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Sociology 1301
Course Pack
Ruth Dunn, M.A.
© 2003-2008
All Rights Reserved by the Author.
This document may not be reproduced
in whole or in part, by any means, without
written permission of the author.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION—WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? ........................................................................................................................... 4
What Do Sociologists Study? ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Sociology and its Relationship to the Other Social Sciences.................................................................................................. 5
The Institutions of Society...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Key Terms and Concepts for: Introduction—What is Sociology? .............................................................................................. 9
MODULE IA—AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY—A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY................................... 9
The Three Major Sociological Paradigms: Their Origins, the Theorists, Major Concepts, Societal-Level Approach/ Unit of
Analysis, Problems/Weaknesses........................................................................................................................................... 15
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks ............................................... 16
Some Major Sociological Theorists: Their Paradigms, Their Theories................................................................................ 16
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IA—Introduction to Sociology—A Brief History of Sociology:.................................... 19
MODULE IB—SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY........................................................................... 19
The Scientific Method: The Steps and Sub-Steps Explained................................................................................................ 21
Model of the Experimental Method...................................................................................................................................... 25
An Extremely Simplified Model of the Hawthorne Experiment .......................................................................................... 26
Key Terms and Concepts for Module IB: Social Science Research Design and Methodology................................................. 29
MODULE IIA—CULTURE.......................................................................................................................................................... 29
A Few English Words with Non-English Roots ................................................................................................................... 31
Examples of Difference in a Few Cultural Universals.......................................................................................................... 32
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIA—Culture ................................................................................................................ 36
MODULE IIB—SOCIALIZATION ............................................................................................................................................. 36
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of the Socialization Process ................................................................... 39
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIB—Socialization........................................................................................................ 39
MODULE IIC—SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE ............................................................................. 39
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Views of the Social Structure ...................................................................................... 41
Karl Marx’s View of the Social Structure ............................................................................................................................ 41
Six Types of Societies ........................................................................................................................................................ 44
Four Theories of Sociostructural Change ............................................................................................................................. 45
Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups ................................................................................................................... 46
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIC—Social Interaction and Social Structure .............................................................. 47
MODULE IID—GROUPS AND BUREAUCRACIES ............................................................................................................... 47
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Bureaucracies .................................................................................... 49
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IID—Groups and Bureaucracies ................................................................................. 49
MODULE IIE—DEVIANCE ........................................................................................................................................................ 49
The Flea .............................................................................................................................................................................. 50
The Second Coming ........................................................................................................................................................... 53
Liberty Needs Glasses ....................................................................................................................................................... 54
Merton’s Typology of Deviant Responses to Anomie.......................................................................................................... 55
Sykes and Matza’s Techniques of Neutralization of Deviance............................................................................................. 56
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Deviance ............................................................................................ 57
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIE—Deviance.............................................................................................................. 57
MODULE IIIA—STRATIFICATION ......................................................................................................................................... 58
Model of C. Wright Mill’s Power Elite Theory.................................................................................................................... 61
Single Female Head of Household Indicating the Feminization of Poverty..................................................................... 63
Child Support Payments to Custodial Parents-1997 ......................................................................................................... 63
Per Cent Distribution of Various Socioeconomic Stratification Data by Race/Ethnicity (1997)...................................... 65
Poverty Thresholds in 2000 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18............................................ 66
1990 and 2000 Poverty Level Differences among Specified Groups ............................................................................... 66
1992 Business Ownership Statistics By Race................................................................................................................... 66
SOCI 1301-Student Course Pack, page 2
© Ruth Dunn, 2003-2008—All Rights Reserved
Share of Aggregate Income by Quintile ........................................................................................................................... 67
From U.S. Census Bureau No. 216 Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity, and Sex 1960-2000 (College Graduate or
Higher) by Percent............................................................................................................................................................ 67
Dropout Rates by Race/Ethnicity and Sex for Selected Years and Percent Change......................................................... 68
Dropout Rates by Race/Ethnicity and Sex for Selected Years and Percent Change......................................................... 68
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Stratification/Inequality ..................................................................... 69
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIA—Stratification in the U.S...................................................................................... 69
MODULE IIIB—GLOBAL STRATIFICATION ....................................................................................................................... 70
If the World Were A Village of 100 People ......................................................................................................................... 71
Four Statistical Measures of Inequality in the World ......................................................................................................... 73
20th Century World Population Growth by Decade (in Billions) ........................................................................................ 73
Comparison of Richest to Poorest Countries Based on Selected Demographic Characteristics ......................................... 74
The 62 Poorest Countries in the World................................................................................................................................. 75
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIB—Global Stratification .......................................................................................... 77
MODULE IIIC—STRATIFICATION BY RACE AND ETHNICITY ..................................................................................... 77
Racial/Ethnic Discrimination in America—1776-1998........................................................................................................ 77
Overcoming Discrimination in America—1808-2000.......................................................................................................... 80
Robert Merton’s Typology of Bigotry (Prejudice and Discrimination)................................................................................ 80
Sources of Immigration by Time Period and Country of Origin, in Percent of Total........................................................... 82
Genocidal Monsters and Their Crimes .............................................................................................................................. 85
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIC—Stratification by Race and Ethnicity .................................................................. 86
MODULE IIID—STRATIFICATION BY SEX AND GENDER .............................................................................................. 87
Percent of all Workers Paid Hourly Rates—By Selected Characteristics-1997 ............................................................ 90
1997 Employment Status of Civilian Non-Institutionalized Population by Race/Ethnicity and Sex ............................. 90
Wages Earned in Occupational Categories By Sex—1996 ............................................................................................ 91
From 1997 Economic Census, U.S. Census Bureau Comparison of Women-Owned Firms to All U.S. Firms ............... 91
Percent Difference between Women-Owned Businesses and All Businesses: 1997 and 1992 ........................................ 91
Comparison of Median Weekly Full Time Earnings by Sex and Race—1996 .............................................................. 92
From U.S. Census Bureau No. 216 Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity, and Sex 1960-2000.............................. 92
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIID—Stratification by Sex and Gender....................................................................... 93
MODULE IIIE—STRATIFICATION BY AGE ......................................................................................................................... 93
Some Basic Data Concerning the American Elderly-1995 ............................................................................................ 98
Life Expectancy in Years by Race And Sex 1940-1999 with Projections for 2005 and 2010 ........................................ 99
Number of Men per 100 Women by Age for Those 65 Years of Age and Older 1990 and 2000 .................................. 99
Population 65 Years and Over by Age-2000 .................................................................................................................... 99
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIE—Stratification by Age ........................................................................................ 100
MODULE III-F—STRATIFICATION: INEQUALITY BY DISABILITY ........................................................................... 100
MODULE IVA—THE FAMILY AND MARRIAGE (COMPILED AND WRITTEN PRIMARILY BY DR. LUIS
SALINAS) ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 103
MODULE IVB: EDUCATION (COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY DR. LUIS SALINAS).................................................. 104
MODULE IVC—RELIGION...................................................................................................................................................... 110
Largest World Religions—97% of All Largest World Religions ..................................................................................... 113
Remaining 3% of All Other Largest World Religions ...................................................................................................... 113
Largest Denominations in the World ................................................................................................................................ 113
Largest Religions in the United States .............................................................................................................................. 113
Largest Denominations in the United States ..................................................................................................................... 114
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Religion ........................................................................................... 114
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IVC—Religion............................................................................................................ 115
MODULE IVD: LAW, POLITICS, AND GOVERNMENT (COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY DR. LUIS SALINAS) .. 115
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................................. 118
INDEX ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 119
END NOTES AND REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................ 127
Student Course Pack—Fall Semester -2003
Introduction to Sociology—Sociology 1301
Houston Community College System—Ruth Dunn, B.S., M.A., Instructor
Introduction—What Is Sociology?
Sociology is a social science which studies society (which is defined as people who live in a specific geographic area,
interact with each other, and share many elements of culture) and culture (which is defined as the learned set of practices, beliefs,
values, norms, and rules for proper behavior as well as the material objects shared by a people). 1 Science is knowledge based on
empirical (observable) evidence gained through direct, systematic observation in an attempt to explain causal relationships (cause
and effect). 2 Sociology is the scientific study of human behavior in groups; the science of the interaction between society and
culture; the science of human responses to human institutions; macro-level and micro-level human interaction; and the reciprocal
relationship between the individual and the sociocultural milieu (agency and structure). 3 Sociology, (the word itself comes to us
from French philosopher Auguste Comte), is “the study of the bases of social membership. More technically, Sociology is the
analysis of the structure of social relationships as constituted by social interaction.” 4 There is, and always has been, some
controversy concerning Sociology’s claim to be a science. Indeed, Sociology encompasses the studies of many other disciplines
and therefore may be truly thought of as a particular philosophical paradigm 5 aimed at analyzing social structures, social
processes, social associations, social bonds, and social connections. However, Sociologists do engage in legitimate scientific
research 6 which, though often qualitative, often does incorporate rigorous quantitative methods. Indeed, some Sociologists would
argue that research today has become overly quantitative and narrow to the detriment of real understanding of social structures
and processes. Nevertheless, Sociology has had, and continues to have a significant impact on the social sciences and society at
large. We study Sociology in order to understand human behavior and in order to be able to look at the world in new and different
ways. Sociology gives us new eyes, new ways of thinking, new methods of analysis, and a new way of understanding the human
condition. Sociology helps us to understand the complex relationships between individuals, and between groups and the broader
society in which they live. 7
What Do Sociologists Study?
Area of Scientific Study
Description
Social Sciences
The scientific study of human behavior in groups and the social
world
Culture
The values, norms, beliefs, and language of a people, as well as
the ways in which a people uses the natural world and makes
and uses material objects; the learned cognitions and behaviors
of a people
The Institutions of Society
Values, norms, statuses, roles, groups, and patterns of behavior
that address fundamental social needs: Family, Education,
Religion, Law/Politics/Government, Economy, Medicine,
Media
Social Change
Those dynamics that cause any given society to exhibit a
change in its social structure: technology, prime movers,
economic cycles, environmental effects, and social movements
Socialization
The ways in which we learn how to interact normatively with
one another within the context of our culture; the ways in
which and the degree to which we learn our culture; the process
of becoming human
Social Interaction
The ways in which people relate to one another
Social Structure
The form of the institutions of any given society and the
mechanisms involved in the changes from one societal form to
another; the basis of and patterns of interactions among groups
and individuals
Groups and Group Behavior
The ways in which group behavior differs from individual
behavior and the reciprocal relationships between groups and
individuals 8
Bureaucracies
Large-scale, rational, formal organizations that are a byproduct of industrialization and capitalism, but that have
become both the driving and governing force in the
industrialized world
Deviance
Non-normative behavior that defies social conventions;
methods of social control; conformity versus non-conformity
What Do Sociologists Study?
Description
Social Problems
The scientific study of how things become social problems and
how societies construct methodologies of dealing with those
problems
Criminology
The scientific study of crime, punishment, and deviance
Stratification
The study of inequality; the study of the ways in which master
status (race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, disability, and
SES—Socioeconomic Status=income + education +
occupation) impacts one’s access to the goods of society
(wealth, power, and status) on a national as well as a global
level
Because Sociology is a very broad-based discipline and attempts to study all aspects of human behavior, Sociology also
makes a study of the other social sciences. The other social sciences include: Psychology which is the scientific study of
individual behavior; (Sociologists study Social Psychology which is the scientific study of the interaction between society and the
Sociology and its Relationship to the Other Social Sciences
Sociology
Social Science
Psychology
Economics
History
Geography
Political Science
Anthropology
Demographics
(Cross Disciplinary)
The scientific study of:
human behavior in groups, the socio-cultural and socio-structural environment, all other social
sciences; culture; human institutions; social change; socialization; macro- and micro-level
human social interactions, the social structure; groups and group behavior; bureaucracies and
large-scale organizations; deviance; social problems; stratification (inequality); criminology;
demographics (the movement of human populations)
Sociological Discipline
Individual behavior
Interaction between the
Social Psychology
individual and society
The ways in which humans
Interaction between societies
Economic Sociology
exchange goods and services
and their economic systems
Political Economy
and the ways in which
economics and politics
influence the social structure
The human past
The ways in which the past,
Historical Sociology
present, and
expected/projected future
shape the sociocultural
environment
The reciprocal relationship
Environmental Sociology
between humans and their
physical (both manmade and
natural) environments
The relationship between
humans and their physical
The nature of human
Urban Sociology
(natural and manmade)
interaction in an urban
environments
environment
The nature of human
Rural Sociology
interaction in a rural
environment
Political processes,
The ways in which humans
Political Sociology
government, leadership, social Social Movements
are governed as well as the
movements
ways in which group behavior
Social Change
changes government and the
ways in which people band
together to make such
changes
Small-scale, pre-literate, preLarge-scale and historical and
Cultural Sociology
historical societies
literate societies and cultures
Crime, punishment and
Criminology
deviance
The size, composition, distribution, and changes in human populations
individual); Economics which is the scientific study of the ways in which humans make a living and exchange goods and services
and includes means of exchange; means of production; markets and market values; (Sociologists study Economic Sociology
which is the scientific study of the interaction between societies and their economic systems); History which is the scientific study
of the human past; (Sociologists study Historical Sociology which is the study of the ways in which the past, present, and
expected future shape the sociocultural milieu); Geography which is the scientific study of the ways in which humans relate to
their environment and the ways in which the environment impacts human behavior; (Sociologists study Environmental Sociology,
Urban Sociology, and Rural Sociology); Political Science which is the scientific study of political processes and the ways in
which humans govern themselves; (Sociologists study Political Sociology and Social Movements which are interested in the ways
in which humans are governed as well as the ways in which group behavior changes government and the ways in which people
band together to make such changes); Anthropology which is the scientific study of small-scale and prehistorical and preliterate
societies and cultures (Sociologists study Historical and Cultural Sociology which generally looks at large-scale and historical and
literate societies and cultures, although there is a great deal of overlap between cultural Anthropology and Sociology);
Demographics which is the scientific and statistical study of the size, composition, distribution, and changes in human
populations, and Criminology which is the scientific study of crime, punishment, and deviance. Sociology is also the scientific
study of human institutions (Human Institutions or the Institutions of Society or Social Institutions are relatively enduring
clusters of values, norms, social statuses, roles, and groups that address fundamental social needs and include: Family,
Education, Religion, Politics/Law/Government, the Economy, Medicine, and Media). Human Institutions or the Institutions
of Society or Social Institutions exist in ALL societies even though they manifest themselves differently from society to society.
Family is the basic unit of society and the most fundamental of all institutions; Education is the ways in which information
considered important to a society or culture is transmitted; Religion is the overarching belief system of a society or culture;
Politics, Law, and Government are the methods used to manage and control populations, to determine leadership, to legitimate
(make acceptable) the social structure, and as an alternative to war; the Economy is the methods through which the goods of a
society are distributed to its members; Medicine is the ways in which people heal themselves or deal with death and disease, and
Media which is the mass transmission of information and entertainment, usually for profit 9
(Also Called Social Institutions and/or Human Institutions)
Institution
Definition
Forms
The most basic of all human
Nuclear—parents and children
The Sociology of Marriage
Family
institutions; the basic unit of
living in their own separate
The Sociology of the
society. It is within the family that residence (most modern form)
Family
children are socialized and that
Human Sexuality
children learn to interact
Extended—parents, children,
normatively with other humans
and other blood or adopted kin
living in extremely close
proximity (most ancient, most
common form)
Education
The ways in which culturally
important information is
transmitted; the ways in which
people are taught the information
and skills necessary to survive in
the context of their own culture
Blended—parents with children
of previous marriages (a modern
form, based on nuclear family
model)
Formal—the use of formalized
learning, by rote or from books,
in classrooms with paid teachers
(the most modern form, even
though it extends back several
thousand years)
The Sociology of
Education
Group and Organizational
Behavior
Bureaucracies (Complex
Organizations)
Informal/Traditional—life
learning; training of individuals
and small groups by
demonstrating necessary life
skills as a concomitant of day-to
day living; learning by watching
and doing
Institution
Religion
Law/Politics/Government
Definition
Forms
Shared understanding of the
Polytheism—worship of more
supernatural; communal discovery than one deity (most ancient
of meaning; worship of a
form)
deity/deities; division of the world
into the sacred and profane
Monotheism—worship of one
deity (most modern form)
The methods used to manage and
Democracy—rule by the will of
control populations, to determine
the people (most modern form)
leadership, to legitimate (make
acceptable) the social structure; an Chiefdom—rule by a powerful
alternative to war
individual who is permitted to
rule, but not necessarily chosen
to rule, by the will of the people
(most ancient form)
The Sociology of Religion
Group and Organizational
Behavior
Organizations)
The Sociology of Law
Political Sociology
Law and Society
The Sociology of
Government
Social Movements
Social Change
Organizations)
Big Man—similar to a chiefdom
Monarchy—rule by a king or
queen who is believed to be
chosen to rule by a deity
(ancient form)
Oligarchy—rule by a few very
powerful individuals
Plutocracy—rule by the
wealthiest members of a society
Dictatorship—rule by a single
extremely powerful individual;
no dissent by or choice for the
people is permitted
Theocracy—rule by clergy
Institution
Economy
Definition
Forms
The methods through which the
Capitalism—a free market,
goods and services of a society
money-based system of
are distributed to and among its
exchange in which the
members; the ways in which
government has little control or
people make a living and earn
authority over the means and
their daily bread
modes of production; stock and
commodities markets determine
the value of goods and services
Economic Sociology
Political Economics
Social Change
Organizations)
Communism—a money-based
system of exchange in which the
government owns all means and
modes of production and has
virtually complete control and
authority
Barter—a system in which
people directly exchange with
one another goods and services
for other goods and services
(most ancient system)
Medicine
Media
The ways in which people heal
themselves or deal with death and
disease
The mass transmission of cultural
information and entertainment
Mercantilism—a system in
which merchants control the
means and modes of production;
used during the era of European
colonial domination to maintain
economic control of the colonies
by merchants and colonizing
governments
Modern/Western—the use of
science and the scientific
method
Traditional—the use of ancient
practices and herbal remedies
For-Profit—a modern, industrial
method of transmitting cultural
information and entertainment
by mechanical and electronic
means (almost always for
profit); operated by a few, large,
often multi-national,
corporations
The Sociology of
Medicine
The Sociology of Health
Organizations)
The Sociology of Media
The Sociology of
Communications
The Sociology of
Language
Organizations)
Traditional—relatively small
groups of traveling performers
or messengers who convey
information by word of mouth
Sociology studies the causes of social change which includes technology, economic evolutionary cycles, Prime Movers
or the Great Man theory (the ways in which significant individuals have effected the world dramatically and long-lastingly,
(Buddha, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Jesus, Mohammed, are a few examples), environmental effects, and the ways in
which humans relate to one another. 10 The three primary paradigmatic views of human relations include the Conflict Model, the
Functionalist Model, and the Symbolic Interactionist or Micro Interactionist Model. One of the major areas of study in Sociology
is stratification, which is the unequal ways in which the goods of society (wealth, power, and status) are distributed. Oettinger
says that stratification is studying “who gets what and how much they get over time.” Stratification is the study of differences and
inequality and analyzes such elements of society as deviance, racism sexism, and ageism. Stratification is often based on
Master Status 11 12 and SES. Master Status is one’s race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, disability, and SES. SES is
Socioeconomic Status which is Income + Occupation + Education. SES is a social ranking that combines several factors to
assess peoples’ positions in the stratification hierarchy (levels of social acceptance by the dominant group). Master status is that
status that, of all the statuses a person occupies, is the one that largely defines who that person is, and what his or her goals and
opportunities are. 13 We also study social problems and are interested in the ways in which any given society defines its
problems and develops methods of solving or dealing with those problems. Last, but not least, Sociology is the scientific study of
Criminology, which is the study of crime, punishment and deviance. 14 Unfortunately, Criminology is the fastest growing subdiscipline in Sociology today, perhaps because we, in the United States, spend more money on prisons than we spend on schools!
A great Sociologist named C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), in a famous book entitled The Sociological Imagination
(1959), argued that, in order to properly study society, we must analyze the relationship between society and the individual;
between the past, present, and future; and must study human behavior in a social, cultural, and historical context. Mills argued
that we must never forget that we are studying human behavior and that we must, therefore, never forget the human aspect of our
discipline. 15
Key Terms and Concepts for: Introduction—What is Sociology?
C. Wright Mills…10
culture…5
Family, Education, Religion, Politics/Law/Government, the
Economy, Medicine, and Media…7
goods of society (wealth, power, and status)…9
Human Institutions…7
Institutions of Society…7
Master Status…10
Science…5
SES…10
Social Institutions…5–10
social science…5
social sciences…6
society…5
Socioeconomic Status…10
Sociology…5
The Sociological Imagination…10
Module IA—An Introduction to Sociology—A Brief History of Sociology
A very brief definition of Sociology would be that it is the systematic and scientific study of human behavior, social
groups, and society. Sociology has an extremely broad scope. Sociologists study all aspects of human behavior and if we haven’t
studied it, it’s because we haven’t thought of it! 16 In Sociology, there are three basic paradigms, (perspectives, viewpoints,
guiding principles, descriptions) each with its own particular Weltanschauung (world view). A paradigm is a set of assumptions
and ideas that guide research questions, methods of analysis and interpretation, and the development of theory. 17 A paradigm is
a perspective or viewpoint, a particular way of looking at things; a guiding principle, a description of or explanation of the way in
which some part (or all) of the world works. A paradigm is similar to a Weltanschauung which is a German word meaning world
view: it is the way a society or culture defines itself, explains itself, and sees its place in the world (dependent on time, place,
technology, norms, and values). 18 Paradigms and theories explain and describe. They have no motive power and do not create
anything in and of themselves. Paradigms have descriptive and explanatory value that leads to theory building—rational,
scientific, provable and testable explanations for some phenomenon.
The three major paradigms in Sociology are the Conflict model, 19 the Functionalist model, 20 and the Symbolic
Interactionist model. 21 Each of these three paradigms or models is based directly or indirectly on the work of the seminal
theorists in Sociology—Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, and George Herbert Mead,
(respectively)—all of whom were white, European (or of European ancestry), males born in the 19th century. Although each
theorist had a different Weltanschauung and comes to us from a world that was influenced by events that we early-21st-centuryAmericans have come to view as merely historical, all five of these seminal thinkers have become classical scholars because their
works have had explanatory and predictive value for our time. Sociology, as a scientific discipline, has its roots in the Age of
Reason, a time period called the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment and its progeny—the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution—
seem to float fog-like somewhere in our distant, misty past, so far beyond our own modern era as to seem sometimes
inconsequential. However, these events have generated processes and ideas that reverberate through the centuries and have
formed and continue to form the Weltanschauung of our own time. Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, and Mead have linked
together the 16th century through the early 21st century with a level of clarity and profundity that has forged an exegetical chain of
understanding of our present social milieu. Each paradigm explains differently the ways in which society is constructed; 22 each
has a different perspective or viewpoint—a different Weltanschauung—each seems to describe only a part of society, however for
all of their faults and contradictions, they offer us a level of awareness and comprehension that we would not have without them.
Each of these paradigms has propagated strongly supported theories which have led to multiple levels of research which, in turn,
have promoted greater understanding of the human condition and our place within our world.
The Conflict Paradigm (model—sometimes referred to as Conflict Theory) argues that the structured system of all of
society is based on conflict over the goods of society (wealth, power, and status). This conflict is about economic and social
competition at the macro-level and concerns the economic and social differences between the rich (elite) and everyone else.
Because the Conflict Paradigm focuses primarily on exploitation and inequality, it does a very poor job of explaining social
stability and normativeness. The Conflict model views all of society as a structured system, engaging in competition for wealth,
power, and status. According to the Conflict Paradigm, society is seen as greater than the sum of its parts (i.e., holistic), and the
institutions of society are engaged in conflict by regulating and constraining individual behavior, therefore, most conflict and
competition is non-violent. However, the economic system creates alienating conditions within and among the institutions. The
social structure is objective, external to the individual, and enduring over time. The key concepts are change, conflict, alienation,
bourgeoisie (owners of the means and modes of production), class conflict, class consciousness, commodity fetishism,
compulsion, dialectic, division of labor, exploitation, false consciousness, ideology, ownership of private property, proletariat
(workers), relations among owners, relations of production (relations among workers), stratification (inequality), subordination,
superordination, substructure, superstructure, surplus value v. use value, systems, and work.
The Functionalist Paradigm (model—sometimes referred to as Functionalist Theory) argues that all of society is based
on a set of elements at the macro-level that maintains social stability; any element that endures over long periods of time must
help the society to remain stable. These elements, each of which are interdependent and interactive, include the form of the
institutions, (e.g., the family), and the sub-forms, (e.g., the nuclear family) and sub-sub-forms (e.g., the children) of the basic
institutions. In other words, each element of society, each institution of society, exists in order to maintain and legitimate the
social structure by creating a sense of contentment, trust, and safety in the people. Because of its focus on the stabilizing
mechanisms of society, the Functionalist Paradigm does a very poor job of explaining social change and deviance. All of society
is a structured system which engages in behavior that adds to social stability and societal equilibrium, so that society is greater
than the sum of its parts (i.e., holistic). The institutions of society are engaged in adaptive behaviors that fill both generalized as
well as specific societal needs. Every element of society is regulated and constrained by the social structure. The institutions, most
particularly, the family, law, and religion, maintain social stability. The social structure is objective, external to the individual, and
enduring over time. Of primary concern to the Functionalist Paradigm are: stability, harmony, consensus, groups, anomie,
authority, balance, collective conscience, common bonds, compulsion, division of labor, legitimating mechanisms, regulating
mechanisms, rituals, rules, social cohesion, social facts, social integration, solidarity, stability, systems, values and value
integration.
The Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm (model—sometimes referred to as Symbolic Interactionist Theory or MicroInteractionism) contends that all of society, which is a random process, is made up of individuals engaging in small-group
interactions, is only as great as the sum of its parts, (i.e., atomistic), and is based on negotiated order in which micro-level
decisions created by human social interaction create the basis of a continually changing and yet stable society. Because it is a
micro-level perspective, this paradigm does a very poor job of explaining large-scale events and processes such as stratification.
Moreover, Symbolic Interactionism views the institutions of society as created and adapted by individuals through a continuing
dialectic process, wherein each element of the social structure, which is subjective, internal to the individual, and in a constant
state of flux over time, is merely a crystallization of an intricate web of small-scale interactions based on roles, statuses, and the
sharing and interpretation of meaning. The major assumptions in Symbolic Interactionism are: change, tension, interpretation of
meaning, shared meaning and shared symbols, individuals, communication, dialectic, forms of interaction, individual social actors
(roles, statuses, gestures), meaning of symbols, micro-level interactions, numbers, process, randomness, small-scale processes.
It is from these major paradigms that all Sociological theories come. Paradigms are broad-based, extremely generalized
explanations or descriptions of the natural or social world; they are not testable, but lead to theories which are testable. Paradigms
help scientists to develop theories. A theory is a set of testable, interrelated propositions, or statements, that attempt to explain
some phenomenon. Theories are much, much more specific than paradigms; theories are narrowly-based explanations of some
specific aspect of the natural or social word, and are testable. By testing theories, we are able to discover information concerning
the human condition that better helps us to understand why humans behave in the ways we do under any given circumstance or
situation.
The Sociological Imagination was the title of a book written by Sociologist C. Wright Mills. The concept behind the
Sociological Imagination is that there is an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society. It is
studying human behavior in the context of history and the current zeitgeist. 23 The Sociological Imagination means
comprehending the links between people’s immediate, personal social settings and the remote, impersonal social world that
surrounds them and helps to shape them, e.g., when one person is unemployed it is a personal problem but when many people are
unemployed it is a social issue and requires analyzing the social structure. 24
Modern Sociologist George Ritzer argues that sociology, unlike most other sciences, sometimes studies itself. Because
much of the scientific work done by Sociologists has public policy ramifications and is often used by various entities to create a
range of social programs such as Head Start, school lunches and breakfasts, after school sports, it is necessary for us to study our
own discipline in order to discover the efficacy of the social programs that have come out of our research. My favorite definition
of Sociology is that given by Pearman who argues that “Sociology is a useful enterprise which attempts to explain human
behavior in order to provide the knowledge required to create a better society.” 25
Because Sociology is a scientific academic discipline: it requires that we always critically analyze everything around us.
In order to see the world through the eyes of the Sociologist one must develop critical thinking skills. Critical thinking may be
the single most important thing that any human being can learn. Critical thinking consists of understanding and evaluating
statements, ideas, and information, developing reasonable solutions to problems, articulating a position, and making a creative
statement that reflects a defensible position. Critical thinking is about defining problems; asking questions; analyzing evidence;
recognizing biases; avoiding emotional reactions; forming reasonable solutions; tolerating ambiguity and uncertainty; and
rejecting simplistic solutions and quick, easy answers to complex social problems. Critical thinking means never taking anything
at face value, but always looking beneath the surface for that which is not obvious. 26 An example of looking beneath the surface
would be the Bridgestone-Firestone Tire and Ford Explorer problem of a few years ago in which tires were shredding causing
rollovers and severe injury and even death. Jack Nasser, then Chairman of the Board of Ford Motor Company, made a public
service announcement in which he said that his family owned five Ford Explorers and that they were safe—what he failed to say
was the brand of tires on the SUVs of his family!
Because humans are social creatures, we are driven by the social imperative which states that humans are social
creatures: 1) who make choices; 2) form collectivities (groups); and 3) establish rules that govern behavior. It is this social
imperative, those common aspects of all human behavior, that has driven people since ancient times to philosophize and theorize
over what it means to be human. 27
The Enlightenment ushered in a time period in which humans began to look for scientific rather than theological
explanations for phenomenon and events and new ideas began to be promulgated concerning what it means to be human. The
Enlightenment occurred in Europe from about 1700 to 1918 although it can be argued that we are still living in the age of the
Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was caused by social upheaval and technological change; and resulted in colonialism, modern
capitalism, industrialization which is the transformation of an economy from agriculture to manufacturing, and urbanization
which is the growth of large cities. The Enlightenment was an entirely new way of looking at and explaining the world—what is
often called a paradigm shift. We are still living in the age of the Enlightenment because we tend to look for and expect science to
be able to “fix” all of our social problems. 28
Out of the period known as the Enlightenment (1700-1918) came all of the modern natural and social sciences. Indeed,
science as we understand it today, was created in the early years of the Enlightenment. In fact, much of our modern ideology
concerning the intrinsic value of human beings was developed during the Enlightenment—our concepts of democracy, the
dignity, autonomy, and humanity of the common person, individuality, 29 the ability of the average person to have a personal
relationship with and understanding of God, 30 social change and social mobility, 31 constitutional monarchies, 32 and
epistemology, 33 as well as the scientific method, 34 are all revolutionary results of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment
coincided with the Age of Reason during which time it was believed that the intellect, the mind, reason would provide the
necessary means to create a better society—a society without superstition, without inequality, where science ruled, government
was democratic, and religion had ceased to exist. Proponents declared that the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason would bring
about the demise of superstition as well as the death of feudal society along with its egregious social inequities. 35
One product of the Enlightenment was August Comte (1798-1857); a French philosopher who wrote Positive
Philosophy which was the first systematic Sociological approach to the study of society. Positivism is the use of observation,
comparison, experimentation, and the historical method to gain the necessary facts to analyze society. Comte wrote that there are
two major areas of study for Sociologists: Social Statics—the relatively stable elements in a society—and Social Dynamics—
social change. Comte believed that Sociology could create a utopian society. From Comte’s two modalities come the first two
great paradigms in Sociology. From the study of social dynamics or change comes the work of Karl Marx and the Conflict
Paradigm and from the study of social statics or stability, Émile Durkheim developed Functionalism. 36
Social Dynamics
Social Change
Marx
Conflict
Social Statics
Social Stability
Durkheim
Functionalism
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) was a British woman who is considered the co-founder (with Comte) of Sociology. She
translated Comte’s works into English but, as importantly, wrote How to Observe Manners and Morals which was the first book
every written about Sociological research methodology. Martineau also wrote Society in America which compared European and
American systems of stratification. 37
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was a British Sociologist who relied on evolution theory. It was Spencer, not Charles
Darwin who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.” Spencer was part of a social movement that came to be called Social
Darwinism which is the ideology that some people (or groups of people) are less fit to receive large portions of the goods of
society, and which has become a rationale for stratification. Spencer’s work eventually led to the Eugenics movement in the
United States and England. Spencer argued that societies evolve in much the same way that biological organisms evolve. Those
humans who are empirically less favored (physically, cognitively, socially, morally, financially) are also less fit to receive a fair
portion of the goods of society (wealth, power, and status). Therefore, to aid in any way the handicapped, the mentally
challenged, the criminal, the prostitute or drug addict, the indigent was merely to damage the human species. In order to perfect
the species, the unfit should not be allowed to reproduce their own kind. The Eugenics movement led to the involuntary
sterilization of over 120,000 men and women in the United States and England from about 1910 until the 1940s. The Tuskegee
Experiment and the Nazi Holocaust (among other human horrors) are the inevitable consequences of Social Darwinism and the
Eugenics movement. 38
Karl Marx (1818-1883), the father of modern Communism was born in Trier (now a German city located along the
Rhine River) on May 5, 1818 to a Jewish family, and died in London, England in 1883. Both parents came from rabbinical
families that reached back over a hundred years. Marx’s father was a more-or-less prominent lawyer but his relatively uneducated
mother was the primary influence in his early life. 39
Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto. He was an evolutionist, economist, historian, philosopher and the
intellectual “father” of the Conflict paradigm which argues that society is characterized by conflict among groups with differential
access to the goods of society (wealth, power, status). According to the Conflict paradigm, all of the social institutions reflect the
interests of the Bourgeoisie in opposition to the interests of the Proletariat. Marx wrote that violent revolution by the proletariat
is inevitable when they finally realize (class consciousness) that they are being exploited and group together in a “class for self,”
and this Communist revolution will create a classless society in which all will labor for the good of the society: “from each
according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
According to Marx, the two major social classes are the Bourgeoisie who are the ruling class; the owners of the means
(land. labor, capital) and modes (technologies) of production and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie exploit the workers by
forcing them to work for slave wages under whatever conditions and for whatever wages the Bourgeoisie deem appropriate so
long as the workers continue to make money for them. The Bourgeoisie are the owners of private property which is “the ability
to control the labor of others.” The Proletariat are the working class who are the producers of all of the material goods of
society. The Proletariat own nothing but their labor power—their ability to work—which they must sell piecemeal to the
Bourgeoisie. The Proletariat make the Bourgeoisie rich while they, themselves, become poorer and poorer. Under the social
structure of capitalism, society, according to Marx, is divided into two classes: the Bourgeoisie or ruling class, who own the
means of production and employ workers who toil for wages, and the Proletariat or working class who own nothing but their
labor power which they must sell in order to merely survive. This social division or stratification is due to the private ownership
of property (the ability to control the labor of others) which “has established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new
forms of struggle in place of the old ones. “Our epoch . . . has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and
more splitting into two great hostile camps, into two great classes . . . Bourgeoisie and Proletariat” (Marx, p. 15). This division
causes alienation which means the worker is separated from the object produced, from the process of production, from himself,
from his species being (his humanity). Given the primacy of the economic system in Marx’s theory, the political system functions
merely as an adjunct to and puppet of the economic superstructure of society or, as Orum states “[a]t the most abstract level, the
rulers under capitalism govern in favor of the capitalists” (Orum, p. 19). Alienation is the loss of one’s soul, one’s humanity,
one’s interpersonal human relationships with others becoming little more than animals who must labor or die or become part of
the machinery one uses.
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) is the “father” of the Functionalist Paradigm. He was a French order theorist who argued
that society is characterized by stability and strong integration based on mutual benefit. If Marx’s theory posits a world in which
alienation and struggle are the primary characteristics of society, French Sociologist Émile Durkheim viewed the social structure
as interconnected and ordered. Like Marx, Durkheim was born into a rabbinical family at Epinal, a city in the Western province
of Lorraine, near the German border, on April 15, 1858 and died on November 15, 1917.
Durkheim, like Marx, viewed the individual as part of a social structure that was concrete, objective, coercive, and
stable. Durkheim attempted to explain why societies are ordered; why order and not conflict is the norm. Durkheim argued that
society is held together by certain legitimating mechanisms that serve to help us internalize the values and norms of our society
and that serve to create social solidarity which is a feeling of collective conscience that is responsible for the social order; These
legitimating mechanisms permit people to accept the structure of their society and are based in the institutions of society,
primarily the family, religion and the law. Durkheim wrote that there are two types of solidarity: mechanical solidarity and
organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity is characterized by traditional societies, and where social cohesion is maintained by
sameness; where beliefs and values are shared; there is a simple economic system with extended kin groups, and a rural
geography. Organic Solidarity on the other hand is characterized by large-scale industrial societies in which social cohesion is
maintained by reliance on others where beliefs and values often differ, there is a complex economic system with a highly
differentiated division of labor, nuclear families; and an urban geography. In 1897, Durkheim wrote Suicide, which was a
systematic analysis of suicide rates in Europe. He also developed the concept of anomie which is a condition of normlessness;
social chaos; social upheaval; great social change; lack of social direction.
