Sociol 2463 MT 2

Absolute poverty

the lack of life’s basic necessities (ie. food, shelter, clothing) 

Poverty threshold (poverty line):

the income level at which family can afford these necessities 

• ie) 2024: $31,200 for a family of four and in 2025 $32,150

Poverty rate

percentage of ppl living below poverty line 

• ie) 2024 10.6% 

Relative poverty

• economic status of ppl compared to others 

  • ie) set threshold at a % of median household income 

Structure (definition and what it emphasizes)

•  refers to the societal forces (ie. statues, roles, networks, and institutions that organize our lives; emphasizes role of societal circumstances on poverty 

Two types of structural forces: 

• Societal acts: behaviors of individuals in particular positions of society 

• Social processes: societal arrangements that shape relations among its members (ie. mass incarceration , school tracking )

Culture (definition and what it emphasizes):

• refers to shared views and behaviors of individuals who encounter similar societal circumstances (ie. non-AP -enrolled Black students’ perceptions of Black peers in AP courses as acting superior and their teasing behaviors)

• emphasizes role of individual traits on poverty 

Evolution of the term’s (Culture) conceptualization 

• Traditional (simple): the “culture” of a group that determines behavior 

• Contemporary (complex): cultural “tool kit” people use to determine behavior 

Jay MacLeod

§ Know the differences and similarities between The Brothers and The Hallway Hangers

The Brothers (Primarily black)

• Law‑abiding, school‑oriented, respectful of authority

Response to achievement ideology

• Accepted it, Believed education and effort would lead to success, Had aspirations for middle‑class jobs and respectability, Took personal responsibility very seriously

Outcomes

• Graduated high school; some attended college

• Still struggled to find stable, well‑paying work

• Faced racism, loss of manufacturing jobs, and lack of job networks

• When they failed to “make it,” they mostly blamed themselves

Key point

They “did everything right,” yet structural barriers prevented upward mobility.

---

The Hallway Hangers (Primarily white)

• Involved in crime, drugs, fighting, and the underground economy

Response to achievement ideology

• Rejected it

• Believed the system was rigged and school was pointless

• Refused to compete in a system they felt they were destined to lose

• Created an oppositional subculture where “being bad was good”

Outcomes

• High rates of incarceration, addiction, and instability

• Some later regretted rejecting school

• Still had access to white ethnic networks (construction, city jobs) that the Brothers lacked

Key point

Their behavior was destructive, but it was also a rational response to limited opportunities.

---

Similarities Between The Brothers and The Hallway Hangers

• Both were working class in low income neighborhood but had different aspirations 

• Both grew up in poverty

• Both had conventional dreams (family, stability, respect)

• Both faced structural inequality and limited job prospects

• Neither group achieved the success promised by achievement ideology

Jay MacLeod

§ Know what achievement ideology is and how The Brothers and Hallway Hangers responded to it

Achievement ideology :: belief in equal opportunity in America based on merit

MacLeod argues this ideology hides structural inequality (class, race, job market changes) and causes people either to blame themselves or to withdraw in destructive ways.

Overall Clarendon Heights youths’ aspirations were depressed

• However, the Brothers swallowed the ideology

1) Equal opportunity is real; 2) Schooling yields economic success; and 3) They value, accept, and comply with schools

• In contrast, the Hallway Hangers rejected the ideology

1) Upward mobility is limited; 2) Schooling does not yield upward mobility; 3) They dismiss, resist, and rebel against schools

Race (definition)

•  a social construction shaped by social, economic, political, and cultural forces 

  • Sernau’s definition: “Race is a social boundary between groups, based on presumed physical differences, that often confers privileges on one group”

  • Desmond & Emirbayer’s: race is “a symbolic category, based on phenotype or ancestry and constructed according to specific social and historical contexts, that is misrecognized as a natural category” 

Know what it means for race to be a social construction

-Race is a social construction shaped by social, economic, political, and cultural forces.

