Sociology Notes
What is Sociology?
Sociological Imagination studies the relationship between individuals and society ( find quote) on exam! History and biography in society
How people are shaped by the society they live in
How different societies interact in the current historical context
Pertaining to the government, society, economy, and the global
How social structures shape individuals and how individuals shape social structures
What do we owe each other? Do we owe each other anything at all?
How perspective shifts change you and the people around you
How our positions in society affect what we believe we are owed/what we owe to each
other
Environmental and cultural factors
Sociology vs. Economics
“Economics is all about how people make choices, sociology is all about how they don't have any choices to make.” - John Duesenberry (American Economist)
What is sociology?
For Weber, sociology is a science concerning itself with the interpretive understanding of social action and thereby with a causal explanation of its course and consequences
For Mills, the sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography (the individual) and the relations between the two in society
Social Structure: Patterned, institutionalized, social arrangements (ie race, class, gender, religion)
How Does Sociology Distinguish itself from Common Sense?
Common sense: tactic knowledge from life experience
Common sense is useful but is based on: non-rigorous rules, routine -> familiarity, limited experience and knowledge, bias in our decisions
How Does Sociology Distinguish Itself from Other Social Sciences?
Diversity of methods
Diversity of theoretical approaches (ties to classical thinkers)
Interest in building sociological theory
Different emphases in related disciplines (anthropology, economics, political science)
Some areas of overlapping interests - ex. Political sociology, comparative historical sociology
Where Did Sociology Come From?
Reaction to the ideas of the Enlightenment drawn from ideas in 17th century philosophy and science which suggested people could control the universe by means of reason and empirical research - physical (and social worlds) dominated by natural laws
Some foundational sociologists (Comte) shared the belief in need to look for natural laws governing social phenomena
Sociology posited that society produced the individual
Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857)
The first to use the term “sociology” - previously known as social physics (1839)
Reacted against anarchy in French society and thinkers behind French Revolution
Created “Law of Three Stages” and scientific view called “positivism” way of thinking that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable valid knowledge on how it works
Observing, counting, to help develop a general understanding of the world (quantitative science). This would affect positive social change and improve the human condition
Stressed systematic character of society; influenced Durkheim and later Parsons
Emile Durkheim (1858-1916)
Bothered by problem of social disorder
Society: set of independent parts that work in harmony together (structural functionalism) specialization in jobs
Work representative of “functionalist” theory and that we should be concerned with social facts
In Rules, argues sociologists task is study of “social facts” as forces and structures external to and coercive of the individual
Suicide tried to link individual causes to social causes (facts)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the context of world events (capitalism = profit)
Did not consider himself a sociologist, but social theory is clearly articulated in his work
Tried to develop a theory to explain the oppression of capitalist system and wanted to use it to overthrow system
Drew attention to the importance of social class
Has influenced sociology and the world even today
Max Webber (1864-1920)
Focused on political, religious, and cultural effects on economy
Concerned with increasing rationalization of society- developed concept of the “iron cage” individuals become trapped in an iron cage because we are subject to systems based on efficiency, rationalization, and control
Can be thought of as complementing or conflicting with Marx’ theories (both talk about how capitalism can lead to negative outcomes but have conflicting views on religion)
Ideal types: Abstract concepts representing “perfect” examples of a phenomenon that help put the seeming chaos of social reality in order
They act as measuring sticks against which we can think about and compare actual cases in the real world
The concept lends itself to and allows for comparative understanding (how empirical cases compare to the abstract realities)
Ideal types of authority:
Traditional (“accepted because “it is how things have always been”)
Charismatic ( extraordinary leaders who can appeal to large audiences with aura ie Ghanda)
Rational-legal (execution depends on a system of bureaucracy with set of rules and laws)
W.E.B Du Bois (1868-1963)
Deeply concerned with racism and involved in movement for equal rights for African Americans
Produced a number of important works
Souls of Black Folk (1935): “The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the Color-line.”