Max Weber (1864-1920) was a German Conflict theorist who was not a Marxist. Weber is, in part, responsible for the
development of the Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm because he argued that meaning requires understanding, what he called
Verstehen, which is the German word for understanding. We must, wrote Weber, understand the meaning that individuals give to
their own actions in order to understand and scientifically analyze their behavior. According to Weber, Sociologists must develop
value-free theories and conduct value-free research, which means that we must not let our own personal biases intrude into our
gathering and analysis of data. In other words, the Sociologist must not let her/his own biases cloud research and the scientific
method must always be employed by Sociologists. 40 Weber developed the definition of stratification that argues that inequality is
based on differentials in class, status, and power—a concept we will explore later. Weber also developed the concept of Ideal
Types which are conceptual models or typologies that are constructed from the direct observation of a number of specific cases
and represent the essential qualities found in those cases. An Ideal Type is a pure, theoretical form used to compare and contrast
real, historical, existing conditions; extremes (polar opposites) at either end of a continuum along which real types actually fall; a
theoretical benchmark against which to measure reality. The word “ideal” does not presuppose or imply any value judgment;
there can be an ideal type of whorehouse or an ideal type of convent. Ideal types are “logically controlled and unambiguous
conceptions” (From Max Weber, p. 59) which often become testable models. Three classic studies which make use of ideal types
are: Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s Men and Women of the Corporation, Michael Burawoy’s Manufacturing Consent, and Douglas
Holmes’s Cultural Disenchantments. Ideal types cannot and do not actually exist in the real world, they are purely theoretical
tools used to measure reality. A former student described Ideal Type in the following way. Suppose a teacher gives a test and it is
possible for the students to answer correctly all but one question. The answer key for that test, because it contains all of the
correct answers to all of the questions including the question that is impossible for the students to answer correctly, is the ideal
type. Because the answer to the impossible question doesn’t exist in the real world, but only in the mind of the teacher, the test
questions serve as a hypothesis and the answer key is the method of measuring the research findings. Weber also developed the
concept of the ideal type of bureaucracy 41
Weber wrote extensively concerning bureaucracies and rationalization. Weber argued that bureaucracies are highly
rationalized societal forms
‘once it is fully established, bureaucracy is among those social structures which are the hardest to destroy.
Bureaucracy is the means of carrying ‘community action’ over into rationally ordered ‘societal action.’
Therefore, as an instrument for ‘societalizing’ relations of power, bureaucracy has been and is a power
instrument of the first order” (From Max Weber, p. 228). 42
This rationalization ultimately leads to an “iron cage” in which the individual is trapped, lost, alienated, and dehumanized—
turned into a mere cog in the ever-turning, never-ending wheels of capitalism. Rationalization/ Rationalism leads to
depersonalization and the Iron Cage of Bureaucracy. Weber also wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in which
he argued that it was the Weltanschauung of Calvinists that drove them to acquire and accumulate wealth in such a way that
modern, rational, free-market Capitalism was the only possible result of their activity. 43
Lester Ward (1841-1913), the first president of the American Sociological Society, “conceptualized Sociology as the
systematic study of social forces, these being psychic in nature, and resulting in a continuous process of ‘social synergy’ by which
new structures were created.” 44 In 1903 he wrote Pure Sociology in which he argued that Sociology involves the study of society
in an effort to understand and explain the natural laws that govern its evolution. Applied Sociology was written in 1906 and
posited that sociological principles, social ideals, and ethical considerations should be used for the improvement of society. (Jane
Addams [1860-1935] who founded Hull House in Chicago applied sociological theory to help the indigent and homeless, and
Margaret Sanger [1879-1966] who was the founder of Planned Parenthood and an early women’s rights advocate was also an
applied Sociologist, although some of her work deliberately aided the Eugenics Movement.) 45
W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963) was a highly complicated man who was the founder of African-American Sociology and
the first African American president of the American Sociological Society. He was also one of the early founders of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Born after the civil war to free parents, DuBois was not subjected
to racism until he was about 10. The incident, about which he wrote in his most famous work The Souls of Black Folk (1903),
helped him to shape his view of race in America. As a young Sociologist (he was the first African American to ever earn a Ph.D.
in Sociology from Harvard University) he believed that America had the potential to overcome her racist heritage and her racist
past and move into a new future where black and white would join together to carve out a new nation—a nation without
prejudice. “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” he wrote in 1903. 46 Unfortunately,
DuBois came to believe that America could not overcome her racism, that it was too deeply ingrained, too tightly woven into the
fabric of our society and, at the age of 90, DuBois renounced his American citizenship and migrated to Ghana in West Africa
where he died in 1963 at the age of 95. DuBois’ work still speaks to us today and still urges us to work to triumph over the racism
that still too often defines us.
C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) who wrote The Sociological Imagination was a conflict theorist but not a Marxist; in fact,
his perspective was based more on the works of Weber. Mills viewed society as being composed of diverse groups that have
conflicting values and interests. Moreover, The Sociological Imagination means comprehending the links between people’s
immediate, personal social settings and the remote, impersonal social world that surrounds them and helps to shape them, e.g.,
when one person is unemployed it is a personal problem but when many people are unemployed it is a social issue and requires
analyzing the social structure. In order to study properly society, we must analyze the relationship between society and the
individual; between the past, present, and future; and must study human behavior in a social, cultural, and historical context. Mills
argued that we must never forget that we are studying human behavior and that we must, therefore, never forget the human aspect
of our discipline; in order to study properly society, we must analyze the relationship between society and the individual; between
the past, present, and future. He also wrote The Power Elite which argued that the post-WW II United States was ruled by a
political-military-industrial complex.
Symbolic Interactionism which views the creation and manipulation of symbols—sounds, objects, colors, and events that
represent something other than themselves—as critical to understanding social interaction, has two major focuses—microlevel
analysis and the meaning of symbols. The Symbolic Interactionist paradigm is primarily American and was developed at the
University of Chicago. The Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm has also been called the Chicago School of Sociology. The
Chicago School is a uniquely American approach to Sociology. The development of the Symbolic Interactionism Perspective is
often credited to Georg Simmel (1858-1918) who argued that society must be studied from the microlevel and not only the
macrolevel. The macrolevel approach means studying society on a broad scale and viewing it as more than the sum of its parts
while the microlevel approach focuses more on small group interactions and the relationship between the individual and society.
Simmel laid the basic foundation for Symbolic Interactionism but George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) was the American
originator of Symbolic Interactionism. Mead (1863-1931) wrote Mind, Self, and Society in which he stated that the continuous
processes of creating, defining, and redefining meaningful symbols makes society possible and that society and the individual
have meaning only in relation to each other. Also from the Chicago School was William I. Thomas (1863-1947) who was a
professor at the University of Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s and developed what has come to be called Thomas’ Theorem
which states: “things perceived to be real will be real in their consequences” 47 Thomas wrote:
if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. . . . Once meaning has been
assigned, their consequent behavior is shaped by [that] meaning. If people believe in witches
such beliefs have tangible consequences—they may, for example, kill those persons assumed
to be witches. This then is the power the human mind has in transmuting raw sense data into a
categorical apparatus that could make murderers of us all. Once a Vietnamese becomes a
“gook,” or a Black a “nigger,” or a Jew a “kike,” that human being has been transmuted
through the peculiar alchemy of social definition into something wholly “other” who is now a
target of prejudice and discrimination, of violence and aggression, and even murder. 48
In other words, we act on what we think/believe is real regardless of its ontological reality. Our
beliefs, our perceptions guide our behavior. We treat people based on what we perceive to be
their basic characteristics often based solely on our perception of their place in the stratification hierarchy. Stereotypes and
discriminatory behavior are almost always based on such perceptions. Our own position in the stratification hierarchy is judged
just as we judge that of others and based on the same generally superficial qualities. What are the first things you notice when you
meet someone for the first time? Do the things you notice color your analysis of that person? The picture is Norman
Rockwell’s 49 painting of Ruby Bridges who is being escorted to school by FBI agents because she is a black child integrating an
all-white school for the first time. There were (and still are) those in our society who would have killed Ruby simply because of
the color of her skin. On the wall behind Ruby is written the word “Nigger.” Thomas’ Theorem tells us that when we call people
names, we have turned them into objects, and objectifying people permits us to do to them anything we want, including
murdering them.
Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) developed a theory based on the Symbolic Interactionist paradigm that has been
called “the Looking Glass Self” which argues that the individual’s self-concept is largely determined by the perceptions of
others. The “Looking-Glass Self” basically means that society is a mirror in which the individual is reflected. 50 Our sense of
self, our concept of how we fit into society and how we are supposed to interact with others, is based, according to Cooley’s
theory, on the feedback we receive from those with whom we are in contact on a day-to-day basis. In other words, we are largely
the products of the society into which we were born and raised.
Herbert Blumer in his book Symbolic Interactionism wrote that there are three basic premises of Symbolic
interactionism—human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them; the meaning of such
things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s fellows; these things are handled in, and
modified through, an interpretive process” (in other words, someone engages in an ACT which is followed by an
INTERPRETation and then, and only then, do we REACT).
The Three Major Sociological Paradigms: Their Origins, the Theorists, Major Concepts, Societal-Level Approach/ Unit of
Analysis, Problems/Weaknesses
Primary
Theorist(s)
View of Society/Major Concepts/
View of Social Structure
Émile Durkheim,
Talcott Parsons,
Kingsley Davis,
Wilbert Moore
Karl Marx, Max Weber,
C. Wright Mills,
Emmanuel Wallerstein
All of society is characterized by conflict—economic competition—between
the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Georg Simmel,
Max Weber,
George Herbert Mead,
Charles Horton Cooley,
Erving Goffman
19th Century European (late
1800s)
19th Century European (mid-1800s)
Origin
20th Century American
(University of Chicago)
Symbolic Interactionism
Functionalism
Conflict
Paradigm
1) Society is divided into two parts, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
2) The bourgeoisie is the ruling class, the owners of the means (land, labor, and
capital) and the modes (technology) of production.
3) The bourgeoisie own and control all of the economic forces in society.
4) The proletariat are the workers who own nothing but their own labor power (the
ability to work) which is controlled by the bourgeoisie.
5) Eventually the proletariat will realize that they are being exploited (used for
profitable gain) by the bourgeoisie and will rise up in violent revolution against
their oppressors—the bourgeoisie—which will usher in a new society where
everyone is socially and economically equal.
6) The social structure exists in time and space, is objective/external, concrete, and
coercive.
All of society is characterized by societal stability.
1) Society is multi-layered and has many more components than just the
bourgeoisie and proletariat.
2) Power is relatively evenly distributed across groups.
3) Each element of society, and each institution of society aids the maintenance of
the social structure which permits society to be balanced among each of the societal
institutions. The Family, Law, and Religion are the primary mechanisms of social
stability and legitimation.
4) Members of society see the social structure as legitimate (acceptable and
working properly) and therefore strive to maintain that social structure.
Legitimation maintains social equilibrium or balance which maintains the status
quo.
5) Consensus (agreement) exists among all levels of society and that consensus
leads to legitimation (acceptability).
coercive.
All of society is based on day-to-day micro-level interactions between
individuals and among small groups.
1) Society is multi-layered, highly variable, and is based on the day-to-day
interactions between individuals and among small groups.
2) Understanding the meaning that people give to their own behaviors is essential
to understanding the social structure.
3) Symbols (things which stand for something other than themselves) and the
meaning people give to those symbols is an essential component of society.
4) It is our shared understanding of symbols that makes society possible.
5) Reality is based on perception, and our behavior is controlled by our
perceptions.
6) The social structure exists only in the minds of individuals and small groups and
has no objective reality; it is subjective/internal, abstract, in constant flux, and
voluntary.
Societal-Level
Approach/
Unit of
Analysis
Macro Level—
the group is the
basic unit of
society and the
basic unit of
sociological
analysis.
Problems/
Weaknesses
Focuses more on
groups, conflict,
change, and
doesn’t consider
small group
processes or
social stability.
Macro Level—
the group is the
basic unit of
society and the
basic unit of
sociological
analysis.
Focuses so
much on
stability that it is
unable to
explain conflict
and egregious
stratification.
Doesn’t consider
small group
processes.
Micro Level—
the individual
is the basic unit
of society and
the basic unit
of sociological
analysis.
Focuses on
small groups
and individuals,
perception and
subjectivity so
much that it is
unable to give
much weight or
understanding to
large-scale
processes, and
objective reality.
Because the three major Sociological paradigms have very different conceptions about the world, each explains
differently the same behaviors, processes, institutions, or events. For example, the chart below shows the ways in which each of
the models might explain the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.
Symbolic
Interactionism
Functionalism
Conflict
Paradigm
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
The terrorist attack was caused by American foreign policy vis á vis the Middle East as a whole, the first Gulf
War, American support of the Israeli government and Israel’s treatment of its Palestinian population. The
Bourgeoisie (the United States and most of Western Europe) has exploited for decades the people and natural
resources of the Middle East without offering economic and educational support to the people. The U.S. and
Western Europe have supported dictatorial regimes, ignored human rights abuses, and generally turned their
backs on the plight of the majority of Middle Easterners and Muslims in general throughout the world. Thus, the
terrorists (as representatives of the Proletariat), attacked, or attempted to attack, the centers of American power:
the World Trade Center (economic power), the Pentagon (military power), and the U.S. Capital (political power).
The terrorist attack was an act of extreme deviance caused by anomic conditions (conditions of social chaos
when the rules for normative behavior seem to have disappeared) in the Middle East and among Muslim people
throughout the world. Because of the cultural influence of the American media throughout the world, and
because of the rapidity of social change taking place due to that cultural influence, the terrorists engaged in an act
of deviance based on their belief that they were acting at the behest of God, and for the good of their own people,
that took their own lives as well as the lives of thousands of others.
The terrorists used the symbols of American power—the World Trade Center, New York City, the Pentagon,
Washington, D.C.—in order to deliver a message to the world concerning their perception that the United States
is the cause of the misery of Muslims in the Middle East as well as throughout the world. The perception of
reality is often more real than the concrete reality itself, because sometimes we act based on what we think or
believe more strongly than on what is really real. The actions of the terrorists were a form of language, a method
of communication that was extreme, because the message was extreme.
Theorist
Ibn Khaldun
Some Major Sociological Theorists: Their Paradigms, Their Theories
Dates
Origin
Paradigm
1332-1406
Tunis/Morocco
N/A
William of Ockham
ca. 1300-1349
British
N/A
August Comte
1798-1857
French
Positivism
Harriet Martineau
1802-1876
British
Positivism
Karl Marx
1818-1883
German
Conflict
Frederick Engels
1820-1895
British (German-born)
Conflict
Theory
Rise and Fall of
Civilizations
Historical Sociology
Occam’s Razor
“All other things being
equal, the simplest
explanation for
anything is usually
accurate”
Positivism
Social Statics and Social
Dynamics
The Scientific Method
Must Be Used to
Study Society
The Communist
Manifesto
Capital
Bourgeoisie and
Proletariat
Owners of the Means
and Modes of
Production
Owners of Private
Property
Economic Determinism
Owners of Labor Power
The Communist
Manifesto
Theorist
Émile Durkheim
Dates
Origin
Paradigm
1858-1917
French
Functionalism
Max Weber
1864-1920
German
Conflict/Symbolic
Interactionism
Ferdinand Tönnies
1855-1936
German
Structuralism
Robert Michels
1876-1936
German
Conflict
Lester Ward
1841-1913
American
Thorstein Veblen
1857-1929
American
Conflict
W.E.B. DuBois
1868-1963
American
Conflict
Georg Simmel
1858-1916
German
George Herbert Mead
1863-1931
American
Charles Horton Cooley
1864-1921
American
Erving Goffman
1922-1982
American
Horace Miner
1912-1993
American
Anthropologist
Theory
Social Stability
The Mechanisms that
Create and Maintain
Social Stability
Organic Solidarity—
Macro
Mechanical Solidarity—
Micro
Suicide
Ideal Types
Bureaucracies
The Iron Cage
Class, Status, and Power
Verstehen
Gemeinschaft und
Gesellschaft
Community and Society
The Iron Law of
Oligarchy
Pure Sociology
Applied Sociology
The Theory of the
Leisure Class
Minorities
“The problem of the
20th century is the
problem of the color
line”
Number Theory—as the
size of a group
changes the
relationships among
group members also
changes
Micro-Level Analysis
The Isolated Individual,
Dyads, Triads
The Metropolis
The Stranger
Mind, Self, and Society
The “I” and “Me”
Stages of the
Development of the
Self
The Looking-Glass Self
Primary and Secondary
Groups
The Presentation of the
Self
Impression
Management
Face Work
Total Institutions
Stigma
“Body Ritual among the
Nacirema”
Theorist
C. Wright Mills
Dates
Origin
Paradigm
1916-1962
American
Conflict
Robert K. Merton
1910-2003
American
Structural Functionalism
W. I. Thomas
1863-1947
American
Herbert Blumer
Fritz Machlup
1900-1987
1902-1983
American
American (Austrianborn)
N/A
Elton Mayo
1880-1949
American (Australianborn)
Functionalism
Stanley Milgram
1933-1984
American
N/A
Philip Zimbardo
19??-
American
Psychologist
William Foote Whyte
William Ogburn
1914-2000
1886-1959
American
American
Functionalism
George Ritzer
1940-
American
Conflict/Weberian
Franz Boas
1858-1942
American (Germanborn)
Theory
The Sociological
Imagination
The Power Elite
Responses to Anomie
Typologies of Bigotry
Thomas’ Theorem
Perception is Reality
Economist
Social Sciences are Real
Science
The Hawthorne
Experiment
The Social Problems of
an Industrial Society
Psychologist
Obedience Experiments
Psychologist
Role Embracement
Experiments
Street Corner Society
Material and NonMaterial Culture
Cultural Lag Hypothesis
The McDonaldization of
Society
Cultural Relativism
Gerhard Lenski
Irving Janis
Peter Berger
19241918-1990
1929-
All
Sociocultural Evolution
Groupthink
The Sacred Canopy
Stephen Rosoff
194?-
American
American (Austrianborn)
American
Structuralism
Edward Sutherland
1883-1950
American
Immanuel Wallerstein
Gordon Allport
19301897-1967
American
American
Conflict
Social Psychologist
Kingsley Davis
1908-1997
American
Functionalism
Wilbert Moore
1914-1987
American
Functionalism
Melvin Tumin
1919-1994
American
Functionalism
Charlotte Perkins
Gilman
1860-1935
American
Conflict
Profit Without Honor:
White Collar Crime
and the Looting of
America
White Collar Crime
Differential Association
Theory
World Systems Theory
Prejudice
Racism
Essentialism
“Some Principles of
Stratification”
The Functionality of
Inequality
Stratification”
Inequality
Stratification: A
Critical Analysis”
The Dysfunctionality of
Inequality
Feminism
Theorist
Mary Daly
Dates
Origin
Paradigm
1928American
Conflict
William Julius Wilson
194?-
American
Structuralism
Arlie Russell
Hochschild
1940-
American
Theory
Radical Lesbian
Feminism
The Declining
Significance of Race
The Truly
Disadvantaged
When Work Disappears
The Second Shift
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IA—Introduction to Sociology—A Brief History of Sociology:
Ability To Control The
Labor Of Others, 7
twentieth century is
the problem of the
color line,”…14
ACT…15
Applied Sociology…14
August Comte…12
Bourgeoisie…13
bureaucracy…14
C. Wright Mills…11, 14
Charles Horton
Cooley…15
Chicago School of
Sociology…14
class, status, and
power…13
Conflict model…10
Critical thinking…11
Durkheim…13
Émile Durkheim…10,
13
Eugenics
movement…12
Functionalist
model…10
Functionalist
Paradigm…11
Georg Simmel…10, 14
George Herbert
Mead…14
George Ritzer…11
Harriet Martineau…12
Herbert Blumer…15
Herbert Spencer…12
How to Observe
Manners and
Morals…12
Hull House…14
Ideal Types…13
INTERPRET…15
iron cage…14
Jane Addams…14
Karl Marx…10, 12, 13
labor power…13
legitimating
mechanisms…13
Lester Ward…14
Looking-Glass Self…15
macrolevel
approach…14
Margaret Sanger…14
Max Weber…10, 13
mechanical
solidarity…13
Mechanical
solidarity…13
microlevel
approach…14
Mind, Self, and
Society…14
modern natural and
social sciences…12
Nazi Holocaust…12
organic solidarity…13
Organic Solidarity…13
owners of private
property…13
owners of the means
(land, labor, capital)
and modes
(technologies) of
production…13
paradigm…10
paradigms…10
Paradigms…11
Paradigms and
theories…10
Planned
Parenthood…14
Positive Philosophy…12
Positivism…12
Proletariat…13
Pure Sociology…14
rationalization…14
REACT…15
Social Darwinism…12
Social Dynamics…12
social imperative…12
Social Statics…12
society is a mirror in
which the individual
is reflected…15
Sociological
Imagination…11
Sociology…10–20
Some…17
Suicide…13
survival of the
fittest…12
Symbolic Interactionist
model…10
paradigm…15
Paradigm…14
the ability to control the
labor of others…13
The Chicago
School…14
The Communist
Manifesto…13
The Conflict
Paradigm…10
The
Enlightenment…10,
12
The Sociological
Imagination…11, 14
The Souls of Black
Folk…14
The Symbolic
Interactionist
Paradigm…11
The Three Sociological
Paradigms:
Explanations of
September 11, 2001
Terrorist
Attacks…17
theory…11
Thomas’ Theorem…15
Three Major
Sociological
Paradigms…16
Tuskegee
Experiment…12
value-free research…13
value-free theories…13
Verstehen…13
W. E. B. DuBois…14
William I. Thomas…15
Module IB—Social Science Research and Methodology
Because Sociology is a science, it is necessary for Sociologists to conduct scientific research. Sociologists are interested
in all aspects of human behavior; we want to know as much as we can possibly know about why people do the things that they do.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge acquisition; it helps us to determine how we know what we know. Epistemologists (the
people who study knowledge acquisition) tell us that there are five ways of knowing: experience, faith, tradition, authority,
and science. Experience is one of the primary ways we have of gaining knowledge; the simple fact that we live in a physical and
social world, that we have senses, and that we are constantly processing information about our world tells us that experience is
our earliest teacher—we learn because we constantly experience life. As a method of gaining knowledge, faith is also a very
strong teacher. Human beings seem to be created for faith—we believe in or have faith in a great many things. We have faith in a
deity or deities, we have faith in science to find solutions to various human problems, we have faith in our government to do the
right thing for the people, we have faith in our family and friends, we have faith in our social institutions, and, generally, we have
faith in other people. We acquire faith by learning to trust through the course of our lives. Traditional knowledge is the
knowledge that comes from previous generations. Traditional knowledge teaches us about our sociocultural and sociostructural
environment—we learn (through the socialization process) how to live with others in our society and at the same time, we learn
the values and norms of our culture. By reading this course pack, you are acquiring authoritative knowledge. The things you
learn from text and other non-fiction, information-based books is authoritative knowledge, as is learning from teachers or others
who are experts in their field or who have expert knowledge in some specific area of information. Science, however, differs from
all other ways that we have of gaining knowledge because science requires direct, systematic observation by people who are well
trained to engage in such observation. Science tests theories by developing testable hypotheses that add to our body of knowledge
about the physical and social world. Science is empirical (observable) knowledge that has been rigorously tested by using the
scientific method: the very specific plan which allows us to observe critically, as objectively as possible, and methodically the
natural and social world around us.
The process of scientific inquiry uses the principle known as Occam’s Razor 51 which is the scientific idea, developed
by William of Ockham, a 12th century British philosopher, that, all other things being equal, the simplest explanation for any
event or phenomenon is usually correct. This is also called parsimony or elegance. Parsimony simply means that our theories,
our hypotheses, our methods must be as simple as possible given the subject of the inquiry. Because of Occam’s Razor, scientists
tend not to believe in conspiracy theories. After all, does it make more sense that Elvis really is dead and buried at Graceland or
that he has been wandering around incognito for more than 30 years? Have we been visited by intelligent beings from other
worlds? Probably not. Those who argue that we have had such extraterrestrial visitations never have any incontrovertible, hard,
scientific evidence to prove their claims—their explanations are just too complicated and often too preposterous to fit the very
narrow confines of the principles of Occam’s Razor. Elegant theories are those that simplify as much as possible complex ideas.
Einstein’s elegant, parsimonious Special Theory of Relativity (E=MC2) is a nearly perfect example of elegance and parsimony.
This simple little equation—energy equals mass times the speed of light squared—is the simplest possible explanation for the
fourth dimension of space-time and how it functions. This elegant equation led to the discovery of atomic energy and the potential
for humans to explore the processes of creation in distant galaxies and in the heart of the atom. All sciences use the principle of
Occam’s Razor because it has proven both its worth and its accuracy for nearly a millennium.
The ultimate goal of science is to explain cause and effect through the use of systematic and objective observation,
measurement, and interpretation of data. This process or endeavor requires verification. Without verification of our methods and
results, we have not really “done” science and our study is only a tentative, and partially unconfirmed, analysis and
interpretation. 52 Verification means that another researcher has used our methodology for the same problem and has obtained
identical or nearly identical results. (Verification is sometimes called replication.) At the end of 2002, there was a group who
claimed that they had cloned a human being. Cloning is a very difficult and complex process that has many more failures than
successes. Furthermore, there are serious moral and ethical issues concerning human cloning, so that most, if not all, countries
have placed an indefinite ban on all human cloning. Nevertheless, the cult-like religious group the Raelians, announced to the
media that they had, indeed, cloned a human being and that the newborn baby was perfectly healthy. However, they offered no
proof of any kind that they had done anything of the sort. In fact, they made so many ridiculous excuses about why they had not
produced the DNA evidence that the media soon had its fill of their claims and stopped airing any stories about them and their
“clone.” The Raelians also violated the principles of Occam’s Razor!
The process of conducting scientific inquiry also requires objectivity. However, although all scientists attempt to be as
objective as possible, complete objectivity in science is a myth; our biases, our personal paradigms and belief systems guide the
kind of research we do and guide the things we research. However, objectivity—putting aside our own personal biases and
agendas—in data collection and analysis is a necessary part of scientific inquiry, and a goal to aim for even if perfect objectivity
is unattainable. Nevertheless, by utilizing our rigorous scientific training and our highly honed critical thinking skills we are
strongly aided in our goal of scientific objectivity.
For many, many years there has been a controversy between the natural sciences and the social sciences. In fact, many
of those in the various natural science disciplines have voiced their serious doubts about the propriety of referring to the social
sciences as true sciences. The natural sciences include Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Botany, Zoology, Medicine, Astronomy,
Geology, Paleontology, and Mathematics. The social sciences include: Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Philosophy,
History, Geography, Economics, and Political Science. In order to quell this often contentious dispute, Fritz Machlup, an
economist, developed, in his 1962 work The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States, seven criteria for
comparing the social (soft) sciences to the natural (hard) sciences. Machlup argued that these seven criteria are: 1)
invariability of observations; 2) objectivity of observations and explanations; 3) verifiability; 4) exactness of findings; 5)
measurability of phenomena; 6) constancy of numerical relationships; 7) predictability of future events. After extensive study of
methodologies among the various natural and social sciences Machlup’s conclusion was that the social sciences are not inferior
to the natural sciences, they are true science but they are very different because their subject matter (the natural world versus
human behavior) is very different. 53
In all sciences, it is necessary to use some sort of plan in order to conduct scientific inquiry. Since the period of the
Enlightenment, this “plan” has been the scientific method which is a systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum
objectivity and consistency in researching any problem. There are a few basic steps in the scientific method: 1) defining the
problem; 2) reviewing any pertinent studies that have been published in the scientific literature; 3) formulating the
hypothesis; 4) selecting the research design; 5) collecting and analyzing the data; 6) developing the conclusion and
discussing new directions for further inquiry into the same or a similar problem. 54
The Scientific Method: The Steps and Sub-Steps Explained
Sub-Steps
Explanation
1) Conceptual definition
Using abstract, generalized ideas to
narrow the topic and develop methods of
creating specific definitions
Define the Problem
2) Operational definition
Developing a measurable, specific,
unambiguous, clear, precise definition
1) Research old studies
Find journals, books, articles, and data
published before a certain date and read
the pertinent studies
2) Research new studies
Find journals, books, articles, and data
published within the past 10 years
3) Compare previous studies with your
Such comparisons allow us to determine
proposed study
whether we will be covering the same
Review the Literature
ground as previous researchers or
breaking new ground, or a combination
of both; we will also be able to analyze
the methodologies of others so that we
can determine the soundness of their
methods and the robustness of their
findings
1) Determine the IV
If we are conducting an experiment, or a
correlational study, we must attempt to
describe and define the agent that will
cause a change
2) Determine the DV
If we are conducting an experiment, or a
correlational study, we must attempt to
describe and define the variable or
variables that will be changed
3) Determine the null hypothesis
This helps us determine whether our
results will be based on pure chance
rather than a true cause and effect
relationship
Formulate the Hypothesis
4) Determine the error term
We must determine the amount of error
or
that will be allowed into our study; the
Determine the Research Objective
error term accounts for human error as
well as accounting for the idea that the
change in the DV was completely
random
5) Write the hypothesis
We must know our IV, DV, population,
sampling techniques, subjects (various
information about our subjects such as
race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion,
disability, education, occupation, area of
residence, etc. might be necessary in
order for us to make certain
determinations about our subjects); and
error term
1) Quantitative Research Design
Quantitative studies make rigorous use of
Select the Research Design
statistics and the scientific method
Step
Sub-Steps
Explanation
a) Determine the type of statistical
There are hundreds of statistical
analysis that will be used
analyses, but there are only a few that are
used regularly— distribution, r2; t-tests;
z-scores; cross-tabs, chi-squared,
ANOVA (analysis of variance), and
MANOVA (multiple analysis of
variance)—are a few such common
methods of statistical analysis
b) Determine the type of instrument
The thing we use to gather our data is
that will be used to gather data
called the instrument; we must determine
how we are going to gather our data; if
we use an experiment we must carefully
design the experiment so that no harm is
done to any of our subjects; if we are not
using an experiment, we might use
questionnaires, surveys, interviews, or
secondary analysis of existing data
c) Create the instrument
If we are using questionnaires, surveys or
interviews, we need to write the
questions or statements that will be used,
and determine the type of scale we will
use; the scale used permits us to measure
the responses—when you evaluate your
Select the Research Design
instructors each semester, the scale used
is a Likert-type scale which permits only
a limited number of responses from the
subjects
d) Test the instrument for validity
We must conduct a few “practice” tests
and reliability
(called pilot studies) to make sure that
our instrument or experiment is valid—
we are measuring what we think we are
measuring—and reliable—we always
obtain the same results
2) Qualitative Research Design
Qualitative Studies use research
objectives rather than a rigorous
hypothesis; qualitative studies are much
more subjective
a) Determine the type of observation
We must decide how much participation
that will be used
will be necessary in order to gather the
information we need
b) Determine the instrument that will The thing we use to gather our data is
be used to gather data
called the instrument; we must determine
how we are going to gather our data; if
we use an experiment we must carefully
design the experiment so that no harm is
done to any of our subjects; if we are not
using an experiment, we might use
questionnaires, surveys, interviews, or
secondary analysis of existing data
c) Create the instrument
If we are using questionnaires, surveys or
interviews, we need to write the
questions or statements that will be used
1) Determine the population
Based on the problem, we choose the
Collect and Analyze the Data
group of people from which our subjects
will be chosen; this is also the group that
is the focus of study; people who might
be interested in our findings because
those findings would apply to them
Step
Sub-Steps
Explanation
2) Determine the random selection
There are various computer programs
technique that will be used
that can be put to use to help us
randomize the population
Collect and Analyze the Data
3) Randomly select subjects
Because populations are often too large
to study we usually choose a
representative sample—people who are
typical (average) of the whole
population; each member of the
population must have an equal chance of
being chosen for the study
4) Administer the instrument
If we are using a questionnaire or survey
we need some method of administering it
to the subjects; in some case social
sciences hire firms that actually
administer the instrument and collect the
raw data
5) Collect the completed instruments
Pick up the surveys, questionnaires,
completed interviews from whoever
administered the instrument
6) Code the raw data
Decide how the raw data will be coded
for input into a computer; if coding
techniques are not very clear and very
specific, errors may result
7) Input the raw data
Input the coded raw data into the
computer
8) Determine the form of statistical
Once the data has been entered, the
analysis that will be used
social scientist must decide what kind of
statistical analysis to run; sometimes
more than one form of analysis will be
used
9) Run the computer analysis
Enter into the computer the form of
statistical analysis you want to use
10) Analyze the completed data
The computer will print out the codes
and the numbers; it’s up to the scientist
to interpret what those numbers mean
11) Determine findings
After all analysis has been completed, we
must determine what we discovered and
what that discovery means
1) Write a report that discusses, in detail, The final step in the scientific method is
each aspect and each step in the
to write a paper that covers each step of
completed study
our study and discusses our methods, our
hypothesis, our population, our sampling
techniques, the type of coding used, the
type of statistical analysis used, and our
interpretation of the meaning of our
Develop the Conclusion
findings
2) Suggest new areas of study
The paper we write should include
suggestions for new areas of study for
the same problem
3) Develop new hypotheses
The paper we write should contain at
least one new hypothesis for ourselves or
other scientists to explore
The first step in any study is trying to discover what we want to know. Most of the time, the direction in which scientific
inquiry takes us is based on our own, personal understanding of the world in which we live. Our education will lead us to believe
some things more strongly than others or to accept certain paradigmatical approaches over others. We will learn, as part of our
education, what others have done and what still needs to be done in our particular scientific/academic discipline. We will learn
also what interests us, what piques our curiosity, what fascinates or perplexes us and this will lead us to conduct scientific inquiry
Step
into certain, relatively specific areas, and while scientists might be interested in a great many things, there is only so much time
and money to “do” science.
The first step in the scientific method is to define the problem, the problem being the content or purpose of our study—
the specific aspect of the physical or social world that we wish to study. The problem is the thing we want to know and we must
define it by stating as clearly as possible what it is that we hope to investigate. We want to be sure that we are studying what we
think we are studying (which is called validity) and we want to be sure that there is no ambiguity for ourselves or for those who
will read the written report of our study. Developing a definition often can be difficult because we must be very specific,
unambiguous, clear, precise, and parsimonious. Furthermore, our definition must contain measurability—we must be able to state
with precision specific numerical values for our problem. Therefore, the definitional process involves several steps, the first of
which is to develop a conceptual definition of the problem under analysis. A conceptual definition involves the use of defining
a concept through the use of other concepts, (a concept is an abstract idea or general thought) in order to develop an operational
definition which is an explanation of an abstract concept that is specific, unambiguous, clear, precise, parsimonious, and
measurable. Operationalizing our definition of the problem is a necessary and important part of any scientific investigation,
because we must be able to define our terms accurately enough that they will be completely unambiguous to anyone who is
helping us in our research or who reads the published analysis of our research. 55
By reviewing the literature we are sifting through previous studies conducted by others and reviewing, as completely as
possible, all of the relevant scholarly studies and information concerning the particular area that we wish to study in order to
refine the problem under study, clarify possible techniques (methods) and eliminate or reduce the number of avoidable
mistakes. 56
Because we always start out with some idea of what we want to know and because we are trained scientists, we have
formulated an educated guess concerning the possible results of our inquiry. The actual formulation of the hypothesis, which is
a speculative statement about the relationship between two or more factors (variables), tells us what we are looking for in our
research and is a complex procedure requiring the use of statistics. A hypothesis must be testable; it must be capable of being
evaluated, and we must begin by being as precise as possible. In fact, there is a regularized and routinized procedure for writing a
hypothetical statement. Because there are two different types of research methodologies, only one of which (called quantitative
research which is a statistical analysis) requires strict adherence to the scientific method, we often use research objectives (for
the methodology involving qualitative research which relies on observation of behavior and a somewhat subjective
interpretation of the meaning which people give their behavior) which is an outline of the specific goals or purposes for the
research project rather than a formalized hypothesis. Sociologists rarely use the experimental method because of the potential for
psychological or social harm to the humans whose behavior we are studying. However, from time to time, under very highly
controlled conditions, we may engage in use of the experimental method. 57
The experimental method, described as simply as possible, makes use of two (or more) variables, (a variable is a
measurable trait of a characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions—a variable is anything that can be
measured and that can change over time), 58 the Independent Variable (which is called the IV and is the agent that causes a
change) and the Dependent Variable (which is called the DV and is the thing that is changed). In an experiment, there is a group
of people being studied who are called the subjects. As an example, let’s pretend that we are a pharmaceutical manufacturer and
we have developed a new drug for depression called AntiDep. In order to ascertain the efficacy (how well it works) of the drug
we must experiment with a large group of people over a fairly long period of time. The subjects will be administered a test to
determine the amount of depression (the DV) they are suffering in a procedure called a pre-test which creates a baseline which is
an initial measurement from which it can be determined if any change has occurred; without a baseline, no quantitative scientific
research has any validity. They will then be divided, as equally and as randomly as possible, into two groups: the experimental
group and the control group. The experimental group will receive our new drug, AntiDep which is the IV, and the control
group will receive a placebo (perhaps a sugar pill). None of the subjects must ever know what group they are in (this is called a
single blind study). In fact, sometimes even the researchers don’t know which group any given subject is in until the final stage
(this is called a double blind study). After the experiment has run its course, the subjects are once again brought together and
they take another test to measure the amount of depression they are suffering (this is called a post-test). If the AntiDep (the IV) is
proven effective, the subjects in the experimental group will be shown to suffer from less depression than they did earlier and
also from less depression than the control group compared to the original baseline for both groups and to the post-test results for
both groups. In other words, if the AntiDep (the IV) works, the amount of depression (the DV) will have changed for the better.
This is a cause and effect relationship: the IV (our drug) reduced the amount of depression (the DV)—the IV caused a change in
the DV. Because of the ethical considerations involved in Sociological research, we often cannot use the experimental method
which leaves us to engage in correlational studies.
Model of the Experimental Method
Hypothesis: The IV will change the DV in the subjects as compared to the DV in a control group who will receive a placebo.
This is a double-blind study. The error term is .01.
