a unified system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals.
Based on some sacred or supernatural realm that guides human behavior gives meaning to life, and unites believers into a community.
Science and religion
Science is the study of the natural, observable world.
Religion involves belief in a supernatural realm (which might or might now include deities or gods or God)
When religion makes claims about the observable world scientific research can disprove those claims. This has happened plenty of times as science has grown since the 17th century.
Why do people join? – socialization and network conversion
People convert for social reasons not because they are convinced of the truth of a doctrine. Religious “seekers” are quite rare.
The most common type of conversion is of a spouse. One spouse converts to the other religion so they can raise the children in one religion.
People are most often attracted to a new religion by the people. They are befriended by the members and only later once converted do they revise the story and say it was the doctrine instead.
Successful missionaries know this, and deliberately befriend potential converts
Legitimation of norms
If social norms are created by humans they can be easily challenged. If social norms are believed to come from God or the toa, or spirit realm they are less easily challenged. This is the underlying conservative tendency of religion in all societies. However this can be seen as a crucial way of overcoming individualism and promoting others regarding behavior and altruism.
Theories of religion: Durkheim, Marx, Weber
Marx: called religion the “opiate of the masses” He was sympathetic to the pain of working people and their seeking solace in an afterlife. But he believed that the effect of religion was harmful to the working class movement because it made it less likely workers would fight to make this world better.
Durkheim: saw religion as a force for social integration which he saw as very valuable leading to less suicide and crime and as we now know increasing health and life expectancy.
Marx and Durkheim:
Are their theories contradictory? Yes, as normative theories
No, not as scientific theories. They both saw the effect of religion to be strengthening the social order but disagreed on whether that was good or bad.
Weber: his theory of religion is most widely known from his essay “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He proposed that Protestant belief promoted saving and reinvesting capital, leading to an economic revolution replacing feudalism with capitalism. Weber proposed that religion could be a powerful force for social change as well as for social order.
Religious economy – monopoly or free market competition
Religious economy = religious organizations in society can be thought of as analogous to corporations in an industry ranging from a monopoly with only one corporation or religious organization to a “free market” with lots of competition among numerous organizations.
Principles of religious freedom and separation of church and state (disestablishmentarianism)
The 2nd amendment to the constitution: Separation of church and state is a requirement for freedom of religion - - if the state backs one religion, the others will face potential discrimination and persecution. The early movement was called disestablishmentarianism - - the goal was to disestablish those churches that had received state backing
Church/sect cycle theory: secularization and revitalization
The Church/Sect Cycle Theory explains how religious groups evolve over time:
1. Sect Formation: Dissatisfied members break away from an established church, feeling it has become too worldly or corrupt. The new sect is often small, zealous, and focused on purity and spiritual fervor.
2. Growth and Success: As the sect recruits and gains followers, it acquires larger budgets, buildings, and social influence.
3. Secularization: Over time, the sect becomes more worldly and institutionalized, transforming into a church.
This cycle can repeat, as new sects form from churches seen as losing their spiritual focus. A classic example is the Protestant Reformation, where reformers broke away from the Catholic Church to form new denominations.
Church (worldly – low-tension), sect (other-worldly – high tension)
Church refers not to a building or to local congregation but to a sizable religious organization that has been around long enough to become familiar to the population. Churches not only support the social order they are pillars of that social order. They exist in a state of low tension with society.
Cult (innovation) – who joins?
The cult prefers a new religious movement. In sociology and anthropology we do not imply that a religion is necessarily bad by calling it a cold though usually we say (NRM)instead just to be sure. all religions were new at some point in the start as cults.
There is a typical profile of people who join NRMs:
They tend to be unchurch- that is, without a religion. People already active members of a church are less open to joining a new one.
they tend to be high in socio-economic status as measured by income and education. College campuses are logical places for NRMs to recruit .
Charismatic leadership
Sect refers to a religious organization that breaks away from the church. It is not a new religion, but rather an attempt to get back to the basics and back to the pure Doctrine and back to the things of God rather than men.
In contrast to churches, sects start small typically led by care somatic leaders have another worldly focus and a high state of tension with the society.
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What does Hutchinson represents with the social pyramid?
Social stratification, which always results in a few at the top and more at the bottom
Which of the following best characterizes the U.S. and all large complex modern societies?
class systems
why did stratification begin?
food surplus and land scarcity
when did stratification begin?
with argiculture society
In Hutchinson’s lecture on the evolution of social structure what is the independent variable that drives the changes
population growth
How can the minimum wage have lost value when it has been raised?
the nominal wage has been raised, but the real wage has declined
true or false?
there are no such things as races, defined as biologically distinctively different groups of people
true
what is the relationship between economic inequality and health?
economic inequality is bad for your health and shortens average life expectancy
income versus wealth.
what is more unequal in the U.S.- - distrabution of income or wealth?
wealth
(income is the economic gains from wages, salaries, income, transfers and ownership of property(rent) and wealth is the assets minus debts.)
which of the following is the best definition of pluralism(the theory of politics and the state)
interest organizations can represents everyone’s interest
Which of the following is the best definition of oligarchy?
According to Hutchinson, on a spectrum from democracy (rule by the people) to oligarchy (role by the few), where do large, complex, modern societies including the U.S. fall
a state ruled by elites.
toward the oligarchical end.
About what proportion of interest organizations in the U.S. represent business interests?
75 %
Can a pure democracy exist?
yes, in small groups such as hunters & gatherers
Which of the following is true about the relationship of science to the supernatural?
science cannot prove or disprove the existence of supernatural entities (such as God)
Which of the following does recent research suggest might be the reason for the correlation between sex/gender and religion?
women are less likely to take risks
Which of the following is a well-established effect of religion?
religion typically serves to legitimate the norms of a society
Which of the following is NOT something sociologists of religion study?
which gods exist and which ones do not
Durkheim and Marx's theories of religion stressed that religion strengthens the social order. Weber's theory emphasized that religion can be the cause of social change, even radical social change. What relationship does the church/sect cycle propose between religion and society?
churches promote the social order - sects promote social change
Using church/sect cycle theory, how did Christianity begin?
as a Jewish sect, which became a cult after Jesus was killed
For the Founding Fathers, the separation of church and state (the doctrine of disestablishmentarianism) was critical to freedom of religion. Why?
so the government doesn't back one religion and persecute the others
What type of person is most likely to join a cult (which is a new religious movement)?
an unchurched person with higher than average SES
In the church/sect cycle, the movement from sect to church is called what?
secularization
In the church/sect cycle, the movement from church to sect is called what?
revitalization
