General Sociology Reading/Lecture Guide for Unit Two
Social Conformity and Inequality
CHAPTER 5
What is socialization
How "self" develops through environment, interactions and genetic potential (L)
Self concept and the ideal, image, and esteem components (L)
Conscious/subconscious inputs (L)
How to change one’s concept of “self” (L)
Nature vs. nurture
Social isolation studies
Mead's ideas on development of “self”
Cooley's “Looking Glass” and the development of “self”
Goffmans’s Dramaturgical Analysis and “Presentation of “Self” and Performances (Chapter 6)
Agents of socialization
Socialization and the stages of the life course
Rites of passage and the stages of the life course (L)
CHAPTER 6
Status, status set
Master status
Ascribed and achieved status
Status inconsistency
Roles, role set
Role conflict/role strain
Social construction of reality and our concept of “self”
STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL CLASS - CHAPTERS 10, 11
Open ranked class systems
Closed ranked class systems (castes)
Segmented class systems (socialism) (L)
Meritocracy versus ascription
India, S. Africa, United Kingdom, Massai, US as different social class systems
Davis-Moore and Functional theory of stratification
Karl Marx and Social Conflict theory of stratification
Max Weber’s and the concept of Socioeconomic Status vs. Economic Class
Income, occupation, education, power and prestige
Criteria which identify and create classes of inequality in different societies
Social class divisions in the United States and their basis
(Upper class, middle class, working class, lower class)
Distribution of income in the US
Poverty in the US
Who are the poor (race, age and gender)
Theories explaining poverty
Jobs and their changing structure, joblessness, and poverty (Wilson)
Welfare Dilemma and the Role of “welfare” the effects of how government assistance is
awarded in the US
Intersection Theory and the Feminization and colorization of poverty
Effects of family structure and poverty
INEQUALITY DIMENSIONS OF ETHNICITY AND GENDER - CHAPTER 14
Gender and social stratification (Chapter 13)
Intersection theory (Ch. 13)
Gender, occupation and income inequality (Ch. 13)
Patriarchy (Ch. 13)
What is a minority group; are women a minority (Ch. 13)
Minorities
The differences between race, ethnicity, and cultural identity
Intraspecies variation (L)
Discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes
Prejudice and discrimination: The Vicious Cycle
Looking ahead to the 21st century
Affirmative Action