Concept of double-consciousness pointed to the “sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of [prejudiced whites], of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in Amused contempt and pity” (seeing themselves through their own eyes and the eyes of whites)
Once said “Either America will destroy Ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States”
Modern Sociology
Classical thinkers influenced by events - Political Revolutions (France-1789), Industrial Revolution
Symbolic interactionism: Georege Herbert Mead (1863-1931) emphasized the study of language in analyzing the social world
Structural functionalism: Talcott Parsons and Robert Mertorn (1950s and 1960s) - emphasized consensus
Conflict theories (1960s/1970s) check ppt slide
Tenets of Sociology Today
Recognition that laws do NOT govern human behavior
Sociologists must deal with issues related to indicators, measurement, and casualty
Sociologist are part of what they study and bring their assumptions with them and are shaped by the world in which they live
Sociologists make their assumptions about the world explicit as theory and seek to test it against “inconvenient fact”
Sociological Research Methods
Challenge of Doing Research
Figuring out a researchable question and how to look for the answers can be the most difficult part of doing research
Some are too broad: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Some are too narrow: How many chickens crossed Broad Street in Durham, NC, on February 6, 2014?
Some may open relative space for data collection and thoughtful analysis: What are some of the environmental factors that occurred in Durham,NC between January and February 2014 that would cause chickens to cross Broad Street?
Difficulty of doing “value-neutral” research
Is it possible to be objective?
We often think of statistics as value-free - are they?
What about interviews?
If we have expectations about what our research will find, how do we prevent those expectations from coloring our findings?
Ethnography
Qualitative research method that comes out of the discipline of anthropology - in depth study of culture or a facet of culture - involves hands-on, on-the-scene learning
Great for providing detailed information about how a sub-group lives,works, acts, relates
Researcher-subject problems
This research cannot be generalized for all cultures because they behave differently
May witness illegal activities
Interviews
Can help to get at “how” and “why” questions
Importance of who you select and how many people you talk to
Can quantify information - valuable? (cross check information with others to make sure that it is accurate)
Overcoming tricky issues: People telling you what you want to hear, or worse, lying to you or trying to manipulate you
Conversation Analysis
Builds on the tradition of symbolic interactionism
Concerned with language and dynamics of interaction - explains individual in society and interactions with others and through that social order and change
Even though criticized for inattention to large-scale social structures, often powerful for examining conflict in micro-interactions
Comparative Historical Sociology
Use primary and secondary sources, sometimes interviews
Can elucidate patterns in history in a case or across cases
Problem of how we should treat/ think about history, cases
Surveys
Importance of random sample (recent phenomenon - improvements that allowed modern survey to develop only made in 1930s and 1940s)
Importance of well-designed questions
Statistical Analysis
Relatively new, very powerful
Often drives policy
Assess the relationship between two variables
Run experiments to find the way causality flows (or if it flows at all)
But also plagued with assumptions (just like qualitative research)
Methodological Tools
Not an exhaustive list
Approaches can be combined - sometimes helps overcome these problems - “triangulation”
Main point: provides an overview of some of the most often used tools and explains some of the problems researchers have to be very careful in dealing with as they go about their research process
Culture and Conformity
Culture
Embodied in words, ideas, images, music, food, customs, traditions
Much of it flows relatively easily (especially when facilitated by structures like the internet)
Important Terms
Culture: the values, norms, language, revered symbols, and materials goods characteristic of a particular group
Backer: culture explains how people act in concert when they do share understandings
Culture shapes the outlooks of people but continually has to be remade
Makes some behaviors more likely than others!
Values: ideals held by individuals or a particular group about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad
(Ex: monogamy in most western culture, multiple wives and husbands in some other cultures)
(ex individualism in the U.S, conformity in Japan)
Norms: Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations
(Ex: among Americans, direct eye contact when talking, among Navajo people, averting eyes is assign of respect)
Norms can change over time (ex in 1964 42% of people smoked. Today, only 21% do)
Key Characteristics of Culture
Culture is shared
The shared nature of culture makes human society possible
We would not be able to get anything done if we couldn't communicate with one another using symbols
Shared norms, values, and beliefs help maintain social order and create group consensus
Culture is learned
The main goal of socialization is teaching people a society’s or group’s culture
Because humans have very few instinct, humans must learn culture in order to survive
Culture is taken for granted
Because we are immersed in culture and often interact with people on a daily basis, our culture becomes invisible
When we enter another cultural environment or interact with people from different cultures, we often experience culture shock
Culture varies across time and place
Culture develops as humans adapt to their material circumstances; since societies have different material circumstances, different cultural patterns arise
(eg Hinduism’s Sacred Crow)
“Philisocphical” Approaches to Culture
Ethnocentrism: Believing that one’s own culture is better and morally right than other cultures
Cultural Relativism: believing that all cultures are legitimate and that behavior is moral or immoral depending on the cultural context in which it occurs
Views of Culture in Social Science
Conception 1
Primordial identities
Static culture
Fixed laws determine behavior
tradition/modernity
Conception II
Constructed identities
Dynamic, fluid
Culture resources deployed as needed
Cultural hybridity
How sociologists Think ABout It
Max Weber: rationalization as an “iron cage”
The Calvinist doctrine promoted a distinctive frame of mind that promotions rational, ascetic, economic behavior
Until recently, most sociologists took the importance of culture for granted
Believe we are so thoroughly shaped by culture that we can never escape its influence
However , cultural explanations have also been criticized by sociologists as the lazy man’s interpretation - ex. Oscar Lewis’ “culture of poverty” thesis
In economics, culture is often “the residual” (what's leftover, unimportant)
Ann Swidler (1986): culture is a “tool kit” from which people select different understandings of behaviors
Toolkits are made up of various “scripts” or roles that we can choose to draw on, or improvise on, in certain circumstances
The more appropriate it is to certain circumstances the more likely we are to follow it
Why and When Do People Conform?
