Survey of Sociology

SOC&101/Survey of Sociology

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Week Six

It is only when you step back, stop looking at the wires one by one, microscopically, and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere- Marilyn Frye, "Oppression"

Readings	Sociology: A Global Perspective (continued) Chapter 8: Social Stratification Chapter 9: Race and Ethnicity Chapter 10: Gender Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy Continue
	Review the major ideas of the reading using the "key Concepts" that are boxed and highlighted on the pages of the chapter.
Internet	To learn about social stratification, locate information on income levels in the U.S. (Statistical Abstracts of the United States), How wages and income changed? What can you conclude about inequality in the U.S.A.? Locate information on poverty (Institute for Research on Poverty). How might you explain these findings? Using the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, how have the populations of specific racial/ethnic groups changed between 1980 and 2005? What are the implications of such population changes on equality among racial/ethnic groups? Using a search engine, locate information on gender studies. What type of information does the following site provide?: http://www.feminist.org/other/dv/dvhome.html. Are they addressing personal troubles or public issues? http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/ (Urban Poverty) http://www.crop.org/ (Comparative Research on Poverty) http://weingart.org/institute/ (Homelessness & Poverty) http://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/complabstuds/caroline.htm (Gender Bibliography) http://songweaver.com/gender/index.html (Gender Issues) http://www.magenta.nl/crosspoint/us.html (Crosspoint Anti-Racism) http://www.speakersandartists.org/index.html (Speak Out!)
Practice	1. What is the purpose of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? 2. What characteristics distinguish a caste from a class system of stratification? 3. Name the 6 official racial categories as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. How did the system of racial classification change in 1997? 4. How does the U.S. Census Bureau define Hispanic? Do Hispanics see themselves as Hispanic? Why or why not? 5. What are racist ideologies? Give at least two examples showing how racist ideologies are used to justify one group's domination over another. 6. What is a stereotype? How are the stereotypes perpetuated and reinforced? 7. How do the stigmatized respond to people who treat them as members of a category? 8. How are gender-schematic decisions and gender polarization related? Give an example of how gender-schematic decisions affect educational choices and sexual desire. 9. How did Derek Freeman view Mead's research on Samoan adolescents? In what ways do Mead's findings fit her "purpose?" 10. Explain the following statement: "People of the same sex vary in the extent to which they meet their society's gender expectations."
Content	This week covers the notions of prestige, power, and wealth their relationships to class and caste both locally and globally. We will discuss the concepts of race and ethnicity as well as racial and ethic relations and the spectrum of ethnocentrism to genocide. Finally, we will consider the factors contributing to gender stratification, agents of gender socialization, and the different theoretical perspectives on the issues.

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Week 12

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