SOCI 350: SELECTED TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, GENDER AND THE CITY
KOÇ UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
FALL 2009
Instructor: Dikmen Bezmez
Office: Social Sciences 185
Phone: (212) 338 1472
Email: dbezmez@ku.edu.tr
Office Hours: Tuesday 14:00-15:00, Wednesday 14:00-15:00 and by appointment
Class Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 15:30-16:45
Class Location: SOS Z33
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course aims to provide a theoretical and empirical framework for the analysis of
structured social inequality with a special emphasis on gender stratification. The course
comprises five parts: The first part is an introduction to the field. The subsequent three parts
focus on one key dimension of social stratification each, namely; class and status, gender, and
finally, race and ethnicity. Within each part, the topic of social stratification will be discussed
in relation to both theory and empirical case studies. Case studies will focus on the Turkish
context, as well as other national settings. Furthermore each part will relate social
stratification to the urban context. Thus, the way stratification, especially gender stratification,
becomes visible in the city constitutes a key part of this course.
COURSE ORGANIZATION AND REQUIREMENTS
Lectures: Lectures will not only focus and clarify material in the readings but also provide
additional information. Students are expected to do the readings before each class.
Exams: There will be two quizzes, one mid-term and one final. All exams will be in essay
format.
Make-up exams: Students can take make-up exams only if they have documented medical
emergencies. There will be one make-up for each exam.
Required reading: The reader is available at the Xerox photocopy center, as well as E-reserve,
which can be accessed online at the library’s website by searching for “instructor’s reserves” and
using my last name (Bezmez). There are two additional selections on the E-reserve and one book
on the reserve desk in the library.
Grading: The final grade will be computed as follows:
 Quiz 1
10 %
 Quiz 2
10 %
 Mid-term
30 %
 Final
50 %
Announcements in class: Students are responsible for all announcements made in classes even
if they are absent that day.
COURSE SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
PART I: Introduction
Week 1: Introduction
(Sep 29) Introduction
(Oct 1) Rossides, D.W. (1997) “An Introduction to Stratification Analysis”, in Social
Stratification: The Interplay of Class, Race and Gender. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall.
Week 2: Theoretical Approaches to Social Stratification and the City
(Oct 6) Rothman, R.A. (1993) “Theoretical Approaches to Social Stratification”, in Inequality
and Stratification: Race, Class and Gender. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
(Oct 8) Byrne, D. (2005) Social Exclusion. Maidenhead: Open University Press (Divided
Spaces: Social Divisions in the Post-Industrial City, pages: 115-132, the link to this
section is available at e-reserve).
Wacquant, L. (1999) “Urban Marginality in the Coming Millennium”, Urban Studies, 36
(10): 1639-1647.
PART II: Class and Status
Week 3: Class and Status
(Oct 13) Marx, K. (2001) “Alienation and Social Classes”, “Classes in Capitalism and
Precapitalism”, “Ideology and Class”, “Value and Surplus Value”, in D. Gursky (ed.)
Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in Sociological Perspective. Colorado:
Westview Press.
(Oct 15) Weber, M. (2001) “Class, Status, Party”, “Status Groups and Classes”, in D. Gursky
(ed.) Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in Sociological Perspective.
Colorado: Westview Press.
Week 4: Recent Discussions: New Forms of Poverty and Social Exclusion
(Oct 20) Atkinson, R. “Combating Social Exclusion in Europe: The New Urban Policy
Challenge”, Urban Studies, 37 (5-6): 1037-1055.
(Oct 22) Keyder, Ç. and Buğra, A. (2002) New Poverty and the Changing Welfare Regime in
Turkey. Ankara: UNDP (www.undp.org.tr/publicationsDocuments/new_poverty.pdf,
link available at e-reserve).
Week 5 : Social Exclusion and the City I
(Oct 27) Caldeira, T.P.R. (1996) “Building Up Walls: The New Pattern of Spatial Segregation
in Sao Paulo”, International Social Science Journal, 48 (1): 55-66.
Zhang, L. (2002) “Spatiality and Urban Citizenship in Late Socialist China”, Public Culture,
14 (2): 311-334.
(Oct 29) No Class
Week 6: Social Exclusion and the City II
(Nov 3) Keyder, Ç. (2005) “Globalization and Social Exclusion in Istanbul”, International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29 (1): 124-34.
(Nov 5) QUIZ-1
PART III: Gender
Week 7: Gender
(Nov 10) Firestone, S. (2001) “The Dialectic of Sex”, in D. Gursky (ed.) Social Stratification:
Class, Race and Gender in Sociological Perspective. Colorado: Westview Press.
Lorber, J. (2007) “The Social Construction of Gender”, in D. Grusky and S. Szelenyi (eds.),
The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class and
Gender. Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press.
Hartmann, H. (2001) “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More
Progressive Union”, in D. Gursky (ed.) Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in
Sociological Perspective. Colorado: Westview Press.
(Nov 12) Jacobs, J. A. (2001) “Revolving Doors: Sex Segregation and Women’s Careers”, in
D. Gursky (ed.) Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in Sociological
Perspective. Colorado: Westview Press.
Andersen, M. L. (2005) “Thinking about Women: A Quarter Century’s View”, Gender and
Society, 19 (4): 437-455.
Eschle, C. (2005) “ ‘Skeleton Women’: Feminism and the Antiglobalization Movement”,
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society, 30 (3): 1741-1769.
