Stratification

• a system of social inequality
• the unequal distribution of power and resources in and through social structure
• resources = medium thru which power is exercised
• power = transformative capacity
• how much power & resources you have based on who you know and what they have
• not individualized & not cultural

Ideology

• system of beliefs that guide action
• ex: American Dream
• beliefs = linked and flexible
• action = personal & cultural/societal (the way we organize our society)

Hegemony

• Antonio Gramsci --> if society is so unequal, why don't people revolt?
• domination persists thru a combination of coercion/force and consent of the oppressed
• "we participate in our own oppression"
• b/c socialization processes that have taught us stratification is natural and just

Fuctionalist Theories

• if and when inequalities exist, it serves a purpose/function
• ex: why doctors paid so much - b/c they went thru so much schooling - most talented

Conflict Theories

• when there are scarce resources, conflicts will ensue
• existing dominant groups will organize society to reproduce their interests/positions

Economic Stratification and the Production of Social Class:

Marx

• author of Communist Manifesto
• all social relations are governed by ownership of means of production
• m.o.p.:

1. raw goods
2. machinery & other technologies that turn raw goods into finished goods (products)

• capital = combo of 1 & 2
• under a capitalist society:
  
  • primary incentive of economic activity is to make a profit
  • m.o.p. mostly owned by private interests who compete w/ each other (for access to labor)
• two classes created:
  • bourgeoisie = owning class, own m.o.p.
  • proletariat = working class, don't own m.o.p., have to sell their labor to survive
• thus inherent conflict btwn two classes (conflict theorist)

Economic Stratification and the Production of Social Class:

Weber

• wanted a new theory b/c not everyone fits into Marx's 2 classes

1. "class"
   • socio-economic status (S.E.S)
   • measure of person's income, wealth, education level & occupation
   • quantifiable
2. status group
   • group an individual belongs to baed on shared honor and prestige
3. power
   • ability to transform what exists into something else

• intersectionality = diff. vectors of stratification intersect to create distinct opportunites & disadvantages

ex:

• Paris Hilton - not a lot of personal wealth but lots of fame
• plumber, electrician, mortician - high salaries but low social status
• president - high power but low income

Economic Stratification and the Production of Social Class:

Bourdieu

• expand understanding of "capital" - put into new contexts
  • capital - resource can be used to create profit & advantage & power
• 4 types of capital - crucial in producing S.E.S.

1. economic capital
2. social capital
   
   • the value of who you know/networks
3. cultural capital
   • embodied knowledge (habitus) of the values, norms, & behaviors of a particular group of people (esp. class)
   • allows you to be accepted into that class
   • notion of *taste* (good,bad)
4. symbolic capital
   • value of symbols that we ahve access to
   • ex: military uniform, PhD, designer clothes
   • cannot exist on its own (exists in relation to other 3)

Sex vs. Gender

Sex

• division in the human population according to reproductive role
  • sexual organs
  • chromosomes - hormones
• male/female binary  - continuum (where to draw that line - social definition of biology)
• "biological"
• social?
  • intersexed (hermaphrodites) - up to 1% every year
  • doctors/parents decide sex at birth

Sex vs. Gender

Gender

• socially constructed characteristics, roles associated with a person's sex
• social
• result of socialization (anticipatory socialization)
  • ongoing and constant
  • thru impression management and symbolic interactions
• *gender as a performance*
  • an ascribed status - perform in symbolic interactions - sanctions (positive/negative) - becomes achieved status

Gender/Sexual Stratification

• processes thru which power & resources are unqually distributed on the basis of sex & gender
• based upon an ideology of inherent, "natural" difference btwn the sexes
  • justifies the organization of society in ways that allow women less power & fewer resources

Gendered Wage Gap

• women earn 80% in 2009 to every $1.00 earned by men
• "breadwinner wage"
  • assumed men are primary earner & women are supplementary earner
• confidentiality about wages
• "wildcard"
  • pregnancy
  • emotional stability
  • employment history interupted by family forming & caring
    • less likely to get promotions/extra earning
    • fewer opportunities
• women over-represented in "caring" professions
  • nurses, teachers, flight attendants, secretary
  • paid less b/c seems natural, easy, no training needed

Gendered/Sexual Division of Labor

• men & women perform different kinds of work, and their work is unequally valued

Gendered/Sexual Division of Labor

Productive Labor vs. Reproductive Labor

Productive Labor:

• work to make and distribute goods & services
• usually outside the home & usually paid a wage
• dominated by men

Reproductive Labor:

• work that reproduces the labor
  • ex. cleaning, cooking/food prep, education, socialization
• usually done in the home, not paid, less valued
• dominated by women

Sociological Study of Sexuality

• Prior to mid-1950's
  • (deviant) sexuality thought of as a sin
  • studied by Psychologists
  • deviant sexuality as a psych. disturbance
• 1960's
  • homosexuality - labeling theory
• 1980's
  • look @ all kinds of sexuality
  • all sexuality (desires & identity) is produced thru social structure

