Module Five — Week Five Notes
Overview and Scheduling Reminders
Week: Module Five, Week Five live session.
Timeframe: One more week after this session; next Friday is the last day of class. This means Module Six will need to be completed rapidly.
Important takeaway: After finishing this week, start next week promptly because there will be no weekend window to complete Module Six work without it being late. Pacing is crucial in the final week.
Instructor note: If questions arise, reach out via email or office hours; grading for Module Four assignments, including individual projects, may still be in progress and should be finalized shortly.
Key Concepts Introduced This Week
New sociological topics this week: Race and ethnicity; global stratification, which examine large-scale societal inequalities.
Context for concepts: Society often uses different definitions for terms like 'race' and 'ethnicity' in everyday life compared to their scientific study within sociology. Sociology aims for an objective, evidence-based understanding.
Diversity discussion: Diversity is a broad and contested concept. While it can be a source of richness (e.g., bringing varied perspectives, fostering innovation, enriching cultural exchange), it also presents significant challenges in interpretation, interaction, and can highlight power imbalances and sources of conflict among groups.
Conformity and socialization: Everyone conforms to some degree due to cultural socialization (the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies). This conformity provides benefits (e.g., social cohesion, shared values, ease of communication) but also creates barriers (e.g., exclusion, marginalization of those who don't conform, suppression of individuality) depending on the context and extent of conformity.
Controversies in sociology: Some sociologists and critics argue that the field overemphasizes differences among groups (e.g., based on race, gender, class) and neglects universal human similarities, potentially leading to social fragmentation. Other sociologists argue that attention to these differences is absolutely necessary to identify and address systemic inequalities, injustice, and power differentials.
Additional context: Globalization (the increasing interconnectedness of the world), increasing social diversity, and organizational changes (e.g., corporate outsourcing and offshoring) intersect profoundly with issues of race, ethnicity, and stratification by shaping migration patterns, global labor markets, and new forms of discrimination.
Diversity, Race, and Ethnicity: Core Ideas
Diversity in everyday life vs sociology:
In everyday life, people may emphasize visible or superficial differences, or use a broad, often uncritical, understanding of diversity.
In sociology, differences are studied scientifically, focusing on underlying social structures, institutional processes, and measurable outcomes related to inequality and power.
Practical importance: Diversity profoundly affects human interactions (e.g., communication styles, cultural norms), socialization processes (e.g., identity formation), and life opportunities both within and across countries, influencing access to education, employment, and political participation.
Sociology's controversy around diversity:
Some critics argue sociology highlights differences at the expense of emphasizing shared human similarities, potentially exacerbating social divisions.
Others argue that specific, analytical attention to differences is vital and necessary to understand, challenge, and ultimately address existing inequality, systemic bias, and historical injustices.
The global scope: Diversity issues are not confined to the United States but are global phenomena, shaped uniquely by varying cultural, historical, political, and institutional contexts in different nations.
Race and Ethnicity: Definitions and Social Construction
Race (sociological definition):
Race involves biological or physical traits (e.g., skin color, hair texture, facial features) that a society deems significant for grouping people and assigning social meaning.
Crucially, there is no biological or genetic difference that objectively justifies racial hierarchies; human biology is fundamentally continuous, and genetic variation within so-called racial groups is often greater than between them.
Racial categories are entirely socially constructed, meaning they are created, maintained, and changed by societies over time, varying significantly by country (e.g., Brazil's multi-racial categories vs. the U.S.'s history of a Black/White binary) and government policy.
Ethnicity:
Ethnicity focuses on cultural aspects: shared traditions, customs, history, language, religion, common ancestry, and a sense of collective identity.
Examples: Celebrating Oktoberfest among Germans; observing Saint Patrick’s Day among Irish communities; ethnic identification in surveys often specifying racial categories like “White, non-Hispanic” to capture a cultural dimension alongside physical traits.
Governmental categorization and ambiguity:
Categories used by governments differ by country and are often criticized for their perceived arbitrariness or for lumping diverse groups together, obscuring significant internal variations.
In the U.S., categories like “Are you White, non-Hispanic?” attempt to standardize responses for data collection but can obscure complex ethnic diversity (e.g., individuals with a rich Hispanic/Latino heritage may also identify, or be identified, with a specific race).
Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) identities, for example, have historically been reclassified in different ways (e.g., Asian, White, or “other”) depending on the framework used, which highlights the arbitrary and changing nature of racial/ethnic classification.