Culture plays a role in establishing conformity to norms, but particular situations, contexts, and dynamics of power and authority also matter
Sometimes people convince themselves that actions they would otherwise find morally wrong are acceptable, why?
Unequal power relations and being subject to authority can also influence behavior
The power of beliefs and norms can reinforce behavior
Classic example: Asch (subject chooses the same answers as the actors even though they are incorrect because he wants to conform), Milgrim experiments (people obeying authorities “unethical” commands)
Deviance and Social Control
What Is Deviance?
Who do we consider deviant? Criminals? People who do “weird” things? Or things that are not usual?
But think about this: We all break the law sometimes (e.g. speeding)
Some crimes are not seen as deviant by many people (e.g. smoking pot, illegal downloads)
Contextual nature of deviance (i.e. variation across time and space)
Deviance in the context of normalcy (e.g. Ted Bundy)
Disagreement about deviant behaviors (e.g hackers)
Deviance: nonconformity to a given set of norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society for which the violator is likely to be censured or punished
But there is no simply way in any society to identify the border between deviance and non-deviance, often a moving target
Powerful
Social norms are internalized through socialization ( repeated interactions)
All social norms are accompanied by sanctions that promote conformity
Sanction: any reaction from others to the behavior of an individual or group that is meant to ensure that the person or group complies with a given norm
They may be positive or negative
Laws: norms defined by governments as principles that their citizens must follow
Laws are codified, written down, and formally enforced through institutions such as the state (police)
Crime: any type of behavior that breaks a law
Criminalization: the process by which
Perspectives on Deviance form other Disciplines
Biological view
-Cesare Lombroso (Italian criminologist)
In the 1870s he advanced the theory that criminal types could be identified by the shape of the skull
Studies on the 1950s about body types
Muscular, active types are more likely to become delinquent than thin or fleshy people
New Zealand (1996) study linking a child’s propensity to aggression to biological factors present at birth
The biological view has largely been discredited
Psychological View
This view associates criminality with particular types of personality
Psychopaths: withdrawn, emotionless characters who delight in violence for its own sake
But are psychopathic traits inevitably criminal?
Most studies on psychopaths have been done in prison environments with convicted criminals
But what if we looked at the same traits positively?
Adventurous, carefree people who live exciting, impulsive lives would do anything for a good thrill
Some criminals may possess personality characteristics distinct from the remainder of the population
But it is highly unlikely that all criminals share some specific psychological characteristics
A lot of diversity in criminal activities (violent and non-violent crime, individual and collective crime)
Both biological and psychological approaches presume that deviance is a sign of something wrong with the individual
Functionalist Theories
Crime and deviance result from structural tensions and a lack of moral regulation within society
Emile Durkheim
Anomie leads to crime and deviance
Crime and deviance are inevitable in a society
Deviance plays two functions:
Adaptive: by introducing new ideas into society, deviance is an innovative force
Boundary maintenance: criminal events provoke collective responses that heighten group solidarity and clarify social norms
Robert Merton
Focus on the strain put on individuals when accepted norms conflict with social reality
Industrial societies (particularly the US) emphasize material success
Self discipline and hard work are the means to achieve material success
Yet material success is not really possible for everybody, and the most disadvantaged face limited opportunities for advancement
Pressure to try to get ahead by any means legitimate or illegitimate
Conflict (Critical Theories)
Functionalists trace the source of deviance to broader social structures and the strains they produce, or the fact that they do not exercise adequate control over people
Conflict theorists also believe broader social structures are important, but focus on the inequality within those structures and its impact - inequality causes people to act in deviant ways!
