SOCIOLOGY 5035 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION Spring, 2000
Professor: Martha E. gimenez
Office: Ketchum 205A
Phone: 492-7080
Office Hours: T 10:30 - 11:45 and by appointment E-Mail Address: Gimenez@csf.colorado.edu
Course Home Page:
http://csf.colorado.edu/gimenez/soc.5035/index.html
Course Description: The aim of the course is to examine the social stratification of advanced
industrial societies. The study of social stratification includes class structure, socioeconomic
status rankings, social mobility, and gender/race/ethnic inequality. We will examine some of the
major theoretical approaches to the study of stratification, including recent contributions to the
study of class, gender, race, and the intersection of class, gender, and race.
Course Requirements:
1. Weekly question and answer
Each week you are to turn in a) a question that you think gets at the hear of the issue(s) in the
lectures or readings for that week, and b) an "answer" to it (i.e., your thesis statement), in a few
sentences (at most, a page or two). Ask a definite question and provide a definite answer to it
typed, double spaced or legibly printed! Put your weekly question-andanswer in my mail box
every Monday.
2. Short Essays
Once a month, you are to turn in an essay on the previous readings (for a total of THREE
ESSAYS) in which you ask a definite question on any theoretical issue you wish to examine and
provide a definite answer to it (in 4 pages or less). Essays should be typed, double spaced or
legibly printed! Turn this assignment to me in class.
Essays are due February 20, March 20 and April 20 3. Final Essay
This essay is due on or before the day of the scheduled final, whichever is more convenient for
you. It should reflect your learning in this course, consisting of a presentation of those elements
in the theoretical analysis of class, or the connections between class, race or gender which you
found most useful from the standpoint of your research interests and general intellectual
concerns. You can choose to write an abstract theoretical paper or a paper where you identify
those theoretical insights, issues, and questions most pertinent for the research problems that
concern you. The essay should be typed, double spaced or legibly printed and should be 20 pages
or less, excluding footnotes and bibliography. Cite works and provide your references in
accordance with the ASR reference format.
4. Class Presentations
Each time we meet, two or three students will be expected to give a brief presentation (a
maximum of ten minutes each) on the main theoretical and/or methodological principles learned
in the assigned readings. Your talk should be designed to provide us NOT with a summary of
what you have read but rather with the key theoretical or methodological contributions or key
policy questions you have been able to identify.
THE SHORT ESSAYS COUNT ABOUT 30 PERCENT OF THE COURSE GRADE; THE
FINAL ESSAY, ABOUT 50 PERCENT. THE 20 PERCENT REMAINDER IS A MIX OF
ASSESSMENT OF YOUR WEEKLY QUESTIONS, AND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO
CLASS DISCUSSIONS THROUGH STRUCTURED AND UNSTRUCTURED
PARTICIPATION.
REQUIRED READINGS
Books
Kim, Jim Yong et al, Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor. Common Courage Press,
2000.
Shapiro, Thomas. M. Great Divides. Readings in Social Inequality in the United States.
Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2001. (TS)
Skeggs, Beverly. Formations of Class & Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997.
(S)
Wood, Ellen Meiksins. The Retreat from Class. A New "True" Socialism. London, UK: Verso,
1986. (MW)
Wright, Erik O. Interrogating Inequality. Essays on Class Analysis, Socialism and Marxism.
London, UK: Verso, 1996. (W)
Articles
Martha E. Gimenez, "The Feminization of Poverty: Myth or Reality?" *
____________"Marxist and Non-Marxist Elements in Engels' Views on the Oppression of
Women." *
____________"Minorities and the World-System: Theoretical and Methodological Implications
of the Internationalization of Minorities." *
____________ "

On Reserve at the library.
Optional
Steven Rose, THE AMERICAN POSTER BOOK.
ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Etienne Balibar, MASSES, CLASSES, IDEAS. Studies on Politics snf Philosophy Before and
After Marx. Routledge, 1994.
Etienne Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein, RACE, NATION, CLASS. Ambiguous Identities.
Verso, 1991.
E. Digby Baltzell, PHILADELPHIA GENTLEMEN. The Making of a National Upper Class.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979.
Loren Baritz, THE GOOD LIFE. The Meaning of Success for the American Middle Class.
Harper & Row, 1990.
Denny Braun, THE RICH GET RICHER. The Rise of Income Inequality in the United States
and the World. Nelson-Hall, 1991.
Peter Calvert, THE CONCEPT OF CLASS. An Historical Introduction. St. Martin's Press, 1982.
Alan Carling, SOCIAL DIVISION. Verso, 1991. Rosemary Crompton and M. Mann, eds.,
GENDER AND STRATIFICATION. Polity Press, 1986.
G. William Domhoff, WHO RULES AMERICA NOW? A View for the 80s. Prentice Hall,
1983.
Barbara Ehrenreich, FEAR OF FALLING. The Inner Life of the Middle Class. Harper Collins,
1989.
Anthony Giddens and David Held, CLASSES, POWER, AND CONFLICT. Classical and
Contemporary Debates. University of California Press, 1982.
Michael Harrington, THE OTHER AMERICA. Poverty in the United States. Penguin Books,
1981.