Practical example illustrating race vs ethnicity:
A person might be ethnically German (having German heritage, language, and culture) but racially categorized as Asian if their phenotypic features are interpreted as such by society. Alternatively, they might be racially categorized as Asian American while identifying ethnically as German.
The teacher’s anecdote: A student who visually appeared Asian (e.g., of Korean race) but was ethnically German (born in Germany, spoke German fluently, and identified with German culture, illustrating the distinction between physical traits and cultural identity).
Central takeaway: The fundamental issue is not the act of grouping people itself, but rather how these groups are treated (e.g., through racism, discrimination, prejudice) and the profound negative consequences of such treatment for individuals' life chances, opportunities, and well-being.
Core questions: Therefore, what are the societal implications? If you are German by ethnicity or Asian by race, how does that affect your daily experiences, opportunities, and treatment in society? These questions drive sociological inquiry into inequality.
Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
Stereotypes:
Overgeneralizations or simplified assumptions about the characteristics of an entire group of people (e.g., Texan stereotypes might include: big hair, distinct accent, driving large trucks, association with oil wells, fervent love for football).
Media, popular culture, and informal social interactions can perpetuate stereotypes, often uncritically, leading to their widespread acceptance despite a lack of individual corroboration.
Prejudice:
Feelings, attitudes, or beliefs (often negative) directed toward a group or its members, which may or may not be acted upon. It involves prejudgments without sufficient evidence.
Example: A professional in Child Protective Services (CPS) might develop negative feelings or beliefs toward sex offenders due to their intense exposure to the harm caused by such individuals, representing an attitudinal bias.
Discrimination:
Actions or behaviors that treat individuals or groups differently, or deny them opportunities, based on their membership in a particular group, rather than their individual merit.
It is crucial to distinguish between prejudice (an internal attitude or belief) and discrimination (an observable external action).
Racism (macro and micro dimensions):
At the individual (micro) level: The belief that one race is inherently superior to another, often leading to individual biases.
At the institutional (macro) level: When policies, practices, or societal structures systematically disadvantage a racial group, often unintentionally or without direct malicious intent by specific individuals (e.g., historical redlining, disparities in the criminal justice system, or differences in life expectancy that might shape eligibility for social benefits).
Example of institutional racism (conceptual):
If the average life expectancy for African Americans is around LE{AA} = 62 years and the Social Security eligibility age is set at A{SS} = 68 (or 70), this creates a systematic mismatch. A significant portion of the African American population might not live long enough to collect full Social Security benefits, or they may receive them for a much shorter period than other racial groups with higher life expectancies. This represents a structural disadvantage.
Intersections with other domains:
Race and ethnicity do not operate in isolation but intersect with other social categories such as sex/gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, and socioeconomic status. These intersections create unique and complex forms of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination (e.g., an elderly Black woman might face triple discrimination based on her race, gender, and age).
Practical note on measurement and categorization:
Stereotypes influence expectations about how members of certain groups will behave or what traits they possess.
Prejudices influence personal attitudes and emotional responses toward groups.
Discrimination translates these attitudes into unequal treatment, affecting real-world outcomes and opportunities.
Global Stratification: Four Perspectives
What global stratification means:
Inequality is a pervasive feature of the global system, but the distribution of wealth, resources, power, and prestige varies significantly among and within countries. Global stratification examines these patterns and hierarchies.
Four major theoretical perspectives help analyze global stratification, each offering a distinct lens without assuming a single, universally accepted explanation.
Modernization Theory:
Claims that all societies pass through a series of predictable stages of development, moving from traditional to modern, ultimately leading to greater economic power and societal complexity.
As societies modernize (e.g., industrialize, adopt Western democratic institutions, embrace market economies), they are expected to become more economically stable, politically democratic, and globally powerful.
Emphasizes internal factors within a country (e.g., cultural values, technological adoption, stable governance) as keys to development and progress toward a Western-style capitalist modernity.
Dependency Theory:
Emphasizes the historical and ongoing relationships of dependency and exploitation that exist between core and peripheral countries. It argues that the prosperity of wealthy nations often comes at the expense of poorer nations.
Core countries (e.g., developed, industrialized nations) exploit peripheral or semi-peripheral countries (e.g., less developed nations rich in natural resources or cheap labor) for their raw materials, cheap labor, and markets—producing profits for the core at others' expense.