IV: Independent Variable—the thing that causes a change
DV: Dependent Variable—the thing that is changed
Subjects: the people who are in our experiment (they must be described in the hypothesis, and the method used to choose them
must also be explained)
Experimental Group: the subjects who will receive the treatment
Control Group: the subjects who will receive the placebo
Baseline: initial measurement from which it will be determined if any change has occurred, determined by measuring the
difference between the results of a pre-test and a post test
Pre-Test: determines the baseline; measures the amount of depression in all subjects
Post-Test: measures the amount of depression in all subjects
Single-Blind Study: the subjects do not know what group they are in; subjects must never know what group they are in
Double-Blind Study: neither the subjects nor the researchers know what group anyone is in
Experimental Group
All Subjects Take Pre-Test
Establishes Baseline
All Subjects Take Post-Test
Control Group
Difference from Baseline Shows
Amount of Change
If the amount of change is
greater for the Experimental
Group than for the Control
Group, and within the
parameters for the amount of
error, the hypothesis has been
proven
Correlational studies rely on statistical analysis just as the experimental method does, however, correlational studies
only indicate that a change in one variable coincides with a change in another variable. Correlations may indicate causality but
they never, prove causality. Correlations only show that there is a relationship between two variables, and although they do
indicate the strength of the relationship, they do not prove causality; a one-to-one (1:1), or perfect correlation in which the
variables change at the same rate over the same period of time, indicates a very strong relationship, but still does not prove
causality. Various problems can occur in correlational and experimental studies including spurious variables in which there is a
statistical but meaningless relationship, intervening variables in which a third variable comes between the IV and the DV, and
confounding variables which are variables that are unanticipated, often overlooked, and that can seriously compromise the
results of an experiment such as that in the Hawthorne Effect. The Hawthorne effect, based on a seriously flawed experiment
conducted by Elton Mayo at the Hawthorne plant of AT&T’s wholly owned Western Electric Chicago subsidiary from 1927
through 1932, states that positive differential treatment and increased status of factory workers may motivate those workers to
higher levels of productivity regardless of other possibly negative environmental conditions. In other words, according to Perrow
“[t]he attention apparently raised morale, and morale raised productivity.” 59 Perrow is arguing that the various experiments
conducted at Hawthorne (changes in the light intensity of the workplace, the bank wiring group, and the mica-splitting test room)
led social scientists to adopt the human relations model—a model that sounds good and looks good on paper but that is defective
in operationalization so that the resulting findings are also defective largely due to the huge numbers of variables. The
Hawthorne effect indicates that, when people know they are being watched, it effects significantly their behavior. The
Hawthorne experiment failed because the entire experiment was invalid: the researchers were not measuring what they thought
they were measuring. Instead of measuring worker productivity (the DV) based on environmental changes in the workplace (the
IV), they were measuring the strength of the effect of researcher intrusiveness and the desire of the subjects to please the
researchers. 60 61
Because we want to make sure our study is accurate and meaningful, we must make certain that the instrument
(experimental methodology, survey, or questionnaire) we are using is both valid and reliable. Validity is the degree to which a
measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study; it means measuring what is supposed to be measured. Reliability is
the extent to which a measure provides consistent results; it is always getting the same results, even if those results are wrong! A
measure may be reliable without being valid, but all valid measures are always reliable. For example, if I am measuring with a
broken or inappropriate device, my results will always be the same even though they are wrong; therefore, they are reliable
(always the same) but they are not valid (because they are wrong). However, if my results are always correct (valid) they must be
reliable. 62
An Extremely Simplified Model of the Hawthorne Experiment
Hypothesis: The IV is the workplace environment which will create changes in the DV which is worker productivity in the
subjects as compared to the DV in a control group whose workplace environment will not change.
IV: Independent Variable—workplace environment
DV: Dependent Variable—worker productivity
Subjects: assembly line workers manufacturing telephone switching equipment
Experimental Group: 6 female workers in the experimental Bank Wiring Room
Control Group: workers in the regular Bank Wiring Room
Baseline: initial measurement of productivity of all workers
Pre-Test: determines the baseline; measures the total and individual amount of productivity in all subjects
Post-Test: measures the total and individual amount of productivity in all subjects
Single-Blind Study: N/A; all subjects knew what group they were in
Double-Blind Study: N/A; all subjects and the experimenters knew which subjects were in which groups
In any statistical analysis there is a mathematically determined “error term” built into our equations which helps us to
make sure that our correlational studies are as accurate as possible and that the relationships shown are real relationships. 63
Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon any researcher or any scientist (or any critically thinking person), to look skeptically on any
correlational study in which either the error term, or the research methodology, or the hypothesis, or the number of subjects, or the
actual variables are unknown.
y
EXAMPLE:
As the number of jobs in the economy increases,
the amount of personal savings also increases.
x
Positive Correlation: As one variable increases at some rate over some period of time, a second variable also increases.
If there is a statistical relationship, there is a positive correlation. The distance between the variables (in the figure to the
left the distance is indicated by the green arc) as shown on a graph, shows the strength of the relationship.
y
x
EXAMPLE:
As the people’s belief in their government
decreases, the number of people voting also
decreases.
Positive Correlation: As one variable decreases at some rate over some period of time, a second variable also decreases.
If there is a statistical relationship, there is a positive correlation. The distance between the variables (in the figure to the
y
x
EXAMPLE:
As the number of living wage jobs increases, the
crime rate decreases.
Negative Correlation: As one variable increases at some rate over some period of time, a second variable decreases. If
there is a statistical relationship, there is a negative correlation. The distance between the variables (in the figure to the
y
x
EXAMPLE:
As the price of gas increases, the number of people
driving to work in Houston does not change.
No Correlation: As one variable changes, a second variable does not change. Therefore, there is no statistical
relationship, and thus, no correlation. The distance between the variables as shown on a graph, shows the strength of the
relationship.
A research design is a detailed plan or method for obtaining data scientifically. There are two basic types of research
design in the social sciences: quantitative which relies on statistics and qualitative which relies on observation. These two types
are usually combined in Sociological research. Quantitative research designs emphasize the use of numbers and statistics to
analyze and explain social events and human behavior. Some quantitative designs use secondary analysis which makes use of
existing data and is often used in comparative/historical studies. The Census Bureau; Departments of Labor and Justice; General
Social Survey and many other academic and governmental entities provide such data, often free of charge on the internet.
Experimental designs which are attempts to discover cause-and-effect relationships between two variables are also quantitative
as are surveys which use questionnaires or interviews to obtain data, (surveys are difficult to design well) and questionnaires
which are a series of statements or questions to which an individual is asked to respond and consist of closed-ended questions
which use standardized responses, offer very few choices to the respondent, and are the easiest to analyze, and open-ended
questions which require the respondent to create an answer and are rather difficult to analyze. 64
Qualitative research designs involve the use of systematic observation focusing on the meanings people give to their
social actions. They require subjective interpretation on behalf of both the subjects and the researcher. Qualitative designs use
research objectives rather than rigorous scientific hypotheses and consist of such techniques as ethnographic interviews which
means learning from people or writing about people, or talking with people in an effort to learn as much as possible about them
and their behavior by focusing on a small number of significant individuals (sometimes called informants—a member of a group
who is willing to share her/his experiences with the researcher) in particular cultures or sub-cultures. Participant observation is a
technique in which a researcher systematically observes the people being studied while participating with them in their activities.
William Foote Whyte’s Street Corner Society is a classic example of participant observation in Sociological literature. In the
late 1930s, Whyte, a PhD candidate at Harvard University, began a study of Italian immigrants in South Boston. At the time, it
was believed that there was little social organization within immigrant communities and that this lack of social organization
prevented assimilation and fostered crime. Whyte, by living with these immigrants and getting to know them quite well over a
period of more that a year, was able to show that there was a great deal of social organization, that the men, instead of simply
hanging aimlessly on street corners were engaged instead in sharing information about employment, politics, social activities and
the like. Although Whyte’s participation with his subjects was overly involved, nonetheless, his study is a classic in participant
observation methodology as well as in the necessity of conducting such studies rather than merely taking at face value what we
suppose to be true about any given group. In case studies there is intensive observation of a particular person, group, or event
which, although permitting detailed data to be gathered does not always generalize to a wider population. In content analysis the
researcher examines and analyzes communications and focuses on words, themes, or patterns in various media 65 . One such study
by a reporter found that the media descriptions of children who were murderers of other children differed based on the race or
ethnicity of the children. White children were generally referred to as “freckle-faced,” “angelic,” “all-American,” while minority
children were depicted as “sinister,” “dark,” and “frightening.” Thus, content analysis was responsible for showing the glaring, if
unintended, racism inherent in our society.
Once the research design has been chosen we can get to the fun part of research which is the collection and analysis of
data which consists of deciding who is going to be in your study which is called sampling. Sampling determines who will be
chosen for a research study and the method used to make those choices. In statistics, we refer to the group of people to whom we
would like to generalize our research findings as a population. A population can be only a few people or can be everyone who
lives in the United States. In a study on ovarian cancer, the population would be women. In an analysis of voter choice in a
presidential election the population would be the entire country. Because we generally do not have the time or the money to study
all members of any given population, we must choose a representative sample which is a selection from a larger population that
is statistically found to be typical of that population. It is the part of the population that is actually used in any given research
study but it must be of sufficient size in order for the results to be statistically meaningful (more than 40 subjects are required).
Generally speaking, we use a random sample in which every member of the entire population being studied has the same chance
of being selected. In other words, each member of the target population has an equal chance of being chosen as a research subject.
Because random samples might be too large we often resort to the use of a stratified random sample which is a proportionate
number of the random sample. 66 However, it is absolutely essential that our sample is truly random or our results could be
disastrously wrong. At the end of the 1948 presidential campaign between Democrat President Harry Truman and former New
York Governor Thomas Dewey, a Republican, a major polling organization conducted a poll by calling people on the phone and
asking them who they would be voting for for president. Overwhelmingly the results favored Dewey. There is a very famous
photograph taken the day after that election of newly-elected Harry Truman holding up a newspaper that had a banner headline
stating: “Dewey Wins!” The problem with that particular study was in the sampling technique used. In 1948, fewer than 50% of
the U. S. population had telephones and those who did tended to be wealthier than average. Then, as now, those who are wealthier
than the average tended to vote Republican. Therefore, the pollsters were actually sampling wealthier-than-average Republicans
with telephones. If the same poll was conducted today it would be accurate, but at the time, the results were laughably wrong—so
wrong that nearly everyone uses this as a textbook example of poor sampling techniques!
In order to be able to analyze our data in a qualitative study it usually appears in a form conducive to that end.
Sociologists often create scales which are indicators of attitudes, behavior, and characteristics of people or organizations. The
Likert-type scale is standard in our discipline. A Likert-type scale, named after its creator, offers closed-choice statements and
only a limited number of possible responses from the subjects. A Scantron-type test is a kind of Likert-type scale as are the
evaluations that students give their faculty each long semester. 67
The final step in the scientific method is to develop a conclusion and to terminate a specific phase of our investigation
and also, and equally importantly, to generate ideas for future study. If our hypothesis has been supported; then we have “done
good science,” however, failure to support a hypothesis is also valuable because it prevents others from blindly marching into a
hypothetical or theoretical cul de sac. 68
The Code of Ethics of the American Sociological Association, like the Hippocratic Oath, declares, as its first tenet that
the Sociologist must never do any harm (psychological, physical, social, spiritual, economic) to another human being. This
creates ethical issues in research that we must take into consideration before beginning any scientific inquiry. Today, all
universities and research institutions have human subjects committees who are responsible for overseeing and approving or
denying any and all proposed research, as well as monitoring on-going research in order to ensure that the code of ethics is not
being violated and that no subject or researcher is being harmed in any way. Because a few studies and experiments crossed
boundaries that are unthinkable today, we now attempt to maintain, with certainty, our ethical and moral responsibilities as
scientists and as members of our society. The Milgram (Yale) and Zimbardo (Stanford) studies in obedience and role
embracement are two studies that led to the development of ethical codes and watchdog committees. Thompson and Hickey, in
their textbook Society in Focus give a detailed explanation of the Zimbardo experiment.
In an attempt to understand what it means to be a prisoner or a guard, Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues
screened over 70 volunteers who answered an ad in a Palo Alto, California, city newspaper for both jobs. They
ended up with about two dozen young men whom they described as mature, emotionally stable, normal,
intelligent college students from middle-class homes throughout the United States and Canada—“the cream of
the crop of this generation.”
Half were arbitrarily designated as prisoners by a flip of the coin; the others became guards in the
experiment’s simulated prisons. Researchers told the “guards” about the seriousness and danger of the situation
and recommended that they create their own formal rules for maintaining law, order, and respect during their
eight-hour, three-man shifts. The “prisoners” were picked up at their homes by a city police officer in a squad
car; they were searched, handcuffed, fingerprinted, and booked at the Palo Alto station house and taken
blindfolded to the simulated jail. There they were stripped, deloused, put into a uniform, given a number, and
put, with two other prisoners, into a cell that was supposed to be their home for the next two weeks.
How did the experiment fare? Zimbardo had to discontinue the experiment after only six days because
of the frightening behavior of the mock prisoners and guards. The students could no longer clearly distinguish
where reality ended and their experimental roles began. Dramatic changes occurred in the thinking and behavior
of the subjects. In less than a week, “self-concepts were challenged and the ugliest, most base, pathological side
of human nature surfaced.” Source: Philip Zimbardo. “Pathology of Imprisonment.” Society 9 (April), 1972:4-8.
Copyright © 1972 by Transaction Publishers: all rights reserved. 69
Perhaps Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments are the most widely known by academics and lay people alike.
Milgram’s experiments were conducted at Yale University in the early 1960s in response to Milgram’s concern over the groveling
obedience shown by all levels of military and civilians during the Nazi regime in Europe from 1936 to 1945. Carole Wade and
Carol Tavris in their textbook, Psychology: Second Edition. describe this investigation.
[In] Stanley Milgram’s dramatic study of obedience to authority, participants [subjects] thought they were part
of an experiment on the effects of punishment on learning. Each was assigned, apparently at random, to the role
of “teacher.” Another person, introduced as a fellow volunteer, was the “learner.” When the learner, seated in an
adjoining room, made an error in reciting a list of word pairs he was supposed to have memorized, the teacher
[subject] had to give him an electric shock by depressing a lever on an ominous-looking machine. With each
error the voltage was to be increased. The shock levels labeled on the machine ranged from SLIGHT SHOCK
to DANGER—SEVERE SHOCK and, finally, XXX. In reality, the “learners” were confederates [graduate
students assisting in the research] of Milgram and did not receive shocks, but none of the “teachers” [subjects]
ever realized this. The actor-victims played their parts convincingly, even pleading to be released. 70
Sadly, fully two-thirds of the subjects, out of more than 1,000 people, both male and female, from all walks of life, “inflicted what
they thought were dangerous amounts of shock” to another person! 71 Today, researchers in both the natural and social sciences
are bound by codes of ethics, are monitored by various oversight committees, and are much more careful about monitoring their
own behavior so that no harm comes to their subjects or to the researchers and, therefore, to the value of the research itself.
Key Terms and Concepts for Module IB: Social Science Research Design and Methodology
An Extremely
Simplified Model of
the Hawthorne
Experiment…27
Authority…20
baseline…25
basic steps in the
scientific method…22
case studies…28
causality…26
cause and effect…21
cause and effect
relationship…25
Code of Ethics…29
collection and analysis
of data…28
conceptual
definition…25
confounding
variables…26
content analysis…28
control group…25
Correlational
studies…26
Correlations…26
define the problem…25
Dependent
Variable…25
develop a
conclusion…29
Dewey Wins…29
double blind study…25
DV…25
Epistemology…20
ethnographic
interviews…28
Experience…20
Experimental
designs…28
experimental
group…25
experimental
method…25
Faith…20
formulation of the
hypothesis…25
Fritz Machlup…21
goal of science…21
Hawthorne effect…26
Hawthorne Effect…26
Hawthorne
experiment…26
human subjects
committees…29
hypothesis…25
Independent
Variable…25
intervening
variables…26
IV…25
knowledge
acquisition…20
Machlup’s
conclusion…21
Milgram…29
Model of the
Experimental
Method…26
natural sciences…21
Negative
Correlation…27
No Correlation…28
objectivity…21
Occam’s Razor…21
one-to-one (1:1), or
perfect
correlation…26
operational
definition…25
Operationalizing…25
Participant
observation…28
population…28
Positive
Correlation…27
post-test…25
pre-test…25
qualitative
research…25
Qualitative research
designs…28
quantitative
research…25
Quantitative research
designs…28
questionnaires…28
random sample…28
Reliability…26
representative
sample…28
research design…28
research objectives…25
reviewing the
literature…25
Sampling…28
scientific inquiry…21
scientific method…22
scientific research…20
secondary analysis…28
seven criteria for
comparing the social
(soft) sciences to the
natural (hard)
sciences…21
single blind study…25
social sciences…21
Sociology is a
science…20
spurious variables…26
stratified random
sample…28
strength of the
relationship…26
subjective
interpretation…28
subjects…25
surveys…28
The Scientific Method:
The Steps and SubSteps Explained…22
Tradition…20
Validity…26
variable…25
variables…25
verification…21
Verification…21
William Foote Whyte’s
Street Corner
Society…28
William of
Ockham…21
Zimbardo…29
Module IIA—Culture
Of primary importance to the study of human behavior is the study of culture which is the totality of learned, socially
transmitted behavior. Culture defines our Weltanschauung, in fact, culture determines everything about us including our ideas,
norm, values, customs, and artifacts, in other words, what and how we think, how we behave, what we believe, our
understandings of right and wrong and good and evil, how we interact with one another, and what we make. William F. Ogburn
(1886-1959) wrote that there were two aspects to culture: material culture which is the physical or technological aspects of our
daily lives (food, houses, factories, raw materials, etc.), and non-material culture which are our ways of using material objects
(customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication). From Ogburn’s concepts we have developed the
idea of three types of culture: cognitive culture which is what we think and believe, normative culture which is what we do and
how we behave, and material culture which is what we make and how we use the natural world. 72 Cognitive culture (what we
think or believe), leads to our values (those aspects of the human experience that we believe to be moral).
Cognitive Culture
Values
Normative Culture
This model shows that from our cognitive culture (what we think or
believe), comes our values (the moral concepts that are the basis of any
given society), which leads to normative culture (our concepts of what is
acceptable concerning our behavior, based on our values), which leads to the
actual behaviors themselves which reflect both ideal as well as real culture.
Ideal Culture
Behavior
Real Culture
How we are
How we
actually
supposed
to behave
behave
From our value system, we develop concepts concerning societally acceptable behavior so that normative culture, which
concerns behavior, is based in the cognitive culture of any given society. Most people in any given society know and understand
the values (cognitive culture) and norms (normative culture, i.e. behaviors) of that society; however, people do not always behave
normatively. The difference between how we are supposed to behave and how we actually do behave is the difference between
ideal culture and real culture. Ideal culture embodies the highest values of a society and presupposes that everyone will know,
understand, and take to heart those values, thereby being guided by those values to behave always in moral, socially acceptable
ways. However, it is clear that people do not always do what they are supposed to, so our ideal culture in the United States tells
us that “all men are created equal” but our real culture shows us that inequality based on many aspects of master status is
rampant. Parents are supposed to love, support, and protect their children (ideal culture), but we regularly read newspaper
articles concerning child abuse (real culture). Clearly then, what we say we value and how we actually behave may be very
different indeed.
A society is the people who live within the boundaries of a nation-state or country and is defined as a fairly large number
of people living in the same geographical territory who are relatively independent of people outside their area and who participate
in a common culture and share a similar material and nonmaterial culture. Members of any given society generally share a
common language which is a major, possibly primary, element of culture. The study of language and linguistics is a major
component of philosophy, anthropology, psychology, and sociology. Language is “any verbal or non-verbal communication
engaged in by humans, animals, or even machines. . . . The ability of the human race to structure sentences [and meaning] out of
essentially arbitrary words which are themselves constructed from individually meaningless sound “phonemes” is sometimes
thought to be the feature that most distinguishes it from other species.” 73 All humans have language and all human languages are
extremely complex—there is no such thing as a primitive language. Linguists from various disciplines have studied language
origins for many years and have been able to determine that there are several major language groups throughout the world that are
related in some way or other. However, there are a few languages, such as Basque, which is related to no other human language
and there are also such seemingly odd relationships as the Finno-Ugric language group which includes only Finnish, Estonian,
Lapp, and Hungarian! Unfortunately many languages have gone extinct and many more are in jeopardy of being lost—when a
language goes extinct, the culture also dies, because language stores culture! Language is made up of various verbal symbols—
spoken words and sounds. There are currently 3,000 to 5,000 languages in the world, 2/3rds of which will go extinct in the next
50 years, and some languages are subsets or dialects of other languages. 74
Psycholinguist Noam Chomsky has argued that humans possess, in the Brocca’s region of the brain, a language
acquisition device or LAD which permits us to automatically process language. Chomsky argues that human beings’ brains are
“pre-wired” and “hard-wired” for language; that the very structure of our brains permits us to use and understand language. In
other words, all humans have the ability to learn any human language. Babies do not need to be taught to speak. In fact, babies
babble in the rhythms of the language(s) they hear spoken around them. Interestingly, deaf babies born to deaf parents babble
using their fingers, and babble in the same rhythms their parents use when signing! 75
Sapir and Whorf were linguists who developed the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis which states that language precedes
thought; language is culturally determined, and does not merely reflect or voice ideas but actually shapes those ideas. What is
said, by whom it is said, the manner in which it is said, the specific words used (formal, informal, slang, stylized, etc.), who it is
said to, and the context in which it is said are all necessary components in analyzing language. Everyone, everyday analyzes the
language of others. Our ability to interpret meaning develops out of our shared understanding of meaning. Language is also
comprised of nonverbal symbols such as “body language,” clothing or fashion styles, hairstyles and color, body adornment, and
gestures. Like verbal language, nonverbal language is culturally defined, culturally understood, and very often culturally specific.
Language is dynamic and changes over time. New languages develop, some languages go extinct, old words die, new words are
born, other words have their meanings changed. 76 The phrase “and eek men shal nat make ernest of game” is in Middle
English, a language that is no longer spoken by any living culture, but it is a language that is often read by students of early
British literature for it is from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and means “don’t take things so seriously!” Middle English is a
language that is readable, learnable, and understandable today even though it has not been spoken for nearly a thousand years.
Elizabethan English, the language spoken during Shakespeare’s time, sounds strange to our ears today; e.g., “wherefore art thou
Romeo,” means “why are you named Romeo,” not “where are you, Romeo.” Both Middle English and Elizabethan English are
examples of the dynamic and changing nature of language; it is only dead languages—languages that are not spoken on daily
basis by a society—that do not change over time.
A Few English Words with Non-English Roots
Algebra—Arabic
Saloon—Lithuanian
Ambulance—French
Safari—Swahili
Cartoon—Italian
Gumbo—Bantu
Chocolate, Avocado—Nahuatl*
Saint—Latin*
Cozy—Norwegian
Wisdom—German
Cow—Sanskrit*
Wagon—Dutch
Tree—Sanskrit*
Farfetched—Yiddish†
Family—Sanskrit*
Klutz—Yiddish†
Mama—Sanskrit*
Forbid—Old English
Dada—Sanskrit*
Sink (down)—Armenian
Crazy—Swedish
Cigar—Spanish
Cream—Celtic
Cargo—Spanish
Critical—Greek
Banana—Portuguese
Moose—Algonquin
Storm—Old High German
Seagull—Welsh
Soup—Old Norse
*Dead Languages—these are languages that are not spoken, on a daily basis, by a living, ongoing society/culture. Sanskrit is one
of the most ancient written languages in the world and is the basis of Latin as well as the Celtic languages.
†This language will be dead within another 50 years
Of the 3,000 to 5,000 languages in the world today, 2/3 of them are going extinct which means that they will be unrecoverable
because they have never been written down. When the last speaker of a language dies, the language also dies, taking the culture
with it into oblivion.
Language, thought, and culture are interrelated. Language enables people to store culture by storing meanings: the
names of gods, and the ideas of religion and the spirit world, the relationships among family and extended family members, place
names and their meaning, the names of plants and animals, the name of the people themselves are all lost when a language goes
extinct even though the people may live on, they have fundamentally and inexorably changed. About 2/3rd of all languages today
are in danger of going extinct. Conquerors, in the past, have attempted to prevent indigenous people from speaking their own
language, thereby destroying the culture of the conquered people, making it easier to communicate with them, making them easier
to rule, and preventing them from engaging in secret revolt. One of the reasons that new African slaves in the American South
were not permitted to speak their native languages was to prevent them from talking behind the backs of their white masters as
well as to rob them of their gods, their values, their customs, their culture and to force upon them the realization that they were a
subjugated and enslaved people from whom their masters could take away virtually anything, including the slaves’ sense of their
own humanity. Since all peoples share language, language is considered a cultural universal. 77
Cultural universals are general material and non-material practices found in every culture. They are adaptations to meet
essential human needs but they are often expressed differently from culture to culture and from society to society. These
expressions are adaptable and change over time. Some cultural universals include, but are not limited to: beliefs; calendars;
customs; dance; family; food; games; government; language, law, marriage; music; norms; religion; sports; technology, values.
Because cultural universals are manifested differently from society to society and since new adaptations create changes, William
F. Ogburn developed the Cultural Lag Hypothesis which argues that as our material culture changes we face a period of
maladjustment during which the nonmaterial culture is still adapting to new material conditions. The uses for the internet and
cloning are modern examples. 78
Cultural Universal
Marriage
Examples of Difference in a Few Cultural Universals
Forms
Examples of Differing Practices
U.S. and
The Second
Industrialized
and Third
World
World
All societies throughout the world have some form of
U.S.—the only
Saudi Arabia—
marriage. The four primary forms of marriage are:
legal form of
polygyny
polygyny (poly=many, gyny=woman); monogamy
marriage is
(mono=one, gamy=marriage); polyandry (poly=many,
monogamy
Oneida Colony
andry=men); cenogamy (ceno=community,
(19th century
U.S.A.)—
gamy=marriage).
Belgium, the
cenogamy
Netherlands, and
Polygyny—the oldest, most accepted form of marriage;
Canada are either
India—
one man has more than one wife at the same time
considering or
polyandry
have passed laws
Monogamy—the most modern, most practiced form of
permitting
marriage; one person has one spouse at a time (in the
marriage between
industrialized world, serial monogamy is practiced—
homosexuals
people do not stay married, but get married and divorced
(gays and
and remarried)
lesbians)
Polyandry—an old, but extremely rare, form of marriage
in which one woman has more than one husband at the
same time
Cenogamy—a fairly modern, but rare form of marriage in
which people are married to multiple spouses at the same
time (group marriage)
Calendar
Sports and Games
Family
NOTE: Polygyny, Polyandry, and Cenogamy are all
different forms of polygamy (many marriages)
All societies have some method of marking the passage of
periods of time from knotted strings to sundials, to
mechanical and digital timepieces to calendars. Calendars
show the passage of long periods of time or the passage of
seasons and are cultural universals.
There is archaeological evidence that board games may
have existed as much as 20,000 years ago. Sports are also
ancient and often have their roots in pre- or post-war
revels.
Nuclear—parents and children living in their own separate
residence (most modern form)
Extended—parents, children, and other blood or adopted
kin living in extremely close proximity (most ancient,
most common form)
U.S. (and the
world for business
and legal
purposes)—2003
A.D.
U.S.—football
Nuclear family;
blended family
China—4702
Islam—1424
(based on the
date when the
Qur’an was
given by God
to Mohammed)
Jews—5764
(based on the
supposed date
of the creation
of the world)
World—soccer
Extended
family (e.g.
Nigeria,
Mexico, etc.)
Blended—parents with children of previous marriages (a
modern form, based on nuclear family model)
Cultural Universal
Education
Religion
Law/Politics/Government
Forms
U.S. and
The Second
Industrialized
and Third
World
World
Formal—the use of formalized learning, by rote or from
Formal education
Hunterbooks, in classrooms with paid teachers (the most modern
Gatherer,
form, even though it extends back several thousand years)
Pastoral,
Horticultural
Informal/Traditional—life learning; training of individuals
people
and small groups by demonstrating necessary life skills as
worldwide—
a concomitant of day-to day living; learning by watching
informal
and doing
Polytheism—worship of more than one deity (most
Christianity,
Islam—
ancient form)
Islam, Judaism—
monotheistic
monotheistic
Hindu,
Monotheism—worship of one deity (most modern form)
Buddhist,
Chinese
Traditional—
polytheistic
Democracy—rule by the will of the people (most modern
Democratic
Kwakiutl and
form)
republics or
Tlingkit
Constitutional
Indians—
Republic—rule by popularly, democratically elected
monarchies (i.e.,
chiefdoms
representatives (began in ancient Greece about 3,000 years England, Spain)
ago)
New Guinea
tribes people—
Chiefdom—rule by a powerful individual who is permitted
Big Man
to rule, but not necessarily chosen to rule, by the will of
the people (most ancient form)
Thailand—
constitutional
Big Man—similar to a chiefdom
monarchies
Monarchy—rule by a king or queen who is believed to be
chosen to rule by a deity (ancient form)
U.S.S.R.—
oligarchy
Oligarchy—rule by a few very powerful individuals
North Korea,
Iraq under
Saddam
Hussein,
Cuba—
dictatorships
Plutocracy—rule by the wealthiest members of a society
Dictatorship—rule by a single extremely powerful
individual; no dissent by or choice for the people is
permitted
Theocracy—rule by clergy
Iran—
theocratic
Cultural Universal
The Economy
Medicine
Media
Forms
U.S. and
The Second
Industrialized
and Third
World
World
Capitalism—a free market, money-based system of
Capitalism
China, North
exchange in which the government has little control or
Korea, Cuba—
authority over the means and modes of production; stock
communism
and commodities markets determine the value of goods
and services
HunterGatherer,
Communism—a money-based system of exchange in
Pastoral,
which the government owns all means and modes of
Horticultural
production and has virtually complete control and
people
authority
worldwide—
barter
Barter—a system in which people directly exchange with
one another goods and services for other goods and
Europe from
services (most ancient system)
1500 A.D. until
late 19th
century—
Mercantilism—a system in which merchants control the
mercantilism
means and modes of production; used during the era of
European colonial domination to maintain economic
control of the colonies by merchants and colonizing
governments
Modern/Western—the use of science and the scientific
Modern/Western
Traditional
method
Traditional—the use of ancient practices and herbal
remedies
For-Profit—a modern, industrial method of transmitting
cultural information and entertainment by mechanical and
electronic means (almost always for profit); operated by a
few, large, often multi-national, corporations
For-profit
Traditional
Traditional—relatively small groups of traveling
performers or messengers who convey information by
word of mouth
The primary elements of culture are language (which has already been discussed), values, and norms. Values (which
are part of our cognitive culture) are the collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper, or bad,
undesirable, and improper in any given culture. Values are indications of what the entire society finds to be important and moral.
Values may be very specific or very general but they influence public and private behavior of groups and individuals and serve as
a criterion for evaluating the actions of others. Although values may change over time, they tend to remain relatively stable and
enduring. For example, there are some values that are characteristic of American culture. 79
American core values, those ideas and concepts by which we identify ourselves as a people, include: individualism and
freedom (which brings up the question of what individualism and personal ideas of freedom does to group solidarity and our
understanding of peoplehood. What, for example are the political ramifications of this value?) Equality of opportunity only, not of
outcomes, is a value as old as America itself. As a concomitant is the concept of achievement which assumes that anyone can get
ahead if she/he tries hard enough, or, as former President Bill Clinton always said, “work hard and play by the rules.”
Unfortunately, this value often sets up a competitive, zero-sum-game mentality in which people believe that if others have
opportunities they themselves will be left out. Efficiency and practicality are also core to the American value system, but George
Ritzer equates these values with McDonaldization; the homogenization of society to the point that we become trapped in Weber’s
“iron cage” of bureaucracy. As Americans we also believe in, or value, progress and technology, but is progress always good?
Philosopher and social critic Cornel West argues that our American attachment to material comfort and consumerism (we
measure others and are measured by our “stuff”—the things we acquire). West argues that consumerism is responsible for social
pathologies brought on by feelings of relative deprivation: when people feel they don’t have what they want they will steal it.
Work is a core social value for Americans which may be the reason why we are the richest, most productive, most powerful
nation in the world, but we also value leisure which often manifests itself as manic vacations and “shop ‘til you drop” mentalities.
Social values are determined by the larger society or culture but they are also determined by Master Status 80 which is
race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, disability, and SES (Socioeconomic status = education + occupation + income) and is
determinative of one’s social class. 81
Norms (which are part of our normative culture) are widely shared and widely understood established standards of
behavior maintained by any given society. They are “prescriptions serving as common guidelines for social action [behavior].
Human behavior exhibits certain regularities, which are the product of adherence to common expectations or norms. . . . the term
refers to social expectations about ‘correct’ or ‘proper’ behavior.” 82 Norms may be formal (generally written norms that involve
strict rules for punishment of violators, such as laws which are the body of rules, made by government for society, interpreted by
the courts, and backed by the power of the state), and informal which are generally understood but not precisely recorded
standards of behavior. The three primary types of norms are folkways, mores, and laws. 83
Folkways are a type of norm. They are informal rules and expectations that guide people’s everyday behavior and
include such things as everyday etiquette, manners, proper attire for a given situation, and basic concepts of self-control in all
levels of social interaction. Folkways may differ depending on Master Status and situation and violations are not severely
sanctioned. Folkways are loosely defined and loosely applied by individuals and although violations are not generally seen as
threats to the social order, persistent violation is usually seen as deviance. 84
Mores (pronounced morays) are the norms that people consider essential to the proper working of society. Mores have
moral and (sometimes) religious significance and define what a culture or society deems to be right and wrong, good and evil.
Mores do not necessarily apply equally to all members of society and may be dependent on SES and Master Status. However,
sanctions are formal or formalized, and there are clearly defined rewards or punishments which are administered by authorized
social agents. Conformity to mores is ensured by internalization as well as by the negative sanctions imposed by social agents.
Mores are based on the values or value system of a society. When mores become formal and are written down or codified they
become laws which are formal rules enacted and enforced by the power of the state, which apply to every member of a society.
The application of laws is sometimes dependent on SES or Master Status. Formal negative sanctions apply to violations, however,
the severity of sanctions is often dependent upon the severity of the violation. Law is the method that large-scale societies use in
order to maintain their system of government and to control their populations. Law may be criminal or civil. Criminal law deals
with crime, punishment, and the power of the state to maintain social control. Civil law determines the relationships among
citizens both private and corporate. 85
Large-scale industrialized societies are characterized by various levels of diversity. The larger the society the more
likely it is to contain both subcultures and countercultures. A subculture is a segment of society which, although sharing most
of the mores, folkways, and values of the larger society, differs in some significant and noticeable way. It is a culture within a
larger culture and characteristic of large-scale, complex societies. Subcultures in America may be based on race or ethnicity, sex
or gender, age, religion, disability, SES, or social class. Members of subcultures are not usually seen as deviant, but may be seen
as being slightly outside the mainstream. Countercultures, on the other hand, are subcultures that are often seen as deviant
because they tend to reject societal norms and values and seek alternative lifestyles. Gangs, cults, militias, and hate groups are all
examples of countercultures. Members of countercultures are often employed in non-mainstream jobs—tattoo artists, drug
dealers, grunge musicians, etc. Sometimes, people are confronted with a level of diversity that causes discomfort and this
discomfort is called culture shock. 86
Culture Shock is disorientation, uncertainty, fearfulness, and a feeling of being out of place when immersed in an
unfamiliar culture. Culture shock often occurs when visiting or migrating to a foreign country, however, it is possible to feel
culture shock in one’s own country, and even in one’s own city. Large-scale industrial cities are characterized by their racial,
ethnic, sexual, cultural, and social class diversity. Culture shock is often based on ethnocentrism which is the tendency to assume
that one’s own culture and way of life are superior to all others. Although some degree of ethnocentrism is necessary for social
cohesion, it frequently creates conflict between different or diverse cultural groups. However, practicing cultural relativism can be
effective in overcoming culture shock. Cultural relativism which views people’s behavior from the perspective of their own
culture, places a priority on understanding other cultures rather than dismissing them as “strange” or “exotic.” Cultural relativism
was first proposed by anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942) who argued that “culture should be understood in terms of its own
framework of meaning, rather than being judged by outside investigators according to the values of their own culture.” 87 In other
words we must attempt to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” before we judge their sociocultural practices as odd or bizarre. 88
Cultures are sometimes plagued by xenocentrism which is the belief that the products, styles, or ideas of one’s society
are inferior to those that originate elsewhere and is an economic plague in underdeveloped and developing nations, or
xenophobia which is extreme, usually irrational, fear and hatred of other sociocultural groups and is based on extreme
ethnocentrism and complete disregard for cultural relativism. 89 Sadly, both xenocentrism and xenophobia lead to sociocultural
practices which are educationally and economically detrimental to the societies that practice them. Third World countries often
have been convinced by their former colonial masters that they are incapable of sustaining an industrial base and the people have
been convinced that any products developed in their own countries are inferior to those that are produced in more industrialized
nations. Thus, xenocentrism leads to the collapse of local industries because of the lack of a local market. Xenophobia generally
creates a closed-off society like that of the former Taliban government in Afghanistan or the current government of Kim Jung Il in
North Korea which has shut its people off from any normative contact with the outside world.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIA—Culture
“and eek men shal nat make ernest
of game”…31
A Few English Words with NonEnglish Roots…32
American core values…35
body language…31
Body Ritual among the
Nacirema…37
cognitive culture…30
Countercultures…36
Cultural Lag Hypothesis…32
Cultural relativism…36
Cultural universals…32
culture…30
Culture Shock…36
dead languages…32
Dead Languages…32
ethnocentrism…36
Examples of Difference in a Few
Cultural Universals…33
Folkways…36
Franz Boas…36
ideal culture…31
Language…31
language acquisition device…31
Language enables people to store
culture…32
Language is dynamic…31
linguistics…31
Master Status…35
material culture…30
Mores…36
Noam Chomsky…31
non-material culture…30
normative culture…30
Norms…36
primary elements of culture…35
real culture…30–41
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis…31
SES…36
society…31
subculture…36
Subcultures…36
The Sacred Rac…40
Values…35
verbal symbols…31
William F. Ogburn…30, 32
xenocentrism…36
xenophobia…36
Module IIB—Socialization
Socialization is the process whereby people learn the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate to individuals as
members of a particular culture. It is the process of becoming human because it is through the socialization process that we learn
how to interact normatively with other humans on a day-to-day basis. Feral children, those like Genie or Victor (discussed
below), are children who suffered extreme levels of abuse and or neglect, could not learn to speak normally or to interact
normally with others—in some regards they were more animal than human, and yet, ultimately they are human with human hearts
and souls who have never had the opportunity to become full members of their society. Socialization affects the overall cultural
practices of a society and, because of the “Looking Glass Self” shapes our self-images. It is through the socialization process that
the personality (a person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior) is shaped. Socialization is a
reciprocal process—as we are changed by institutions, we in turn change those institutions, in other words, the “looking glass”
reflects both ways. 90
There are many people in the social sciences who believe that human beings are born tabula rasa, which is a Latin
phrase meaning “a blank slate.” We do not have the kind of instinctive behaviors that animals do: insects do not have to be taught
how to build a nest or find food; fish, and many reptiles and amphibians are abandoned as soon as the female lays her eggs, most
mammals are born with some instincts concerning herding or solitary behavior, how to find food, how to recognize and deal with
danger, etc., but humans must be taught most of what we know. Human infants cannot survive on their own and humans have
very long infancies and adolescences compared to other mammals. This extended period of childhood permits the young to learn
how to survive, how to get along with their own kind, and to learn the cognitive and normative culture of their society. It is
during the socialization process that this learning takes place. However, one of the major controversies that exists within the
social sciences and between the social and natural sciences is that of Nature vs. Nurture (Heredity vs. Environment). What is it
that forms us? How do humans become the people that they are? Most social scientists today acknowledge that the interaction
between heredity and environment shapes human development. However the Nature/Nurture debate hinges around the dichotomy
between: Biology (nature) versus Personal Circumstances (nurture); Heredity (nature) versus Environment (nurture); Genes
(nature) versus Family Background (nurture); Physiological (nature) versus Social Influences (nurture); What We’re Born with
(nature) versus What We Learn after We Are Born (nurture). However, since 20%-40% of the personality is formed before birth,
it is clear that the individual does not develop in a vacuum and is, indeed, a part of a larger, wider society. 91
In order to be a fully functioning, normatively interacting member of society it is necessary that we are socialized into
that society. It is through the socialization process that we come to internalize the norms and values of our culture. It is the way
in which the expectations of our culture are learned.