Ethnicity (definition)

• a shared lifestyle informed by cultural, historical, religious, and/or national affiliations 

Nationality (definition)

• governmental citizenship 

Know the five fallacies about racism (Desmond & Emirbayer) - § Note: be able to identify fallacy in examples (including the ones in lecture slides)

(1) individualistic

• The claim that racism is limited to beliefs and attitudes of individuals 

  • ie) limited to stereotypes about different racial groups 

(2) legalistic

• Conflates de jure legal racial progress with de facto racial progress 

  • De jure: according to law 

  • De facto: according to fact 

• ie) no more legalized segregation 

(3) tokenistic

• People of color in influential positions means racial equality 

• ie)obama

(4) ahistorical

• Racial history is inconsequential to present 

  • ie) example from religion: protestant reformation 

(5) fixed

• Racism is fixed across space and time 

• ie) racism is the same in the North vs the South and has increased/decreased over time 

Racism (definition) (Desmond and Emirbayer) 

Other terms to describe racism: domination and power (and various types: symbolic, political, social, economic)

The two manifestations of racism: (1) interpersonal; (2) institutional

• Domination = power 

  • symbolic : classification of groups as “normal” and “abnormal”

  • Political: grants/withholds governmental rights 

  • Social: grants/denies’ societal membership 

  • Economic: grants/denies economic privileges 

• The two manifestations of racism: 

  • (1) interpersonal: racial domination in everyday micro-level interactions 

  • (2) institutional: racial domination built into the policies and practices of institutions 

• Sex (definition)

• Biological characteristics of males and females (ie. reproductive organs, chromosomes, and hormones)

• Gender (definition)

• Social characteristics of men and women that we associate with the sex categories 

Know what it means for gender to be a social construction (i.e., know each of the bullet points under the “gender as a social construction” slides)

• We “do” or perform gender through our actions and behaviors

• Our gender performance has social consequences, and our actions have gendered meanings attached to them

• Gender norms: social definitions of behavior that are assigned to particular sex categories that change over time, place, and context

• Gender is constantly created and recreated out of human interactions 

• We learn about gender through socialization
  

Masculinity and Femininity - Kimmel and Bridges 2011 (know the definition and its characteristics (i.e., the bullet points underneath the definition)

• Behaviors, roles, and relations of men and women in society and their associated meanings 

  • While male/female emphasize biological sex, Masculinity/femininity emphasize gender 

  • masculinity /femininity are social constructions 

  • masculinity/femininity scholars often use plural term (masculinities/femininities) to recognize the diverse forms of masculinity/femininity 

  • masculinities/femininities are perpetrated in daily interactions and within social institutions (ie. family, education, workplace, etc. )

CJ Pascoe

• Examines how youth “understand, enact, and resist contemporary definitions of masculinity)

• 1.5 yr ethnography of river high (working-class high school) 

• Homophobic bullying (definition): deployed aggressive behavior based on same sex desire and practices 

  • F slur: form of homophobic bullying (ie. jokes, taunts, imitations, and threats) 

• How homophobic bullying is about gender

  • Type of gender socialization 

  • Deployed on those who identify as heterosexual too 

  • Micro-interaction contributes to gender inequality 

Elizabeth Armstrong, Laura T. Hamilton, Elizabeth M. Armstrong, and J. Lotus Seeley (S slur ppl)

• Examine how undergraduate women use the S slur 

• Observed and interviewed 53 college women at a large Midwestern uni over time 

  • Same dorm

  • 44 heterosexual 

  • 23 high status, 21 low status (correlated with social class)

• “S slur” shaming (definition): slandering women for presumed sexual activity 

• S shaming is often viewed as internalized oppression 

  • Women use the sexual double standard established by men 

    • Sexual double standard: women’s pursuit of sexual activity should depend on relationship status or “love” while men should pursue sex regardless 

Findings about “S slur” shaming

• Both high and low status women use S discourse 

• But status difference is why it was used 

  • High status: to assert class advantage 

  • Low status: to express class resentment of high-status, affluent women for their exclusivity 

• S slur created status differences in sexual privilege: ability to engage in sexual experimentation 

  • High staus had more sexual privilege than low status women

o Gender revolution (definition)

Definition: the movement/progress towards gender equality

The four indicators used to describe gender revolution and its stall

1. Education attainment – Women have surpassed men in earning bachelor’s degrees and are close to parity in doctoral degrees (major progress).

2. Sex segregation of college majors – Men and women’s fields of study became more integrated from the 1970s to mid‑1980s, then stalled with little change since.

3. Employment rates – Women’s employment rose sharply from the 1960s–1980s but plateaued around 1990, at about 70%.

4. Pay gap – Women’s earnings rose rapidly relative to men’s from 1980–1990, but progress slowed significantly afterward.