Example context: Lithium extraction in poorer countries is often used to fuel wealthier economies' technological advancements (e.g., electric vehicles, electronics), raising concerns about the long-term sustainability and equitable development of those resource-rich peripheral nations.
Contemporary relevance: Outsourcing and offshoring of manufacturing and services from core to peripheral nations reflect this dynamic of peripheral exploitation in global production chains, where labor and environmental costs are minimized.
World-Systems Theory:
Proposes a global economic system composed of a hierarchy of nations: core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral nations.
Core nations: They dominate global trade, control high-skill and high-value economic segments (e.g., finance, advanced technology, R&D), and accumulate the greatest share of planetary wealth.
Periphery nations: They provide raw materials, cheap labor, and agricultural products to the core, often experiencing exploitative labor practices, limited economic diversification, and political instability.
Semi-periphery nations: They occupy an intermediate position, having some characteristics of both core and periphery; they might exploit peripheral nations while being exploited by core nations (e.g., emerging industrial economies).
Core nations wield significant economic and political power, enabling them to largely determine which countries succeed or remain subordinate within the global system.
Global Capitalism (Globalization of Capital):
Views capitalism not just as a national economic system but as a pervasive global process that actively shapes inter-country relations, trade, and economic development.
Questions how the relentless flow of capital, intense global competition, and the expansion of free markets affect national development trajectories, diminish state sovereignty, exacerbate global inequality, and create new forms of class divisions worldwide.
Practical takeaway:
Outsourcing is a concrete and visible mechanism within global stratification: it involves intentionally moving work or business processes to lower-cost regions (often peripheral or semi-peripheral countries) to maximize corporate profits. This has tangible effects on jobs and wages in both the 'home' (outsourcing) and 'host' (outsourced to) countries, shifting economic power and labor dynamics.
Discussion prompt linked to outsourcing:
Outsourcing concerns include significant job loss in the U.S. and other developed countries, leading to debates over its perceived benefits (e.g., lower production costs, lower prices for consumers, increased corporate competitiveness) versus its social costs (e.g., lost domestic jobs, downward pressure on wages, economic insecurity).
Anecdote: The example of Exxon’s accounting department being outsourced to Venezuela illustrates how even white-collar jobs can be relocated globally; broader trends often highlighted in business shows like 'Shark Tank' emphasize the global nature of manufacturing and service provision.
Outsourcing and Global Labor Dynamics
What outsourcing is:
Outsourcing is a corporate strategy involving the relocation of work, entire departments, or complete business processes from one country to another (or even within the same country to a third-party provider) primarily to reduce operational costs due to lower wages, less stringent labor laws, or more favorable tax regulations.
It is often framed as a means to maximize profits and achieve greater corporate efficiency; it can involve initial training of local workers in the home country who then return to operate offshore teams, transferring knowledge and processes.
Pros and cons:
Pros for firms: Significantly lower labor costs, enhanced operational efficiency, access to specialized global talent, and potential for greater global market share and specialization.
Cons for workers: Leads directly to job losses in domestic markets, creates downward pressure on wages for remaining domestic workers, and can reshape entire career trajectories by eliminating certain job categories.
Broader societal impacts: Increased unemployment in high-cost regions, fundamental restructuring of industrial and service sectors, and potential for uneven developmental impacts in host countries (e.g., creating jobs but also entrenching low wages or poor working conditions in developing nations).
Real-world examples mentioned:
Exxon’s decision to outsource its accounting department to Venezuela directly impacted workers in the U.S. and highlighted the broader implications for global corporate strategy and employment.
Philosophical and policy debates:
Debates often revolve around balancing the economic principles of efficiency and price reductions for consumers against the significant social costs such as widespread unemployment and exacerbation of regional economic inequality.
This leads to policy discussions about tariffs, international trade agreements, and national debates regarding the benefits of offshoring versus the imperative to support domestic production and employment.
Connection to globalization theories:
Outsourcing fits compellingly within dependency theory and world-systems perspectives as a primary mechanism by which core countries (and their corporations) sustain and grow their wealth and power, often at the expense of peripheral or semi-peripheral regions that bear the costs of cheap labor and resource extraction.
Writing Assignment: Article on Inequality and Sociological Concepts
Task framework:
Locate a peer-reviewed sociological article (specifically, not popular press, general news, or psychology studies) that focuses on some aspect of inequality, prejudice, stereotypes, or discrimination.