In 1970, the authorities in Los Angeles County were called to a house in which a child had been fastened to a child’s
toilet seat in a darkened room that was filled with urine and feces. The child was quite small and she was unable to walk, stand
erect, or talk. The authorities learned that she had been isolated, neglected, fed like a dog from a bowl on the floor, and beaten
whenever she vocalized from the age of about 18 months until she was found at the age of 13. She was taken to a hospital where
she was treated for her physical symptoms and was then released by the courts into the care of two child development
psychologists and one psycholinguist from UCLA who called their young charge Genie. Genie, who beyond all possibility of
hope, was found to be of normal intelligence eventually learned to speak, but in very strange and syntactically incorrect sentences.
She also learned to walk and to play, although she was always a rather awkward, shy, and clumsy child. She also began to grow
until she reached a height of about five feet. Due to some extremely adverse and horrifically poor decisions by the courts, at the
age of eighteen, Genie was returned to the care of her mother. Shortly thereafter Genie was placed in the county’s foster care
system where she was again abused. Eventually Genie was place into a long-term care facility where she lives today, silently, in a
self-imposed isolation from those around her. In 1800, in a village on the outskirts of Paris, France a “wolf boy” was captured.
The child had apparently lived, like an animal, in the woods from approximately the age of 3 or 4 until the age of 13 or 14. Dr.
Itard, the physician who assented to care for the child, named him Victor. It is impossible to ascertain how this child managed to
survive without being killed by the wild animals in the forest, but he hunted small animals and dug burrows in the ground for
shelter. Like Genie, Victor was never able to communicate on any normative basis, nor was he ever convinced to sleep in a bed or
to wear clothes on a regular basis. Victor died when he was in his early thirties. Both Genie and Victor were social isolates or
feral children, humans who were more like animals than humans—humans deserving of our love, pity, and concern, but humans
who were never socialized and were therefore never able to interact with others on anything resembling a normative basis. These
are horrific, rare, and tragic case studies, but they have taught us the necessity of socialization in the development of a fully
functioning human. These are beings who know that they have a self, but are incapable of bringing it to fruition.
It is only humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and bottle-nosed dolphins who have a concept of the Self which is defined as
the sum total of people’s conscious perception of their own identity as distinct from others. A significant indication of the
understanding of the self comes from the fact that human beings, chimpanzees, and bottle-nosed dolphins are the only creatures
who can look into a mirror and know that what they see is a reflection rather than another creature. By the time a child is 18
months old, they are able to understand that the image they see in a mirror is an image, a reflection, of themselves and not another
child standing behind the glass even if they have never seen a mirror or their own reflection before. No other creatures are capable
of this level of abstraction or understanding. Even people, chimpanzees, and bottle-nosed dolphins who have never seen their own
reflection are capable of recognizing themselves in a mirror.
In 1966, an infant, wild-born, female chimpanzee was adopted by Dr. Beatrix T. Gardener and Dr. Allen Gardener at
Yerkes Primate Laboratory in Atlanta. The Gardeners are psycholinguists as well as developmental psychologists who were
interested in discovering whether a chimpanzee could be taught American Sign Language (the gestural language used by the
profoundly deaf). The baby chimpanzee was named Washoe and was taken to the Gardeners’ home where she was treated like a
human child. Over time, Washoe did indeed learn a great many signs and even showed that she could think abstractly. By the time
Washoe reached adulthood, she became too difficult to manage in a human house and the Gardeners found it necessary to return
her to Yerkes. It took them more than a year to resocialize Washoe into the chimpanzee sociocultural environment that she had
never known. In other words, they had to teach her how to be a chimpanzee, how to get along in a new and different environment,
just as humans are resocialized when we leave home, take a new job, move in with another person, etc. Washoe did adapt,
however, and even had a daughter, and an “adopted” son to whom she taught the sign language that she had learned! Washoe now
lives at Central Washington University, likes onion oatmeal, and loves to look at shoe catalogues!
According to Charles Horton Cooley’s (1864-1929) Looking Glass Self theory (society is a mirror in which the
individual is reflected) the self is a product of our social interactions with other people and has three phases: 1) Imagining how we
present ourselves to others; 2) Imagining how others evaluate us; 3) Our self image results from our interpretation of these
impressions and the resultant self-images are dependent upon interpreting the attitudes of others. 92 In other words, we are shaped
by our society, we are products of our society, we are inseparable from our society, and the reaction of society—all of those
people around us with whom we come into contact everyday, whether we know them or not—influences our self-image, our selfesteem, our perception and conception of ourselves as acceptable members of our society. A positive reflection conveys a positive
image, a negative reflection conveys a negative image which the individual may or may not accept. The Looking Glass Self is
society’s judgment of our worth and acceptability, and the way in which we internalize that assessment determines our self
esteem. In other words, we are all products of our society and products of our environment.
George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), in his book Mind, Self, and Society said that the self is a person’s conscious
recognition that he or she is a distinct individual who is part of a larger society. The self emerges through experiencing other
people. For Mead there are two components of the Self—the I and the Me which are in constant interaction. The I is the self as
subject and is the creative, spontaneous, uninhibited aspect of the self whereas the ME, which is the self as object, is the
socialized self that recognizes it is part of a society. The Me represents the traditional, normative, inhibited, reactive aspect of the
self and is based on how others will respond. According to Mead, the I and the ME are the basis of thought which allow us to act,
react, and interact while taking others into account. Mead also argued that it is because of the influence of Significant Others
(those individuals who are most important in the development of the self) that we learn how to function in our society. 93
Mead also developed a stage theory of the development of the self in which he said that the self cannot exist without
society. The stages are: the Preparatory (Imitative) Stage in which children imitate those around them, especially family
members; the Play Stage wherein children begin using and manipulating the symbols (gestures, objects, and language which
forms the basis of human communication) of their culture; Role Taking, which is the process of mentally assuming the
perspective of another thereby enabling one to respond from that imagined viewpoint, develops during this stage; and the Game
Stage in which the child begins to consider several tasks and relationships simultaneously grasping not only their own social
positions, but also those of others around them. According to Mead, the significant other is balanced by the Generalized Other
which is the child’s awareness of the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole. The understanding of the
Generalized Other (the expectations of society) teaches us to act based on how we think others will respond. 94
Erving Goffman (1922-1982) argues that if society is a mirror in which the individual is reflected, then we learn,
through the socialization process, how to manipulate that mirror so that we will always be reflected as we want to be reflected.
According to Goffman, we are socialized to present different aspects of ourselves to society depending on the circumstances in
which we find ourselves and many of our daily activities involve attempts to convey impressions of who we are—consciously
creating images of ourselves for others. Impression management is the altering of the presentation of the self and is situation
dependent, we try to create a favorable (or sometimes unfavorable) impression in order to change the reflection in the mirror—we
want others to view us only as we want to be viewed. Goffman also discussed face work which is the situation-dependent
deception of the self and others which necessitates rationalizing in order to overcome or prevent negative self-images. 95
As we grow and develop throughout the life course we engage in many activities that are part of the process of
anticipatory socialization which is the process of socialization in which a person “rehearses” for future positions, occupations,
and social relationships. Anticipatory socialization aids the smooth and efficient functioning of a culture and helps members of a
society become acquainted with the norms, values, and behavior associated with a social position before actually assuming a
specific status. Anticipatory socialization includes but is not limited to such things as playing house, internships, work-study
programs. Anticipatory socialization is often accompanied by rites of passage which are rituals, ceremonies, and informal
recognitions of a person’s change in status that are culturally defined and are often based on changes in age, education,
occupation, and marital status. 96
From time-to-time we must go through a process of resocialization which is the process of discarding former behavior
patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life. This generally occurs in situations which typically involve
considerable stress for the individual. Resocialization can include moving from one country to another, leaving a marriage, going
off to college, learning to live alone or with another person, joining the military. Sometimes, however, resocialization involves
resocialization in or out of a total institution. Total institutions are institutions which regulate all aspects of a person’s life under
a single authority; where residents are cut off from mainstream society and the institution provides for all of the needs of all of its
residents. Total institutions often represent a society in microcosm and often create their own culture. Goffman listed four
characteristics of total institutions: 1) All aspects of life are conducted in the same place and are under the control of a single
authority; 2) Any activities within the institution are conducted in the company of others in the same circumstances; 3) The
authorities devise rules and schedule activities without consulting the participants; 4) All aspects of life are designed to fulfill the
purpose of the organization. Entrance into a total institution is often accompanied by a degradation ceremony which is a process
by which an individual suffers some kind of humiliation before entrance into a total institution. 97
Because human beings must be socialized with the help of others, there are various agents of socialization that aid in the
process throughout the life span. All of the institutions of society are, in one way or another, agents of socialization. The family,
of course, is the primary agent of socialization because it is within the bonds of family relationships that the child is first
introduced into her/his sociocultural milieu. Religion, be it sacred or secular, provides meaning as well as offering a system of
values that are usually compatible with the value system of the society, thereby reinforcing the internalization of norms. The
educational system not only teaches those things that the society finds valuable, but also reinforces the sociocultural norms
within the society’s value system. Peer groups, although not an institution of society, are crucial to the socialization process
because it is within peer groups that equality of relationships occurs. Peer groups permit one to experiment with ideas, lifestyles,
sexual relationships, same sex and opposite sex friendships, among other things, without fear of ridicule from parents, teachers,
employers, religious leaders, or other authority figures. During the 20th century and the very early 21st century, however, mass
media has become a major influence as an agent of socialization. Between the ages of 6 and 18 the average young person spends
more time watching TV than doing homework; 15,000-16,000 hours vs. 13,000 hours. By age 16, the average TV viewer has
seen; 200,000 acts of violence and 33,000 fictional murders. 56% of all American-made TV shows portray actual or threatened
violence. Ageism, sexism, and racism, as well as many other negative aspects of our culture are reinforced by the media. We do
not yet know where this will lead, but many studies are underway exploring the relationship between society and the influence of
the media. 98
Symbolic
Interactionism
Functionalism
Conflict
Paradigm
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of the Socialization Process
1) The socialization process is coercive, forcing us to accept the values and norms of society.
2) The values and norms of society are dictated and enforced by the Bourgeoisie.
3) The Proletariat follow and accept the values and norms of the Bourgeoisie because all of the institutions
of society, particularly education, religion, and the economy are shaped to serve the exploitative
purposes of the Bourgeoisie.
1) The socialization process is coercive, forcing us to accept to the values and norms of society.
2) The values and norms of society are agreed upon by all members of society because there is a “social
contract” in effect which protects us from one another and keeps society stable and balanced.
3) People follow and accept the values and norms of society in order to maintain their own safety as well
as maintaining the social order.
1) The socialization process is voluntary, and we can accept or reject the values and norms of society at
will.
2) The values and norms of society change moment by moment based on our mutual, day-to-day
interactions with one another.
3) People follow and accept the values and norms of society only if those values and norms serve their own
needs and permit them to be more comfortable in their society.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIB—Socialization
agents of socialization…43
anticipatory socialization…43
Charles Horton Cooley…42
degradation ceremony…43
educational system…43
Erving Goffman…43
face work…43
family…43
Feral children…41
four characteristics of total
institutions…43
Game Stage…42
Generalized Other…42
Genie…41
George Herbert Mead…42
Goffman…43
I…42
Impression management…43
institutions of society…43
Looking Glass Self…41, 42
mass media…43
Me…42
ME…42
Mind, Self, and Society…42
Nature vs. Nurture…41
Peer groups…43
Play Stage…42
Preparatory (Imitative) Stage…42
process of becoming human…41
Religion…43
resocialization…43
resocialize…42
rites of passage…43
Role Taking…42
Significant Others…42
Socialization…41–44, 41
socialization process…41
stage theory of the development of
the self…42
tabula rasa…41–44
the Self…42
The Three Sociological Paradigms:
Explanations of the Socialization
Process…44
total institution…43
two components of the Self…42
Victor…41, 42
Module IIC—Social Interaction and Social Structure
For some Sociologists, social interaction creates the social structure, for others the social structure creates the shape of
our everyday interactions. Social interaction is the ways in which people respond to one another. According to Symbolic
Interactionist Herbert Blumer, social interaction is building block of society. Blumer argues that the distinctive characteristic of
social interaction is that “human beings interpret or define each other’s actions instead of merely reacting to each other’s
actions.” 99 Social interaction, for the Symbolic Interactionists, is what makes society possible. The two primary types of social
interaction include individual acts which are private, personal, and solitary, and social acts which are behaviors that are
influenced by and shaped by the presence of others. 100
Social structure is “a term loosely applied to any recurring pattern of social behavior; or more specifically, to the
ordered interrelationships between the different elements of a social system or society. Thus, for example, the different kinship
[family], religious, economic, political, and other institutions of a society may be said to comprise its social structure, as might
norms, values, and social roles.” 101 In other words, the social structure of any society is based on the relationships among the
various institutions of society, as well as the ways in which norms, values, and social roles are manifested, and the understanding
and approval (consensus) of the population concerning those relationships and manifestations. Every society has a unique social
structure. No one, for example, would argue that America and China have much in common, or that France and Nigeria are very
much alike. Even though people everywhere have a great deal in common, their countries may be very, very different and in large
part we are shaped by the social structure of the society in which we were originally socialized.
In general, the Conflict Paradigm and the Functionalist Paradigm are in diametrically opposite corners in their
descriptions of and explanations for human behavior. However, when discussing two aspects of the social structure, they are in
complete agreement. For each, the social structure is objective/external, coercive, and concrete.
For the Conflict Paradigm the social structure is objective, external to the individual, and coercive (what Émile
Durkheim called social facts); it emphasizes that roles, statuses, groups, and institutions exist for the protection and maintenance
of the elite, and is based on relations of exploitation often based on master status. There is no consensus among groups or
individual members of society, there is only conflict over wealth, power, and status. The social structure is also concrete and
exploitative.
The Functionalist Paradigm sees the social structure as objective, external to the individual, and coercive; but argues
that each and every component or element exists in order to create a stable and enduring society. Any society must have a
relatively rigid, yet interactive structure in order to exist. The structure itself creates consensus. The social structure is concrete
and stable.
For both Conflictualists and Functionalists externality, objectivity, coerciveness, and concreteness are necessary to the
social structure. They both agree that the social structure exists whether any individual human being exists within it. The society
we are born into exists before we are born and it will exist after we die. Moreover, the possibility that we as individuals will have
any significant impact on the shape of our society is extremely remote. Therefore, our society exists whether or not any given
individual is there. As an objective entity, the social structure has a reality that supercedes and transcends the individual’s
understanding of it. The social structure is more than the sum of its parts and is made up of more than just individuals, so that, for
the Conflictualists and the Functionalists, the group is the basic unit of society, not the individual.
The Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm differs dramatically from Conflictualism and Functionalism in that the social
structure is viewed as subjective, accepted or rejected by the individual throughout the socialization process, and based on
negotiated order in which the social structure is continuously created and recreated through micro-level interactions among
individuals and small groups. At the micro-level, the social structure is based on social interaction, statuses, roles, groups, social
networks, social institutions, and societies in which small groups and individuals create consensus. In this paradigm, the social
structure is subjective, abstract, and constantly changing. In other words, the social structure exists within every individual
and it is through our everyday interactions with one another that the abstract social structure is created, and continuously recreated, every moment of every day.
Paradigm
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Views of the Social Structure
Functionalism
Conflict
coercive.
2) Roles, statuses, groups, and institutions exist for the protection and maintenance of
the elite; the social structure is based on relations of exploitation often based on
master status.
3) There is no consensus among groups or individual members of society, there is only
conflict over wealth, power, and status.
4) The social structure is exploitative.
coercive
2) Members of society see the social structure as legitimate (acceptable and working
properly) and therefore strive to maintain that social structure. Legitimation
(acceptability) maintains social equilibrium or balance which maintains the status
quo.
3) The structure itself creates consensus.
4) The social structure is stable
Societal-Level
Approach/
Unit of
Analysis
Macro Level—the
group is the basic
unit of society and
the basic unit of
sociological
analysis.
Macro Level—the
group is the basic
unit of society and
the basic unit of
sociological
analysis.
.
Symbolic
Interactionism
1) The social structure exists only in the minds of individuals and small groups and has Micro Level—the
no objective reality; it is subjective/internal, abstract, voluntary, and in constant
individual is the
flux.
basic unit of
2) The social structure is based on social interaction, statuses, roles, groups, social
society and the
networks, social institutions, and societies in which small groups and individuals
basic unit of
create consensus.
sociological
3) The social structure is subjective, abstract, and constantly changing.
analysis.
4) The social structure exists within every individual and it is through our everyday
interactions with one another that the abstract social structure is created, and
continuously re-created, every moment of every day.
There are various mechanisms that engender change in the structure of any given society. Some sociostructural change
may be very fast while other change may be so slow as to be virtually indiscernible. Some of the theories of sociostructural
change include the economic determinism theory of Karl Marx, the bureaucratic determinism theory of Max Weber, the
Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft theory of Ferdinand Tönnies, and the sociocultural evolution theory of Gerhard and Jean Lenski.
Marx’s model of the social structure (below) argues that the economy is the primary driving mechanism behind all
sociostructural change. According to Marx, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles . . . society
as a whole . . . is split into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other—bourgeoisie and
proletariat.” Even when expressed symbolically, all class struggle is based in economics because society itself is economically
based. The rule of the bourgeoisie, the owners of the means of production to whom the proletariat must sell its labor piecemeal for
slave wages, has “agglomerated population, centralized means of production, concentrated property in a few hands . . . [and
brought about] political centralization . . . with one government, one code of laws, one national class interest.” Marx’s model of
the social structure is shown in the following chart. 102
Karl Marx’s View of the Social Structure
Family
Religion
Education
Law/Politics/
Media
Medicine
Government
Superstructure
the societal institutions that change according to economic conditions
the Superstructure is DETERMINED BY the Substructure (the economy)
The Economy
Substructure
the means (land, labor, and capital) and the modes (technology) of production
effect the relations of production (how, when, where, by whom, and for how much
all of the goods and services of any society are produced
This model shows that Marx’s theory is based in economic determinism—the economy determines everything about society.
According to Marx, the economic system (the substructure of society, which includes the means—land, labor, and capital—of
production, and the modes—technology—of production) is determinative of the shape, the form, of all of the other institutions of
society. As a shift in the economic system takes place, that shift creates ripples which effect dramatic changes in the structure of
the family, education, religion, law/politics/government, medicine, and media. The economy is the primary driving mechanism
behind all social change; it is the economy that determines the structure of any given society.
In the introduction to Hard Times, literarian Kate Flint writes of an article by Henry Morley which appeared in the
magazine Household Words (Henry Morley, “Ground in the Mill”, Household Words, IX, 22 April 1854, p. 224) on the same
page as chapters 6 and 7 of Charles Dickens’s serialized novel.
The social questions alluded to within Hard Times form a dialogue with articles which looked at [the]
appalling sanitary conditions [in the factories] . . . at the disgrace of those manufacturers who refused to obey
the law and fence in their machinery. [There was, for example,] the article of Henry Morley titled “Ground in
the Mill.” (Hard Times, p. xiv)
There are many ways of dying. Perhaps it is not good when a factory girl, who has not the
whole spirit of play spun out of her for want of meadows, gambols upon balls of wool, a little too near
the exposed machinery that is to work it up, and is immediately seized, and punished by the merciless
machine that digs its shaft into her pinafore and hoists her up, tears out her left arm at the shoulder
joint, breaks her right arm and beats her on the head. (Hard Times p. xiv)
In other words, Dickens and many of his contemporaries were clearly aware not only of the physical dangers of factory work but
of the moral and spiritual danger to the human soul—what Marx called alienation. 103 Frederick Engels (, Marx’s friend,
companion, and supporter wrote of the unbelievably horrific and therefore alienating conditions in which the working classes in
Manchester, England lived in 1844: 104
Going from the Old Church to Long Millgate, the stroller has at once a row of old-fashioned houses at
the right, of which not one has kept its original level; these are remnants of the old pre-manufacturing
Manchester, whose former inhabitants have removed with their descendants into better-built districts, and have
left the houses, which were not good enough for them, to a population strongly mixed with Irish blood. Here
one is in an almost undisguised working-men’s quarter, for even the shops and beerhouses hardly take the
trouble to exhibit a trifling degree of cleanliness.
But all this is nothing in comparison with the courts and lanes which lie behind, to which access can be
gained only through covered passages, in which no two human beings can pass at the same time. Of the
irregular cramming together of dwellings in ways which defy all rational plan, of the tangle in which they are
crowded literally one upon the other, it is impossible to convey an idea. And it is not the buildings surviving
from the old times of Manchester which are to blame for this; the confusion has only recently reached its height
when every scrap of space left by the old way of building had been filled up and patched over until not a foot of
land is left to be further occupied.
The south bank of the Irk is here very steep and between fifteen and thirty feet high. On this
declivitous hillside there are planted three rows of houses, of which the lowest rises directly out of the river,
while the front walls of the highest stand on the crest of the hill in Long Millgate . . . [sic]
In one of these courts there stands directly at the entrance, at the end of the covered passage, a privy
without a door, so dirty that the inhabitants can pass into and out of the court only by passing through foul pools
of stagnant urine and excrement. This is the first court on the Irk above Ducie Bridge—in case any one [sic]
should care to look into it. Below it on the river there are several tanneries which fill the whole neighborhood
with the stench of animal putrefaction. . . . [sic]
. . . [sic] At the bottom flows, or rather stagnates, the Irk, a narrow, coal-black, foul-smelling stream,
full of debris and refuse, which it deposits on the shallower right bank. In dry weather, a long string of the most
disgusting, blackish-green, slime pools are left standing on this bank, from the depths of which bubbles of
miasmatic gas constantly arise and give forth a stench unendurable even on the bridge forty or fifty feet above
the surface of the stream. But besides this, the stream itself is checked every few paces by high weirs, behind
which slime and refuse accumulate and rot in thick masses.
Above the bridge are tanneries, bone-mills, and gas works, from which all drains and refuse find their
way into the Irk, which receives further the contents of all the neighbouring [sic] sewers and privies. It may be
easily imagined, therefore, what sort of residue the stream deposits. Below the bridge you look upon the piles of
debris, the refuse, filth, and offal from the courts on the steep left bank; here each house is packed close behind
its neighbour [sic] and a piece of each is visible, all black, smoky, crumbling, ancient, with broken panes and
window frames. The background is furnished by old barrack-like factory buildings. On the lower bank stands a
long row of houses and mills; the second house being a ruin without a roof, piled with debris; the third stands so
low that the lowest floor is uninhabitable, and therefore without windows or doors. Here the background
embraces the pauper burial-ground, the station of the Liverpool and Leeds railway and, in the rear of this, the
Workhouse, the “Poor-Law Bastille” of Manchester, which, like a citadel, looks threateningly down from
behind its high walls and parapets on the hilltop, upon the working-people’s quarters below. 105
Dickens, in The Old Curiosity Shop describes such a scene as the place in which the odious dwarf Quilp keeps his offices
and his home-away-from-home living quarters. In Oliver Twist Dickens describes such housing as the sort of place where Fagan
ran his ring of boy thieves and where Bill Sykes and Nancy lived. Unfortunately, such conditions exist even today, often in
squatter’s camps of the megalopolises of Second and Third World countries but, far too often, in the United States itself. Writer
and social critic Jonathan Kozol, for example, exposes the living conditions of the poor in Mott Haven and Hunt’s Point in the
South Bronx in New York City in much the same terms. There are no factories there (and therefore no jobs), but there are
incinerators that burn the refuse from hospitals, and there is an enormous prison directly across the street from one of the junior
highs. 106 It was just such conditions that eventually led to the writings for which Marx has become so justly famous.
Karl Marx's theory of the relationship between the economy and other components of the social structure is based on the
dialectic of economic determinism, in which, to put it simply, the economy is at the core and is the foundation of all other social
structures and determines and defines the form and practice of those structural components called social institutions. 107 Society,
to Marx, is divided into two levels: the substructure, which is the economy and is bifurcated into the means (land , labor, capital)
and modes of production (technology), and the relations of production (the social relations in and out of the work place); and the
superstructure, which is a byproduct of and dependent upon the form and practice extant in the economic system. As the
economic structure evolves from hunting-gathering, to simple farming, to feudalism, to capitalism, and eventually from capitalism
to communism the superstructure changes in order to protect the economic system and those who control the means and modes of
production (the ruling class or bourgeoisie). As technology changes each of the institutions of society 108 also changes. Within the
family there is a split between home life and work life and the family is no longer the primary unit of production. The educational
system changes in order to provide properly socialized and indoctrinated workers while the value system also changes to one that
accuses and blames the individual for his/her own lack of economic success. Religion begins to espouse the premise that what
occurs in this life is unimportant and that poverty is instrumental to living a good life and receiving one’s true rewards in the
afterlife. Politics and government are dependent upon and reflective of the economic system which it supports by legislating in
favor of the bourgeoisie who own or control the means and modes of production and, therefore, control the economic system, and,
by default, the social structure itself. 109
In 1887 a German Sociologist named Ferdinand Tönnies wrote a book titled Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (which
means Community and Society), in which he argued that the rapid expansion of technology and large-scale industrialized
societies was sounding the death knell for small-scale societies. Modernism presupposes a money economy, massive division of
labor, industrialization, and urbanization. Ferdinand Tönnies, in 1887 wrote one of the more massive treatises on modernity
entitled Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft or Community and Society sometimes translated as Community and Association. Tönnies,
following many other earlier theorists beginning with Plato, posited that the rise of the capitalist industrial state in the late 19th
century had profound implications for the character of interpersonal relationships among individuals and groups. Tönnies
developed the polar opposite ideal types of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft which he used to explain the historical (and dialectic)
change that was taking place as a result of the industrial revolution and various sociopolitical events that were occurring in his
native Germany. Although similar to Durkheim’s concepts of Mechanical and Organic Solidarity, and Weber’s typologies of
action orientation (Goal Orientation and Value Orientation which are rational, and Emotional /Affective Orientation and
Traditional Orientation which are non-rational or irrational), Tönnies theory was all-encompassing including a Marxist
interpretation of economics and a Hegelian view of history as a dialectic process.
According to Tönnies, Community (Gemeinschaft) is intimate, real, ancient, organic, interconnected, consensual,
sympathetic, unified (by blood ties, physical proximity, and intellectual ties or common belief and value systems), self-sufficient,
paternalistic, and confining. Society (Gesellschaft) on the other hand is formal, artificial, new, inorganic, disconnected (by
different and divergent belief and value systems), contractual, pitiless, disjointed, interdependent, ruled by capitalists for their
own use and profit, and alienating. 110 “Gemeinschaft was the world of close, emotional, face-to-face ties, attachment to place,
ascribed social status, and a homogeneous and regulated community. Gesellschaft has come to be linked with urbanism, industrial
life, mobility, heterogeneity, and impersonality.” 111
Max Weber differed from Marx and argued that the primary driving mechanism behind all sociostructural change is the
bureaucracy and NOT the economy. According to Weber, the bureaucracy determines, defines, and drives the economy
which, in turn, drives all other social institutions. The bureaucracy is ubiquitous, survives even when other social institutions
collapse, intrudes itself into every aspect of human life, and traps us in its “Iron Cage.” We will take a closer look at Weber’s
theory of bureaucratic determinism in the next section.
Gerhard Lenski and Jean Lenski, in their theory of sociocultural evolution, argue that technological change drives
sociocultural change. Because technology is critical to social organization the complexity of the technology determines the
complexity of the society. The Lenskis, among many others, maintain that there are six types of societies: 1) HunterGatherers—a society in which people make their living by some combination of hunting, foraging for wild foods, and fishing
with simple technologies; 2) Pastoralists—a society that depends for its livelihood on domesticated animals; 3)
Horticulturalists—a society in which hand tools are used to grow domesticated crops; 4) Agrarianists—a society that depends
for its subsistence on crops raised with the help of plows, draft animals, and intensive agricultural methods; 5) Industrial
Societies—a society that relies on machines and advanced technology to produce and distribute food, information, goods, and
services; 6) Postindustrial Society—a society whose economic system is engaged in the processing and control of information.
Michael Harrington said that postindustrial societies would be characterized by stratification between those who have access to
information and those who don’t whom he called the information rich and information poor. 112
Six Types of Societies 113
Type of Society
HuntingGathering
Pastoralists
Horticulturalists
Agrarianists
Industrial
Postindustrial
Period of
100 TYA to
Present
15 TYA to
Present
10-12 TYA to
Present
8 TYA to Present
18th to 20th
Centuries
21st Century
People make their
living by some
combination of
hunting,
foraging for
wild foods,
and fishing
with simple
technologies.
35-50
A society that
depends for
its livelihood
on
domesticated
animals
A society in which
hand tools are
used to grow
domesticated
crops.
A society that depends
for its subsistence
on crops raised with
the help of plows,
draft animals, and
intensive
agricultural
methods.
A society whose
economic system
is engaged in the
processing and
control of
information.
150-3,000
1,000-100,000
Millions to over a
Billion
A society that relies
on machines
and advanced
technology to
produce and
distribute food,
information,
goods, and
services.
Millions to over a
Billion
Stone, Bone,
Wood;
Domesticated
Animals;
Human Power
Sickle, Hoe;
Animal-Drawn Plow
Agriculture;
Irrigation Agriculture;
Animal Power;
Machine Power;
Electric, Petroleum,
Nuclear Power
Computer
Information
Technologies;
Historical
Dominance
Primary
Societal
Characteristics
Average
Population Size
Forms of
Technology
Human Power
Human Power
Millions to over a
Billion
Photonics; Robotics
Wind Power
Economy
Subsistence;
Several-Week
Surplus.
Surplus on the
Hoof.
Several-Month
Surplus.
Agriculture;
Market Exchange
Surplus.
Industrial;
Mass Production
and Market
Economy.
Global Service
Economy.
Economic
System
Barter
Barter
Barter
Capitalism,
Communism.
Capitalism,
Communism.
Settlement
Pattern
Nomadic
Nomadic; SemiNomadic
Semi-Permanent
Villages
Feudal, Semi-Feudal;
Capitalism,
Communism.
Cities And Empires;
Large Rural
Populations
Majority of
Population in
Cities
Megalopolises
Social
Organization
Family/Kin
Bands;
Little
Stratification
Chiefdoms;
Chiefdoms;
Religious and
Military
Specialization;
Extreme
Stratification
Complex Institutions;
Extreme Stratification
Distinct
Institutions;
Growth and
Development of
the NationState;
Widespread
Stratification
Growth of Scientific
and Technical
Institutions;
Global Economic
and Power
Structures;
Widespread
Stratification
Social Structure
Gemeinschaft
Gemeinschaft
Gemeinschaft/
Gesellschaft
Gesellschaft
Gesellschaft
Complex
Complex
Complex
Monarchy
Democratically Elected
Leaders
Dictatorships
Oligarchy
Plutocracy
Monarchy
Democratically
Elected Leaders
Dictatorships
Oligarchy
Plutocracy
Monarchy
Democratically
Elected Leaders
Dictatorships
Oligarchy
Plutocracy
Ancient Egypt;
Feudal Europe;
Most 21st Century
Third World
Countries;
Modern China
United States;
France; Japan;
Australia; Canada;
Most First World
Countries; 7 of
the 8 Nations of
the World
Economic
Summit
Most First World
Countries;
Emerging in 7 of the
Extreme
Stratification
Division of
Labor
Sex and Age
Sex; Age;
Ownership of
Animals
Type of
Leadership
Acephalic
(Leaderless)
Chiefdom
Chiefdom
Modern
Examples
Pygmies of
Central
African
Republic;
!Kung of South
Africa And
Namibia;
Masai of Kenya;
Fulani of
Nigeria;
Navajo of
American
Southwest
(Both Before
1970)
Gesellschaft
Sex, Age,
Ownership of Land
and Animals;
Military; Religious;
Artisans
Chiefdom
Headman
Big Man
Yanomamo of
Brazil;
Dani of New Guinea
Highlands
114
8 Nations
the World
Economic
Summit
of
Four Theories of Sociostructural Change
Theory
Mechanism of Change
Economic Determinism
The Economy—
As the economic system changes, all the
other institutions of society change,
which changes the relationships
among people
Ferdinand Tönnies
Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft
Urbanization—
As societies move from rural to urban,
the institutions of society experience
huge levels of social change, which
changes the relationships among
people
Gerhard Lenski and Jean Lenski
Sociocultural Evolution
Technology—
As technology changes and new
technologies are developed and
widely utilized, the institutions of
society expand, creating significant
changes in the social structure, which
people
Max Weber
Bureaucratic Determinism
Bureaucracy—
As a society becomes more rational and
routinized, the bureaucracy becomes
the primary mechanism of social
change and social control, which
people
The four basic elements of the social structure are statuses, social roles, groups, and social institutions. Statuses
(the idea of which comes to us from the works of Max Weber) are socially defined positions within any society and tend to be a
hierarchical rankings of people and their positions based on various socially defined characteristics. Statuses are occupied, roles
are played. Master Status includes race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, disability, and SES (socioeconomic status which is
inclusive of the combined effects of income, occupation, and education). Master Status is a ranking that combines several factors
to assess peoples’ positions in the stratification hierarchy (levels of social acceptance by the dominant group). Of all the statuses a
person occupies, it is the one that largely defines who that person is, and what his or her goals and opportunities are. All people
have at least one and possibly several Master Statuses. For example, this writer occupies several statuses in society: white,
married, female, middle-aged, upper middle class, professor of Sociology and her Master Status (as is true with most people) is
the way in which she defines herself to herself and others. Master Status includes those elements we are born with (ascribed
statuses) as well as those we accomplish or attain through our own efforts (achieved statuses). Ascribed statuses include those
aspects of ourselves that we are born with and that we do not generally change such as our race/ethnicity, sex, eye color and
shape, hair texture, and basic physical appearance (phenotype). Achieved statuses on the other hand are those aspects of
ourselves that require us to do something to accomplish such as our adult income, education, and occupation (SES). Everyone has
master status—the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group! It is not about social
acceptability as such. Various parts of our master status make us more or less acceptable, more or less privileged vis á vis the
dominant group, but everyone has race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, ability/disability, and SES (income + education +
occupation) whether or not they are part of the dominant group. Consider a Hispanic doctor in the 1930s—his (note the male
pronoun) master status as a doctor (SES) is privileged but his master status as a Hispanic (race/ethnicity) is not, vis á vis the
dominant group. Both minorities and dominant group members have master status—to reiterate, the word “master” has absolutely
nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group!
