WARNING!
This presentation may contain
information that might actually
cause you to think.
Socialization
Learning Culture,
Building Identity
AND
Stratification
and Inequality
Examining the Implications of
Class, Race, and Gender
Socialization
• Socialization
– The life-long process of learning culture
• Agents of socialization
– Family, schools, work, peer groups, media,
religion, etc.
Constructing Identity: The “Self”
• The “Self” (George Herbert Mead)
– Infants only know the “I.” Through social
interaction, however, they learn the “me”—the
self as a distinct object to be perceived by others
• “Looking Glass Self” (Charles Horton Cooley)
– Sense of who we are that is defined by
incorporating the reflected appraisals of others.
OR “we see ourselves as we think others see us.”
Becoming who we are,
finding our “self,”
is always a social process.
Roles and Identity Formation
• Roles
– Expected patterns of behavior for a particular
social status
• Role Taking
– Key to our identity and concepts of self because,
we often see ourselves from the perspective of
others
How do you suppose these
people “see” themselves?
Learning Culture and Our Place In It
• “We willingly play the roles we find ourselves in.”
– P. Berger (1963)
• We come to accept and expect the position which
we occupy. Tastes, hobbies, careers, goals, and
aspirations, who we partner with, etc.
Switch…
Social Stratification
• Ranking system of groups of people that
perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances
in society
Systems of Stratification
• Slavery
– Economic form of inequality in which some people
are the property of others
• Caste
– Hierarchical stratification based on ascription (e.g.
elite, warrior, merchant, servant, untouchable)
• Class
– Stratification based on wealth, income, education,
and occupation; (SES) socioeconomic status.
Theories of Stratification
• Functionalist Theories
– Highest rewards (e.g. salaries and prestige) are
given to most important positions in society
ensuring the most qualified people occupy these
positions
• Conflict Theories
– Stratification reflects unequal distribution of
power in society that serves the interests of those
at the top
Back to socialization…
Learning Gender
• What’s the difference between “sex” and
“gender”?
– Sex = reproductive organs, male/female/etc.
– Gender = socially significant aspects, social construct
• Gender specific socialization
– In family
– In schools
– In workplaces
– Where else?
What are
some ways in
which gender
is learned?
We will come back to
gender in a bit.
Learning Race
• “Race” is a social construct
– “Race” is genetically the same as eye color
• Race is socially significant. As such it shapes
our identity and our social location.
• In our culture, “whiteness” has historically
been “normalized.”
– The default race has privileges
Switch!
Racial Inequality and
Stratification
Racial Prejudice vs. Racism
• From Beverly Tatum’s, Why Are All the Black
Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
– Racial Prejudice
• any preconceived opinion, either favorable or
unfavorable, based on one’s race
– Racism
• a system of institutional policies and cultural messages
that is advantageous to white people and
disadvantageous to people of color (e.g. housing, jobs)
• prejudice + power
Personal Racial Prejudice vs.
Institutional Racism
• We often focus on the racist actions of
individuals rather than the institutions that
maintain and perpetuate racial inequality
For example…
Disparities in Drug Sentencing as an
Example of Institutionalized Racism
• About 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African
Americans report using illegal drugs
• African Americans represent about 12% of the
total population of drug users, but 38% of those
arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in
state prison for a drug offense
• African Americans serve virtually as much time in
prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites
do for a violent offense (61.7 months) (Info from
NAACP and the Sentencing Project)
Disparities in Drug Sentencing as an
Example of Institutionalized Racism
• Powder vs. Crack Cocaine
– Used to be a 100 to 1 disparity in sentencing
– As of 2010 Congress voted to change the law to
decrease the disparity. They changed it to…
• 18 to 1 disparity in sentencing!!! WHAT!!!?
– The majority of cocaine users, both crack and
powder, are white. But the majority of people
convicted for cocaine are people of color. And
crack has historically been concentrated in African
American communities.