Bottom line: Major gains early on, followed by stalled progress across multiple indicators of gender equality.

o Explanations of gender inequality (demand and supply side)

§ Know what both explanations focus on and the main example given for both explanations

(know how men and women differ in both examples)

§ Know what explanation each of the following studies (Quadlin, Hochschild, Percheski, etc.) falls under

§ Be able to identify examples of explicit and implicit gender bias and interpersonal and

institutional levels of gender inequality

Explanations of Gender Inequality

Demand‑Side Explanations

Focus: Employers and workplaces

• Hiring, promotion, pay, evaluation, and firing practices

• Unequal outcomes caused by employer behavior, not worker ability

Main example

• Employers discriminate based on gender

• Men and women with equal qualifications are treated differently

Key ideas

• Explicit bias: conscious discrimination

• Implicit bias: unconscious stereotypes

• Operates at:

  • Interpersonal level (individual hiring managers)

  • Institutional level (organizational norms, evaluation criteria)

Supply‑Side Explanations

Focus: Workers’ choices and constraints

• Education, major choice, labor force participation

• Family responsibilities and time availability

Main example

• Women more likely to reduce work hours or exit workforce due to caregiving

• Men more likely to work longer hours and accumulate experience

Key contrast

• Attributes inequality to differences in behavior or constraints, not discrimination

Gender Discrimination in Hiring (Experimental Evidence)

“Double Standard”

• Men: judged on competence and potential

• Women: judged on likeability, warmth, and fit

• High achievement helps men but can hurt women

Yale University Hiring Experiment

• Identical applications with male vs. female names

• Evaluated by faculty

• Main finding: Male applicants rated as more competent and hirable and offered higher pay

Natasha Quadlin Study (Demand‑Side Explanation)

What Quadlin studied

• Gendered returns to academic achievement in hiring

Method

• Study 1: Audit study

  • 2,106 fake job applications

  • Manipulated GPA, gender, and major

• Study 2: Survey experiment

  • 261 hiring decision‑makers evaluated applicants

Findings

• GPA matters little for men

  • Men with low and high GPAs get similar callbacks

• GPA matters a lot for women

  • Moderate‑achieving women get more callbacks than high‑achieving women

• High‑achieving men are favored over high‑achieving women (2:1)

• High‑achieving women in math are heavily penalized

  • Male math majors get callbacks 3× higher

Explanation type

• Demand‑side

• Employers apply gendered stereotypes in evaluating merit

Hochschild (Supply‑Side with Structural Context)

Key focus

• “Second Shift” and unequal division of household labor

Men vs. women

• Women do more unpaid domestic labor even when employed

• Limits women’s time, energy, and career advancement

Explanation type

• Mainly supply‑side, shaped by gender norms

Percheski (Supply‑Side)

Key focus

• Family structure, breadwinning, and employment patterns

Men vs. women

• Women’s employment shaped by marriage, children, and caregiving

• Men’s employment less affected by family responsibilities

Explanation type

• Supply‑side

Explicit vs. Implicit Gender Bias

Explicit Bias

• Open discrimination (e.g., “women aren’t committed enough”)

• Less common today, but still exists

Implicit Bias

• Subtle, unconscious stereotypes

• Example:

  • High‑achieving women seen as “arrogant” or “not warm”

  • Low‑achieving men given excuses (“average guy,” “has potential”)

Interpersonal vs. Institutional Inequality

Interpersonal

• Individual evaluations and comments by hiring managers

• Seen clearly in Quadlin’s hiring feedback examples

Institutional

• Organizational norms:

  • Valuing likability in women, competence in men

  • Job structures assuming a worker has no caregiving duties

 Intersectionality (what does it illuminate and how does it improve our understanding of human

experience)

• What it illuminates

  • Intersectionality shows how multiple systems of inequality (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) overlap and interact, rather than operating separately.

  • It reveals forms of disadvantage that are invisible when identities are examined one at a time.

  • Example: Black women can face discrimination that is not fully captured by looking at racism or sexism alone.

• How it improves our understanding of human experience

  • Moves beyond “one‑size‑fits‑all” explanations of inequality.

  • Explains why people with intersecting identities can experience unique and compounded harms.

  • Helps institutions (like courts, workplaces, and policy makers) see gaps in protection and address inequality more accurately.