One’s Master Status, or the Master Status one chooses to present, is sometimes situationally dependent. For instance, this
writer’s Master Status as a professor of Sociology generally becomes evident only when performing the role of professor of
Sociology. Her Master Status as a white female, although always evident, is largely ignored unless whiteness or femaleness
becomes a particular situational issue. 115 A social status (any status) is a social position which must be filled. However, any
qualified person can fill any social position. Those of you who are reading this are probably college students—a status which
must be filled because it is necessary for people in our culture to be formally educated. Some of you are probably parents—
another status that must be filled because it is critical for any culture to add to its population. Some of you are employees who
have jobs and go to work everyday—also a necessary status in society because the economy must be supported and maintained
and there are basic social services necessary for the smooth operation of an industrialized society. Each status in society has
Theorist(s)
Karl Marx
certain obligations, expectations, duties, rights, and functions that go with them. College students are obligated to pay for their
education, expected to do the reading and write the papers that have been assigned, required to come to class and complete the
coursework satisfactorily in order to earn a passing grade, study hard, be treated with dignity and respect, and graduate. However,
as we all know, some people fail to adequately fill their status. A social role is the way we fill the various statuses we occupy.
You have probably heard someone say that someone else is “just taking up space” meaning that they are not doing their job or
fulfilling the obligations, expectations, duties, rights, and functions that go with a specific status. They are not playing the role.
We have all seen people in school plays who were wrong for a particular part, or who couldn’t remember their lines or their
position on the stage, or who was simply bad at acting. That person (status=actor) is not playing satisfactorily the part
(role=part). All of the various aspects of our Master Status (the primary social positions we occupy) and sometimes the way we
play our social roles can and do effect our ranking on the stratification hierarchy which will be discussed in a later section. 116
117
Our social roles can often create situations in which we must make choices among different life options, this is called
role conflict and it occurs when two or more incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same
person. Choosing which role to play may require making ethical choices: parent or student, student or friend, student or employee.
Sometimes it becomes necessary for us to remove ourselves from a role that has become central to our sense of self, central to our
identity. 118
Helen Rose Ebaugh, a former Roman Catholic nun and now a professor of Sociology at the University of HoustonCentral campus, developed, as the basis for her doctoral thesis, the theory of role exit which is the process of disengagement from
a role that is central to one’s self-identity. Dr. Ebaugh’s experience of leaving the convent and the religious order set the stage for
her discovery of role exit which has four stages: 1) doubt; 2) search for alternatives; 3) departure; 4) creation of a new
identity. This process may be applied to leaving home for the first time, joining the military, getting married or divorced,
graduating from a residential college, migrating to a new country, or many other occasions during our lives. 119
One of the four basic elements of social interaction is groups. A group may be a “combination of people who may or
may not share a feeling of unity (as in social class groups) and may or may not be involved in regular social interaction (as in the
case of certain ethnic groups)” 120 , usually, however, a group is a combination of people who do share feelings of unity and who
do interact regularly. Charles Horton Cooley developed the idea that there are two kinds of groups which he called primary and
secondary. A primary group consists of family and friends, (the people closest to you), and is “characterized by close, intimate,
face-to-face interaction.” 121 Secondary groups, on the other hand are those people with whom you go to school, with whom you
work, who belong to the same clubs or organizations, people who are not close and intimately related to you but who are
relatively distant and impersonal. 122
Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups
Characteristic
Primary Group
Secondary Group
Small
Large
Size
Affective, Expressive
Instrumental
Relationships
Informal
Formal (Legal/Rational)
Social Control
Long-term
Short-term
Duration
Family, friends
Groups Members
Corporations, churches, political parties 123
Social networks are a form of group interaction. Social networks are the total web of an individual’s relationships and
group memberships—a series of social relationships that link a person to directly to others and therefore indirectly to more people
such as family, friends, neighbors, peers, co-workers, club members, team members. Social networks have no clear boundaries or
common goals and are characterized by primary and secondary group relationships. 124 It has been said that we are all within six
people from any other person in the world, a concept called six degrees of separation. There is a computer game that is called
“Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” Kevin Bacon is an actor who has been in motion pictures such as Footloose, A Few Good Men,
The Hollow Man, and many others. According to the game, it is possible to connect anyone who has ever been in an American
movie to Kevin Bacon within other six people. One night, while playing this game with some friends, we decided to see if any
one of us could be connected, within six other people, to Kevin Bacon. (None of us has any experience in the motion picture
industry or has any direct relationship with any one in that industry.) As it turned out, one of us knew a man, Monsignor John
O’Sullivan who was the brother of Maureen O’Sullivan, an actor who played in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters with
another actor named Dianne Wiest who was in the film Footloose with Kevin Bacon! Another one of us had a great grandparent
who knew someone who knew Lenin. Social networks mean that we are loosely connected to all the people we know, all the
people they know, all the people they know, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum.
Social institutions “consist of all the structural components of a society through which the main concerns and activities
are organized, and social needs are met,” 125 they are “social practices that are regularly and continuously repeated, are sanctioned
and maintained by social norms, and have major significance in the social structure. . established patterns of behavior organized
patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs.” 126 Functionalists argue that institutions are society’s method of
caring for basic human needs and solving basic problems, while Conflict theorists maintain that institutions represent oppressive
relationship that disproportionately benefit the elites, and the Symbolic interactionists posit that institutions change, are in a
constant state of flux, and are representative of any variety of human interactions. Social institutions include: the family,
education, religion, law/politics/government, the economy, medicine, and media. 127
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIC—Social Interaction and Social Structure
Achieved statuses…50
Agrarianists…48
Ascribed statuses…50
bureaucracy…48
Charles Dickens…47
Charles Horton
Cooley…51
Community and
Society…48
Comparison of Primary
and Secondary
Groups…51
Conflict Paradigm…45
economic
determinism…46, 48
family, education,
religion,
law/politics/governme
nt, the economy,
medicine, and
media…51
Ferdinand Tönnies…48
four basic elements of
the social
structure…50
four stages: 1) doubt; 2)
search for
alternatives; 3)
departure; 4)
creation of a new
identity…51
Four Theories of
Sociostructural
Change…50, 44–52
Frederick Engels…47
Functionalist
Paradigm…45
Gemeinschaft und
Gesellschaft…48
Gerhard Lenski and
Jean Lenski…48
Ground in the Mill…47
group…51
groups…50
Hard Times…47
Helen Rose
Ebaugh…51
Herbert Blumer…44
Horticulturalists…48
Hunter-Gatherers…48
individual acts…44
Industrial Societies…48
information rich and
information
poor…48
just taking up
space…51
Karl Marx’s View of
the Social
Structure…46
Marx’s model of the
social structure…46
master status…50
Master Status…50
Max Weber…48
Michael
Harrington…48
objective/external,
coercive, and
concrete…45
Pastoralists…48
performing the
role…50
playing the role…51
Postindustrial
Society…48
primary group…51
role conflict…51
role exit…51
Secondary group…51
SES…50
six degrees of
separation…51
six types of
societies…48
social acts…44
social institutions…50
Social institutions…51
social interaction…44–
52
Social networks…51
social position…50
social positions…51
social role…51
social roles…50, 51
social status…50
social structure…44, 45
Social structure…44
sociocultural
evolution…48
statuses…50
Statuses…50
subjective, abstract,
and constantly
changing…45
Paradigm…45
Paradigms: Views of
the Social
Structure…46
types of social
interaction…44
Types of Societies…49
working classes in
Manchester…47
Module IID—Groups and Bureaucracies
As stated in the previous section, a group is any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who
regularly and consciously interact. Charles Horton Cooley developed the concept of primary and secondary groups.
But, in Sociological terms, there is more than this to group relationships. In-groups and out groups are of elementary
concern to Sociologists who study inter-group relations. An in-group is any group that people identify with and to which they
have a strong sense of loyalty and an out-group is a group that people consider less worthy and less desirable than their own
group. In-group and out-group membership is entirely dependant upon one’s own loyalties and group identification. 128
Oftentimes, in-groups and their respective out-groups are 129 characterized by some level of rivalry, from the type of rivalry that
exists between students of different universities to the much more serious rivalries between countries or religions which result in
war and death. Some in-groups and their respective out-groups might include Aggies and Longhorns, or jocks and nerds.
However, at its most serious and deadly level, in-group and out-group relationships include such lethal enmities as those between
Muslims and Jews in Israel, between Indians and Pakistanis contending over the borders of Kashmir, or the problems between
men and women, minorities and whites, rich and poor, Protestants (non-Catholic Christians) and Roman Catholics in Northern
Ireland. Whether any one of these is an in-group or an out-group depends on one’s perspective and to which group one actually
belongs. However, in the wider world, in-group and out-group relationships are decided by power. The ultimate in-group in any
society is based on who holds and wields power. Therefore, when analyzing ultimate in-groups and out-groups in the world, the
ultimate in-group is almost always male, wealthy, and middle-aged. The ultimate in-group in any society always creates social
boundaries in order to consolidate and hold their power. Social boundaries may be material or symbolic devices that delineate
who is inside and who is outside a group. Interactions between and among groups may be regulated by custom, law, or physical
boundaries. Such boundaries include various aspects of master status such as race or ethnicity, sex or gender, age, religion,
disability, and SES. The ultimate in-group in a society may set up physical boundaries such as ghettos or quarters, legal
boundaries such as Jim Crow or other segregation laws, or symbolic boundaries such as skin color, eye shape, hair texture, sex,
age, religion, or disability. Such social boundaries serve to maintain the power of the ultimate in-group and to prevent out-group
members from gaining power.
German Sociologist Georg Simmel developed a theory concerning the ways in which group size determines the
quality of group relations. According to Simmel, people interact differently depending on the size of the group. In small groups,
people are able to interact simultaneously but as the number of group members increases, the relationships change dramatically.
Although there are no specific numbers for when these changes occur, (we all know when a small group becomes a crowd); there
is an almost palpable feeling that the quality of the group has changed as the quantity of the group changes. As groups increase in
size the types of interactions among group members changes. The larger the group, the more formal group interactions become,
and as groups grow in size, the need for various levels of leadership becomes apparent.
Simmel maintained that there are three types of groups: the isolated individual, the dyad, which is a two-member
group, and the triad, which is a three person group. The isolated individual is self-isolated but in still in a relationship because
society nonetheless exists and the potential for interaction is always present. A dyad is the most intimate and fragile of all groups
because if one group member leaves, the group no longer exists. A triad is a three person group which is much more stable than a
two person group and which creates the opportunity for many more levels of interaction among group members. In a three-person
group, the third person may play a mediating role, a unifying role, or a divisive role. According to Simmel, each of these types of
groups is not just quantitatively different but differs in quality, one from the others.
The largest possible group is a society and there are many theories of society that attempt to understand human
relationships on such a grand scale. Each of the three Sociological paradigms tries to explain how and why humans relate to each
other in the ways that they do, as well as trying to explain the mechanisms that create and maintain any given social structure.
Another German Sociologist, Robert Michels in 1915, developed a theory called the “Iron Law of Oligarchy.”
According to Michels, “He who says bureaucracy says oligarchy,” which means that rule by a few becomes the norm regardless
of the goals or management style of the organization. Milovan Djilas argued that the Communist Party in Russia was doomed to
become an oligarchy because power seeks to maintain itself. 130
Max Weber who as we learned in the previous section, differed from Marx, argued that the primary driving mechanism
behind all sociostructural change is the bureaucracy and NOT the economy. According to Weber, the bureaucracy determines,
defines, and drives the economy which, in turn, drives all other social institutions. The bureaucracy is ubiquitous, survives
even when other social institutions collapse, intrudes itself into every aspect of human life, and traps us in its “Iron Cage.” The
characteristics of bureaucracies are: 1) Division of labor in which specialized experts are employed in each social position to
perform specific tasks; 2) Hierarchy of authority in which each position in a formal organization is under the control of someone
else who is higher up on the ladder; 3) Written rules and regulations which provide clear standards, specific goals, and create an
atmosphere of impersonality. (Unfortunately, as Robert Merton argued, impersonality may engender the bureaucratic personality
which is overzealous conformity to official regulations rather than actual goals); 4) Impersonality means that positions NOT
people are of utmost importance to the organization, and although it is meant to guarantee equal treatment it creates “the Iron
Cage of Bureaucracy,” which traps us like unfeeling, uncaring cogs in a wheel; 5) Employment based on technical qualifications
which is designed to prevent favoritism or nepotism. 131 132
Another German Sociologist, Robert Michels in 1915, developed a theory called the “Iron Law of Oligarchy.”
According to Michels, “He who says bureaucracy says oligarchy,” which means that rule by a few becomes the norm regardless
of the goals or management style of the organization. Milovan Djilas argued that the Communist Party in Russia was doomed to
become an oligarchy because power seeks to maintain itself. 133
Each of the major Sociological paradigms has developed theoretical responses to the existence of bureaucracies.
According to the Functionalists, bureaucracies serve a public good, are necessary for the proper functioning of society and
provide access to the goods of society. The Symbolic interactionists argue that individuals within organizations set the goals and
that organizations are not greater than the sum of their parts. The Conflictualists maintain that bureaucracies exist to serve the
needs of the bourgeoisie and that they are exploitative. 134
As with many other aspects of society, there are certain consequences to bureaucracies. George Ritzer wrote a book
titled The McDonaldization of Society in which he argued that society has become so homogenized or blended together that it
functions like a fast-food restaurant. McDonaldized bureaucracies rely on: efficiency; predictability; quantifiability (which is the
profit motive); and control. McDonaldization, according to Ritzer, adds to the iron cage and serves to dehumanize us by turning
us into mindless machines, and mere dupes of the capitalist system which exists for its own benefit. 135
One of the most significantly detrimental aspects of group behavior, as recognized by Irving Janis, is Groupthink
which is a group decision-making process in which the group makes more extreme choices than they would make individually.
Groupthink occurs in small groups and is not the kind of behavior that generates riots or other forms of social action. In order for
a decision-making process to be groupthink, it requires that group members are relatively cohesive and relatively familiar with
one another. It is risk-taking behavior in which only two options, both worst-case scenarios, are considered; a decision-making
process in which group members ignore alternative solutions in order to maintain group consensus and harmony. Groupthink
ALWAYS produces negative results. Two aspects of Groupthink are: the Group Polarization Phenomenon—during the decisionmaking process, group members often shift toward extreme positions whether conservative or high-risk—and the Risky Shift
Phenomenon—when the choice is culturally favored, people take greater risks in groups than if they had acted independently.
Groupthink is the go-along-to-get-along justification, which means that groups are liable to make dangerously stupid decisions
that no single individual would make alone. 136 A few examples of Groupthink are the Brio Super-Fund site, the Ford Pinto,
Watergate, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the Bridgestone-Firestone tire debacle. 137 Not all
group decision- making is Groupthink; Groupthink occurs when group members attempt to gain or maintain consensus at all
costs. It is a process that creates group solidarity for a solution to a problem or for a conclusion to an argument that ignores
alternatives and focuses only on mass agreement by group members—dissent has been effectively killed, therefore, there is no
Symbolic
Interactionism
Functionalism
Conflict
one to point out the stupidity or dangerousness of the group’s decision; this only occurs in relatively small, relatively cohesive
groups—it is not the behavior of a mob, or a jury, or a legislative body, or any group of people whose members are not intimately
familiar with one another: familiarity and a desire to overcome any and all obstacles and objections in order to reach agreement
and maintain harmony are the primary criterion for groupthink to occur.
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Bureaucracies
Paradigm
1) The bureaucracy exists to serve the needs of the Bourgeoisie
2) The bureaucracy is exploitive, and creates an “iron cage” which traps the average worker.
3) The bureaucracy is the primary characteristic of large-scale industrial societies.
4) The bureaucracy is the rationalized, and exploitive form of human interaction in large-scale formal
organization.
1) The bureaucracy exists to serve the needs of society.
2) The bureaucracy provides for the economic and social needs of a society and helps to maintain social
stability.
3) The bureaucracy is a major characteristic of large-scale industrial societies.
4) The bureaucracy is the response to large-scale formal organizations.
1) The bureaucracy consists of groups of people interacting with one another in patterned ways, on a daytoday basis.
2) The bureaucracy provides a mechanism for social intercourse among disparate groups and individuals.
3) The bureaucracy is a major characteristic of large-scale industrial societies.
4) The bureaucracy is the method by which large-scale formal organizations create interaction.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IID—Groups and Bureaucracies
bureaucracy…53
characteristics of
bureaucracies…53
Charles Horton
Cooley…52
dyad…53
examples of
Groupthink…53
Georg Simmel…52
George Ritzer…53
Group Polarization
Phenomenon…53
group relationships…52
group size determines
the quality of group
relations…52
Groupthink…53
in-group…52
inter-group
relations…52
Iron Law of
Oligarchy…53
Irving Janis…53
isolated individual…53
legal boundaries…52
master status…52
Max Weber…53
oligarchy…53
out-group…52
physical
boundaries…52
power…52
Robert Michels…53
rule by a few…53
SES…52
Shift Phenomenon…53
social boundaries…52
Social boundaries…52
society…53
the Iron Cage of
Bureaucracy…53
The McDonaldization of
Society…53
Paradigms:
Explanations of
Bureaucracies…54
theoretical responses to
the existence of
bureaucracies…53
three types of
groups…53
triad…53
ultimate in-group…52
Module IIE—Deviance
Deviance is behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. It is non-normative
behavior that is defined by the mainstream or by those in authority or power. Deviance is always negatively sanctioned—
punished—in some way by society. Those negative sanctions may be a simple and innocuous as mild ridicule or may be as
serious and severe as the death penalty; the severity of the sanction is generally related to the severity of the deviance. Deviance,
by definition, is behavior that violates social norms. Norms are widely shared and widely understood established standards of
behavior maintained by any given society. They are “prescriptions serving as common guidelines for social action [behavior].
Human behavior exhibits certain regularities, which are the product of adherence to common expectations or norms. . . . the term
refers to social expectations about ‘correct’ or ‘proper’ behavior.” 138 Norms may be formal (generally written norms that
involve strict rules for punishment of violators, such as laws which are the body of rules, made by government for society,
interpreted by the courts, and backed by the power of the state), and informal which are generally understood but not precisely
recorded standards of behavior. Norms are prescriptive they tell us what to do, and proscriptive telling us what not to do. The
three primary types of norms are folkways, mores, and laws. 139
Folkways are informal rules and expectations that guide people’s everyday behavior and include such things as everyday
etiquette, manners, proper attire for a given situation, and basic concepts of self-control in all levels of social interaction.
Folkways may differ depending on Master Status and situation and violations are not severely sanctioned. Folkways are loosely
defined and loosely applied by individuals and although violations are not generally seen as threats to the social order, persistent
violation is usually seen as deviance. 140
Mores (pronounced morays) are the norms that people consider essential to the proper working of society. Mores have
moral and (sometimes) religious significance and define what a culture or society deems to be right and wrong, good and evil.
Mores do not necessarily apply equally to all members of society and may be dependent on SES and Master Status. However,
sanctions are formal or formalized, and there are clearly defined rewards or punishments which are administered by authorized
social agents. Conformity to mores is ensured by internalization as well as by the negative sanctions imposed by social agents.
Mores are based on the values or value system of a society. When mores become formal and are written down or codified they
become laws which are formal rules enacted and enforced by the power of the state, which apply to every member of a society.
The application of laws is sometimes dependent on SES or Master Status. Formal negative sanctions apply to violations, however,
the severity of sanctions is often dependent upon the severity of the violation. Law is the method that large-scale societies use in
order to maintain their system of government and to control their populations. Law may be criminal or civil. Criminal law deals
with crime, punishment, and the power of the state to maintain social control. Civil law determines the relationships among
citizens both private and corporate. All criminal behavior is deviant, but not all deviance is criminal. 141
There are four elements of deviance: 1) norms which are the societal expectations of acceptable behaviors and which of
course differ from one sociocultural environment to another; 2) acts, which are the actual behaviors involved; 3) actors who are
the individuals involved; (a deviant act may not necessarily mean that the actor is deviant—e.g., normal speeding; Rosa Parks in
Montgomery, Alabama; Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.) 4) audience, which is the societal response. And, there are
four relativisms of deviance: 1) time; specific periods or eras have different ideas about what is normal or deviant; e.g. shortly
after the Elizabethan era (1533-1603) and during the reign of British King Charles I (1629-1640), people virtually never bathed
because they believed that immersing themselves in water would kill them. In fact, British poet John Donne, in 1633 wrote a
poem entitled “The Flea” which glorifies a fleabite as a deeply romantic thing, clearly telling us that people of that era had fleas
and that having fleas was normative! 2) place is the physical environment and physical and social context; 3) situation; combines
time and place with circumstances; 4) culture which is the sociocultural environment. 142
The Flea 143
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny’st me is;
Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;
...
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is . . . .
John Donne 1633
Usually, when discussing deviance, we talk about the dysfunctional or negative consequences of deviance which
include personal harm or injury; threats to existing norms; social and financial costs; social disruption; and danger of escalating
deviance. However, there are some functional or positive consequences of deviance. Durkheim argued that, even in a society of
saints and angels there would be deviance, therefore, deviance is an integral part of the social structure. According to Durkheim,
deviance enhances group solidarity; helps to maintain social cohesion; reaffirms and reinforces norms because deviants are
punished; promotes social solidarity when people unite for or against the deviates; and last but far from least deviance can bring
about necessary innovation and social change. 144
Because deviance is an integral part of the society, all societies develop methods of preventing or punishing deviance.
These methods are called social control and they refer to any mechanism that societies use to maintain their social norms. There
are two major or primary forms of social control: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary social control is internalized through the
socialization process, it is our conscience, Mead's generalized other, Cooley’s Looking-Glass Self, and our anticipation and
understanding of the social response. It is our own feeling that we will not engage in an act of deviance because it would be
wrong. Involuntary social control exists because various agents of society exist. Involuntary social control means that we will
not engage in acts of deviance because we might get caught and we are not willing to risk the consequences. Social control can
also be formal or informal. Formal social control is based on law, law enforcement, and other official social agents and authority
figures who have been invested by society with some level of enforcement power. Formal social control is used to deal with
criminal deviance and all societies formalize or institutionalize methods of dealing with crime and punishment. The FBI and other
law enforcement agencies list three basic types of crimes: violent crime which includes offenses against persons, homicide,
aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery; property offenses which are non-violent crimes involving the taking or
destruction of the property of others and includes burglary, larceny/theft, auto theft, arson; and public order offenses which are
also called victimless crimes and include prostitution, illegal gambling, and use of illicit drugs. 145
Informal social control is used when folkways or mores are violated, but it is generally not very effective unless there is
a small, highly cohesive group or Gemeinschaft. Gossip, ridicule, shame, and ostracism are all effective when everyone lives
close together, knows one another intimately, works and plays together, shares a common lifestyle, a common community, a
common religion, and a common set of norms and values. Groups like the !Kung, the Hopi, and the Amish all use these
methods of social control very effectively. Erving Goffman, in his book Stigma argued that the image in the Looking Glass can
be manipulated by society in order to turn on non-acceptable members a mirror that shows lack of full social acceptance which
Goffman called stigmas (a stigma is a mark or a visible sign). According to Goffman, these stigmas are: abominations of the
body which include physical deformities, tattoos, piercings; blemishes of individual character which include mental illness and
substance abuse or dependency; and tribal stigma which is discreditation due to one's race, religion, ethnicity, or group
membership. 146
The three types of crimes listed by the FBI, (violent crime which includes offenses against persons, homicide,
aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery; property offenses which are non-violent crimes involving the taking or
destruction of the property of others and includes burglary, larceny/theft, auto theft, arson; and public order offenses which are
also called victimless crimes and include prostitution, illegal gambling, and use of illicit drugs), 147 are all street crimes and do
not include one of the most devastating forms of crime facing American society today: White Collar Crime. (Sutherland’s
classic definition of white collar crime is that it is “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the
course of his occupation.”) Both social status and occupational status are components of this concept and the occupational status
and occupational position are the mechanisms by which the crime is committed. Social status (which, in our society is often a
concomitant of power and wealth) often provides a veil behind which a perpetrator might be concealed and protected from
prosecution. However, a wealthy, powerful, high-status person committing or being charged with murder (e.g., O.J. Simpson in
1994), assault (e.g. Mike Tyson), rape (e.g. Kobe Bryant in 2003), robbery, theft, arson, prostitution, gambling, or drug dealing
does not qualify as a white collar crime. 148
White collar crime includes: “Crimes against Consumer, Environmental Crime, Institutional Corruption,
Fiduciary Fraud, Crimes by the Government, Corruption of Public Officials, Medical Crime, and Computer Crime”. 149
White Collar crime is seldom prosecuted and is difficult to measure because the local police do not generally investigate white
collar crime; victims often are unaware that they have been victimized; criminals are hidden behind a corporate veil of secrecy,
power, wealth, and prestige; it is not as readily visible as street crime; its effects are postponed; and white collar criminals are, if
not pillars of the community, certainly (seemingly) respectable citizens with strong ties to their communities. Because white
collar crime is not included in the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) or the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) its
prevalence must be measured using alternative methodologies such as cross-sectional studies of large corporations; industryspecific studies; and other forms of victimization surveys. 150
White collar crime includes such egregious examples of consumer fraud, institutional corruption, and fiduciary fraud as
Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson and Associates, Inc., ImClone and Martha Stewart, and all the other lesser known corporate
scandals that have been plaguing us recently—someone once said that the street criminal commits a crime with a gun or knife, but
the white collar criminal commits their crimes with a pen! According to BBC News On-Line:
In just 15 years, Enron grew from nowhere to be America’s seventh largest company, employing 21,000 staff in
more than 40 countries. But the firm’s success turned out to have involved an elaborate scam.
Enron lied about its profits and stands accused of a range of shady dealings, including concealing debts
so they didn’t show up in the company's accounts.
As the depth of the deception unfolded, investors and creditors retreated, forcing the firm into Chapter
11 bankruptcy in December [2001].
More than [eighteen] months after a criminal inquiry was announced, the guilty parties have still not
been brought to justice. 151
Diane Francis of Canada’s Financial Post, in a June 13, 2003 on-line article titled “Financial Incest in WorldCom Scandal:
Ebbers’ Personal Links To Corporate Bankers Were Unacceptable,” wrote:
How did Canadian Bernard Ebbers and his firm WorldCom Inc. soar rapidly to become one of
America’s biggest telecom success stories, then become America’s biggest bankruptcy?
Some of the answers are obvious: Wall Street, the auditing profession, sleazy management
and incompetent directors.
Buried in this scandal is also the questionable role played by some traditional banks.
But first the context. WorldCom is going to end up being the biggest bankruptcy and also the biggest
fraud in U.S. history.
Its chief financial officer faces fraud charges, four officers have pleaded guilty and founder
Mr. Ebbers may be charged too someday.
The bankruptcy occurred after evidence came to light about US$11-billion worth of
accounting irregularities. The corporation’s cratering into Chapter 11 protection marked the
disappearance of US$180-billion worth of shareholder value. That’s roughly $300-billion, in Canadian
currency, or equivalent to nearly half the value of the S&P/TSX composite index.
Two investigations came to light this week that point out that Mr. Ebbers, uncharged as yet,
was firmly in control of WorldCom and may have helped orchestrate the accounting fraud that led to
the company’s collapse.
“Mr. Ebbers was aware at a minimum that WorldCom was meeting revenue expectations
through financial gimmickry,” said a report issued this week by former Securities and Exchange
Commission enforcement chief William McLucas.
But the behaviour involving the Bank of America should also be seriously examined.
The bank was a big lender to WorldCom. It was also a lender to Mr. Ebbers. 152
Therefore, it is little wonder that consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, calls white collar crime
“postponed violence,” because it is not until many years later that the average consumer is harmed by unsafe products or
corporate wrongdoing, and very often it is not until many years after the commission of the crime that the public becomes aware
of the activity. 153 The ImClone/Martha Stewart scandal is, at the time of this writing, the most recent example of corporate
America run amuck.
NEW YORK (AP)—Martha Stewart, the exemplar of “good things” who built an empire as an icon of tasteful
living, was indicted Wednesday [June 6, 2003] on securities fraud and obstruction of justice charges that could
result in a prison term.
The indictment also charged Stewart with conspiracy and making false statements and her stockbroker,
Peter Bacanovic, with perjury and obstruction of justice.
“This criminal case is about lying—lying to the FBI, lying to the SC and investors,” U.S. Attorney
James Comey said. “That is conduct that will not be tolerated. Miss Stewart is being prosecuted not because of
who she is, but what she did.'”
Stewart, 61, has denied wrongdoing in the ImClone stock sale. She claimed to have had an
arrangement with her broker for the automatic sale of the stock when it dropped to a certain price.
. . . The scandal surrounds Stewart's sale of 4,000 shares of biotech drug maker ImClone Systems Inc.
on Dec. 27, 2001—the day before the government issued a disappointing report on an ImClone drug, sending
the company's stock price tumbling. 154
NEW YORK, June 10—ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal was sentenced to seven years and
three months in prison Tuesday for an insider-trading scandal that ensnared his family and threatens Martha
Stewart and her home decorating empire.
He also was ordered to pay more than $4 million in fines and back taxes. U.S. District Judge William
H. Pauley rejected Waksal’s plea for a lighter sentence based on ImClone’s cancer research, Waksal’s
humanitarian work and the intense media interest surrounding the case.
“The harm that you wrought is truly incalculable,” the judge said. 155
White Collar Crime is more costly than street crime in terms of money, lives and health, and damage to society. Street
crime costs about $15 billion annually, whereas the annual cost of white collar crime is about $44 billion (3 times that of street
crime). Moreover, murder rates are lower than death rates due to environmental carcinogens and the consequences of white collar
crime are: polluted land, air, and ground water; birth defects; dangerous and sometimes deadly consumer products; hazardous
working conditions; demoralization, cynicism, self-disenfranchisement; and increased incidences of social deviance in the form of
property crimes and other white collar crime. For these and many other reasons, Rosoff writes that white collar crime is the
most damaging form of deviance facing us today. 156
Since criminal behavior requires societal action, Criminologists and other Sociologists have developed various theories
of rehabilitation and punishment. Specific deterrence theory argues that punishment will discourage an individual from
reoffending (committing another crime), and recidivating (becoming incarcerated again). Does punishment really prevent people
from reoffending and recidivating? General deterrence theories argue that the punishment of offenders will discourage the
general populace from committing criminal acts or engaging in criminal activity. Deterrence theory also argues that crime and
deviance will be deterred if negative social sanctions (especially punishment) are perceived to be certain, swift, and severe,
but since perception is the operative concept and perceptions differ based on amount of actual experience with the criminal justice
system, most Americans believe that our criminal justice system is a revolving door for criminals. Perceptions, however, are not
reality, and the reality is that American justice is harsher than that of any other industrialized nation. Our sentences are longer for
the same level of crime, and our prisoners serve longer! 157
The United States is the only industrialized nation that puts its citizens to death. Most Americans believe that capital
punishment acts as a deterrent against crime but there is no scientific data to support this view. Fully 75% of all Americans
support the death penalty, but some are beginning to question its fairness and are beginning to question the use of capital
punishment for all but the most heinous crimes. The following are some basic pieces of data concerning the death penalty
specifically and the criminal justice system in general. It costs 3-4 times more to put someone to death than to keep them in
maximum security for forty years. Texas executes 2 times more people annually than all other states combined, (33 in 2002; 16 as
of June 13, 2003.) 158 Minorities are proportionately more likely to be on death row than whites. The United States used to hold
public executions, but there is no evidence that this decreased the capital crime rate. Capital punishment used to be applied for
murder, rape, and cattle and horse theft as recently as the 1930s. There are currently 12 states that do not have the death penalty:
Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Alaska, Hawaii, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and
Massachusetts. Of all people behind bars in the United States for any crime: more than 80% are functionally illiterate; more than
85% were high when they committed the crime for which they have been incarcerated, more than 52% of all prisoners are
minorities; 95% of all prisoners are male; more than 85% of all prisoners were unemployed when they committed the crime for
which they are incarcerated, approximately 85% are high school drop outs; approximately 38% are recidivists; recidivism drops
to less than 3% when a college degree is earned while behind bars. 159
There are many theories that attempt to explain deviance. There are structural theories, social learning theories, and
social control theories, and labeling theories among a variety of others. Structural theories argue that deviance is a result of
structural causes; elements of the social structure itself. This is also called strain theory which states that society is structured in
such a way as to cause huge inequalities and inequities which eventually lead to deviant behaviors when the means to achieving
socially accepted goals are structurally blocked. Durkheim’s study of deviance led him to study the most deviant possible act:
suicide. According to Durkheim there are structural causes for deviant behavior and his study attempted to discover what those
causes were as they relate to the increase or decrease of suicide rates in Europe. 160
Suicide is a “term that may be applied to every case of death which results directly or indirectly from a positive or
negative act, carried out by the victim himself, knowing that it will produce this result” (Suicide, p. 44; italics in original). The
suicide rates are influenced by social forces beyond the control of any individual, the factors involved in increased suicide rates
are: Protestantism for both sexes; childless marriage for women; obligation or duty to the larger community; crises in the
economic bases; acceptability of divorce; hopelessness. Durkheim also developed a theory of four types of suicide which are: 1)
egoistic suicide which is weak integration into a social (religious, domestic, or political) group; 2) altruistic suicide which is
exceptionally strong integration into a community; 3) anomic suicide which is caused by unregulated or unrestrained social
and/or economic activity; and 4) fatalistic suicide which is caused by excessive regulation. 161
Durkheim also developed the concept of anomie which is a condition of normlessness; social chaos; social upheaval;
great social change; lack of social direction. Anomie, a major theme in the works of Émile Durkheim has often been described as
a condition of normlessness in society. It is society itself that creates norms and values, and it is society itself that creates
boundaries for human behavior. If the institutions of society are not functioning normatively, or if people perceive that the social
structure is no longer legitimate, then there will be nothing to restrain our behaviors. Durkheim believed that individual humans,
because we have insatiable desires, are incapable of developing or maintaining moral standards and that it is the social structure
that keeps our moral compass in proper working order. Anomie is that state of society when the moral compass is out of order and
the community can no longer control our desires. However, poets seem to understand anomie better than Sociologists.
The Second Coming 162
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The Falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds,
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?
William Butler Yeats 1919
In William Butler Yeats’ post-World War I poem “The Second Coming,” 163 the poet presages the concept, only
surmised in his time, of the expansion of the universe and rails against a modernity that leaves us small, voiceless, infinitesimal,
and abjectly alone in the vastness of unfathomable time and space. Because we are out of control and unable to fashion even a
puny particle of meaning or mastery out of the cosmic forces which threaten to overwhelm us at every turn, “things fall apart”
(Yeats 820:3). And, Yeats argues, things must indeed fall apart when our entire human value system is at odds with the
comfortable past, the disturbing present, and the unforeseeable future. The war that the poet so disparages is not the end of war—
the death and destruction unleashed by that conflict are not the end of war, but only the beginning of a terrifyingly unknown
future where more cities will erupt in flames, and more innocent citizens will die ignoble deaths—“unknelled, uncoffined, and
unknown” (Byron 305:1611). 164
In a pathetic cry of desperate hopefulness Yeats exclaims, “Surely some revelation is at hand / Surely the Second
Coming is at hand!” (Yeats 820:9-10). But Yeats knows better, he knows that the Sphinx—that monstrous evil out of time
immemorial, that vile creature whose jaws gush with the blood of humankind, whose claws drip with the gore of humankind; that
reprehensible denizen of hell which severs humankind from itself; that satanic being who lies in wait at the gates of our cities and
our souls—“is moving its slow thighs” (Yeats 820:16) toward the center of our hope. The “rocking cradle” (Yeats 820:20) of a
possible civilized world in which humans do not murder humans is facing extinction at its own hand while the great beast, “its
hour come round at last / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born” (Yeats 820:21-22). And nothing, Yeats says, can save us from
this horrific future, for, after “twenty centuries of [its] stony sleep” (Yeats 820:19), we have aroused death and set it loose upon
ourselves—we have “cried ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs” (Shakespeare III:1:273) 165 of our own inevitable destruction. The
terrible Sphinx poses a terrible riddle “What dos it mean to be human?” a question that must be answered, but that we seem
unable to answer, because we no longer have a language of community and civic-minded morality to keep us from falling
apart. 166 Like the falcon, we turn, wider and wider, flying away from any common moral center into the depths of anomie. The
late, lamented Tupac Shakur, also understood that loss of moral center, that inevitable destruction that we are loosing upon
ourselves. His poetry (notwithstanding the lyrics to his music), like that of Yeats’, also addresses the loss of community and civic
morality
Liberty Needs Glasses 167
Excuse me but lady liberty needs glasses
And so does Mrs. Justice by her side
Both the broads R blind as bats
Stumbling Thru the system
Justice Bumbed into mutulu and
Trippin’ on Geronimo Pratt
But stepped right over Oliver
And his crooked partner Ronnie
Justice stubbed her big toe the invians
Slavery was a learning phase
Forgotten with out a verdict
While Justice is on a rampage
4 endangered Surviving Black males
I mean really if anyone really valued life
And cared about the masses
They’s take’em both 2 pen optical
And get 2 pair of Glasses
Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)
Shakur’s poem “Liberty Needs Glasses” is a late 20th century example of a poet who understands all too well the anomic
conditions of his times. The idea of justice, the rule of law, one of the core values of American culture has become utterly
meaningless to a large segment of the American population. Meaninglessness and lawlessness —anomie—now reign because
nothing, not even human life has value and blindness to social needs has become the norm. Furthermore, Shakur argues, when the
values of a culture are merely empty words without actions, that society is in a state of moral decline and anomie.
Robert Merton developed a theory based on the ways in which various groups in society respond to anomic conditions.