More emphasis on the way those in power create rules defining deviance in ways that advantage them and disadvantage others!
Interactionists Theories
Deviance is a socially constructed phenomenon
There is no such thing as inherent deviant conduct
Less interested in trying to explain deviance (like functionalism)
Instead explores the process by which people define some behaviors as normal and some as deviant
What is deviant changes over time!
Ethnomethodologists are concerned with what people do, rather than what people think
So they explore how people “do” deviance - the everyday behaviors people engage in that produce deviance
Labeling theory
Suggests that (at least) two things are needed for deviance to occur - symbols (a label) and interaction
For this theory, a deviant is someone to whom a deviant label has been successfully applied (instead of focusing on what the individual does)
Howard Becker’s (1963) study of marijuana smokers
Becoming a mariquana smoker dependent on one's acceptance into the subculture, close association with experienced users, and one’s attitude towards non-users
Deviance as a process of interaction between deviants and nondeviants
It is not the act of marijuana smoking that makes one deviant, but the way others react to marijuana smoking that makes it deviant
The key question is, then: why are some people tagged with the ‘deviant’ label?
Social Control: the process by which a group enforces conformity to its demands
Social control agents do the labeling
Who has the capacity to do the labeling?
Labels that create categories of deviance express the power of structure society
Wealthy, men, older people, ethnic majorities
Labels stigmatize people, that determines other people’s behavior towards them, and that reinforces defiant behavior
Social Psychology Theory
The power of the situation
Rosenhan (2004)
The hospital imposes a social environment in which meanings of behavior can easily be misunderstood
Inclines physicians towards Type II Error (false positive)
Has consequences on patients, including powerlessness, depersonalization, segregation, mortification, and self-labeling
Crime and Criminology
Crime: violation of the law
Criminology: filed devoted to the study of crime
Includes not just sociologists but economists, psychologists, biologists, anthropologists, and justice officials (interdisciplinary)
Has recently shifted from a focus on criminals and their defects to a concern with the social context of criminal actions and the effect on broader society
Why important?
Almost 2.3 million in jail in 2016
US has highest incarceration rate in the world
77% of prisoners are re-arrested within 5 years
Restorative justice: aims to repair harm caused by crime rather than punish people ( used by low incarceration rate countries such as Norway)
(check ppt)
Pager’s Experiment
Used black pairs and white pairs (all male)
For Whites the criminal record chances were reduced by half but for blacks it was a 3x disadvantage.
White men with a criminal record were more likely to get a call back than black people without a criminal record.
Penalty not just for imprisonment but for race as well
Social Class and Inequality
The appearance of classlessness in America
The idea that anyone can be president with enough smarts and ambition - an idea that dates back to Franklin!
Class inequality is America IS certainly less rigid than the categories of some caste-based societies
What is Social Class?
Social class: a category or group of people who have approximately the same amount of wealth, status, and power in society
Classes are ranked in a hierarchical way
Class helps determine personal opportunities and life experiences
Often used interchangeably with socioeconomic status, which refers to a person’s place in a stratified social order
Cultural capital: the accumulation of knowledge, behaviors, and skills that a person can tap into to demonstrate one's cultural competence and social status
Includes skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, etc that one acquires through being part of a particular social class - things that are highly symbolic!
Creates a sense of collective identify group position
Major source of inequality
Some Properties of Class
Class systems are more fluid than a caste system or slavery
Class is principally derived from our economic position
Class is not irrevocably assigned to us at birth.
Social mobility - the movement from one level to another - is possible, though it can be difficult
Class is large scale construct that is difficult ot see or smell
Class affects everything from the neighborhoods we live in to the lifestyles we follow to the marriage partners we choose
Models of Class
Simplest: upper, middle, lower
US medical sociologists:
- UC: extremely wealthy top corporate execs
- UMC: affluent well educated professionals and high-level managers
- LMC: office and sales workers, small business owners, teachers, managers
- WC: skilled and semi-skilled, lower level clerical workers
- LC: semi and unskilled, chronically unemployed
- wealth is an objective dimension, status is subjective related to the esteem accorded by other people
SES Socioeconomic Status (also known as social class) know all this for exam!!