  • Gives a name and framework to problems that would otherwise remain unseen—and therefore unsolved.

Bottom line: Intersectionality helps us understand that inequality is multidimensional, and that people’s lived experiences are shaped by the intersection of multiple social identities, not just one.

Know that experimental method/audit study is a good method for testing for discrimination

(because it eliminates possibility of other competing factors)

Explanations of Gender (In)equality

Demand side

• Focus on what employers do

• Hiring, promotion, pay, and firing

practices

• Example: Employers discriminate

based on gender

• Workforce (dis)advantages based on

gender, not merit

• Explicit and implicit biases

• Interpersonal and institutional level

Supply side

• Focus on what workers do

• Decisions about educational training,

employment, or stay at home.

• Example: There are gender disparities

in labor force participation

• Women are opting out of the labor force

• Push factor: employer discrimination

• Pull factor: household labor

• Decision based on gender stereotypes:

men (breadwinner), women (nurturer)

o Natasha Quadlin

§ Know what Quadlin argued

§ Know what an audit study is

§ Know the findings of Quadlin’s study (Study 1)

• Be sure to know how to interpret the charts

§ Know the findings of Quadlin’s study (Study 2) (but do not need to remember quotes)

What Quadlin argued

• Quadlin argued that academic achievement is rewarded unequally by gender: high grades increase hiring chances for men but can penalize women due to gender stereotypes.

What an audit study is

• An audit study experimentally tests discrimination by sending otherwise identical job applications that vary only by key traits (e.g., gender, GPA) and comparing employer responses.

Findings: Study 1 (Audit Study)

• GPA matters little for men: men with low and high GPAs received similar callback rates.

• GPA matters a lot for women: moderate‑achieving women got more callbacks than high‑achieving women.

• High‑achieving men were favored over high‑achieving women (about 2:1 callback ratio).

• High‑achieving women in male‑typed majors (e.g., math) were especially penalized (male counterparts received callbacks up to 3× higher).

• Interpreting the charts: look for lines/bars showing GPA increases boosting callbacks for men but flattening or declining for women, especially in male‑dominant majors.

Findings: Study 2 (Survey Experiment)

• Employers apply gendered evaluation standards:

  • Men are valued for competence and commitment.

  • Women are evaluated more on likeability and social fit, leading to skepticism toward highly accomplished women

o Arlie Hochschild

§ Second shift (definition)

§ Know the findings of Hochschild study (the bullet points underneath findings)

Second Shift (definition)

• The second shift refers to the unpaid housework and caregiving (cleaning, cooking, childcare) that women disproportionately perform after completing paid work.

Findings from Hochschild’s study (The Second Shift)

• Employed women do significantly more household labor than employed men.

• Men’s participation in domestic work increased only slightly, even as women entered the workforce in large numbers.

• This unequal division leads to stress, exhaustion, and slower career advancement for women.

• Gender inequality persists inside the household, reinforcing inequality in the workplace.

o Global inequality (definition)

The unequal distribution of resources across the globe.

o Indicators of Global Inequality

§ Economic (and other) indicators of global inequality across nations, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI), Human Development Index (what three measures make up HDI?)

Economic indicators of inequality across nations:

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): total goods & services in country ÷ population

• Gross National Income (GNI): money earned in country overall

• Per capita = per person

Economic indicators of inequality within nations

• Absolute poverty: measures lack of life’s basic necessities

• How many people living below poverty line

• Quality of life measures

• E.g., education (years of school), health (life expectancy)

• Governmental indicators

• E.g., Country ruled/organized, Free/fair elections, Free Press, Military power

• Income share

Income share refers to the percentage of total income earned by a specific group (e.g., women, men, the top 10%, or the bottom 50%) within a population, and it is used to measure economic inequality and how income is distributed across groups.

 Absolute poverty

• Absolute poverty: A condition in which individuals cannot meet basic needs such as food, clean water, shelter, clothing, and basic healthcare.

Extreme poverty

The most severe form of absolute poverty, typically defined as living on less than about $2.15 per day (World Bank standard), where survival itself is at risk.