Because American capitalism values individualism, financial success, high social status; and because the social structure may
prevent achievement of the goals associated with core American values, some groups may resort to deviant behavior in order to
overcome the feelings of strain. 168
Response
Accepts Societal
Goals
Yes
Conformity
X
Innovation
X
No
Merton’s Typology of Deviant Responses to Anomie
Accepts
Means to
Examples
Achieve
Societal Goals
Yes
No
Non-deviant response
X
X
Criminal Behavior—Car jackers, drug dealers
Bureaucratic Personality
Ritualism
X
X
Retreatism
X
X
Religious Orders, Cults, Substance Abusers, Social drop outs
Rebellion
X
X
Attempts to change the social order—Castro, Tim McVeigh, September
11th Terrorists
Merton’s Theory of Deviant Responses to Anomie posits that there are five types of responses, one normative and
conforming and four deviant. These responses are conformity which is a non-deviant; normative response in which the societal
goals are accepted and normative means of achieving the goals are practiced such as delayed gratification and acceptance of
structural limitations on one’s ability to achieve. Innovation is a deviant response in which normative societal goals are accepted
but the normative means of achieving those goals is rejected. According to Merton, innovators are criminals: bank robbers,
embezzlers, drug dealers, white collar criminals who want instant gratification and who reject the structural limitations on one’s
ability to achieve. Ritualism is rejection of societal goals while accepting the normative means of achieving goals; this is the
bureaucratic personality who goes through the motions and for whom the ends are more important than goals. This person is a
petty tyrant who is rule-bound and tries to maintain his/her position in a company by withholding critical information. Retreatism
is a rejection of societal goals and a rejection of normative means of achieving goals. These are society’s drop outs. Rebels also
reject societal goals and the normative means of achieving goals, but they differ from the retreatist in their overwhelming desire to
change the social structure by deviant means: Fidel Castro; The Unabomber, Tim McVeigh, and the September 11th terrorists are
examples. 169 170
Social learning theories argue that all behavior must be learned through social interaction and that the socialization
process itself is responsible for teaching both conformity and deviance. Differential association theory was developed by Edwin
Sutherland who stated that deviance is learned through association with other deviants;. If deviance is viewed as acceptable by the
primary agents of socialization, then people are much more likely to become deviant themselves, unless something swiftly and
vigorously intervenes. 171 Some social control theories argue that the normative mechanisms of society involved in involuntary
social control are necessary to prevent deviance. Travis Hirschi developed social bonding theory which states that strong social
bonds help to prevent deviance. When one is attached to parents, school, church; committed to conventional norms, involved in
conventional activities, and believes in the validity of social norms (internalization), they will be much less likely to engage in
acts of deviance even when confronted with deviant peers 172 173 .
In 1957, Gresham Sykes and David Matza developed and tested a theory dealing with the ways in which juvenile
criminals justify their deviant behavior. Sykes and Matza’s theory argues that we tend to rationalize, or make excuses to
ourselves and others, concerning our deviant behavior in order to neutralize the negative psychic and social effects of our
deviance and to make our deviance seem to be less important or less serious than it might actually be. (For Erving Goffman, this
would be a type of face-work.) The five techniques of neutralization of deviance delineated by Sykes and Matza are: 1) denial
of responsibility which is the “the dog ate my homework” or the “I was only following orders” excuse; 2) denial of injury is the
technique used by the shoplifter who says that stealing is okay because the stores have insurance, or the wife beater who tells his
wife that she can’t possibly be hurt because he loves her and would never hurt someone he loves; 3) denial of the victim is the
rapist’s excuse when he says that his victim was asking for it because of the way she was dressed; 4) condemnation of the
condemners is the excuse used by those who argue that, because social control agents engage in illegal activities (cops taking
bribes or speeding), then they shouldn’t have to obey the rules either; 5) appeal to higher loyalties which is the excuse that a
deviant act is not deviant because it was committed for God, country, family or some higher authority or greater good. 174 175
Sykes and Matza’s Techniques of Neutralization of Deviance
Each of These Techniques is an Excuse for Deviant Behavior; a Form of Face Work
Technique
Definition
Examples
In this technique, the deviant actor places The dog ate my homework
Denial of Responsibility
blame on others, refusing to accept
The Nazis who said “I was only
accountability for their own actions
following orders” as a defense for
murder
“The Devil made me do it”
In this technique, the deviant actor
The shoplifter who argues that the stores
Denial of Injury
refuses to admit that anyone was hurt
have insurance or charge too much
The abusive parent who beats their
children “for their own good”
The drug user who argues that no one is
being hurt and refuses to admit that
drug money funds terrorism and is
highly correlated to increased levels
of crime
In this technique the deviant actor places The excuse of the rapist “she was asking
Denial of the Victim
blame on the victim by arguing that
for it” because of the way the victim
the victim deserved whatever
was dressed
happened; blame is placed on the
“It’s your own fault your car was stolen.
victim
You shouldn’t have bought such a
fancy vehicle”
“If you didn’t want to be mugged, you
shouldn’t have been in that
neighborhood with so much money in
your wallet”
The employee who steals because they
think the company doesn’t pay them
enough, even though the company is
rich
Teens smoking, drinking, and using
Condemnation of the Condemners
argues that when various social
drugs arguing it’s okay because their
agents or authority figures behave
parents do it
deviantly, that deviance acts as
Arguing that breaking the law (speeding)
permission for deviance
is alright because the police speed
even when they’re not in hot pursuit
Using the excuse that politicians take
bribes, so why should we be honest
in our public dealings.
“We’re on a mission from God”
Appeal to Higher Loyalties
argues that their behavior was not
“I broke the law in order to protect and
deviant because it was committed for
defend the Constitution”
some higher power or greater good
“I had to steal because my family was
starving”
“My gang expected me to rob that store”
Labeling theories were developed by various Symbolic Interactionists, including Howard Becker, 176 who argued that
the mirror of society creates visions of people that may change a person’s self image. Social labels can be rejected or accepted
and Edwin Lemert theorized that there are two types of responses to labeling. Primary deviance occurs when an individual
violates a norm and is viewed as deviant but rejects the deviant label and maintains a conformist conception of her/himself, 177
178
e.g., Dr. King; Rosa Parks; Timothy McVeigh, Oliver North. Secondary deviance occurs when the deviant label is
internalized and a deviant role is assumed, 179 180 e.g., Ozzie Osborne and Alice Cooper’s on-stage personas; Howard Stern’s onair persona; Marilyn Manson, Eminem.
Paradigm
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Deviance
Conflict
All of society is characterized by conflict—economic competition—between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Deviance is defined by those in power; therefore, what is deviant, is whatever offends the powerful, or whatever causes them to
believe that they are losing power and control over the masses.
Deviance is conditional, situational, and relative to time, place, situation, and culture.
By declaring that certain groups are deviant, or treating certain groups as if they are, in some way, outside the boundaries of
mainstream society, the ultimate in-group is able to maintain its power.
Deviance exists in all societies, and all societies create institutionalized methods of preventing and punishing deviance.
Functionalism
1)
2)
3)
4)
Behaviors are not offensive because they are deviant; they are deviant because they offend.
Deviance is usually dysfunctional for society and arises from conditions of anomie.
Deviance may be functional for society because it may bring about necessary social change.
Deviance is integral to human societies. Deviance exists in all societies, and all societies create institutionalized methods of
preventing and punishing deviance.
Symbolic
Interactionism
All of society is based on day-to-day micro-level interactions between individuals and among small groups.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Deviance is conditional, situational, and relative to time, place, situation, and culture.
Deviance is based on the perceptions of individuals.
The language used to label groups or individuals as deviant, is highly symbolic and “coded.”
Individuals have the capacity to accept or reject the labels that society creates in the mirror.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIE—Deviance
!Kung…61
general…62
Deterrence theory…62
abominations of the
body…61
Deviance…59
actors…60
Differential association
acts…60
theory…65
Amish…61
Durkheim…63
Anomie…63
dysfunctional or
audience…60
negative
blemishes of individual
consequences of
character…61
deviance…60
capital punishment…62
Erving Goffman…61,
65
Cooley’s Looking-Glass
Self…60
face-work…65
Crimes against
factors involved in
Consumer,
increased suicide
rates…63
Environmental
Folkways…60
Crime, Institutional
Corruption,
Formal social
control…60
Fiduciary Fraud,
Crimes by the
four elements of
deviance…60
Government,
Corruption of Public
four relativisms of
deviance…60
Officials, Medical
Crime, and
four types of
suicide…63
Computer
Crime…61
functional or positive
culture…60
consequences of
deviance…60
data concerning the
Gemeinschaft…61
death penalty
General deterrence
specifically and the
theories…62
criminal justice
Gossip, ridicule,
system in
shame…61
Hopi…61
Informal social
control…61
Involuntary social
control…60
Labeling theories…66
Law…60
laws…60
Liberty Needs
Glasses…64
Looking Glass…61
Mead's generalized
other…60
Merton’s Theory of
Deviant Responses to
Anomie…65
Merton’s Typology of
Deviant Responses to
Anomie…65
Mores…60
most damaging form of
deviance…62
negative social
sanctions…62
neutralization of
deviance…65
norms…60
Norms…59
ostracism…61
place…60
postponed violence…62
Primary deviance…66
property offenses…60,
61
public order
offenses…61
Ralph Nader…62
Robert Merton…64
Rosoff…62
Secondary
deviance…66
situation…60
social bonding
theory…65
social control…60
social control
theories…65
Social labels…66
Social learning
theories…65
Specific deterrence
theory…62
Stigma…61
strain theory…63
Street crime…62
street crimes…61
Structural theories…63
suicide…63
suicide rates…63
Sykes and Matza…65
Sykes and Matza’s
Techniques of
Neutralization of
Deviance…66
The Flea…60
The Second
Coming…63
Paradigms:
Explanations of
Deviance…67
three basic types of
crimes…60
three primary types of
norms…60
three types of crimes
listed by the FBI…61
time…60
tribal stigma…61
Tupac Shakur…64
violent crime…60, 61
Voluntary social
control…60
white collar crime…62
White collar crime…61
White Collar
Crime…61
William Butler
Yeats…63
Module IIIA—Stratification
Stratification is the unequal ways in which the goods of society are distributed. Sociologist Craig Oettinger
defines stratification as “who gets what and how much they get over time.” Ruth Dunn’s definition is “the unequal
distribution of and unequal access to the goods of society: wealth, power, and status.” According to Abercrombie, et. al.,
“social differences become social stratification when people are ranked hierarchically along some dimension of inequality,
whether this be income, wealth, power, prestige, age, ethnicity, or some other characteristic.” 181 Gerhard Lenski argues that
stratification is based on distributive systems of “who gets what and why?” (p. viii) and that “social stratification [is equated
with] the distributive process in human societies—the process by which scarce resources are distributed” (p. xxvi). 182
Oftentimes scarce but valued resources are distributed based on Master Status.
Because every society has some level of stratification—even in the least complex hunter-gatherer cultures men have
authority over women and the old have authority over the young 183 —our position in our society is based on our Master
Statuses. Everyone has master status—the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant
group! It is not about social acceptability as such. Various parts of our master status make us more or less acceptable, more or
less privileged vis á vis the dominant group, but everyone has race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, ability/disability, and
SES (income + education + occupation) whether or not they are part of the dominant group. Consider a Hispanic doctor in
the 1930s—his (note the male pronoun) master status as a doctor (SES) is privileged but his master status as a Hispanic
(race/ethnicity) is not, vis á vis the dominant group. Both minorities and dominant group members have master status—to
reiterate, the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group!
The stratification hierarchy is the layers or levels of any social structure—it is the way people classify or
categorize themselves and others. The American stratification hierarchy is evident to all even though we tend to be relatively
oblivious to it. For example, the majority of Americans think of themselves as middle class whether they make $25,000 per
year or $250,000. Clearly, a vast difference in definitions of middle class is required in order for people with such disparate
incomes to include themselves in this largest layer or social category. Even President George H. Bush who comes from a
very wealthy family and is worth several millions of dollars spoke of himself as middle class during his abortive run for a
second term in 1992. The media often refers to former President and Mrs. Bill Clinton as middle class even though they were
worth nearly three million dollars in 2000. Our ability to enjoy such resources as personal autonomy--control of our own
live—health, physical comfort, creature comforts, education, employment opportunities in a high paying and satisfying job,
the respect of others, and a long life span are all related to our position in the stratification hierarchy. How we live, where we
live, the things with which we surround ourselves, the kind of food we eat, the style and quality of the clothes we wear and
the other forms of body adornment we use, the music we listen to, the way we dance, our patterns of speech, virtually
everything about us is determined in greater or lesser extent by our social class—our position on the stratification hierarchy.
The way we treat others and the way we classify others is also largely based on our perceptions of where they are located on
the stratification hierarchy.
W. I. Thomas (1863-1947) is justly famous for his work with Florian Znaniecki (1882-1958) concerning the
assimilation processes undergone by Polish peasant immigrants to the United States. Indeed, they are responsible for our
concepts of the social types they defined as “the Philistine,” “the Bohemian,” and the “creative man” that informed our social
dialogue both in academia and in popular culture in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. However, Thomas is most widely know for what
has come to be called Thomas’ Theorem which states that
“if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. . . .Once meaning has been assigned,
their consequent behavior is shaped by [that] meaning. If people believe in witches such beliefs have
tangible consequences—they may, for example, kill those persons assumed to be witches. This then is the
power the human mind has in transmuting raw sense data into a categorical apparatus that could make
murderers of us all. Once a Vietnamese becomes a “gook,” or a Black a “nigger,” or a Jew a “kike,” that
human being has been transmuted through the peculiar alchemy of social definition into something wholly
“other” who is now a target of prejudice and discrimination, of violence and aggression, and even
murder.” 184
In other words, we act on what we think is real regardless of its ontological reality. Our beliefs, our perceptions guide our
behavior. We treat people based on what we perceive to be their basic characteristics often based solely on our perception of
their place in the stratification hierarchy. Stereotypes and discriminatory behavior are almost always based on such
perceptions. Our own position in the stratification hierarchy is judged just as we judge that of others and based on the same
generally superficial qualities. What are the first things you notice when you meet someone for the first time? Do the things
you notice color your analysis of that person?
Various Sociological, Psychological, and Social-Psychological studies indicate that, based on first impressions of
strangers, we think attractive people are smart; fat people are sloppy and not very bright; well-dressed people are smarter,
richer, and more attractive than people who are less well-dressed; non-white males are dangerous and sinister; white people
are smarter, richer, more attractive, more honest, and more trustworthy than ethnic or racial minorities (even in the eyes of
racial and ethnic minorities). In other words, the way we form our initial opinions of the intrinsic human value—the basic
human worth—of a stranger is based largely on those external aspects of the person that society has determined are
acceptable or not acceptable. We are a class-driven society, but those American core values of equality and independence for
all also blinds us to the class structure, the social structure and the stratification hierarchy that effects so profoundly and with
such grave consequences our day-today interactions with our fellow human beings.
Social differentiation is a process in which people are set apart for different treatment by virtue of their statuses,
roles, and other social characteristics. Social inequality is a condition in which people have unequal access to wealth, power,
and prestige, and according to Rossides “even in the simplest societies, the old are usually given authority over the young,
parents over children, and males over females.” Social stratification is a form of inequality in which categories of people
are systematically ranked in a hierarchy on the basis of their access to scarce but valued resources (the Goods of Society,
which are wealth, power, and status). Oettinger’s definition of stratification is “social stratification determines who gets what
and how much they get over time,” and Dunn’s definition of stratification is “the unequal distribution of and unequal access
to the goods of society (wealth, status, power).” Social positions are ranked in order of importance and have differential
rewards, and differential life chances. They are transmitted across generations and although they are relatively rigid at the
extreme ends, they tend to be fluid in the middle. Social mobility is the ability of people to move among the layers of the
stratification hierarchy; to occupy different social positions. 185
Max Weber gave us the major dimensions of stratification which are wealth, power, and status or prestige.
Wealth is a person’s total economic assets. Power is the ability to influence over resistance. There are three different kinds
of power: personal power which is the ability to affect one’s own life (also called autonomy); social power which is the
ability to affect the lives of others; and coercive power which is the use or threat of force or violence by persons or groups
against others; this is the power of the state or the thug with a gun. Status/Prestige is the respect and admiration people
attach to various social positions. 186
Forms of stratification include the closed form in which the boundaries between/among the layers are
impermeable, statuses are ascribed, and social mobility is limited by custom, tradition, ideology, and law. In the open form
the layers between/among the boundary layers are permeable, statuses are achieved, and social mobility is aided by custom,
tradition, ideology, and law. 187
Within the two forms of stratification there are four systems of stratification. The slave system includes two
distinct strata: a category of people who are free and a category of people who are legally the property of others. Slave
systems are a closed type of society characterized by differential power, lack of complete social mobility and few, if any legal
rights. Slavery is maintained by custom, ideology, and law. In a caste system membership in ranked categories of people is
hereditary and permanent, and marriage between members of different categories is prohibited; Caste systems are totally
closed societies where status is ascribed, there no social mobility, and they are maintained by custom, ideology, law.
Traditionally there were four major castes in India’s Hindu-based caste system: Brahman—priests, educators; Kshatriya—
rulers, landowners, warriors; Vaishya—merchants; Shudra—artisans, peasants; Dalit (Harijan-children of God)—
untouchables, who are literally outcastes because they are outside of the caste system.
The estate system is feudalism, which is a social hierarchy centered on the monopoly of power and ownership of
land by a group of victorious warriors (lords), who were entitled to labor, goods, and military service from peasants who
were the vast majority of the agrarian population. 188 Feudalism endured from the 11th to the 20th century. Estate systems are
relatively closed types of societies where there is extreme inequality with virtually no middle class—only the very rich and
the very poor and although there was some social mobility, this system was also maintained by custom, ideology, and law.
The class system is a product of modern industrial capitalism. In a class system the economic factor is the most
important in determining differences, and achieved statuses (gained by ability and merit) are the principal means of
determining a person’s rank. This is a relatively open type society, and the boundaries between/among the layers are based on
master status. There is greater economic equality but greater relative deprivation in the class system and although there is
little social mobility at the extremes, there is great mobility at the center. The class system is characterized by a small, very
wealthy upper class, a large, diverse middle class, and a mobile working class. Unfortunately, a relatively large and growing
underclass has been characteristic in the US for the past 40 years. 189 190
Based on two seemingly highly divergent paradigms—Conflictualism and Functionalism—all of the major theories
of stratification have been developed. All of the theories from the Conflict viewpoint focus on the negative aspects of
inequality arguing that stratification is based on exploitation of subordinate groups, therefore they attempt to explain all
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© Ruth Dunn, 2003-2008—All Rights
stratification as a type of class conflict. The Functionalists, on the other hand, view stratification in one of two ways:
functional and dysfunctional. Those who view stratification as functional argue that inequality is necessary for societies to
grow, and that without inequality there would be no social incentives for progress (e.g., Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore).
The Functionalists who see stratification as dysfunctional argue that inequality destroys incentives for progress (e.g., Robert
Merton and Melvin Tumin).
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore—The Functionality of Stratification—originally published, April 1945—Although
this writer personally believes that Davis and Moore’s argument is tautological, teleological, and elitist it is, nevertheless, the
basis for a profound sociological controversy. Essentially, the Davis-Moore debate centers on the pivotal question of
whether a good society can exist in the face of universal inequality. A requisite of the Davis-Moore
hypothesis is a creaming effect, wherein the best that a society has to offer for any given rare position rises to
assume that position.
The functionality of stratification, according to Davis and Moore is predicated on the following major points: 1)
talent differs among individuals; 2) the duties associated with different positions vary according to pleasantness, importance
to social survival, and amount and scarcity of the talent required; 3) duties must be performed with diligence; 4) inducements
or rewards are distributed differentially according to position; 5) rewards must add to comfort and sustenance, humor and
diversion, and self-respect and ego-expansion; 6) positions have various built-in perquisites and rights; 7) easily filled
positions do not need to be highly rewarded; 8) positions that are important but hard to fill require high rewards; 9) all
positions require some skill or training and the more skill and training that is required, the higher the rewards; 10) rarity or
scarcity of talent or length and expense of training requires high rewards (in Grusky, pp 39-44).
The creaming effect that Davis and Moore posit demands that the society is relatively closed and elitist, but it will
require a look at another theorist in order to fully develop the Davis-Moore debate—Melvin Tumin argues that stratification
is dysfunctional.
Melvin Tumin—The Dysfunctionality of Stratification—originally published, August 1957 191 —As a critical
counterpoint to Davis and Moore, Tumin argues that stratification is dysfunctional for society, that it decreases the
adaptability of the society, “the ubiquity and antiquity of . . . inequality has given rise to the assumption that there must be
something both inevitable and positively functional about such social arrangements” (in Grusky, p. 47). Twelve years after
Davis and Moore published the article in question Tumin argued that creaming is inhibited by stratification, and makes the
following eight points concerning “the negative functions of institutionalized social inequality” (in Grusky, p. 52) as a
critique in which “social stratification systems function to: 1) limit the possibility of discovery of the full range of talent
available; 2) set limits upon the possibility of expanding the productive resources of the society; 3) provide the elite with the
political [authority] necessary to procure acceptance and dominance of an ideology which rationalizes the status quo [a
Marxian view because control of ideology is crucial to status quo maintenance and control of the masses]; 4) distribute
favorable self-images unequally throughout a population, thereby limiting the creative potential in men [and women?]; 5)
encourage hostility, suspicion, and distrust among non-elite classes thus limiting the possibilities of extensive social
integration; 6) distribute unequally the sense of significant membership in the society; 7) distribute loyalty unequally among
members of a society; 8) distribute the motivation to participate in the society unequally” (in Grusky, pp.52-53). However,
when determining whether a system is functional, one must ask, along with legendary Sociologist Robert Merton,
“Functional for whom?” 192
According to Weber, wealth, power, and status are very closely linked, so that those with high levels of one
generally enjoy high levels of the others. Wealth is all of a person’s assets: anything that you could possibly sell, while
income is wages, plus any income producing assets. Status or prestige, is the level of societal respect given to any specific
position.
There are several models of power. The pluralistic model was developed by Robert Dahl whose Political Science
studies tend to show that power is distributed among many interest groups including political parties, corporations,
professional associations, individuals, and many other groups. The elite model of C. Wright Mills contends that power is
held by the power elite: a small group of top corporate, political, and military leaders that is supported by the media and
entertainment industries. Several studies, including those by Domhoff and Useem support Mills’ theory that the governing
class is made up of a wide group of the wealthy who maintain contact through interlocking social circles. E. Digby Baltzell,
in 1964, wrote that the upper class has a consciousness of kind and that the elite are usually WASPs White, Anglo-Saxon
Protestant background. 193 Coleman and Rainwater have conducted innumerable studies which tend to show that social
standing is ranked by perceptions of income, authority, family background, speech patterns, manners, morals, and overall
lifestyle. In 1898 Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class which argued that the elite are characterized by
conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure; a sort of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous idea.
Power elite theories, and there are many of them, are all, in some measure, rooted in the Conflict Paradigm. C.
Wright Mills (1916-1962), a long, tall, Texan from Waco wrote what may be the definitive elite theory of power distribution
in America titled The Power Elite. At its most fundamental level Mills’s theory, which has had significant support from
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many researchers including Baltzell, states that there is in American society a small but powerful group of people, all of
whom have similar backgrounds and know one another, in the government, military, and private industry who, supported by
the media, have enough power (money and influence) to effect the socioeconomic and sociopolitical system. This militaryindustrial complex has great sway over the social structure of the United States and may ultimately lead to anomic conditions
for the average American.
The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the everyday worlds in which they live, yet even in these
rounds of jobs, family, and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor
govern. ‘Great changes’ are beyond their control, but affect their conduct and outlook nonetheless. The
very framework of modern society confines [these ordinary men and women] to projects not their own, but
from every side, such changes now press upon the men and women of the mass society, who accordingly
feel that they are without purpose in an epoch in which they are without power. (in Grusky, p. 161)
Model of C. Wright Mill’s Power Elite Theory
Business Leaders
Serve in Government
Former Officers Serve in
Government
Government
Former Officers Get Jobs
in Industry
Military
Entertainers Campaign for and
Raise Money for Politicians
Businesses Produce
Technology for
Military and
Entertainment
Industry
Industry/Business
War/Military/Anti-Crime Movies and TV
Entertainment
This model (above) shows Mill’s Power Elite theory. The government, military, and industry (business) are
interlocked because they share personnel. In turn, they are supported by the entertainment industry through films, books,
magazines, television and other forms of media that produce a favorable image of the “government-military-business”
triumvirate to the public at large while obscuring the interlocking relationships that give them even greater power than might
seem evident from a cursory glance. These interlocking relationships maintain the power of these elites while insuring against
scrutiny by the public at large.
Those who do have the purpose and the power are the few, the proud, the very, very rich. People whose names we might not
know, people who work often behind the scenes but nevertheless influence the sociopolitical and socioeconomic course of
nations. These are the same people who Thorstein Veblen was discussing somewhat satirically in The Theory of the Leisure
Class as well as those idle rich who Edith Wharton so thoroughly castigated in her turn-of-the-twentieth-century novels The
House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence.
Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), tongue planted firmly in his cheek but with venomous intensity worthy, some say,
of the satire of Jonathan Swift in “A Modest Proposal” or the desire of Dr. Gulliver to separate himself from humankind and
live only among the Houyhnhnms, 194 contends that the wealthy, the Leisure Class, live differently from the non-rich and are
envied and emulated by the non-rich. Veblen, a farm boy from Minnesota, discusses conspicuous leisure and conspicuous
consumption by arguing that, in America, wealth confers status (honor) and it is status that is envied and emulated by those
of the lower classes who seek to bask in the glow of the “radiant body” of the wealthy. 195 Conspicuous leisure exists among
those social classes for whom earning their daily bread is not only unnecessary but may indeed be repugnant. I order to enjoy
such leisure one must engage servants who are so stratified themselves that some of them do very little actual labor. The less
one does, then, the higher the status. Conspicuous consumption is best described as buying unnecessary things for the sole
purpose of displaying to other that you can buy things that have no real usefulness. 196
Jazz-age writer F. Scott Fitzgerald said the rich are different and Ernest Hemingway responding to that statement said, “Yeah,
they have more money.” This probably apocryphal conversation points up an age-old argument—are people qualitatively
different because of their position on the stratification hierarchy, or is that difference merely quantitative? At the end of the
year 2000, the United States had more millionaires than ever before, and Bill Gates was the richest man in the world with
somewhere between 45 and 90 billion dollars. The United States is capable of producing enormous amounts of wealth, and
most Americans are investors in the stock and bond markets. And yet, the United States is also plagued by poverty, even
though our politicians seldom speak about it, and the presidential race of 2000 was almost completely lacking in any
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conversation over the plight of the poor. The tables below, are incontrovertible proof that the ultimate in-group in the world
is rich, white, American and European men. 197
The United States is inarguably the richest nation in the world with an economy (GDP—Gross Domestic
Product—the total value of all goods and services produced and sold within the borders of a country in one year; does not
include imports or exports) of over $14 trillion ($14,000,000,000,000). Other wealthy nations include: England, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium. England, France, Germany, Italy, and
Spain have a combined population of about 300 million (approximately 20 million more people than the United States), but
their combined economies are valued at slightly less 4/5 (80%) that of the United States! In other words, the United States is
richer than the 5 largest countries in Western Europe combined! 198 199 For more information go to the CIA World
Factbook at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/. Also see: United Nations Economic and Social
Development website at http://www.un.org/esa/; G8 Information Center at http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/; G8 Profile from the
BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/3777557.stm; World Economic Forum at
http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm.
To put this into even more stark relief, the following chart shows that the five largest states in the United States—
California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois—with a combined population of 103.7 million are as wealthy as the entire
nation of Japan, and California, alone, is as wealthy as all of Russia, which has 4 times the population! (California would be
the sixth wealthiest nation in the world if it was not a state, and Texas would be the 10th richest nation. The total population
of the five largest states is 103.7 million or 12.33% of the combined populations of the G-8. These five largest states account
for 35.33% of the wealth of the United States, 15.74% of the total wealth of the G-8 nations, and nearly 1% of the total
wealth of the entire world. 200
And yet, even with this vast ability to generate wealth, at the end of 2000, eighteen percent of all American children
lived in poverty and nearly 35% of children in Houston in 2003 lived in such poverty that they do not
have enough to eat on a day-to-day basis. The government-determined poverty line is set so that an individual who makes
less than $8,959, and a family four making less than $17,761 is considered poor. Poverty levels are based on subsistence
levels for food, clothing, and shelter. The feminization of poverty is a social condition in which women, particularly teenage
mothers, elderly widows, divorced women, and female heads of single-parent households, constitute a disproportionate share
of the poor as is shown in the following tables. 201 202
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Single Female Head of Household Indicating the Feminization of Poverty
Difference from
Single Female Head of Household
Percent in Poverty for Given Year
1990 to 2000
Race/Ethnicity
1990
2000
37.2
27.9
-9.3
All
29.8
22.1
-7.7
White
26.7
18.0
-8.7
White Non-Hispanic
50.6
38.7
-11.9
Black
53.0
36.5
-16.5
Hispanic
20.7
19.5
-1.2
Asian
This table, Single Female Head of Household Indicating the Feminization of Poverty, shows that woman-headed
household have also seen dramatic changes in poverty for 1990-2000 but also shows that single women with children are
many times more likely to be poor than any other minority group, and single women with children who are racial/ethnic
minorities are substantially more likely to be poor. Some of this poverty can be attributed to fathers who do not pay child
support, and some can be attributed to the welfare system itself which prevents single women from working outside the
home. Furthermore, the minimum wage, as it currently exists, is insufficient to meet the needs of a family.
Child Support Payments to Custodial Parents-1997
Number of Parents
(in 1,000s)
Supposed to
Actually
Receive
Received
Payments
Payments
6,331
4,335
6,331
4,335
674
385
Percent
Difference
Number of Parents
(in 1,000s)
No Payments Percent Not Paid
Received
0.68
1,996
0.32
All Parents
0.68
1,996
0.32
Mothers
0.57
289
0.43
Fathers
Custodial
Mothers
8,861
6,551
0.74
2,310
0.26
White
1,434
764
0.53
670
0.47
Black
688
433
0.63
256
0.37
Hispanic
Marital Status
1,559
1,174
0.75
385
0.25
Married
2,357
1,738
0.74
619
0.26
Divorced
765
507
0.66
258
0.34
Separated
1,547
855
0.55
692
0.45
Never Married
Educational
Attainment
Less than HS
976
536
0.55
440
0.45
Diploma
2,336
1,513
0.65
823
0.35
HS Graduate
Some College, No
1,476
1,041
0.71
435
0.29
Degree
653
515
0.79
138
0.21
Associate Degree
Bachelors Degree
891
730
0.82
161
0.18
or More
Of the 78 million children under the age of 19 in the US in 1999, which represents 29% of the total population, 22.9 million
(or 29%) lived in families where one parent was not present. Eighty-five percent of all custodial parents are mothers. The
above table (Child Support Payments to Custodial Parents-1997) shows that, of the total number of mothers who are
supposed to receive child support, 32% do not, and of the fathers who are supposed to receive child support, 43% did not.
What this table fails to show is that of those receiving payments, 26.6% of mothers and 25.5% of fathers received only partial
child support payments in 1997. White mothers are much more likely to receive child support payments than black mothers
(only 53%) or Hispanic mothers (only 63%). Furthermore, the never married are much less likely to receive child support
than still married, separated, or divorced women. Education plays a significant role in child support. Women with a college
degree or with some college are much more likely to receive child support payments than their less-well educated sisters.
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Forty-five percent of women who have not completed high school and 35% of those with only a high school diploma do not
receive any child support payments at all. Educated women are more likely to be able to afford good legal counsel and to
understand their legal options concerning the collection of child support. However, what is clear from this table, is that
women who are supposed to receive child support payments often do not, which means that children go hungry and
the welfare rolls increase. Fathers who refuse to pay child support are a leading factor in the feminization of poverty and the
impoverishment of children in the US.
There are many theories of the causes of poverty. Among these theories is a functionalist approach promulgated by
Oscar Lewis and called the culture of poverty. According to Lewis, the culture of poverty is a distinctive set of beliefs,
values, norms, and attitudes that trap a small number of the urban poor in a permanent cycle of poverty. William Julius
Wilson, however, argues that lack of jobs creates poverty. Charles Murray, a functionalist and conservative social critic
has written in his book Losing Ground that out-of-wedlock childbirth among black women is responsible for the poverty
levels in the African American community. Herbert Gans, a Marxist Sociologist, wrote The War Against the Poor in 1995
in which he wrote that pervasive poverty is functional because: the poor have the lowest status; society’s dirty work gets
done cheaply; it creates jobs in the “poverty industry;” when the poor are classified as deviant it upholds mainstream values;
and the poor absorb the cost of social change.
William Julius Wilson and Charles Murray are, arguably, the two most influential social theorists regarding the
dismantling of the poverty and social welfare programs of the Great Society which was first implemented by the Lyndon
Baines Johnson administration in the late 1960s. Largely due to the writings of these two theorists and the increasing
sociopolitical conservatism of the U. S. Congress and the polity, policies and programs including Affirmative Action, Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) which is now Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), and other social
welfare programs are being dismantled at blinding speed. The two social theorists being considered differ not only in their
ideas but also in their backgrounds. William Julius Wilson is a moderately conservative, African American social scientist,
author of several books and articles including The Truly Disadvantaged, The Declining Significance of Race, and When
Work Disappears. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a past-President of the American
Sociological Association, a former Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and is currently the
Chairman of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Charles Murray is a highly conservative, white social
scientist and the author of several books and articles including Losing Ground and The Bell Curve. He is a fellow of the
American Enterprise Institute, a former social policy advisor to Vice-President Dan Quayle, a writer, and is currently a social
policy theorist for the American Enterprise Institute. 203
According to Wilson, poverty is caused by the following socio-structural factors: joblessness, an economic structure
which offers fewer life chance, Hyperghettoization, 204 structural constraints on the ability of individuals to achieve, and
down-turning economic cycles. Murray’s argument is a culture of poverty argument which asserts that inner city
minority (particularly black) communities are mired in poverty for the following reasons: illegitimacy, the welfare system
which destroys initiative, crime, unrecognized or unused opportunities, laziness, and acceptance of poverty as a way of
life. 205
Social mobility involves the movement of people from one social position to another in the stratification system.
Blau and Duncan studied fathers and sons and whether the education and occupation of the fathers had any impact on the
education and occupation of the sons. They found that there was greater mobility at the center than at the extremes, and that
the sons’ education had more impact on sons’ occupations than did fathers’ education or occupation. Featherman and Hauser
also found great social mobility at the center but very little at the extremes. More recent studies have compared mothers and
daughters, mothers and sons, and fathers and daughters, and the findings are all the same; the child’s education is the
single strongest and most factor in the SES of the adult child. In other words, the ability of the individual to achieve a good
education is more indicative of that individual’s adult SES than any other factor. Social mobility in the United States is
possible, there is more opportunity here than almost any other place in the world, and yet, for some, those opportunities do
not seem to exist. 206
Writer and social critic Jonathan Kozol, in his book Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience
of a Nation, wrote, in 1995, about the children who live and go to school in the Mott Haven and Hunt’s Point areas of the
South Bronx in New York City. In his now classic book he discusses the intractable, grinding poverty of all of the people in
these two area, the shocking physical and educational conditions of the schools, the fact that none of the schools have
libraries, the buildings where children die because absentee landlords taking money from the government refuse to fix broken
elevators, where rats run through the walls of the tenements and eat through the electrical wires, where girls become
prostitutes at the age of twelve, where drug use is rampant, where AIDS is at epidemic proportions, where hope itself is often
lost. In writing about the apartment building where a child died because of a broken elevator door, Kozol declares “the kennel
where I leave my dog while I am in New York is cleaner and smells better. The kennel also has a place where dogs can go
outside and have some fun in the fresh air” which the children there cannot do. 207
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The number 6 train from Manhattan to the South Bronx makes nine stops in the 18-minute ride between
East 59th Street and Brook Avenue. When you enter the train, you are in the seventh richest congressional
district in the nation. When you leave, you are in the poorest. The 600,000 people who live here . . .make
up one of the largest racially segregated concentrations of poor people in our nation. Brook Avenue, which
is the tenth stop on the local, lies in the center of Mott Haven, whose 48,000 people are the poorest in the
South Bronx. Two thirds are Hispanic, one third black. Thirty-five percent are children. In 1991, the
median household income of the area, according to the New York Times, was $7,600. 208
A woman who teaches 5th grade in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), takes her children on two field
trips every year: one to downtown Houston (which the children can see from their homes near the Heights), and one to a
shopping mall because none of her students has ever been in a mall! 209 The following tables are statistical indications of the
serious nature of American poverty and the many ways it impacts the life chances of millions of human beings. 210
Per Cent Distribution of Various Socioeconomic Stratification Data by Race/Ethnicity (1997)
Race or Ethnic Origin
Asian and American
Hispanic
Indian
Origin
Socioeconomic Characteristics
White
Black Pacific Islander
Years of Education
Elementary
0-8 years
7.5
8.8
9.8
—
—
High School
1-3 years
9.4
16.3
5.3
—
—
Years of Education
High School
4 years
33.9
35.8
23.2
65.6
54.7
College
1-3 years
24.5
25.8
19.6
—
—
College
4+ years
24.6
13.3
42.2
9.4
10.3
Labor Force Status
Civilian Labor Force
67.5
64.7
68.3
—
67.9
Employed
64.6
58.2
65
—
62.6
Unemployed
2.8
6.5
3.2
—
5.3
Unemployment Rate
4.2
10
4.7
—
7.7
Not in Labor Force
32.5
35.3
31.7
—
32.1
Family Characteristics
Married Couple w/ Own Children
37.2
23.3
78.5
65.8
72.2
Unmarried Female
Householder w/ Children
8.5
30.7
13.2
26.2
24.4
Unmarried Male
Householder w/ Children
2.2
3.8
8.3
8
7.4
1996 Family Income
< $5,000
2
7.8
3.9
—
4.9
$5,000-$ 9,000
3.9
11.1
3.8
—
9.8
$10,000- $14,999
5.4
10.7
5.3
—
11.6
$15,000- $24,999
13
17.6
11.4
—
21.5
$25,000- $34,999
13.5
14.3
10.9
—
15.5
$35,000- $49,999
18.3
15.1
15.8
—
15.1
$$50,000
44.1
23.3
48.7
—
21.5
Median Income in Dollars
$44,756
$26,522
$49,105
$21,619
$26,179
Families Below Poverty Level
8.6
26.1
12.6
27.2
26.4
Persons Below Poverty Level
11.2
28.3
14.4
31.2
29.4
Housing
Own Home
69.2
45.5
52.3
—
43.1
Rent
29.2
52.9
46.5
—
56.9
The above table, Per Cent Distribution of Various Socioeconomic Stratification Data by Race/Ethnicity (1997),
indicates the levels of stratification that exist among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Whites are more likely
to be high school and college graduates, are more likely to be employed, more likely to be in intact two parent families, more
likely to earn at or above the national median income, and more likely to own their own home than minorities. Minorities are
significantly more likely to be poor than whites: blacks, 3 times; Asians 1.28 times, Native Americans 2.79 times; Hispanics
2.63 times. Home ownership, a major part of “the American dream” and an indicator of wealth is significantly higher among
whites than minorities who are much more likely to rent than to own their homes. On each of the measures in this table,
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minorities fare less well than whites, with the exception of Asians who show a higher rate of educational attainment than any
other single racial or ethnic group. Although Asians show a higher than average family income, they also have more family
members working than whites, so that per person family income is greater for whites than for any other group.