Today, Weber's influence is felt through the widespread use of socioeconomic status (SES) in sociological research which refers to income, occupational prestige, and level of education
Income reflects spending power, housing, diet, and medical care
Occupation measures status, responsibility at work, physical activity, and health risks
Education reflects a person's skills for acquiring positive social, psychological and economic resources such as good jobs, nice homes, health insurance, access to quality healthcare, and knowledge about healthy lifestyles (better educated people have the best health, current most determining factor)
Important to Remember!
- Wealth is not income - wealth is not included in SES!
Income: amount a person earns in a given year from a job, business, or asset/investment income
Wealth: total amount of a person’s assets (savings, investments, home, auto) minus the total of his debts (mortgage, car loan, credit cards, etc)
Wealth and income inequality are both growing
Wealth inequality is much bigger however
Social Class in America
The Upper Class:
The people at the top of the socioeconomic food chain - the economic elite
Associated with income, wealth, power, prestige
Ceos, doctors, lawyers, scientists, entertainers, professional athletes
Significant amount of income derived from investment s
Don't have to work but may (eg CEOs)
Politically active
The Middle Class
Middle class is often a catchall for a diverse group of occupations, lifestyles and people who earn stable incomes at primarily white collar jobs (office workers) - jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line
No consensus on what it means
Generally vote
Often own homes
In the US, broad swaths of the population consider themselves middle class
The Upper Middle Class
Generally high income professionals
College educated with advanced degrees
Secure retirement and health insurance
Active civic and political orgs
The Lower Middle Class
Typically include HS teachers, police, firefighters, nurses, sales people, office workers
Rarely politically active besides voting
May rent but some have modest house
Want children to attend college but requires work study or loans
Working Class
Composed of individuals who work manually (using hands or bodies)
Factory workers, mechanics, sales clerks, restaurant and hotel workers, blue collar jobs
Both parents typically work to make ends meet
Family income just covers expenses
Racially and ethically diverse
Likely to rent rather than own
Not politically active - might vote
The Poor
Poverty line for HH of 4: $26,200; for one person: $12,760 (2020)
Work part-time or not at all
Often live in cities and work in semiskilled or unskilled manufacturing
Jobs unlikely to lead to promotion or come with insurance
Less active in politics
Underclass and Working Poor
Underclass: those caught in the highest poverty neighborhoods of the inner city - trapped in poverty that is difficult to escape
Nonworking poor sometimes referred to as underclass
Working poor: those whose earnings are not enough to lift them out of poverty
Sociologists: Interested in the life and experience of the poor
Because poverty has generally remained hidden from most Americans’ view!
Mitch Duneier’s Sidewalk - Why do people sleep on the sidewalk?
The poor are complex - cant make easy assumptions about them
Street vendors defined themselves through their entrepreneurial work, not through their condition of homelessness
Had money to stay in hotel but didnt
Reasons: everything in one place, save money or vending space, used to it, feeling of safety, support drug use
$2,00 a day: a similar kind of study in that it provides a window into the life of the poor
However, about different issues:
On a micro-level explores what it actually takes to survive with virtually no cash in the world’s richest economy
But more broadly, what happens when a government safety net built on the assumption of full-time, stable employment at a living wage combines with a low-wage labor market that fails to deliver promise of a better life and in fact creates many indignities
Aim at the broader context of a welfare reform that pushed millions of low-income single moms into the workforce while doing nothing to improve their conditions
Why is Class Important?
Four Main Reasons:
Because research shows it is sticky, particularly at the bottom ( it can be hard to pull yourself out)
Because inequality is increasing dramatically in our society
Because it has intersections with other important factors that produce inequality (race, gender, education, occupation)
Because the American Dream may not be as accessible as we imagine it to be
Part II - Class Mobility, or Is it Possible to Pull Myself Up by my Bootstraps?
Income inequality has grown especially between the top 1% and the rest of society
The American Dream
Horatio Alger (1832-1899)
The idea that you can “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is a very American one
How much mobility is possible? Is the American dream open to anyone?
Intergenerational Mobility: Myth or Reality?