Use at least three distinct sociological concepts (e.g., the definitions of race, ethnicity, stereotype, prejudice, discrimination, racism) to explain how the chosen article discusses, analyzes, or interprets its topic and findings.
Apply one appropriate sociological theory (options include modernization theory, dependency theory, world-systems theory, or global capitalism; avoid leaning heavily on micro-level symbolic interactionism unless the article's core analysis is clearly rooted in individual interactions and meaning-making).
Demonstrate your understanding in your own words, ensuring that you clearly relate the article's specific findings and arguments to broader sociological theory.
Search tips:
Utilize Rasmussen Library databases (e.g., Academic Search Complete, Sociology Source Ultimate) or Google Scholar; remember to filter your results to 'peer-reviewed journals' or 'scholarly articles'.
Combine targeted keywords (e.g., "inequality AND housing"; "inequality AND homelessness"; "prejudice AND employment"; "discrimination AND healthcare disparities") to narrow your search effectively.
Refine results further by adding a focus related to your academic major or professional interest area (e.g., "prejudice and HR policies", "discrimination in the workplace", "racial inequality in education").
Key questions to answer in your write-up:
What specific type of inequality does the article address (e.g., racial, economic, gender, housing)?
What is the primary research question or central focus of the article's investigation?
What are the main findings, conclusions, or arguments presented by the authors?
How are at least three sociological concepts (from the list: stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, racism, social construction of race, ethnicity) used or illustrated in the article's discussion and analysis?
Which of the major sociological theories (modernization, dependency, world-systems, or global capitalism) best explains the article’s findings, and why do you believe this theory is the most fitting?
Important notes:
Do not use psychological sources, general news articles, or non-scholarly websites; ensure the source is genuinely sociological in its framing and peer-reviewed in status.
The more precise and specific your search terms (e.g., “inequality and housing in urban areas” or “discrimination in hiring practices for minority groups”), the easier it will be to find a relevant and suitable article for your assignment.
Live Session Question: Internet and Inequality
Prompt:
How does the Internet help perpetuate inequality? How does it help limit or reduce inequality?
Requirements:
Provide at least two well-developed sentences for each side of the argument (perpetuate and limit/reduce), explaining the underlying mechanisms and offering concrete examples for each point.
Potential points to consider:
Access disparities (digital divide): This is a major way the internet perpetuates inequality. It refers to the gap in terms of access to and effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) between different groups. This includes disparities in: availabilty and affordability of high-speed Internet infrastructure (rural vs. urban, wealthy vs. poor regions); differences in access to necessary devices (smartphones, laptops) and reliable connectivity; and variations in digital literacy skills needed to navigate and utilize online resources effectively.
Information access: Conversely, the internet can limit inequality by providing potential for free or low-cost access to vast amounts of information, online educational resources (MOOCs, tutorials), and global communication platforms. This can lower some barriers to knowledge and skill acquisition for individuals who might otherwise lack access.
Social capital and networking effects: Online platforms can both amplify discrimination (e.g., through online harassment, cyberbullying, algorithmic bias in hiring or loan applications, spread of misinformation leading to prejudice) and enable marginalized groups to organize, mobilize for social justice, build communities, and gain visibility (e.g., #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo movements).
Globalization and opportunity: The Internet can connect workers and markets globally, potentially creating new economic opportunities for individuals in developing regions through remote work or e-commerce. However, it may also concentrate opportunities in certain core regions or for those with specific digital skills, while platform economies can lead to worker exploitation or localization effects where traditional jobs are eroded.
Quiz and Next Steps
Quick reminder: Do not forget the upcoming quiz for this module; carefully review the four global stratification perspectives and the core race/ethnicity concepts (definitions of race, ethnicity, stereotype, prejudice, discrimination, racism).
Next steps:
After completing Module Five's assignments, begin Module Six promptly as it is the final week, and there will be no weekend to finish all work without incurring late penalties.
If you have any lingering questions or need clarification on course material or assignments, contact the instructor immediately via email or during office hours; grading for Module Four is ongoing and will be concluded before Module Five's final submissions.
Connections to Previous Lectures and Foundational Principles
Prior modules covered:
The current module on race, ethnicity, and global stratification builds integratively on fundamental concepts from prior modules, including crime and deviance (how racial/ethnic groups are policed or criminalized differently); gender stratification (how race intersects with gender to create unique experiences of inequality); culture (how cultural norms shape racial/ethnic identities and interactions); and socialization (how individuals learn racial biases or anti-biases).