Poverty Thresholds in 2000 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18
Size of Family Unit
Related Children under 18
None
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
One Person
8,959
Under 65
8,259
65 and over
Two People
11,531
11,869
Householder under 65
10,409
11,824
Householder over 65
13,470
13,861
13,874
Three People
17,761
18,052
17,463
17,524
Four People
21,419
21,731
21,065
20,550
20,236
Five People
24,636
24,734
24,224
23,736
23,009
22,579
Six People
28,347
28,524
27,914
27,489
26,696
25,772
22,579
Seven People
31,704
31,984
31,408
30,904
30,188
29,279
28,334
28,093
Eight People
38,138
38,322
37,813
37,385
36,682
35,716
34,841
34,625 33,291
Nine People or More
This table, Poverty Thresholds in 2000 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18, shows the
government-established poverty thresholds for the year 2000. People, based on the number of people in a household, earning
at or below the value listed, are considered poor. Therefore, a single person under 65 who earns $8,959 or less annually is
considered poor. A family of 4 whose total household income is $17, 761or less annually is considered poor. As the number
of people in the family increases the poverty threshold also increases, so that a family of 9 is considered poor if the family
income is $33, 291 or less.
1990 and 2000 Poverty Level Differences among Specified Groups
Negative Number Indicates a Decline in Poverty Levels Since 1990
Race/Ethnicity
All People below Poverty Level, by Percent
1990
2000
Percent Difference
13.5
11.3
-2.2
All
10.7
9.4
-1.3
White
8.8
7.5
-1.3
White Non-Hispanic
31.9
22.1
-9.8
Black
28.1
21.2
-6.9
Hispanic
12.2
10.8
-1.4
Asian
This, 1990 and 2000 Poverty Level Differences among Specified Groups, table shows the difference in poverty rates
and the decline in poverty rates from 1990 to 2000. There was a decline in overall poverty rates of 2.2% for the decade, and
while the poverty rate for blacks declined by nearly 10%, blacks are still more than twice as likely to be poor than whites, and
while Hispanic poverty rates also declined a dramatic 7%, they are still more than twice as likely to be poor than whites
although less likely to be poor than blacks. Asians in 1990 and 2000 were more likely than whites to be poor but their overall
poverty rates declined by 1.5% and are closer to the poverty rates of whites than any other racial or ethnic minority.
1992 Business Ownership Statistics By Race
Race
Total U. S. Firms (in actual
Percent of All U. S.
Total U. S. Sales
Percent of All Sales
numbers)
Firms
Receipts (in $
Receipts
millions)
17,253,143
100
3,324,200
100
All
620,912
3.6
32,197
1
Black
705,672
4.1
104,100
3.1
Asian
862,605
5
76,842
2.3
Hispanic
15,063,954
87.3
3,111,061
93.6
White
This table, 1992 Business Ownership Statistics by Race, shows that business ownership, which is an indicator of the
economic well being of any given group, is severely skewed toward white Americans who own 87.3% of all businesses and
earn 93.6% of all sales. Minorities, therefore, show significantly less business ownership, and a concomitant reduction in
economic well-being.
Reserved
Share of Aggregate Income by Quintile
(Fifths—Each 5th Represents 14.41 Million Families in 1999)
and Top 5% (Represents 3.6 Million Families in 1999)
of Families 1980 to 1999 (in Percent)
Year Lowest Difference Second Difference
Third Difference Fourth Difference Highest
Top
Fifth
from
Fifth
from
Fifth
from
Fifth
from
Fifth
5%
Highest
Highest
Highest
Highest
Fifth
Fifth
Fifth
Fifth
5.4
35.5
12.2
28.7
17.6
23.3
23.8
17.1
40.9
15.6
1970
5.3
35.8
11.6
29.5
17.6
23.5
24.4
16.7
41.1
14.6
1980
4.8
38.3
11.0
32.1
16.9
26.2
24.3
18.8
43.1
16.1
1985
4.7
29.7
10.9
23.5
16.9
17.5
24.1
10.3
34.4
16.5
1986
4.6
39.2
10.7
33.1
16.8
27.0
24.0
19.8
43.8
17.2
1987
4.6
39.4
10.7
33.3
16.7
27.3
24.0
20.0
44.0
17.2
1988
4.6
40.0
10.6
34.0
16.5
28.1
23.7
20.9
44.6
17.9
1989
4.6
39.7
10.8
33.5
16.6
27.7
23.8
20.5
44.3
17.4
1990
4.5
39.7
10.7
33.5
16.6
27.6
24.1
20.1
44.2
17.1
1991
4.3
40.4
10.5
34.2
16.5
28.2
24.0
20.7
44.7
17.6
1992
4.1
42.9
9.9
37.1
15.7
31.3
23.3
23.7
47.0
20.3
1993
4.2
42.7
10.0
36.9
15.7
31.2
23.3
23.6
46.9
20.1
1994
4.4
42.1
10.1
36.4
15.8
30.7
23.2
23.3
46.5
20.0
1995
4.2
42.6
10.0
36.8
15.8
31.0
23.1
23.7
46.8
20.3
1996
4.2
43.0
9.9
37.3
15.7
31.5
23.0
24.2
47.2
20.7
1997
4.2
43.1
9.9
37.4
15.7
31.6
23.0
24.3
47.3
20.7
1998
4.3
42.9
9.9
37.3
15.6
31.6
23.0
24.2
47.2
20.3
1999
This table, Share of Aggregate Income by Quintile, shows that, as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The wealth
created in the US from 1970 to 1999 is distributed unequally across groups and the share of income of American society,
divided into fifths (quintiles) shows the extreme disparity between the richest and poorest among us. In 1970, the top 20%
(highest fifth or highest quintile) earned 40.9% of all the income earned in the US, in 1999, that amount increased to 47.2%.
At the same time, the lowest 20% (lowest fifth or quintile) earned 5.4% of all income in 1970 and only 4.3% in 1999! In
other words, as the old Depression-era song says, “the rich get rich and the poor get poorer, in the meantime, in between
time, ain't we got fun!”
From U.S. Census Bureau No. 216 Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity, and Sex 1960-2000
(College Graduate or Higher) by Percent
All Races
White
Black
Asian
Hispanic
Year
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
9.7
5.8
10.3
6.0
2.8
3.3
--------1960
13.5
8.1
14.4
8.4
4.2
4.6
----7.8
4.3
1970
20.1
12.8
21.3
13.3
8.4
8.3
----9.4
6.0
1980
24.4
18.4
25.3
19.0
11.9
10.8
44.9
35.4
9.8
8.7
1990
27.8
23.6
28.5
23.9
16.3
16.7
47.6
40.7
10.7
10.6
2000
This table, From U.S. Census Bureau No. 216 Educational Attainment by race/Ethnicity, and Sex 1960-2000, shows
that white males are more likely to than any other group except Asians to graduate from college. This table also shows the
dramatic increase in the number of Americans of all races/ethnicities earning college degrees. In 1960 only 9.7% of all
American males and only 5.8% of all American females earned college degrees. By 2000, those numbers had increased to
27.8% for males and 23.6% for females. Similar dramatic increases can be seen in college graduation for male and female
racial and ethnic minorities. Even though racial and ethnic minorities and women earn college degrees in lesser percentages
than white men, they are earning degrees at higher rates than ever before. Only 2.8% of black males earned degrees in 1960,
but by 2000, 16.3% had earned a degree. Black women have always been slightly more likely to earn a degree than black
males, but the reverse has traditionally been true for Hispanics. However, since 1970, the percentage of Hispanic women
earning degrees is almost equal to the percentage earned by Hispanic males.
Reserved
Dropout Rates by Race/Ethnicity and Sex for Selected Years and Percent Change
Dropouts by Category
1975
1999
Percent Change
Total
5.8
4.7
-1.1
5.4
4.4
-1.0
White
5.0
4.1
-0.9
Male
5.8
4.7
-1.1
Female
8.7
6.0
-2.7
Black
8.3
5.2
-3.1
Male
9.0
6.8
-2.2
Female
10.9
7.1
-3.8
Hispanic
10.1
6.9
-3.2
Male
11.6
7.3
-4.3
Female
The table directly above shows the high school drop out rates for 1975 and 1999. The dropout rate has declined for
all racial and ethnic groups, but most dramatically for Hispanics of both sexes.
Dropout Rates by Race/Ethnicity and Sex for Selected Years and Percent Change
Dropouts by Category
1975
1999
Percent Change
Total
15.6
13.1
-2.5
13.9
12.8
-1.1
White
13.5
13.9
0.4
Male
14.2
11.8
-2.4
Female
27.3
16.0
-11.3
Black
27.8
16.3
-11.5
Male
26.9
15.7
-11.2
Female
34.9
33.9
-1.0
Hispanic
32.6
36.4
3.8
Male
36.8
31.1
-5.7
Female
The table directly above, in contrast to the previous table, shows high school completion rates. In this case, the
percentage of change shows dramatic increases in the number of young people who have graduated from high school, which
complements the above table. Decreased drop out rates will result in higher completion rates. In this table, black males and
females have increased their high school completion rates by more than 11% from 1975 to 1999.
Reserved
Paradigm
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Stratification/Inequality
All of society is characterized by conflict—economic competition—between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Conflict
1)
2)
3)
4)
Inequality is generated and maintained by those in power in order to maintain their power.
Various groups in society are delineated by those in power and then are pitted against each other in a
struggle for wealth, power, and status.
The powerful exploit everyone in order to engender false consciousness—the belief that the non-elites have
the potential to become rich and powerful.
The elites will do anything in order to maintain their power.
Functionalism
1)
2)
3)
4)
Inequality is less widespread than the Conflictualists believe.
Inequality, in general, is functional for society because it engenders competition which serves as an
incentive for people to attempt to rise to the top.
Inequality, overall, is highly dysfunctional for society because it fails to permit large groups of people from
competing for the goods of society.
Inequality is always functional (adaptive) for some segments of society and dysfunctional (non-adaptive)
for others.
Symbolic
Interactionism
All of society is based on day-to-day micro-level interactions between individuals and among small groups.
1)
2)
Inequality is based on individual reactions to their own perceptions of the social structure.
Because the social structure is subjective, inequality is also subjective and based on individual
interpretations.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIA—Stratification in the U.S.
5 largest countries in
Western
Europe…74
Amazing Grace: The
Lives of Children
and the Conscience
of a Nation…77
Blau and Duncan…77
Brahman…69
C. Wright Mills…70
caste system…69
Charles Murray…77
class system…69
closed form…69
coercive power…69
conspicuous
consumption…71
Conspicuous
consumption…71
conspicuous
leisure…71
Conspicuous
leisure…71
creaming effect…70
culture of poverty…77
Reserved
Dalit…69
Davis-Moore
debate…70
E. Digby Baltzell…70
elite model…70
estate system…69
feminization of
poverty…75
five largest states…75
Forms of
stratification…69
four major castes…69
four systems of
stratification…69
functionality of
stratification…70
G-8 nations…75
Herbert Gans…77
income…70
Jonathan Kozol…77
Kingsley Davis and
Wilbert E.
Moore…70
Kshatriya…69
lack of jobs creates
poverty…77
Lifestyles of the Rich
and Famous…70
Losing Ground…77
major dimensions of
stratification…69
master status…68
Master Statuses…68
Max Weber…69
Melvin Tumin…70
open form…69
Oscar Lewis…77
personal power…69
pluralistic model…70
poverty…75
poverty is
functional…77
power…70
Power elite
theories…70
SES…68
Shudra…69
slave system…69
Social
differentiation…69
Social inequality…69
Social mobility…77
Social positions…69
social power…69
Social stratification is
a form of inequality
in which categories
of people are
systematically
ranked in a
hierarchy on the
basis of their access
to scarce but valued
resources…69
Status…70
Status/Prestige…69
Stratification…68–83
stratification
hierarchy…68
stratification is
dysfunctional for
society…70
The Bell Curve…77
The Declining
Significance of
Race…77
The Dysfunctionality
of Stratification…70
Stratification…70
the goods of society
(wealth, status,
power)…69
The Power Elite…70
The Theory of the
Leisure Class…70,
71
The Truly
Disadvantaged…77
The War Against the
Poor…77
theories of the causes
of poverty…77
Thomas’
Theorem…68
Thorstein Veblen…70,
71
ultimate in group…72
United States is
inarguably the
richest nation in the
world…74
Vaishya…69
W. I. Thomas…68
WASP…70
Wealth…70
wealth, power, and
status…69
Weber…70
When Work
Disappears…77
William Julius
Wilson…77
Module IIIB—Global Stratification
Just as individuals and groups are hierarchically ranked, so are nations. Inequality exists among nations as well as within
nations and there are rich (First World), middle-class (Second World), and poor countries (Third World). The goods of
society—wealth (the total value of one’s assets), power (the ability to influence over resistance), and status (social
prestige)—are scarce but necessary and create competition within nations as well as among nations. In 1995, the 140 developing
nations accounted for 78% of the world’s population, but possessed only 16% of the world’s wealth. 211 The four statistical
measures of inequality in the world are found in the chart below and are: life expectancy rates; literacy rates; infant mortality
rates; and standard of living which is measured based on per capita GNP or per capita GDP. The standard of living is
represented by the per capita (per person) GNP and per capita (per person) GDP. The per capita (per person) GNP (Gross
National Product) is the total value of the goods and services produced and sold by any given country in any given year
(includes exports) whereas the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the total value of all goods and services produced and sold
within a nation in one year (and does not include exports). Per capita means per person so that per capita GNP is the per
person productivity of a nation. The life chances of people differ according to the amount of inequality in their nation as well as
their nation’s ranking on the world stratification hierarchy—the poorer the nation, the poorer the life chances, the richer the
nation, the greater the life chances. These life chances are statistically measured by life expectancy rates, literacy rates, infant
mortality rates, and per capita GDP or per capita GNP. Since the shift from colonialism to self-rule, many nations have suffered
extreme poverty. This poverty has severe consequences and though its causes are complex and controversial, nevertheless the
statistical measures of inequality are based on the inability of 3rd World nations, regardless of the causes, to maintain sufficient
financial resources to support the medical, educational, communications and transportation, and utilities infrastructure. The
poorest nations of the world are not always lacking in natural resources and raw materials but are lacking in the ability to exploit
those natural resources and raw materials without the help of richer nations and their technical and managerial expertise. 212
The truly terrible problems faced by Third World and emerging nations do not have simple causes: the causes are
multivariate and deeply ingrained in both geopolitics and local cultures. However, to simplify an extremely complex issue, the
geopolitical situation began with the colonialization of non-white, tribal or monarchical peoples, by white Europeans beginning in
about 1500 A.D. For 450 years, the non-white peoples of the world were vassals of the mercantilistic economies of the colonizing
nations. When the “iron curtain descended across Europe” 213 there was a global conflict between the two superpowers—the
Soviet Union and the United States—that was called the Cold War. From about 1948 until about 1992, the world was held
hostage by the threat of global thermonuclear war. Third World and emerging nations were pawns in this great conflict as the two
super powers attempted to sway geopolitics by installing puppet governments and by arbitrarily and dangerously supporting
“friendly” dictatorial regimes who would serve as buffers to “unfriendly” regimes—the Soviet Union and the United States both
engaged in this practice; Castro in Cuba was supported by the USSR, Noriega in Panama was supported by the US, for example.
In most cases—particularly in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean—these dictators were corrupt, tribalistic leaders of
mostly illiterate pastoral, horticultural, or agrarian peoples who had lived for millennia under the rule of hereditary monarchs or
tribal leaders who had come to power through bloody coups, tribal, or internecine wars, and who held all the power and almost all
the wealth in their societies. As a consequence of all of these conditions, the Third World still suffers from illiteracy, grinding
poverty, starvation, virtually non-existent medical care, and the looting of their natural resources and labor power by
multinational corporations, with the support and aid of corrupt leaders and officials. The geopolitical situation has changed,
however, and with that change, has come a malign neglect of the poorest people in the world by the richest people in the world.
Europe and the United States seem to intrude into the Third World only when their own economic interests are at stake.
Because the population of most poor countries is largely rural and there is very little transportation and communications
infrastructure and the costs of vehicles and fuel and maintenance are very high, there is little possibility that people will be able to
move easily to the larger cities where health care and education are readily available. Furthermore, the expenses of schooling for
Reserved
doctors, teachers, and other education and health workers is very high and the return on the investment is often very low in rural
areas where barter is more normative than cash transactions. It takes cash money, very good credit, or the promise of large shares
of profits to buy the equipment necessary to exploit natural resources and to pay for the experts who are able to run and maintain
the equipment and create the various business and engineering systems that are required, and in countries where the majority of
the people do not have running water, electricity, telephones, or roads, finding capable workers is also problematic. Third World
poverty is a difficult and complex issue with myriad causes and few solutions. However, Immanuel Wallerstein has developed
World Systems Theory which is a Marxist approach to world inequality.
World Systems Theory and other Marxist theories such as dependency theory contend that world inequality is the
result of colonialism which is the maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural domination over a people by a foreign
power for an extended period of time. Since 1500 A.D., every continent and every country in the world (except Antarctica) has
been owned, in whole or in part, by a European nation. The major colonizing nations are Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal,
The Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, Italy and the colonized nations/areas include India, parts of China, all of Southeast
Asia, all of South America, much of the Middle East, all of Central America, all of North America, all of the Pacific Islands,
Greenland, and Australia. Between 1914 and 1948, most of the colonized countries of the world had gained their freedom and had
become independent nation-states. By 1980, colonialism largely had become a phenomenon of the past but independent rule has
been, in many cases, extremely problematic. In many countries, independence has created greater social and economic inequality,
exploitation of the poor, and political instability because, when the colonial masters left, the institutions of society collapsed
creating severely anomic conditions. In general, the former colonies did not know how to form governments, maintain the
physical infrastructure, educate its populace, provide health care, or develop its natural resources without the support of the
colonizers which leads to neocolonialism, the dependence on more industrialized nations, including their former colonial masters,
for managerial and technical expertise, investment capital, and manufactured goods. When the colonial masters departed, they left
behind a population that, for generations, had been deliberately kept poor, rural, illiterate or barely literate, and on foot. Such a
population is easy to control but is unable to stand up to the rigors of a freedom it has never known in living memory. Colonialism
is only one aspect of Third World poverty. Internal wars, corruption of government officials, the aftermath of the Cold War, and
the inattention of Western nations are all contributive factors to the seemingly intransigent poverty of over a billion people in the
world. The following “If the World Were A Village of 100 People,” from the internet, is an indication of the way the world
looks, and the ramifications of the vast disparities in wealth among the world’s peoples.
If the World Were A Village of 100 People
by C. Douglas Lummis
When you woke this morning, did you look forward joyously to the day? When you go to bed tonight,
do you think you will be filled with satisfaction? Do you think the place you are is precious? It is to
you who cannot say right away, “Yes, of course” that I send this message. If you can read this, the
things around you might start to look a little different. In the world today, 6 billion 300 million people
live. If this world were shrunk to the size of a village, what would it look like?
If 100 people lived in this village,
52 would be women, 48 would be men. 30 would be children, 70 would be adults. 7 would be
aged. 90 would be heterosexual, 10 would be homosexual. 70 would be nonwhite, 30 would
be white, 61 would be Asian, 13 African, 13 from North and South America, 12 Europeans,
and the remaining one from the South Pacific. 33 would be Christians, 19 believers in Islam,
13 would be Hindus, and 6 would follow Buddhist teachings. 5 would believe that there are
spirits in the trees and rocks and in all of nature. 24 would believe in other religions, or would
believe in no religion. 17 would speak Chinese, 9 English, 8 Hindi and Urdu, 6 Spanish, 6
Russian, and 4 would speak Arabic. That would account for half the village. The other half
would speak Bengal, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, German, French, or some other
language. In such a village with so many sorts of folks, it would be very important to learn to
understand people different from yourself and to accept others as they are. But consider this.
Of the 100 people in this village,
20 are undernourished, 1 is dying of starvation, while 15 are overweight. Of the wealth in this
village, 6 people own 59% (all of them from the United States), 74 people own 39%, and 20
people share the remaining 2%. Of the energy of this village, 20 people consume 80%, and 80
people share the remaining 20%. 75 people have some supply of food and a place to shelter
them from the wind and the rain, but 25 do not. 17 have no clean, safe water to drink. If you
have money in the bank, money in your wallet and spare change somewhere around the
house, then you are among the richest 8. If you have a car, you are among the richest 7.
Among the villages, 1 (from the United States) has a college education. 2 (from the United
States) have computers. 14 cannot read. If you can speak and act according to your faith and
your conscience without harassment, imprisonment, torture or death, then you are more
fortunate than 48, who cannot. If you do not live in fear of death by bombardment, armed
attack, landmines, or of rape or kidnapping by armed groups, then you are more fortunate than
20, who do. In one year, 1 person in the village will die, but in the same year, 2 babies will be
born, so that at the year’s end the number of villagers will be 101.
If you can read this site, that means you are thrice-blessed. First, because someone
thought of you and sent you this message. Second, because you are able to read. Third, and
most important, because you are alive. Someone once said: “What you send out comes back
again.” So sing from the bottom of your heart, dance with your body waving free, and live,
putting your soul into it. And when you love, love as though you have never been wounded,
even if you have. And love the fact that you and others, live here in this village. Perhaps if
enough of us learn to love our village, it may yet be possible to save it from being torn
apart. 214
Colonialism was based on an economic system called mercantilism which was a system in which the colonizing nation
forced the colony to sell its raw materials ONLY to the colonizer and to buy finished goods ONLY from the colonizer at whatever
prices the colonizing nation determines. Mercantilism was a very good system for the European colonizers—it made them rich
beyond the dreams of avarice, but it served to virtually enslave entire native populations and to pull the wealth of the colonies
away from the indigenous people.
World Systems Theory is based in the Conflict Paradigm and was engendered by Immanuel Wallerstein. World
Systems theory posits that there are three types of countries: Core or “First World,” Semi-Peripheral or “Second World,” and
Peripheral or “Third World.” Core countries exploit the peripheral countries’ labor, natural resources, and raw materials, while
semiperipheral countries serve as “middlemen” between the core and the periphery (this part of the theory has not proven to be
entirely accurate); and peripheral countries are exploited by the core and the semi-periphery and forced to maintain their
DEPENDENCE on the core. Immanuel Wallerstein, the “father” of World Systems Theory, contributed to the social science
literature primarily in the mid-1970s. William Roseberry, in an article concerning proletarianization of indigenous peasant
populations, summarizes and enumerates Wallerstein's propositions as follows:
(1) The world system is integrated economically rather than politically. That is, it is a world economy composed
of numerous politically independent but economically interdependent states.
(2) The world system is economically differentiated, composed of (a) a core, consisting of the states at the
developed center of the world economy (for example, the United States and northwestern Europe); (b) a
periphery, consisting of the underdeveloped states in the so-called Third World (for example Bolivia, Honduras,
and Jamaica); and (c) a semiperiphery, composed of buffer states that have more opportunities for development
than peripheral states, exercise some degree of economic influence over their neighbors, but are nonetheless not
“core” (for example, Mexico, Venezuela, South Africa, and various Mediterranean and East European
countries).
(3) This internationally structured inequality is a deeply rooted historical product, created with the formation of
a capitalist world economy in the sixteenth century and shaped across four centuries of colonial and
postcolonial change. Social processes in particular regions can be understood only in terms of the place and
function of those regions within the larger world system. Indeed, it is common for world-system theorists to
explain problems in the periphery or semiperiphery in terms of two factors: (a) developments occurring in the
core; or (b) the maintenance requirements of the system as a whole. (Roseberry 110-111) 215
Multinational Corporations are commercial organizations which, while headquartered in one country, own or control
other corporations and subsidiaries throughout the world and help to maintain the power of the core nations over the
semiperiphery and periphery. Multinationals buy, sell, and produce goods and services across the globe and are becoming
extremely powerful both economically and politically in the core as well as in the periphery and semi-periphery. Multinational
corporations create jobs where jobs did not exist before and therefore help to grow the economies of Third World countries.
However, multinationals also exploit the land, labor, and capital of poor countries by insisting on enormous tax breaks, putting
economic pressure on Third World governments to either abandon or fail to enforce environmental laws, worker protection laws,
and child labor laws. 216
Modernization Theory is a functionalist theory of stratification. Modernization is the far-reaching process by which
peripheral nations move from having traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies.
Modernization theory argues that, since modern societies tend to be urban, literate, and industrial; have sophisticated
transportation systems and media; tend to be organized within the nuclear family unit rather than the extended-family model;
demonstrate a shift in allegiance from traditional sources of authority such as parents, elders, and local religious leaders to newer
authorities such as government officials, the undeveloped, underdeveloped, and developing nations have cultures that prevent
them from fully utilizing their natural and human resources. The cultural patterns of the peripheral and semiperipheral nations is
so much at odds with those of core countries that drastic social change is necessary in order to pull these countries into the
modern world. The poorest countries in the world, according to Modernization theory, have cultures based on tribalism and
traditional patterns of authority; barter rather than money economies, lack of universal formal education, high fertility and birth
rates; and extended families and kin-like relationships all of which keep theses countries mired in poverty regardless of the
amount of financial and technological aid they receive from the core. 217
Four Statistical Measures of Inequality in the World 218
Life Expectancy Literacy Rate**
Infant Mortality
Rate*
Rate†
Position
Country
Per Capita GDP‡
Entire World
1st World (Core)
World
63.94
77.00
51.55
$7,600
United States
77
97
6.7
$36,200
Japan
78
100.0%
7
$21,090
Mexico
71.76
89.6%
Brazil
63.24
83.3%
36.96
$6,500
South Korea
72
96.8%
8
$9,810
India
62.86
52%
63.19
$2,200
Afghanistan
46.24
31.5%
147.02
$800
Somalia
46.6
24%
123.97
$550
Sierra Leone
45.6
31.4%
146.52
$500
East Timor
64.9
48%
51.99
$500
* the number of
years one can
expect to live
** the ability to read
and write a simple
paragraph about one’s
daily life in one’s own
language by the age of
15 years
† the number of
deaths per 1,000
live births of
infants who do not
reach their first
year of life
‡ the total value of all
goods and services
produced and sold
within a nation in one
year (does not include
exports)
nd
2 World
(Semiperiphery)
25.36
$9,100
3rd World (Periphery)
**Note: Women, worldwide, are 50%-66% less likely to be literate than men. There are parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, where it was recently illegal to
teach females to read and write. Source: CIA World Factbook, 2002.
Decade
1900
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
07/01/99
07/21/03
20th Century World Population Growth by Decade (in Billions) 219
Population
1.65
2.52
3.02
3.70
4.45
5.30
6.01
6.31
Comparison of Richest to Poorest Countries Based on Selected Demographic Characteristics 220
Characteristic WORLD United Japan Mexico Brazil India
Afghanistan Somalia Sierra East
States
Leone Timor
Population in
6,233
275
127
102
175
1,100
27
7.5
5.4
.9
Millions
Age Structure
as % of Total
Population
0-14
29.2
21.12
14.64
33.32
28.57
33.12
42.2
44.54
44.73
N/A
15-64
63.7
66.27
67.83
62.28
65.9
62.2
55.01
52.69
52.12
N/A
>65
7.1
12.61
17.53
4.4
5.45
4.68
2.79
2.77
3.15
N/A
Birth
21.16
14.2
10.04
22.77
18.45
24.48
41.42
47.23
45.11
28.07
Rate/1,000
Death
8.93
8.71
8.34
5.02
9.34
8.74
17.72
18.35
19.19
6.52
Rate/1,000
Net Migration
N/A
3.5
0
-2.77
-0.03
-0.08
11.11
5.96
10.23
51.07
Rate/1,000
Infant
51.55
6.76
3.88
25.36
36.96
63.19
147.02
123.97 146.52
51.99
Mortality
Rate/1,000
Life
63.94
77.26
80.08
71.76
63.24
62.86
46.24
46.6
45.6
64.9
Expectancy
Rate
Fertility Rate
2.73
2.06
1.41
2.62
2.09
3.04
5.79
7.11
6.01
3.88
Literacy Rate
77%
97
99
89.6
83.3
52
31.5
24
31.4
48
as % of Total
Population
Per Capita
7,600 36,200 24,900
9,100
6,500
2,200
800
600
500
500
GDP in
Constant
Dollars
% of
27
12.7
N/A
27
17.4
35
N/A
N/A
60
42
Population
below Poverty
Level
Population
1.23
0.9% 0.17%
1.5% 0.91% 1.55%
3.48%
3.48% 3.61% 7.26%
Growth Rate
The age structure of any society is an indication of the productive capacity of that country. Those individuals who are
under 14 years of age or over 65 years of age are considered a dependent population. Those whose food, shelter, health care, and
general welfare is dependent on the work of others—the dependent population—are those who are too young or too old to earn a
living for themselves and must be supported. If the ratio of the dependent population to the working age population—those
between 15 and 64 years of age—is very high, the country is much more likely to be poor. Countries with a large number of
children compared to the working population are often among the poorest countries because there are fewer working age adults.
The birth rate is based on the average number of annual births per 1,000 people in a given population. The death rate is
the average number of annual deaths per 1,000 people in a given population. High birth rates coupled with high death rates are
very strong indicators of poverty. “The net migration rate is based on the number of people who enter or leave any given
country calculated per 1,000 people in the population. The net migration rate is the difference between the numbers of those
leaving a country and the number of those entering a country. This entry includes the figure for the difference between rate the
number of persons entering and leaving a country during the year per 1,000 persons (based on midyear population). An excess of
persons entering the country is referred to as net immigration (e.g., 3.56 migrants/1,000 population); an excess of persons leaving
the country as net emigration (e.g., -9.26 migrants/1,000 population). The net migration rate indicates the contribution of
migration to the overall level of population change. High levels of migration can cause problems such as increasing
unemployment and potential ethnic strife (if people are coming in) or a reduction in the labor force, perhaps in certain key sectors
(if people are leaving).” 221 The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of infants who do not reach
their first birthday. The life expectancy rate is the number of years one can be expected to live. The higher the infant mortality
rate and the lower the life expectancy rate, the greater the likelihood of extreme levels of poverty in a nation. The fertility rate is
the average number of pregnancies per woman in any given population. Countries with very high fertility rates are often poor.
The fertility rate, birth rate, and dependent population are closely related. The population growth rate is the percentage of annual
population increase in any given country.
The table above shows that, in comparison to the population of the world, the United States is a wealthy, highly
productive nation with a strong educational system, an effective government, a medical infrastructure that permits some level of
health care even for the poorest of its citizens, and a robust communications system. Sierra Leone, by contrast, is one of the
poorest countries in the world as indicated by the very large dependent population, the high birth, death, and infant mortality
rates, the very low life expectancy and literacy rate, the extremely marginal per capita GDP and a high population growth rate.
Their French and Belgian colonial masters left Sierra Leone a divided, desperately poor country with virtually no education, legal,
political, governmental, economic, medical, or communications infrastructure. As is true of many Third World nations, the rise of
colonialism prevented them from learning how to exploit their own natural resources and the collapse of colonialism forced them
into dependence on the good will of other nations for their very survival.
The 62 Poorest Countries in the World
Continent/Location
World
Country
Per Capita Per Cent
Least Developed
Poverty
GDP
below
Country
Ranking
Poverty
Level
22
Angola
1330
N/A
Africa
18
Benin
1040
37
18
Burkina-Faso
1040
45%
Burundi
600
70%
4
Yes
21
Central African
1300
N/A
Republic
17
Chad
1030
80
Democratic Republic 590
N/A
3
Yes
of Congo
24
Djibouti
1400
50%
32
Equatorial Guinea
2100
N/A
Eritrea
740
N/A
10
Yes
Ethiopia
700
64
8
Yes
29
Gambia
1770
N/A
31
Guinea
1970
40
15
Guinea-Bissau
900
N/A
Yes
34
Lesotho
2450
49.2
19
Liberia
1100
80
14
Madagascar
870
70
Yes
Malawi
660
64
7
Yes
13
Mali
840
64
Yes
30
Mauritania
1800
50
15
Mozambique
900
70
Yes
12
Niger
820
63
Yes
16
Rwanda
1000
70
Sierra Leone
500
68
1
Yes
Somalia
550
N/A
2
Yes
23
Sudan
1360
N/A
Tanzania
610
51
5
Yes
25
Togo
1500
32
20
Uganda
1200
35
14
Zambia
870
86
Yes
11
Afghanistan
800
N/A
Asia
Yes
28
Bangladesh
1750
36
20
Bhutan
1200
N/A
25
Cambodia
1500
36
East Timor
500
42
1
Yes
26
Laos
1630
40
25
Myanmar (Burma)
1500
25
24
Nepal
1400
42
41
El Salvador
4600
48
Central America
38
Guatemala
3700
60
33
Honduras
2300
53
35
Nicaragua
2500
50
Continent/Location
South America
Eastern Europe
Middle East
The 62 Poorest Countries in the World
World
Country
Per Capita
Poverty
GDP
Ranking
41
37
39
36
42
43
6
16
12
Paraguay
Suriname
Albania
Armenia
Bulgaria
Romania
Gaza Strip
(Palestine)
West Bank
(Palestine)
Yemen
4600
3500
3800
3350
6200
6800
625
Per Cent
below
Poverty
Level
36
N/A
30
55
35
45
45
1000
50
820
N/A
Least Developed
Country
Yes
Yes
Island Nations
Cape Verde
1500
32
North Atlantic 25
Comoros
710
60
Indian Ocean 9
Yes
Haiti
1700
80
Caribbean 27
Jamaica
3700
34
Caribbean 38
Kiribati
840
N/A
North Pacific (Equator) 13
Yes
Maldives
3870
N/A
Arabian Sea 40
Samoa
3500
N/A
South Pacific 37
Sao Tome and
1200
N/A
South Atlantic (Gulf of 20
Principe
Guinea)
Solomon Islands
1700
N/A
South Pacific 27
Tuvalu
1100
N/A
South Pacific 19
Vanatu
1300
N/A
South Pacific (New Hebrides) 21
Of the 268 nations in the world, those listed above are the 62 poorest: 30 (48⅓%) are in Africa, 8 (13%) in Asia, 4 (6½%) in
Central America, 2 (3¼%) in South America, 4 (6½%) in Eastern Europe, 3 (5%) in the Middle East (2 of which are in
the disputed lands of Israel), and 11 (17¾%)are island nations. Not all of those listed are classified as Least Developed
Nations which are the abjectly poorest nations on earth.
“The United Nations classifies countries as ‘least developed’ based on three criteria:



Income: currently set at annual gross domestic product (GDP) below $900 per capita
Quality of life: including life expectancy at birth, per capita calorie intake, primary and secondary school enrollment
rates and adult literacy
Economic Diversification: based on the share of manufacturing in GDP, share of the labour force in industry, annual per
capita commercial energy consumption and merchandise export concentration as indexed by the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).” 222
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIB—Global Stratification
age structure…87
Wallerstein…84, 85
measures of
birth rate…87
independent rule…84
inequality…83
colonialism…84
infant mortality
Four Statistical
Colonialism…85
rate…87
Measures of
Comparison of Richest
infant mortality
Inequality in the
rates…83
World…86
to Poorest Countries
life chances…83
Based on Selected
goods of society—
Demographic
life expectancy
wealth, power, and
Characteristics…87
rates…83
status…83
Conflict Paradigm…85
literacy rates…83
Gross Domestic
Product…83
Core…85
mercantilism…85
dependency theory…84
Gross National
Modernization
Product…83
Theory…85
dependent
population…87
If the World Were A
Multinational
fertility rate…87
Corporations…85
Village of 100
People…84
First World…83, 85
neocolonialism…84
net migration rate…87
Immanuel
four statistical
Per capita…83
per capita GDP…83
per capita GNP…83
Peripheral…85
productive
capacity…87
Second World…83, 85
Semi-Peripheral…85
standard of living…83
The 62 Poorest
Countries in the
World…88
Third World…83, 85
World Systems
Theory…84, 85
Module IIIC—Stratification by Race and Ethnicity
Racial/Ethnic Discrimination in America—1776-1998
1776—Sally Hemings
1845—Native American Party—An anti-immigration group held convention in
Philadelphia; attempted to stop immigration to U.S.