Hauser and Featherman (1973) compared fathers’ and sons'occupations (farm/blue-collar/white-collar):
25 percent upwardly mobile
10 percent downwardly mobile
About 50 percent in same strata as father
Wysong et al (1998) compared the incomes of 2,749 father-and-son pairs between 1979 and 1998:
Fewer sons had moved up the class ladder in 1998 compared to 197-
Nearly 70% of sons at the same level or worse than fathers in 1998
The biggest increase in mobility was at the top of society, with affluent sons moving upwards more often than their fathers had
Only 10% of the adult men born in the bottom quarter made it to the top quarter
Unequal Childhoods: A Study of Intergenerational Mobility
Concerted Cultivation of the MC: ‘Developing’ a child through organized activities, which lead to a sense of entitlement and an ability to question adults and see relations as equal
Accomplishment of Natural Growth: Working class and poor families allow children more control over leisure time
Argument: These different childrearing approaches lead to THE TRANSMISSION OF DIFFERENTIAL ADVANTAGE (specifically help us to navigate institutional worlds)
PART III Class and Power
Sociologists: Investigating how UC retain control of wealth
C Wright Mills - “The Power Elite” (1956)
Socialization (schools, clubs)
Intermarriage (debutante balls, social registers)
Interlocking directorates (corporate links)
Revolving door between business and government
Sociologists: Examining the role of UC in political process
WIlliam Domhoff - Who Rules?
Reacted to work of political scientists Robert Dahll (1961) - Who Governs?
“Pluralists” like Dahl believed that the political process is worked out among a wide range of interest groups - no one dominant group
Following Mills, Domhoff argued that power is concentrated among a tight-knit corporate community which has similar interests
Argument was founded on facts (ex: top 20% control 85% of the wealth and 93% of the financial wealth)
Sociologists: Interested in how inequality is maintained
Insights from Marx influence sociology even today
The wealthy have the ability to influence important social institutions (government, media, schools and courts) and can create and promote a reality that justifies exploitation
False consciousness: when this version of reality becomes so influential that those who are harem by it accept it
Originally formulated by Marx and Engels
Important bc it is the primary means by which powerful classes in society prevent protest and revolution
Sociologists: Interested in how inequality is maintained:
Mantsios (2003): importance of the media!
Owned by the upper class
Powerfully shapes our perception in ways we are not aware of
Average american watches 28 hrs of TV/week
Lionizes the UC or treats interests of UC as same as those of the MC, even though they are distinct (dividends vs employment)
Ignores the poor or sees as undeserving
Parting Snapshots of Inequality in the U.S
High levels of inequality by historic standards
Increase in inequality since the 1980s
The very rich are the only ones who have benefited from economic growth - and are getting richer!
More inequality in the US than in other advanced nations
Increasing inequality in the last 30 years: an American phenomenon
Is equality feasible or even desirable?
Some economists believe that equality comes at high cost - a high minimum wage = fewer jobs, generous benefits discourage job seeking, high taxes reduce savings and investment
However, comparatively equal countries grew just as fast as the US since the 1970s
Evidence” Don't need to be an unequal society to contribute to affluence (against Kuznets curve theory - 1955)
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have high levels of public employment - sustainable?
What Can We Do?
Remember the words of Joseph Stiglitz: inequality in America didn't just happen - it was created!
Can become a more informed citizen (and voter)
Can organize to demand the situation change
Can push for taxation policies and social programs that directly address deep inequalities
Some new models are coming from the Global South
Conditional Cash Transfers
CCTs: give poor cash incentive to do things that have social benefit, like ensuring kids attend school and immunizations
Race and Inequality
Age and education affect peoples attitudes towards interracial Marriage ( people of older age and less education more inclined to disagree with interracial marriages)
American Sociology has long recognized that racial dynamics shape inequality
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835-1840: legacies of slavery threaten US democracy
WEB DuBois, 1903: ‘The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line’
Gunnar Myrdal, 1944, An American Dilemma: tension between ideology of equality and realities of racial exclusion
Race and Discrimination
Stereotype: generalization about an entire category of people (eg, does not have to involve race but can serve as the basis for prejudice and racism)
Prejudice: negative opinions or attitudes held by members of one group toward another, whether conscious or unconscious (eg, being afraid of black people)
Racism: beliefs or practices that confer negative status and/or disadantages on racial or ethnic group ( a system of domination/stratification)
Discrimination behavior or policy that disadvantages a racial ro ethnic group
Can take place formally or informally (in a job or social settings)
Institutional discrimination routine practice that disadvantages a racial or ethnic group
But what is race?