Sociology

Proletariat & bourgeoisie

(Marx) proletariat = working class, non-owners; “property-less workers”; bourgeoisie = rich, upper class, “boujee”/”bougie”, property owners  

Habitus

(Bourdieu) history of lived experiences, embodied unconsciously, manifested in practices; ex: how your upbringing & experiences shape your tastes & preferences

Sociological imagination:

(Mills) individual/social distinction; connecting individual circumstances to historical and social patterns

Double consciousness

(Du Bois) our society is a racialized society; because Black Americans experience discrimination and prejudice on a regular basis, they uniquely understand race relations in the U.S. in a way that whites do not and cannot

Social constructions

(Multiple readings) problems that are formed by groups within society; we make them ourselves; problems that have no true/natural origin

Framing

(Multiple readings) the ways problems are presented; problems are often framed as individual, or as episodes, rather than as historical/sociological/patterned/systemic

Structural inequality

(All) inequalities in society along the lines of income and race (among other things) in the U.S. are patterned and not idiosyncratic: they can be found across geo locations and throughout history; these inequalities stem from structures (institutional rules, policies, laws) rather than individual choices

Civil and social citizenship

(Fraser & Gordon) civil citizenship = citizenship defined via individual political rights, such as voting; social citizenship = citizenship defined via communal solidarity, where all citizens have the right to ask for and receive help

Contract versus charity

(Fraser & Gordon) social assistance in the U.S. tends to take the form of contract (quid pro quo exchange for “contributors” who work) or charity (stigmatized and meager assistance for the unemployed or “undeserving” poor)

Intersectionality

(Pager, Desmond) our experiences and hardships are not only patterned by but also compounded by the intersection of our identities (e.g., class, race, gender, sexuality, etc); per Pager’s findings, white felons are more likely to be called back for a job than Black candidates, even Black non-felons

EITC

Earned Income Tax Credit; provides cash assistance in the form of tax revenue not collected (or a tax refund, if no income tax is owed) for low-income employed individuals

TANF

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; commonly known as “welfare” -- provides cash assistance for low income families on a time-limited basis, with employment as eventual requirement to continue receiving assistance

SNAP

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; “food stamps” for low-income individuals in the form of vouchers that can be redeemed for certain products at certain stores (e.g., fruits and veggies, yes; alcohol or non-food items like bed linens, no)

WIC

Nutrition Assistance for Women, Infants, and Children; a voucher program similar to SNAP with coupons that can be redeemed for, e.g., baby food, formula

Section 8

the nation’s housing assistance program, which provides subsidized housing for low-income individuals; demand far outstrips supply for subsidized housing, and section 8 waitlists are very long in most communities

Head Start

Publicly funded pre-k programs for low-income families with children age 3-4