Bruce Rankin
Department of Sociology
Office: Social Sciences 255
Tel: 338-1517
Email: brankin@ku.edu.tr
Class Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 15:30-16:45 CAS B07
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 14:00-15:00 or by appointment
Course Description
Stratification and inequality are basic features of all human societies that condition nearly all social processes and outcomes. Explaining inequality, its causes and consequences, occupies the foreground of sociology and was a central concern of classical sociological thinkers. As such, the study of social stratification is often considered to be at the heart of sociology. This course is designed to introduce students to various topics related to the origin, structure, and dynamics of stratification systems in contemporary societies and in the global system, beginning with an exploration of the major classical and contemporary approaches to understanding social inequality. A key focus will be on the critical aspects of class, gender, and race and their interplay.
Course Requirements
Students are required to attend class, participate in class discussions, complete in-class and take-home writing assignments, and take two exams (a midterm and a final exam). Class attendance is important because lectures will include material not covered in the readings.
Students should come to class having completed the assigned reading for that week and prepared to discuss the material. Sometimes you will be required to write short in-class essays concerning that day’s reading assignment. You are also required to write three short papers based on your responses to the assigned readings (see details below). You will get credit for class participation through attendance and by asking or answering questions or commenting on issues that are raised during class. Another way is to bring to class an article from the newspaper or something you saw on TV or on the internet that relates to the topic of stratification. Students are expected to be on time for class and to turn off their cell phones before they enter the classroom.
More on Response Papers
A response paper is a two-page double-spaced typewritten response to that week’s assigned readings. A good response paper will include: 1) a very brief discussion of the main points or arguments, 2) your critical evaluation of the readings, and 3) at least two relevant questions that you would like to see discussed in class. You are required to submit three response papers during the semester. A list of randomly assigned readings will be provided in the first week.
Response papers are to be turned in by 5pm on the Monday of the week that those readings are discussed.
Grading
Students will be evaluated on their class participation, in-class essays, response papers, and midterm and final exams. No make-up exams will be allowed unless an unambiguous medical report is presented. Note that make-up exams are designed to be more difficult than the

standard exam. The final grade for the course will be calculated based on following distribution:
10% class participation
10% in-class essays
20% response papers
30% midterm exam
30% final exam
NOTE : Please make sure that you are familiar with the University Academic Regulations and the Regulations for Student Disciplinary Matters, particularly those related to academic honesty. Cheating, plagiarism, and collusion are serious offences resulting in an F grade and disciplinary action.
Course Outline and Readings
Week 1 (Sept. 18 & Sept. 20): Course overview and personal reflections
No readings
Week 2 (Sept. 25 & 27): Introduction and History of Stratification
Rossides, Daniel W. 1997. “An Introduction to Stratification Analysis”, pp. 1-20 in Social
Stratification .
Rothman, Robert A. 1993. “Types of Stratification Systems”, pp. 37-52 in Inequality and
Stratification .
Week 3 (Oct. 2 & 4): Forms and Sources of Stratification
Davis, Kingsley and Wilbur E. Moore, “Some Principles of Stratification”; Melvin Tumin,
“The Dysfunctions of Stratification”; Gerhard Lenski, “New Light on Old Issues: The
Relevance of “Really Existing Socialist Societies” for Stratification Theory”, pp. 39-61 in
David Grusky (ed.) (1994) Social Stratification.
Week 4 (Oct. 9): Class/Status Theory I : Marx and Post-Marxists
Marx, Karl, “Alienation and Social Classes”, “Classes in Capitalism and Pre-Capitalism”,
“Ideology and Class”, “Value and Surplus Value”; Ralf Dahrendorf, “Class and Class
Conflict in Industrial Society”; Erik Olin Wright, “Varieties of Marxist Conceptions of
Class Structure”, pp. 65-98 in David Grusky (ed.) (1994) Social Stratification.
No Class--Seker Bayram (Oct. 11)
Week 5 (Oct. 16 & 18): Class/Status Theory II : Weber and Post-Weberians
Weber, Max, “Class, Status, Party”, “Status Groups and Classes”, “Open and Closed
Relationships”, “The Rationalization of Education and Training”; Anthony Giddens, “The

Class Structure of the Advanced Societies”, pp. 113-140 in David Grusky (ed.) (1994)
Social Stratification.
Week 6 (Oct. 23 & Oct. 25): Recent Theories of Inequality
Hurst, Charles E. 1998. “Modern Explanations of Inequality”, pp. 89-112 in
Social
Inequality .
Week 7 (Oct. 30 & Nov. 1):
REVIEW (Oct. 30)
MIDTERM (Nov. 1)
Week 8 (Nov. 6 & 8): Ruling Class/Elite Theory
Mills, C. Wright, “The Power Elite”, pp. 161-170 in David Grusky (ed.) (1994) Social
Stratification.
Brooks, David. 2000. “The Rise of the Educated Elite”, pp. 13-53 in Bobos in Paradise:
The New Upper-Class and How They Got There."
Week 9 (Nov. 13 & 15): Poverty and the Poor
Kotlowitz, Alex. 1991. There Are No Children Here , preface and pp. 3-56.
Ayse Bugra and Caglar Keyder. 2003. “New Poverty and the Changing Welfare Regime of Turkey”. UNDP Report
Week 10 (Nov. 20 & 22) : Social Mobility/Status Attainment
Buchmann, Claudia and Emily Hannum. 2001. “Education and Stratification in
Developing Countries: A Review of Theories and Research”,
Annual Review of Sociology
27: 77-102.
Week 11 (Nov. 27 & 29): Consequences of Stratification
Pierre Bourdieu, “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste”, pp. 404-429 in
David Grusky (ed.) (1994) Social Stratification.
Ayata, Sencer. 2002. “The New Middle Class and the Joys of Suburbia”, pp. 25-42 in
Deniz Kandiyoti and Ayse Saktanber (eds.) Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of
Modern Turkey .

Week 12 (Dec. 4 & 6): Gender
Judith Lorber. 2007. “The Social Construction of Gender”, pp. 276-283 in Grusky and
Szelenyi (eds.) (2007) The Inequality Reader.
Ecevit, F. Yildiz. 1995. “The Status and Changing Forms of Women’s Labour in the
Urban Economy” in Sirin Tekeli (ed.) Women in Modern Turkish Society: A Reader.
Ozyegin, Gul. 2002. “The Doorkeeper, the Maid, and the Tenant: Troubling Encounters in the Turkish Urban Landscape”, pp. 43-72 in Deniz Kandiyoti and Ayse Saktanber (eds.)
Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey .
Week 13 (Dec. 11 & 13): Race and Ethnicity
Feagin, Joe R. and Clairece B. Feagin. 1999. “Adaptation and Conflict: Racial and Ethnic
Relations in Theoretical Perspective”, pp. 30-64 in Race and Ethnic Relations .
Ahmet Icduygu, David Romano, and Ibrahim Sirkeci. 1999. “The Ethnic Question in an
Environment of Insecurity: The Kurds in Turkey”, Ethnic and Racial Studies 22(6): 991-
1010.
Week 14 (Dec. 18): Global Inequalities
Bradshaw, York and Michael Wallace. 1996. “Constructing a Model of Global
Inequalities”, pp. 39-57 in
Global Inequalities .
No Class--Seker Bayram (Dec. 20)
Week 15 (Dec. 25 & 27): Wrap-up & Final Exam Review
REVIEW (Dec. 27)
FINAL EXAM: Week of Jan. 3-15