The current module integrates race/ethnicity and global processes into the broader framework of social stratification and inequality, showing how these systems interact.
Foundational principles highlighted:
Socialization shapes expectations and behavior: individuals are socialized into understanding and responding to racial and ethnic categories, which in turn affects their social interactions and access to opportunity.
Conformity to cultural norms affects social interactions and opportunity: Pressure to conform to dominant racial or ethnic norms can create barriers for minority groups.
Stratification structures access to resources and life chances: Race/ethnicity, gender, social class, and age interact to produce complex and often unequal outcomes in areas like health, wealth, education, and justice.
The difference between macro (institutions, systems) and micro (individual attitudes, interactions) processes is central to understanding these topics: Macro-level structures like institutional racism combine with micro-level prejudices and stereotypes to produce societal inequality.
Key Terms and Concepts to Know (Glossary Style)
Race: A socially constructed categorization based on perceived biological or physical traits that a society deems significant for grouping people; its meaning and categories vary by cultural and historical context; not grounded in objective biological differences but in social definitions.
Ethnicity: Refers to shared cultural characteristics including traditions, language, religion, common ancestry, and a shared history, which contribute to a sense of collective identity.
Stereotype: An overgeneralized, often simplified, belief or assumption about the characteristics of an entire group of people, often without regard for individual variation.
Prejudice: A preconceived negative attitude, feeling, or belief about a group or its members, typically formed without sufficient personal experience or factual evidence, and which may or may not lead to action.
Discrimination: Actions or behaviors that result in the unequal treatment of individuals (or denial of opportunities) based on their membership in a particular group, rather than their individual merits or abilities.
Racism: A belief in the inherent superiority of one race over others, often used to justify systemic practices or policies that disadvantage or oppress a racial group, operating at both individual and institutional levels.
Life expectancy: The average number of years a person can expect to live, given current mortality rates and other demographic factors; often varies significantly across different social groups.
Social Security eligibility age: The age at which an individual becomes legally eligible to receive social security or retirement benefits; this age varies by country and can change based on policy revisions (in the example context, referenced ages were 68 or 70).
Global stratification: The hierarchical patterns of inequality that exist among countries worldwide, encompassing disparities in wealth, power, resources, and prestige.
Modernization theory: A sociological perspective that posits all societies progress through distinct stages of development, ultimately moving towards a 'modern' economic and social state, typically resembling Western industrial nations.
Dependency theory: A critical perspective that emphasizes the historical and ongoing interdependent and exploitative relationships between economically dominant 'core' nations and less developed 'peripheral' nations, where the prosperity of the former often relies on the exploitation of the latter.
World-systems theory: A comprehensive framework that divides the global economic system into core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral nations, illustrating how core nations exert dominance over others through trade, resource extraction, and political influence.
Global capitalism: An analytical approach that views capitalism as a pervasive global process that actively shapes economic, social, and political relations among countries, influencing national development, sovereignty, and the widening gaps of global inequality.
Outsourcing: A business practice where companies formally contract out work, functions, or processes to external providers, often in other countries, typically to reduce costs, increase efficiency, or access specialized skills.
Summary of Practical Implications
Understanding race and ethnicity as social constructs helps explain how categories, though not biologically sound, profoundly influence experiences and opportunities in society, even when biological differences are minimal or non-existent.
Recognizing the precise difference between stereotypes (overgeneralizations), prejudice (attitudes), discrimination (actions), and racism (beliefs and systemic practices) is crucial for clarifying where interventions are most needed—whether targeting individual biases, behavioral inequalities, or broader institutional policies.
Analyzing global stratification with multiple theoretical lenses (modernization, dependency, world-systems, global capitalism) provides a more nuanced and comprehensive view of international inequality, understanding intertwined dependencies, historical exploitation, and the complex politics of development.
Outsourcing serves as a real-world illustration of how global economic processes profoundly impact workers and communities worldwide, fueling debates about economic policy, corporate responsibility, and the ethical implications of profit maximization.
The Internet plays a dual and contradictory role in inequality, simultaneously offering potential for access, education, and opportunity (e.g., reducing information barriers) while also enabling new forms of bias, exclusion, and digital divides (e.g., algorithmic discrimination, unequal access); both the beneficial and detrimental aspects must be carefully considered in policy discussions and personal analysis.