Patrick Joyce, ed., CLASS. Oxford University Press, 1995.
Andrew Levinson, THE WORKING CLASS MAJORITY. Penguin, 1974.
Ferdinand Lundberg, THE RICH AND THE SUPER-RICH. Bantam,
Jay MacLeod, AIN'T NO MAKIN' IT. Aspirations and Attainment in a Low Income
Neighborhood. Westview Press, 1995.
Georg Lukacs, HISTORY AND CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS. The Merlin Press, Ltd., 1971.
Katherine S. Newman. FALLING FROM GRACE. The Experience of Downward Mobility in
the American Middle Class. Vintage books, 1989.
Katherine S. Newman, DECLINING FORTUNES. The Withering of the American Dream.
Basic Books, 1993.
Michael Omi and H. Wynant, RACIAL FORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1986.
Lars Osberg, ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES. M. E. Sharpe, Inc.,
1984.
Richard Parker, THE MYTH OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. Notes on Affluence and Equality.
Liveright, 1982.
Frank Parkin, CLASS INEQUALITY & POLITICAL ORDER. Social Stratification in Capitalist
and Communist Societies. Praeger, 1972.
Caroline Ramazanoglu, FEMINISM AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OPPRESSION.
Routledge, 1989.
John E. Schwarz, THE FORGOTTEN AMERICANS. Thirty Million Working Poor in the Land
of Opportunity. W. W. Norton, 1993.
Joan Smith et al, eds., RACISM, SEXISM, AND THE WORLD-SYSTEM. Greenwood Press,
1988.
E. P. Thompson, THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH WORKING CLASS. Viking Books, 1963.
Arthur Vidich, THE NEW MIDDLE CLASSES. Life Styles, Status Claims and Political
Orientations. New York University Press, 1995.
Erik O. Wright, ed., THE DEBATE ON CLASSES. Verso, 1989
Journals
AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
NEW LEFT REVIEW
RACE, SEX, & CLASS
RETHINKING MARXISM
SCIENCE & SOCIETY
THEORY AND SOCIETY
Scheduled Readings
I have only scheduled readings for twelve weeks to preserve flexibility, thus allowing us to
spend more time on those readings and issues students consider more important in light of their
current interests.
Week I Introduction - Organization
Opportunity and Inequality in the United States. (TS)
Introduction (W, pp. 19-20)
Inequality (W, pp. 21-31)
Week II Readings for Week 1, plus
Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party
Marx, Classes (TS, pp. 31-38)
Weber, Class, Status, Party (TS, pp. 39-48)
Week III Davis and Moore, Some Principles of Stratification
M. Tumin, Some Principles of Stratification: A
Critical Analysis (TS, pp. 79-95)
Gans, The Uses of Undeservingness (TS, pp. 96-105)
Week IV Wright, A General Framework for the Analysis of Class
(TS, pp. 108-122)
Wright, The Class Analysis of Poverty (W, pp. 32-50)
Martha E. Gimenez, "The Feminization of Poverty: Myth
or Reality?" *
Week V C. Wright Mills, The Structure of Power in American
Society (TS, pp. 139-145)
Olsen, Sociopolitical Pluralism (TS, pp. 145-149)
Domhoff, The American Upper Class (TS, pp. 150-158)
Week VI Wright, The Status of the Political in the Concept of
Class Structure (W, pp. 51-71)
Wright, Class and Politics (W, pp. 88-106)
E. Meiksins Wood, The Retreat From Class
Week VII E. Meiksins Wood, The Retreat From Class
Bonacich, A Theory of Ethnic Antagonism: The Split
Labor Market (TS, pp. 53-66)
Gimenez, "Minorities and the World System." *
Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged (TS, pp. 221-239)
Oliver and Shapiro, A Sociology of Wealth and Racial
Inequality (TS, pp. 240-249)
Oliver and Shapiro, Black Wealth/While Wealth
Gimenez, Muschert and Fothergill, "Wealth, Class
amd Race." *
Week VIII Dalton Conley, Being Black, Living in the Red.
Week IX Lieberson, A Piece of the Pie: Occupational Trends
(TS, pp. 261-271)
Massey and Denton, The Continuing Causes of Segregation
(TS, pp. 272-287)
Portes and Manning, The Immigrant Enclave: Theory and
Empirical Examples (TS, pp. 300-311)
Wallerstein, "The Construction of Peoplehood: Racism,
Nationalism, Ethnicity." *
Rubin, Race and the Rise of Ethnicity (TS, pp. 173-178)
Week X Hartmann, Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Job segregation
by Sex (TS, pp. 49-52)
Gimenez, " Marxism and Feminism."*
Gimenez, "Marxist and Non-Marxist Elements in Engels'
Views on the Oppression of Women." *
B. Skeggs, Formations of Class and Gender
Week XI B. Skeggs, Formations of Class and Gender
Week XII Quadagno, The Politics of Motherhood (TS, pp. 335-345)
Morrison et al, The Ceiling and the Wall: The Double
Barrier to the Top (TS, pp. 346-353)
Gerson, No Man's Land: Introduction (TS, pp. 354-368)
Reskin and Padavic, Women, Men and Work in the Twenty
First Century (TS, pp. 369-279)