Let’s talk a little more about
incarceration in the United States:
Incarceration Trends in the US
• From 1980 to 2008, the number of people
incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly
500,000 to 2.3 million people
• Today, the US is 5% of the world’s population and
has 25% of the world’s prisoners
• Combining the number of people in prison and
jail with those under parole or probation
supervision, 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2 percent
of the population is under some form of
correctional control
Racial Disparities in Incarceration
• African Americans now constitute nearly 1
million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated
population
• African Americans are incarcerated at nearly
six times the rate of whites
• Black and Latino Americans make up about
30% of the US population but about 60% of
those incarcerated
Racial Disparities in Incarceration
• One in six black men had been incarcerated as of
2001. If current trends continue, one in three
black males born today can expect to spend time
in prison during his lifetime
• Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of
juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained,
46% of the youth who are judicially waived to
criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to
state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal
Justice)
White Privilege
• It isn’t that all white people are to blame for
discrimination; most are not. But white people
nevertheless benefit from racism.
– And I’m not just talking about incarceration! White
privilege applies to jobs, housing, racial profiling while
driving or at the store, etc. It is hard to see it, but it is
happening all the time.
[This is just as true in the case of male privilege,
heterosexual privilege, or any other form of privilege.]
Active Racism vs. Passive Racism
• Active racism
– blatant, intentional acts of racial prejudice
• E.g. not serving black people at your restaurant
• Passive racism
– more subtle forms of racism
• E.g. laughing at racist jokes, not challenging
exclusionary hiring practices, accepting as appropriate
the omission of the history of people of color in the
curriculum
Active Anti-Racism
• Everyone needs to take an active anti-racist
stance. But white people can play an
especially powerful role since they have more
access to the societal institutions in need of
being changed.
Not All People “Of Color”
Are Equally Targeted By Racism
• Other factors intersect and matter! Like what?
– Class
– Sex
– Gender
– Sexual orientation
– Country of origin / immigration status
– Etc.
Social Class
• Group of people who share similar
economic/social/political position in society
– Measures: income, wealth, occupational prestige,
educational attainment, culture, taste
– SES: socioeconomic status
• Wealth = All assets owned by an individual including
cash, savings, investments in property, stocks, bonds, etc.
• Income = All wages and salaries earned from paid
occupation. Also interest on savings.
Back to socialization!
Learning Class
• Social Class affects values
– E.g. Respecting conformity, not questioning
authority
• Our class background shapes our:
– Opportunities
– Aspirations
– Expectations
• Social Class helps determine the options we
consider on the menu of life
Back to stratification!!!
Inequality and Life Chances
• Working class and poor people are:
– Less likely to go to college
– More likely to get arrested, convicted, go to
prison, and receive the death penalty than upper
class people
– More likely to die prematurely
Our economy is worth, roughly,
$188 trillion.
Which is split between, roughly,
311 million people.
Our country’s wealth split evenly
would give everyone, roughly,
$600,000.
From 2009-2011,
100% of all new
income went to the
top 1%
The bottom 99% actually saw a loss in their income.
Forbes 400 Richest Americans
• Have a combined net worth of over $1.54
trillion
• Bill Gates = $66 billion
• All 400 are billionaires ($1.1—$66 bil.)
• More than half inherited their wealth
Over $200 billion is inherited each
year, half of which comes from just 7
percent of estates.
Should
inheriting
wealth
be allowed?
Now back to gender…
Gender Inequality and
Stratification
How many of you consider
yourselves to be feminists?
Gender Stratification
• Social system in which socio-economic
resources and political power are distributed
on the basis of one’s sex and gender
Wage Gap
• On average women earn .81 cents for every $1
a man earns
– This applies to men and women doing equal work!
• Why does the gender gap in pay persist?
– Occupational segregation
– Discrimination
– Institutional Sexism
Housework – “The Second Shift”
• Women still do majority of household work,
including caring for children
– Women working full time outside the home spend
on average 19 hours/week on housework; men
average 10 hours/week
• This work is essential for society!
Trigger Warning
Rape as Social Control
• Unlike men, women must worry about walking alone at
night
• Rape is used in war to terrorize and punish
• Why no “War Against Rape” ?
– 1 in 4 women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime
(IN THE US!!!)
– 1 in 6 women will be the victim of attempted or completed
rape
– 1 in 4 women in college are victims of rape
• Only 5% actually report the crime!!!
– 82% of sexual assaults are by people who know the victim
Mr. Robinson’s
#1 Rape Prevention Tip:
DON’T
RAPE!
Reflect
• Where do you fit in on the spectrum of social
class and privilege?
• What group or groups are you a part of?
• What roles or identities do you take on?
• How are your own social class/race/gender
attitudes and opportunities shaping your life?