Sociological View of Sexuality

Rubin

• social constructionist
• not hormones, natural - society constructs desire (both normal & deviant)
• wants to refute idea of SEXUAL ESSENTIALISM (sexuality is rooted in biology, "natural," exist outside of social forces)
• sexuality has changed over time and across cultures (extreme thru out)
  • acts ≠identity, activo/pasivo
• desire --> action --> behavior (each stage is determined by greater social structure)

Rubin's 5 Axioms

1. Sex Negativity
   
   • sex = bad
   • impure, improper, sinful, dangerous
   • positive in circumstance of procreation
   • therefore must be controlled
   • Rubin's counter argument - sex is like eating, sex needed for species survival
2. Fallacy of Misplaced Scale
   • too much significance assigned to sexuality
3. Hierarchical System of Sexual Value
   • social structure sets up to privilege those int eh center
   • center of hierarchy = married, hetero, procreative, vanilla are more highly valued than other sexual activities/practices
4. Domino Theory of Sexual Peril
   • "slippery slope"
   • must police the boundaries of sexuality
   • restrictive social policies
5. Lack Concept of Benign Sexual Variation
   • society does not have concept of wide acceptable sexual practices
   • as long as no one is hurt what does it matter?

How Rubin's Axioms are Structured into Society

1. Economic Sanctions
   • tax benefits for married couples
   • shared insurance/ other benefits
   • gifts/money @ wedding
2. Sex Laws
   • formal norms
3. Other Laws & Bureaucratic Processes
   • listing marital status
4. Labeling
   • 'slut,' 'whore'
   • primarily thru interactions
5. Cultural Representations
   • media, pop culture

Nationality

• person's legal/political status in relationship to a nation-state (usually citizenship)

Ethnicity

• a group status based on shared cultural background usually linked to a geographic territory from which that group is now removed
• often overlaps w/ nationality
• only an ethnic identity when no longer living in the nation-state where those cultural practices originated
• formed thru migration/displacement
• issue of identity (ascribed vs. achieved status)
• socially constructed

Race

• a socially constructed system of categorization that links perceived physical differences w/ talents, characteristics, & abilities
• no genetic proof
• taught to ignore huge commonalities & instead pick out tiny differences & assign value to those differences

Race: The Power of Illusion (Film)

• How to argue against false racial statements:
  1. humans are genetically more similar than other species
     • penguins & fruit flies (look same to us but are genetically more diverse than us)
  2. understanding race is culturally specific/ learned ability (across cultural contexts)
  3. race is a social construction that varies across time & place
     • structured interactions
  • ex. "black peopole are faster runners"

*Non-Concordance Principle*

• genes for skin color (racial features) develop independent from genes for ability
• no link btwn race & ability

Theory of Racial Formation

• "the sociohistorical process by which racial categories  are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed"

Created:

• U.S. Census Bureau
  • up until 1930, Latinos considered white-Spanish speaking
  • 1930 - "Mexican" new racial category
  • 1940-1970 - back to white
  • 1980 - "Hispanic," Latino (term from people to go against Hispanic b/c Spain denotation)

Inhabited:

• 1890's-1920's - "Prerequisite Cases"
  • 20 Supreme Court cases to decide who can be categorized as white
  • mostly asians claiming they were white
  • creation of boundaries
  • form of racial formation
  • @ time only white & black people living in US could be US citizens

Transformed:

• change in label or experience of those people
• ex. Asian Americans
  • 1880's-1950's - "Yellow Peril"
  • post WWII - immigration laws changed towards Chinese b/c China was an ally during war
    • Chinese = *MODEL MINORITY* (willing assimilation into US culture)
    • after internment experience, Japanese dispersed from concentrated groups, stopped speaking Japanese

Destroyed:

• Mulato, Celtic, etc.
• most labels from the late 1880's

Racial Projects

• connect what race means w/ structure & everyday experience
• link representation w/ structure
• how do we talk about/represent/interpret race & structure our life around that understanding
• helps to reproduce racial inequalities/creates structure (often thru symbolic interactions)
• ex: realty - "good neighborhood"
• *creates ideological justification of inequality* (belief systems rationalize actions

Examples of Racial Projects

• Census: collection of data used for drawing of districts, creating new schools/hospitals, distribution of resources (welfare, projects)
  • two sides:
    1. get rid of races on census b/c helps to build racist system
    2. keep races b/c then see trends/patterns and can work to change it
• Slaughter House:
  • racial ideas of Hispanics sort jobs - kill floor
  • "hispanics don't deserve better jobs, didn't help to build nation"
• Adoption:
  • healthy white baby
  • less traumatic if adopting baby of same race
  • Hispanic/African American babies often stay in foster care system