§ Quality of life measure examples

§ Governmental indicator examples

Quality of Life Measure examples

• Life expectancy

• Infant mortality rate

• Education levels (literacy rate, years of schooling)

• Access to healthcare

• Housing quality

• Income and employment security

• Access to clean water and sanitation

Governmental indicator examples

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita

• Poverty rate

• Unemployment rate

• Median household income

• Life expectancy at birth

• Educational attainment statistics

• Official poverty thresholds and income distribution measures (e.g., income share)

Modernization Theory

Modern Countries

• Capitalist Economy

• Democratic Political System

• Judeo-Christian Religion

• Western Consumer Oriented Lifestyle

Traditional Countries

• Socialist, barter, or other economy

• Non-democratic system, monarchy, military rule

• Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc.

• Lifestyle not based on consumption, but subsistence

Inkeles and Smith (1974) wrote Becoming Modern

• Characteristics of modern individuals:

• Punctual, willingness to plan, aspirations for the future, understanding of

technology, rational, individualistic

Assumptions

• Consumption is desirable

• U.S. is the model

Shortcomings

• Ethnocentric: belief in superiority of one group over another

• Too simple: assumes one linear path

World Systems/Dependency Theory

World is a system of interdependent parts:

• Core: advanced, wealthy, powerful countries

• US, Western Europe, Japan, Australia

• Periphery: poor nations with little power

• Poor nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

• Semi-periphery: middle group of countries that serve as a buffer

• Mexico, Brazil, China

Sociologists understand race to be ______.
 

unchanging over time

 

constant across societies

 

socially constructed

 

a biological fact

 

socially constructed

Oscar Lewis’ culture of poverty thesis, based on poor individuals in Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the US argues that poverty exists across generations because of ______.

 

lack of job opportunities

 

poor quality schools

 

immigration policies

 

attitudes and values of the poor

 

attitudes and values of the poor

Native Americans, but not African Americans, experienced internal colonialism in the United States.

 

True

 

False

False

Which is NOT a feature of internal colonialism, according to the Sernau textbook? (Please select the answer that is FALSE)

 

The exploitation of the labor of the colonized

 

The ideology that the colonial group is “less than”

 

The allowance of a colonial group to self-govern

 

The incorporation of immigrants into the national society against their will

 

The allowance of a colonial group to self-govern

Jewish and Korean immigrants who may experience mobility by owning small retail businesses, such as grocery stores and laundromats, in often poor and ethnic minority communities are examples of ____________. 
 

visible minorities

 

guest workers

 

visible middlemen

 

middleman minorities

middleman minorities

When they first arrived in the United States, Irish immigrants tended to be considered non-White, but over time became categorized as White.
 

True

 

False

True

According to Kanter, how does the “opportunity structure” of organizations benefit men?
 

Men are more likely to build connections and trust with others, as well as manage how they are perceived.

 

Men are more likely to be “tokens” within organizations.

 

Men are more likely to be in positions that lead to promotion and advancement.

 

Men have more discretionary power to get things done.

 

Men are more likely to be in positions that lead to promotion and advancement.

The phenomenon in which women are at greater risk of being poor compared to men because they are more likely to be single parents of dependent children is referred to as ______.

 

the glass ceiling

 

the feminization of poverty

 

the second shift

 

differential socialization

 

the feminization of poverty

Match each statement from Judith Lorber about what gender does with its corresponding term (process, stratification system, social institution).

As a _______, gender creates the social differences that define “woman” and “man.”

 

As a ________ , gender is one of the major ways that human beings organize their lives.

 

As part of a ______, gender ranks men above women of the same race and class.

process, social institution, stratification system

____________ refers to the barrier women in the workforce encounter in reaching top positions in organizations. 

 

The second shift

 

Glass ceiling

 

Differential socialization

 

Feminization of poverty

 

Glass ceiling

Which is NOT a component of William Goode’s theory on a sociology of superordinates? (Please select the answer that is FALSE)

 

Men are not required to be familiar with the women’s world in the way that women are required to be familiar with men’s world.

 

Men tend to see minor losses of power and privilege as major changes.

 

Men are aware of the larger system that affords them their advantages.

 

Men can maintain their innocence in oppressing women because they did not create the system of gender inequality.

 

Men are aware of the larger system that affords them their advantages.

Which is NOT true of men as it relates to the second shift? (Please select the answer that is FALSE)

 

Men do more of the housework.

 

Men spend slightly more time than women in paid jobs.

 

Men spend as much time sleeping as women (according to Exhibit 6.5).

 

Men have more leisure than women.

 

Men do more of the housework.