Week 8: Gender and the City I
(Nov 17) MID-TERM
(Nov 19) Markusen, A.R. (2005) “City Spatial Structure, Women’s Household Work, and
National Urban Policy”, in J. Lin and C. Mele (eds.), The Urban Sociology Reader.
London ; New York : Routledge.
Gilbert, M. R. (2005) “Race, Space and Power: The Survival Strategies of Working Poor
Women”, in J. Lin and C. Mele (eds.), The Urban Sociology Reader. London ; New
York : Routledge.
Wekerle, G.R. (2000) “Women’s Rights to the City: Gendered Spaces of a Pluralistic
Citizenship”, in Işın E.F. (ed.), Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City. New York:
Routledge.
Week 9: Gender and the City II
(Nov 24) Adler, S. and Brenner, J. (2005) “Gender and Space: Lesbians and Gay Men in the
City”, in J. Lin and C. Mele (eds.), The Urban Sociology Reader. London; New York:
Routledge.
Donham, D.L. (2005) “Freeing South Africa: The ‘Modernization’ of Male-Male Sexuality in
Soweto”, in J. Lin and C. Mele (eds.), The Urban Sociology Reader. London; New
York: Routledge.
Collins, P. R. (2005) “Identity, Mobility, and Urban Place-Making: Exploring Gay Life in
Manila”, Gender and Society, 19 (1): 180-198.
(Nov 26) No Class
Week 10: Gender: The Turkish Case
(Dec 1) Soysal, Y. (1995) “Comparative Observations on Feminism and the Nation-Building
Process”, in Ş. Tekeli (ed.), Women in Modern Turkish Society: A Reader. London: Zed
Books.
Miller, R. A. (2007) “Rights, Reproduction, Sexuality, and Citizenship in the Ottoman Empire
and Turkey”, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society, 32 (2): 347-373.
(Dec 3) White, J. B. (2002) “The Islamist Paradox”, in D. Kandiyoti and A. Saktanber (eds.),
Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey. New Brunswick, New Jersey:
Rutgers University Press.
Kandiyoti, D. (1995) “Patterns of Patriarchy: Notes for an Analysis of Male Dominance in
Turkish Society”, in Ş. Tekeli (ed.), Women in Modern Turkish Society: A Reader.
London: Zed Books.
Week 11: Gender and the City: The Turkish Case
(Dec 8) Ecevit, F. Y. (1995) “The Status and Changing Forms of Women’s Labour in the
Urban Economy”, in Ş. Tekeli (ed.), Women in Modern Turkish Society: A Reader.
London: Zed Books.
Özyeğin, G. (2002) “The Doorkeeper, the Maid, and the Tenant: Troubling Encounters in the
Turkish Urban Landscape”, in D. Kandiyoti and A. Saktanber (eds.), Fragments of
Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers
University Pres (available at the reserve desk).
(Dec 10) Hillmann, F. (1999) “A Look at the ‘Hidden Side’: Turkish Women in Berlin’s
Ethnic Labour Market”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 23 (2):
267-283.
Kandiyoti, D. (2002) “Pink Card Blues: Trouble and Strife at the Crossroads of Gender”, in
D. Kandiyoti and A. Saktanber (eds.), Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern
Turkey. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. (available at the reserve
desk)
PART IV: Race and Ethnicity
Week 12: Race and Ethnicity
(Dec 15) Feagin, J. R. and Clairece, B. F. (1999) “Adaptation and Conflict: Racial and Ethnic
Relations in Theoretical Perspective”, Racial and Ethnic Relations. Upper Saddle River,
N.J. : Prentice Hall.
(Dec 17) Portes, A. and Manning, R. D. (2001) “The Immigrant Enclave: Theory and
Empirical Examples”, in D. Gursky (ed.) Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender
in Sociological Perspective. Colorado: Westview Press.
Week 13: Race and the City I
(Dec 22) QUIZ-2
(Dec 24) Wilson, W. J. (1999) “When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and
Urban Poverty in the Global Economy”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22 (3): 479-499.
McDowell, L., Batnitzky, A. and Dyer, S. (2009) “Precarious Work and Economic Migration:
Emerging Immigrant Divisions of Labour in Greater London’s Service Sector”,
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33 (1): 3-25.
Week 14: Race and the City II
(Dec 29) Wyly, E., Moos, M., Hammel, D. and Kabahizi, E. (2009) “Cartographies of Race
and Class: Mapping the Class-Monopoly Rents of American Subprime Mortgage
Capital”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33 (2): 332-354.
Çelik, A. B. (2005) “‘I miss my village!’ Forced Kurdish Migrants in Istanbul and their
Representation in Associations”, New Perspectives on Turkey, 32: 137-165.
(Dec 31) Logan, J. R. (2006) “Variations in Immigrant Incorporation in the Neighborhoods of
Amsterdam”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 30 (3): 485-509.
PART V: Review and Understanding Ascriptive Stratification
Week 15 : Understanding Ascriptive Stratification and Review
(Jan 5) Lieberson, S. (2001) “Understanding Ascriptive Stratification: Some Issues and
Priciples”, in D. Gursky (ed.) Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in
Sociological Perspective. Colorado: Westview Press.
Garland-Thomson, R. (2005) “Feminist Disability Studies”, Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society”, 30 (2) 1557-1587.
(Jan 7) Final Exam Review