1852—Know-Nothings formed American Party
Gained control of some legislatures
Wanted to:
Ban Catholics and other immigrants (mostly Southern Europeans) from holding
offices
Create literacy tests
Restrict immigration based on national origin
1854—Commodore Matthew Perry opens trade between US and Japan
1857—Dred Scott Decision established legal doctrine of slaves as property
1864-1874—Reconstruction
1877—Jim Crow Laws established
1882—First Chinese Exclusionary Act passed
1887—American Protective Association founded to stop immigration
1887—The Dawes Act eliminated tribal ownership of Indian lands
1894—Immigration Restriction League founded; proposed literacy tests and special
standards for immigrants
1896—Plessy v. Ferguson decided by the Supreme Court; established separate but
equal; affirmed the constitutionality of the Jim Crow laws
1899—Cumming v. County Board of Education established separate but unequal status;
progeny of Plessy; upheld constitutionality of Jim Crow laws
1911—Chinese Exclusionary Act expanded to include other East Asians and Japanese
1924—National Origins Act passed by Congress
Banned all East Asians
Strictly limited immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe
1924—Ku Klux Klan marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C.; the KKK had 4
million members
1942—Korematsu Decision determined that denying the civil rights of a certain group of
citizens in times of war is constitutional
1943—The “Zoot Suit Riots” in LA; 200 Navy personnel rioted for 4 days over the July
4th Holiday in East L.A.; many Hispanics killed; no arrests; newspapers antiHispanic articles exacerbated the situation
1953—Emmett Till murdered
1962—South Carolina begins to fly Confederate Flag over capitol dome
1998—James Byrd Jr. dragged to death in Jasper TX
1998—Matthew Shephard murdered because he was gay
It seems to be both a biological as well as social trait that humans place everything in our environment into categories
that help us determine what is safe and not safe. Anything that is different is immediately suspect and until we have analyzed the
difference and determined whether that difference is or is not harmful we are apt to separate ourselves from that real or perceived
danger. Seminal Social-Psychologist Gordon W. Allport wrote:
No one quite knows why related ideas in our minds tend to cohere and form categories. Since the time
of Aristotle, various “laws of association” have been proposed to account for this important property of the
mind. The clusters formed do not need to correspond to outer reality as found in nature. For example, there are
no such things as elves but I have a firm category in my mind concerning them. Similarly, I have firm
categories concerning groups of mankind although there is no guarantee that my categories correspond to fact.
To be rational, a category must be built primarily around the essential attributes of all objects that can
be correctly included within the category. Thus all houses are structures marked by some degree of habitability
(past or present). Each house will also have some nonessential attributes. Some are large, some small, some
wooden, brick, cheap or expensive, old or new, painted white or gray. These are not the essential or defining
attributes of a house. 223
In other words, we create mental categories based on our current knowledge of our social and physical world. We may know full
well that there is no such thing as a werewolf, but when we hear a wolf howl while we are camping our minds conjure up certain
visions of what may be lurking just beyond our campfire. Thus, we also use these categorical ideas to develop concepts of the
essential characteristics of groups of people who differ in some way from ourselves; and yet, determining the essential qualities
of any group is highly problematic: “[p]robably in no case can it ever be said that a group difference marks off every single
member of a group from every single nonmember. . . . There is probably not a single case where every member of a group has all
the characteristics ascribed to his group nor is there a single characteristic that is typical of every single member of one group and
of no other group.” 224
What are the essential characteristics of women? Gays lesbians and bisexuals? Blacks? Hispanics? Asians? American
Indians? The disabled? The elderly? Jews, Muslims, Hindus? Or of any minority? What can be said that always applies to each
and every member of the group without exception? According to Allport, (based on the J-curve theory of distribution), there are
some (not necessarily essential) group traits that are exclusive to a particular group but are rare within that group. In statistical
parlance, these are called rare-zero differentials. Unfortunately, we tend to generalize these rare-zero differentials and assume that
they are widespread essential group characteristics. 225 All women are __________. All men are ___________. All Muslims are
__________. All Jews are ___________. All blacks are ___________. What words did you use to fill in the blanks? Were those
words categorical rare-zero stereotypes based on your perception of reality? Are you sure? Why?
“The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line” 226 wrote W.E.B. DuBois in 1903. DuBois was
writing about race relations in the United States and in the world system.
Racism is woven into the fabric of American society. A race is a population that differs from others in the frequency
of certain hereditary traits, which is also the definition of a species. All human beings are members of the same species, we all
share the same DNA, and we share many physiological characteristics that cross the boundaries of skin color, hair texture, eye
shape, and all of the other physical characteristics that we believe to define race. Biologically, there is no such things as race when
it comes to human beings with the exception that we all members of the same species: Homo Sapiens Sapiens. The superficial
physical differences among all human beings are based on a difference of 1/10th of 1% of our DNA which is a difference of .001!
Race, as we use the term on a day-to-day basis is a social construct; it is categories of people who are set apart from others
because of socially defined physical characteristics. For example, in the U.S., people of Chinese and Southern European
heritage have been categorized as both black and white dependent upon the time period. Since earliest times, for hundreds of
thousands of years, human beings have been moving across the face of the planet. From 30,000 years ago until the present, people
have been meeting others different in physical appearance from themselves. Oftentimes these travelers have interbred with those
whom they have encountered creating a world-wide situation in which there are no pure races among human beings: we are all
related, even if distantly, to one another, notwithstanding our superficial physical differences. Sadly, many socially defined racial
characteristics have become significant symbols of character and Thomas’s Theorem, which states that things perceived to be
real are real in their consequences, explains to us that race, and the way we define it, matters significantly in American society.
(Poll taxes and literacy tests were striking examples of defining racial characteristics as being indicative of character,
intelligence, and moral rectitude.) When W.E.B. DuBois wrote about “this double consciousness, this seeing one’s self through
the eyes of the other world” he was emphasizing the idea that race is defined by others, by the dominant group in any given
society. 227
Various Sociological, Psychological, and Social-Psychological studies indicate that, based on first impressions of
strangers, we think physically attractive people are smart; fat people are sloppy and not very bright; well-dressed people are
smarter richer and more attractive than people who are less well-dressed; nonwhite males are dangerous and sinister; white people
are smarter richer more attractive more honest and more trustworthy than ethnic or racial minorities (even in the eyes of racial and
ethnic minorities). In other words the way we form our initial opinions of the intrinsic human value—the basic human worth—of
a stranger is based largely on those external aspects of the person that society has determined are acceptable or not acceptable. We
are a class-driven society, but those American core values of equality and independence for all also blind us to the class structure,
the social structure, the stratification hierarchy, and the prejudice and discrimination that effects so profoundly and with such
grave consequences our day-to-day interactions with our fellow human beings.
Ethnicity is a status based on cultural heritage and shared feelings of peoplehood so that an ethnic group is a category
of people that is set apart from others because of its distinctive social and cultural characteristics, such as ancestry,
language, religion, customs, and lifestyle. And, although ethnicity is self-defined, it is more than possible for race and ethnic
group membership to be combined in one person. 228
Those who do the defining of race are referred to as the dominant group (the dominant group is always the ultimate ingroup in a society). A dominant group is an ascribed (unearned and socially defined) master status 229 which is defined only
in relationship to the minority groups in a society. Rosenblum and Travis have argued that “what one notices in the world
depends in large part on the statuses one occupies . . . thus, we are likely to be fairly unaware of the statuses we occupy that
privilege us . . . [and] provide advantage, and are acutely aware of those . . . that yield negative judgments and unfair treatment . .
. one of the privileges of being white [in America is] being able to be oblivious to those privileges . . .majority status is
unmarked or unstigmatized and grants a sense of entitlement . . .the unmarked category . . . tells us what a society takes for
granted” such as being white and male in America. 230
A minority group, which is defined by the dominant group, is also an ascribed master status 231 . It is a category of
people whose physical appearance or cultural characteristics are defined as being different from the traits of the dominant
group, and that result in their being set apart for different and unequal treatment. This definition of a minority group takes into
account both race and ethnicity! According to Dworkin and Dworkin from the University of Houston-Central, there are four
qualities of minority groups: 1) identifiability 2) differential power 3) differential and pejorative treatment 4) group
awareness. 232 Rosenblum and Travis have written that minority status is “highly visible, marked, stigmatized, and
unprivileged or differentially (unequally) privileged;” what Erving Goffman called tribal stigma. 233 A minority group is not
necessarily a minority because they are a smaller population than the dominant group. In fact, the South African system of
apartheid (a system of de jure discrimination) is a major indicator that a minority group is socially and not numerically
defined—90% of the population of South Africa is black, but until the very early 1990s they were the minority group, and the
10% of the population who are white were the dominant group.
Unfortunately, there has been a long and terrible history of racism in the United States—racism that is woven into the
fabric of America. (Racism is the belief that one racial category is inherently inferior to another.) With that racism has come
egregious levels of prejudice and discrimination which we learn as part of the socialization process. James Michener wrote a
novel entitled Tales of the South Pacific which was made into a musical and later a motion picture. There is a scene in the movie
where a character sings a song about prejudice and discrimination which is titled “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught.” Part of
the lyrics to that song is “You’ve go to be taught, before it’s too late, Before you are six, or seven, or eight, To hate all the people
your relatives hate. You’ve got to be carefully taught.” 234 Prejudice is an attitude based on irrational attitudes and preconceived
judgments (either favorable or unfavorable) toward a category of people. It is based on stereotypes as Thomas’s Theorem states:
that which is perceived to be real is real in its consequences. Discrimination is a behavior. Discrimination includes such
behaviors as: direct personal discrimination which includes slurs, social slights, threats, and even murder; ethnophaulisms are
derogatory expressions, jokes, folk sayings, or generalized negative remarks such as white men can’t jump, black people have
rhythm, the Washington Redskins.
There are two types of discrimination: de jure which is legal discrimination or discrimination by law in which minority
group members lawfully are denied access to public institutions, jobs, housing, and social rewards; and de facto which is
discrimination in fact, even when it is illegal to engage in acts of discrimination. Harrison and Bennett conducted an historical
analysis of types of legal discrimination by group: African Americans—slavery and Jim Crow laws; Asians—prevention of
immigration, denial of citizenship, concentration camps, and seizing of property; American Indians—conquest, usurpation,
seizing of property, Trail of Tears; Mexicans, Hawaiians—conquest, usurpation, and seizing of property. 235
De facto discrimination is practical, factual discrimination. It is a situation in which minority group members are
discriminated against as a day-to-day occurrence even when laws exist that prohibit such behavior. Such behaviors as indirect
institutional discrimination which is the differential and unequal treatment of a group that is deeply embedded in social,
economic, and political institutions; and structural discrimination which is built into the very structure of the society. Structural
discrimination is the most insidious form because, although racism is not the intent, it is the result. 236
Even with such horrific legal atrocities as those discussed by Harrison and Bennett, the United States, since the early
1950s and particularly in the mid 1960s has worked very hard at overcoming, if not our racism, at least our discriminatory
behavior toward minorities. Once again we turn to Harrison and Bennett: 1952 the McCarran-Walter Act permitted Asians to
become US citizens; 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, overturned Plessy and declared
that segregation was inherently discriminatory and unconstitutional; the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited any race/ethnicitybased discrimination in hiring and employment practices; the 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based
discrimination in allowing minorities to vote; in 1965 Congress passed the Immigration Act which removed national quota
systems permitting an influx of immigrants from Mexico, Latin American, and Asia; and in 1968 the Fair Housing Act was
passed prohibiting any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in housing. These signaled a change in the way in which the U.S. saw
itself, and although this decision and these acts did not overcome all forms of discrimination, they were, nonetheless, and
indication that America would not longer think of itself as a racist society. 237 238
Overcoming Discrimination in America—1808-2000
1808—Importation of slaves banned in the U.S.
1863—Emancipation Proclamation signed
1865—13th Amendment ratified; abolished slavery
1868—14th Amendment ratified; established due process and equal protection to all
citizens including former slaves
1870—15th Amendment ratified; voting rights for former slaves established
1905—The Niagara Movement the beginnings of the NAACP
1952—McCarran-Walter Act permitted Asians to become US citizens; overturned Asian
exclusionary acts
1954—Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka declared that segregation was inherently
discriminatory and unconstitutional
1964—Civil Rights Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in hiring and
employment practices
1964—24th Amendment ratified; outlawed poll taxes
1965—Voting Rights Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in allowing
minorities to vote
1965—Immigration Act removed national quota systems permitting an influx of
immigrants from Mexico Latin American and Asia
1968—Fair Housing Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in housing
1980s—Congress issues an apology and grants reparations to those effected by
Korematsu
1990s—President Clinton offers apologies and reparations to victims of the Tuskegee
experiment
1995—Mississippi ratifies constitutional amendment abolishing slavery
2000—South Carolina removes the Confederate Flag from flying over the capitol dome
2008—Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States of America
Robert Merton developed a Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination (Bigotry) in which he wrote that, when it
comes to racism, there are four kinds of people. The all-weather liberal is not prejudiced, does not discriminate, and tends to
remain firm in her/his convictions over time. The fair-weather liberal although not prejudiced, does engage in discriminatory
behavior. Since prejudice is an attitude and discrimination is a behavior the fair-weather liberal is dangerous because, in
order to overcome the cognitive dissonance which exists due to the incompatibility of behavior and attitude, some change must
take place, and this change is almost always in the direction of becoming deeply prejudiced, because our behavior changes our
attitudes! The fair-weather bigot is prejudiced but does not discriminate, and the all-weather bigot is prejudiced does
discriminate and probably joins hate groups. 239
Robert Merton’s Typology of Bigotry (Prejudice and Discrimination)
Prejudiced
Discriminates
Type
Yes
No
Yes
No
All-Weather Liberal
X
X
Fair-Weather Liberal
X
X
Fair-Weather Bigot
X
X
All-Weather Bigot
X
X
There are a great many theories concerning the causes of racism and attempting to explain prejudice and discrimination.
In general they all boil down to a very few concepts: ethnocentrism which is the tendency to evaluate the customs and practices
of other groups through the prism of one’s own culture; we tend to like people who are most like us; we judge people based on
our own values; and stereotypes which are exaggerated claims of what are believed to be the essential characteristics of a
group. 240 Whatever the causes, Thomas’s Theorem—that which is perceived to be real is real in its consequences—is a
screaming indictment of letting our belief patterns run away with our critical thinking skills. What stereotypes do you have? What
are some of the stereotypes about your own racial/ethnic group? How do you feel about those stereotypes? Why do stereotypes
last over time? Why doesn’t reality change our perceptions? America is the most racially and religiously diverse nation in the
world, and yet, we tend to build instant stereotypes about new immigrant groups and hold on to those about older groups.
Is America a melting pot or a lumpy stew/tossed salad? America is a nation of immigrants. With the exception of Native
Americans, we all have immigrant ancestors, or are, ourselves, immigrants. Assimilation is the process by which a racial or
ethnic minority loses its distinctive identity and lifeways and conforms to the cultural patterns of the dominant group. Cultural
assimilation is assimilation of values, behaviors, beliefs, language, clothing styles, religious practices, and foods, while structural
assimilation is about social interaction. Primary structural assimilation occurs when different racial/ethnic groups belong to the
same clubs, live in the same neighborhoods, form friendships, and inter-marry. Secondary structural assimilation concerns
parity in access to and accumulation of the goods of society (wealth, power, and status) which is measured by SES and political
power—it is becoming middle class or above. The traditional American assimilation pattern is that white ethnics, Asians,
Cubans, and non-Mexican Hispanics, by the third generation, (third generation Americans are those people whose grandparents
were foreign-born), have assimilated both culturally and structurally. However, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans
do not follow this traditional pattern which differs due to propinquity and coercion. 241
There have been, throughout our history, many times when one’s ancestry, country of origin, method of migration, or
religion marked one as being so different from “real” Americans that discrimination, both de jure 242 and de facto, 243 was the
order of the day. How well people fit into whatever the dominant culture values as normative is often a key to their position in the
stratification hierarchy. When immigrant populations are taken into account the dominant culture attempts to force new
immigrants to assimilate—become thoroughly Americanized—as quickly as possible. Assimilation is the process by which a
racial or ethnic minority loses its distinctive identity and lifeways and conforms to the cultural patterns of the dominant group. It
is submerging one’s self into the melting pot of American society. There are two kinds of assimilation cultural and structural.
Cultural assimilation concerns values, behaviors, beliefs, language, clothing styles, religious practices, and foods; whereas
structural assimilation concerns social interaction in clubs, neighborhoods, friendship, marriage (primary structural assimilation),
and parity in access to and accumulation of the goods of society (wealth power and status) measured by SES and political power
(secondary structural assimilation).
There are certain patterns of primary and secondary structural assimilation (hereinafter referred to by the term
assimilation) into American culture that differ based on race and ethnicity but before discussing those patterns an explanation of
terminology is necessary. First generation Americans are those people who are foreign-born; second generation Americans
are the children of foreign-born parents; and third generation Americans are the grandchildren of the foreign-born. For white
ethnics (primarily Southern and Eastern Europeans, although arguably anyone who is not one of the primary racial or ethnic
minority groups such as Arabs, Asians, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians could be considered a white ethnic), Asians, Cubans,
South American, and other non-Mexican Hispanics, assimilation follows a fairly traditional pattern even though some prejudice
and discrimination may continue to exist. First generation white ethnic Americans, although the vast majority learn and speak
English, tend to maintain their native language in their own homes, to keep many of their traditional religious and holiday
customs, retain native styles of dress and food preferences, marry among themselves (endogamous marriage), and live near others
from their homeland. Second generation white ethnic Americans generally lose much of the language of their parents, drift away
from traditional religious and holiday customs, let go of native styles of dress and food preferences in favor of more Americanstyle clothing and food, marry outside their parents’ ethnic group, and move into neighborhoods that are ethnically mixed. By the
third generation, most white ethnics have become thoroughly Americanized and have failed to learn all but a very few words of
their grandparents language, found meaningless many of the traditional religious and holiday customs, and have adopted
American customs (turkey instead of lasagna for Christmas dinner) instead, wear American-style clothing exclusively, eat fast
food, marry outside their ethnic group (in fact third generation white ethnic Americans usually do not even consider the ethnic
background of those they marry) and live in such ethnically-mixed communities that, except for the generalized whiteness, there
is no consideration of the ethnic backgrounds of their neighbors. Moreover, by the third generation, most white ethnics enjoy
relatively high levels of structural assimilation. 244
Some of this ease of both cultural and structural assimilation is based on the migration patterns of white ethnics.
Although many white ethnics have come to America because they perceive it to be a land of economic and political freedom and
opportunity, many have been driven from their homelands by border wars, internal ethnic conflict, economic uncertainty or
collapse lack of educational opportunities, less political freedom, and myriad other reasons. The primary push factors—those
conditions which impel people to emigrate from their native lands and immigrate to a new and unknown country—are political
and economic, and, as one might guess, the primary pull factors—those real or perceived conditions in the new country which
beckon to those on foreign shores moving people to emigrate from the countries of their birth—are also political and economic.
Regardless of the push or pull factors, white ethnics are voluntary migrants to America choosing to migrate, sometimes at great
personal risk, because they choose to migrate; a migration pattern that Sociologists call voluntary migration. Although many
white ethnic groups—Jews, Irish, and Italians 245 particularly—have experienced greater or lesser degrees of discrimination,
complete assimilation by the third generation is the rule. However, that assimilation was often accomplished with the help of
others.
While white ethnics, Cubans, Asians, non-Mexican Hispanics, and Arabs follow the traditional assimilation pattern,
three significantly large minorities do not: Mexicans (about 50%), Puerto Ricans, and African Americans. The assimilation
patterns for these groups differ due to propinquity, method of immigration, and let us not mince words, racism. Approximately
50% of all Mexican immigrants to the United States do not follow the traditional assimilation pattern. This is partly due to the
propinquity of the mother country, the nearly continuous new migration stream, a relatively high rate of return migration, racism,
and in some cases, involuntary immigration in that parts of Mexico have been annexed by the United States so that some people’s
native land quite literally changed overnight they went to bed Mexican and woke up American. 246 247
Puerto Ricans, following the treaty that concluded the Spanish American War, became citizens of the Untied States
albeit citizens without suffrage. Therefore, Puerto Ricans who are already citizens have little incentive to assimilate and, like their
Mexican counterparts, are physically close to their homeland, maintain a nearly continuous migration stream onto the mainland,
and have a relatively high rate of return migration. Puerto Rico is a desperately poor country populated primarily by Spanishspeaking Hispanic-surnamed descendants of African slaves. Thus, entrenched intergenerational poverty coupled with language
difficulties and racism have prevented assimilation. Most Puerto Ricans who live on the mainland live in poor inner city
neighborhoods in New York and Chicago. Neighborhoods that are not ethnic enclaves but are rather huge concentrations of the
poor poorly educated and black underclass. 248
African Americans differ dramatically from all other migrants. Many, probably most, African Americans have been
Americans far longer than most whites. Many African Americans can trace their ancestry back more than seven generations.
Those ancestors however were involuntary immigrants who were stolen from their homes, thrown into the bellies of slave ships,
and brought to these shores as pieces of property—chattel—to work for the rest of their lives and for the rest of the lives of all
their descendants in involuntary servitude as the slaves of white masters. No other people have involuntarily migrated to America.
No other people have been treated as property. No other people have suffered 300 years of slavery. No other people have been so
vilely used, abused, mistreated, maltreated, and battered physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. It was not until the
late 1860s that blacks were granted Constitutional rights in the United States and it was not until 1953, and then again in the
middle 1960s, that real civil rights were finally established for African Americans. Until that time African Americans were
second-class people who were often denied their political citizenship by being denied suffrage. Therefore, the opportunity for
traditional assimilation for African Americans has not existed until very recently. Given the traditional assimilation pattern,
African Americans for all practical purposes, are only second generation Americans regardless of how far back they can trace
their actual ancestry in America. 249
Sources of Immigration by Time Period and Country of Origin, in Percent of Total
1800-1860
1860-1900
1920-1960
Source
%
Source
%
Source
%
Germany
28
Latin America
35
Asia
27
England/Scotland
18
Germany
15
Caribbean
16
Ireland
15
Italy
9
Western and Southern Europe
16
Scandinavia
11
England/Scotland
8
Mexico
14
Central Europe
10
Western and Southern Europe
15
Other Latin America
10
Italy
8
Asia
4
England/Scotland
5
Eastern Europe
6
Others
3
Central and Eastern Europe
5
Northwestern Europe
4
Canada
5
The above chart shows the dramatic differences in the sources of immigration (and the sources of the wonderful diversity
of the US) over the one hundred year period from 1860 to 1960. The most recent immigration data shows that more and more
people from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific islands and fewer and fewer people from Europe are
coming to these shores to take part in the American dream.
However, as with many aspects of society, there are consequences of racism. One consequence is expulsion which is
the removal of a minority group from inside national boundaries to outside national boundaries. Some examples of expulsion are
the “Trail of Tears,” the pogroms carried out against the Jews by Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish Cossacks, and the “alien”
relocation of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WW II.
Genocide, however, is the most egregious and monstrous example of racism. According to “The United Nations 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Genocide [is defined] as:
Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as
such:
A.
Killing members of the group;
B.
Causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of the group;
C.
Deliberately inflicting on the group the conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in
part;
D.
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
E.
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” 250
Social critic, author, philosopher, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, has argued that the 20th century is the most
genocidal century in the history of humankind, with 174 million non-combatants dead.
Perhaps the genocide of the 20th century really had its beginnings in the 19th century when King Leopold II of Belgium
personally owned all of Central Africa—the Congo! From 1880 until 1920, more than 20 million Congolese natives had been
murdered by the Belgian soldiers loyal to Leopold. It is unknown how many millions were maimed in a deliberate terror
campaign that left entire villages—every man, woman, and child—without hands, or arms, or legs. All this wanton destruction of
human life and human productivity occurred because Leopold believed the native slave labor was not sufficiently productive and
was not making him rich enough. In 40 years, half of the population of the Congo was murdered! 251
Many estimates give the number of 20th century victims of genocidal violence at 174 million dead. 252 This would be as
if the entire population of the 15 most populous states in the US were to be killed. So that California, Texas, New York, Florida,
Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Minnesota would cease to
exist. “The 174 million murdered by government [between] 1900 and 1990 would, [if laid head to toe] circle the earth four
times.” 253
In 1915, under the orders of Mehmed Talaat the Turkish Minister of the Interior, the Muslim Turkish army crossed the
borders it shares with Christian Armenia. Within a year, 1.5 million Armenians who had been forced out of their homes were
dead, many of starvation. While the Armenian refugees were forced to flee in vast numbers, the Turkish government sanctioned
hanging in order to engender terror. The Turkish government also stole or destroyed crops and food stuffs so that starvation
became the primary way of death. 254
In the Soviet Union Gulags, between 1917and 1977, 62 million people are thought to have been murdered. The Gulags
were prison camps for political dissidents in the Soviet Union. Under Stalin’s rule, the Gulags were filled to capacity and new
ones had to be built continuously to accommodate the vast numbers of people who were purged from the body politic. The vast
majority of those sent to the Gulags were political prisoners. The barracks were large but poorly made—even though winters in
Siberia are brutally cold, many buildings had no sides. Prisoners were used as slave labor which included digging post holes in
almost-frozen ground in early winter, and building new rail lines for more prisoners. Prisoners often built their own barracks,
often being forced to use extremely shoddy material. If the bad food or starvation diet, lack of medical care, dangerous work, and
brutal beatings didn’t kill the prisoners, sometimes the weather did: many prisoners froze to death. The only headstones for the
graveyards where most prisoners ended up were rough wooden posts made by the friends of those who had died.
In 1923, a large white mob invaded and burned to the ground the large African American suburb in Tulsa, Oklahoma. No
white perpetrator was arrested, although millions of dollars in property was destroyed and an unknown number of lives were lost.
The local newspapers blamed the blacks for provoking the violence. In fact, many blacks were arrested or held during the
conflagration. The smoke rising into the air from the fires covered a huge geographical area: in one photograph from the time, the
caption reads “Little Africa burns.” African Americans were rounded up and arrested or held while their neighborhoods burned.
Even the elderly were not spared, one photo in a Tulsa newspaper of the time shows an elderly man standing in the midst of a pile
of burnt rubble in what used to be his house. Where homes once stood, there is only devastation. African Americans who gathered
to try to stop the fires were arrested and marched down the streets. Many of the photographs bear an eerie resemblance to scenes
of bombed towns and villages in World Wars I and II. Even God wasn’t immune from the violence and destruction; one
photograph shows a large African American church burning. The mob carried, and used, weapons in order to make sure that no
one would interfere and forcibly removed African Americans from their homes.
In January 1923, a white mob in east-central Florida, enraged by unfounded rumors of the attack on a white woman by a
black man, assaulted the small, all-African American community of Rosewood, killed 8, and, as in Tulsa, burned the entire town
to the ground. The night before the raid on Roseville a Ku Klux Klan rally was held just outside of the nearby white town. The
neighborhoods of Rosewood lay in smoldering ruins and the white mob spared nothing, not even the shacks of poor
sharecroppers.
When we think of genocide in the 20th century, the Holocaust is our model of its evil. In the 12 years of Nazi rule from
1933-1945, nearly 20 million non-combatants were killed—14 million in the camps, where six to seven million Jews were
murdered, and six to seven million others including Muslims, Latvians, Estonians, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Communists, and
Poles were also among the slaughtered. The gate to Auschwitz, one of the most heinous of all the death camps, had a sign that
“greeted” new arrivals—the sign read, Arbeit Macht Frei, “Work will make you free!” As many as 100,000 prisoners a day met
their deaths in the showers that were filled with Zyklon B, a deadly gas. The ovens were used to burn the remains. After D-Day
however, the ovens were sometimes used to burn people alive. Many of the ovens used to cremate both the living and the dead
were manufactured by firms who made ovens for commercial bakeries. The Warsaw Ghetto, home to Polish Jews for centuries,
was a battle ground where Jews tried to hide, to protect each other, and to resist Nazi domination. Even though not all the Jews
had been removed, the ghetto was eventually burned to the ground. One night in November 1938, military men, SS officers, and
mobs of thugs attacked the Jewish sections of many Eastern European cities. For hours they walked through the streets breaking
all the glass in every building they passed. Jews all over the world remember that night as Kristallnacht—the Night of Broken
Glass—and on the anniversary of that event, Jews gather together to pledge their eternal vigilance and resistance to such terror
ever again occurring. On Kristallnacht, a synagogue burned to the ground, while firefighters and neighbors stood by and watched.
German-Jewish children were singled out for humiliation in their schools. Children were also victims of the Nazi “medical
experiments” at Auschwitz and other death camps. One photograph shows children who have been burned deliberately. The socalled medical experiments of the Nazis, such as the amputations and mutilations shown in one photo, were thinly veiled torture
conducted without anesthetic. The Nazis didn’t confine their murders only to those they had imprisoned in the camps. One photo
shows Russian civilians who were forced to dig the trench into which their bodies fell when shot by German soldiers. There were
thousands of bodies found in mass graves all over Europe after the war, but one of the sites of such atrocities was Babi Yar in the
Soviet Union where 30,000 non-combatants were slain in two terrible days, September 28-29, 1941.
Many bodies of the dead at places like Dachau death camp were thrown into a
heap like badly stacked cord wood. Hundreds of starving prisoners were found by the
Allied forces at the liberation of the concentration and death camps. So that they could
maintain order and efficiency, the Nazis tattooed on the arm everyone in the camps. These
tattoo numbers were entered into the extensive files that the Nazis kept. Holocaust victims
were often forced to dig their own graves. Sometimes, however, there was no one left
alive to bury the dead who were thrown by their murderers into the pits that the victims
themselves had dug. The photo shows bodies thrown into an open pit at Auschwitz shortly
before the allied troops arrived.
Although there is still a great deal of controversy surrounding the bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what remains an incontrovertible truth is that the United States of America is the only nation on the face
of the earth to ever use nuclear weapons against human beings. The Enola Gay, named after the mother of the pilot, dropped the
first of only two nuclear weapons ever used against human beings. It was the first time in human history that a weapon of mass
destruction was used. The United States government argued that it was necessary to use such a weapon in order to end WW II.
Many historians agree with that assessment. However, many, including Albert Einstein whose work led to the creation of the ABomb, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was responsible for building the A-Bomb, did not agree and spent the remainder of their
lives after Hiroshima trying to halt nuclear proliferation. On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Enola Gay, dropped an A-Bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, Commander Bock, in his B-29 nicknamed “Bock’s Car” dropped the
second A-Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The living fell dead in their tracks. Four square miles of the city of Hiroshima were virtually
obliterated in a matter of minutes. The eerie shell of one large, domed structure was the only thing to remain standing after the
bomb fell on Hiroshima. The center of Hiroshima, which was the target, was populated by non-combatant civilians. Those who
survived the blast were horribly burned and maimed. Makeshift hospitals were set up in the outskirts of the city in order to care
for the survivors, many of whom died from their burns or from radiation sickness within days or weeks of the bombing. There
was no reconstructive surgery and the burn victims were often hideously scarred for life. The medical, emergency, and
educational infrastructure was destroyed in the bombing. One photo from after the bombing shows a badly scarred and deformed
child getting lessons in the ruins of a school.
Cambodia is still known as the killing fields, which is a reference to the murder of 2 million Cambodians (25% of the
population) by the Communist insurgent paramilitary group known as the Khmer Rouge, which was led by Pol Pot, from 19751979. Mass graves scarred the earth over all of Cambodia. The massacred men, women and children were tossed in pits that were
only loosely covered with soil. Within months, erosion due to monsoonal rains and winds caused the bones of the dead to rise to
the surface littering the ground with the skeletal remains of the victims. The bones were gathered up and stored in sheds and
warehouses. Children often gather the bones that litter the earth, the bones of their ancestors—sometimes the bones of their
parents, grandparents or siblings. 255
Throughout its more than 400 year history, South Africa has been a nation separated by color. The dominant white
group, descended from Dutch and later British settlers, comprised only 10 % of the population but controlled the economy, the
government, the military and police, the educational system, and all internal and external commerce. Although it had existed in
fact for more than two hundred years, the rigid, caste-like system of racial segregation known as Apartheid was begun officially
in the late 19th century. It gained strength and popular support in the 1920s and 1930s when internal passports were required of
all non-whites who were forced to live in “black” or “colored” townships such as Soweto which were called ironically,
“homelands,” but were, in fact, little more than shanty towns populated by poor blacks. An unknown number of black South
Africans were murdered by their government between 1930 and the early 1990s. Garbage dumps are seldom, if ever, built in
affluent communities. Environmental racism exists all over the world. The waste of the world, toxic and non-toxic, is dumped
near the neighborhoods of the poor. Soweto was no exception, it dumped its own refuse and the refuse of all-white Johannesburg
in its own back yard.
Metal and wood scraps are usually scrounged to build houses. A typical Soweto house was a makeshift shanty. Some
“affluent” blacks, physicians, lawyers, educators, and merchants who managed, against all odds, to attend universities in Europe,
lived in brick houses. However, affluence is relative and the bricks and mortar for their houses was usually scrounged also. Open
cooking fires often led to large portions of Soweto erupting in flames. Because there was no fire department, bucket brigades
were used to try to contain the conflagration. Sometimes, however, the fires were set deliberately by dissidents or by white
soldiers acting on official orders. The vast majority of houses in Soweto had no electricity, running water, plumbing, natural gas,
telephones or any of the utilities that white South Africans not only took for granted but felt entitled to—much as we do in
America. However, children, even in places liked Soweto, exhibit an enormous exuberance and joy of living even though the
perimeter of Soweto and all the other homelands was fenced and gated. Traditional celebrations, with people dressed in
traditional, ethnic/tribal clothing, are a method of identity maintenance and social cohesion in the midst of anomie—conditions of
social chaos. Maintaining traditions is also a social critique that indicates resistance toward oppression. Maintenance of
peoplehood is helpful in overcoming depression and alienation.
In a military coup in 1979, dictator Idi Amin became the ruler of the central African
nation of Uganda. Rich in minerals, timber, oil, and other natural resources, Uganda had been
systematically exploited by foreign governments and multi-national corporations for most of the
20th century. Because many Ugandans protested against the coup and the dictatorship of Amin,
soldiers loyal to Amin, at Amin’s behest, began a systematic slaughter of dissidents resulting in
300,000 deaths. There are few internet-based photographs available of the horrors that took place
in Uganda under the vicious, dictatorial rule of Idi Amin, which lasted until he was forcibly
removed from power in 1987. As in Cambodia, piles of human skulls and bones are the only
physical indications of the slaughter. The sheer ubiquity of the bones of the dead is shockingly evident in this photo of the toddler
and the skull. 256
In a terrible ethnic war in the central African nation of Rwanda (1994-1996), more than 600,000 were killed in only the
first three months; many hacked to death by machetes. Besides those slaughtered, nearly a million people were forced from their
homes and into enormous, unsanitary refugee camps across the border. These camps had no running water, no toilets, no cooking
facilities, and little to no food. Many people starved to death, many others succumbed during a particularly virulent outbreak of
cholera, an already virulent disease in which the victim vomits and defecates blood for several days until they die of dehydration
and shock. Sometimes cholera evidences symptoms similar to hemorrhagic fevers in which the victims bleed from every orifice in
the body. Cholera epidemics have killed untold millions during the history of the world. Fleeing refugees pass bodies of their
fellow citizens along the roadside. During times of great fear, people often seek solace, sanctuary, and community in houses of
worship, but evil respects no boundaries—more than one massacre took place in Christian churches during worship services.
Children orphaned because of the mass murder often do not survive. The majority of parentless children starved to death. 257
“Ethnic Cleansing” can mean nothing less than genocide. From 1997 to 1998, the Christians of Bosnia and Kosovo
engaged in a struggle to annihilate the Muslim population of this remnant of the former country of Yugoslavia. United Nations
and American military forces are still in the Balkans attempting to prevent any further bloodshed. Half a million people were
killed, tens of thousands of women were raped, and the leader of the Serbian government who authorized the slaughter is awaiting
an oft-postponed trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, other Serbian leaders are still at large. Refugees
have been reduced to an uncertain future. Refugees often find themselves living in conditions that would have seemed normal to a
13th or 14th century peasant. Where would you go if forced from your home with only what you could carry? What would you
take with you? How would you live? How would you feed and shelter your family? Refugees are not welcome by other nations—
they suck up resources while putting nothing back into the economy. In the 20th century, the United Nations has often had to
persuade governments to accept refugees and has had to control the refugee camps. Non-governmental organizations (called
NGOs) like the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and Doctors without Borders supply needed aid to both refugees and host
nations in times of crisis. It is easier in some ways for modern day peasants to survive as refugees, because they are more
accustomed to certain levels of privation than technologically sophisticated, highly educated, urbanites. Refugees often walk for
tens if not hundreds of miles to reach safety, crowding roads with masses of fleeing humanity. 258
The more than 10 million Kurds in the Middle East, are the largest ethnic group in the world without a country to call
their own. Many Kurds resided for many years in Northern Iraq. During and shortly after the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein
turned his biological weapons on Kurdish villages, so that, between 1987 and 1999 he had succeeded in killing half a million and
sending 1 million into exile. What will become of the Kurds in the aftermath of the 2003 war against Iraq remains to be seen.
Where do one million homeless, unwanted, forcibly exiled people go? They have only as much food, fuel, medicine, shelter, and
clothing as they can carry. Photos show Iraqi Kurds trying to cross the border into Iran. The young, the old, the healthy, the sick,
the rich, the poor—everyone must flee, on foot, from the threat of torture and death. Some will die along the way, some will
starve, but some will survive. Is this a recipe for rage? Will these refugees one day come back as guerilla insurgents or as an army
of revolution, doing to their persecutors what had been done to them? Does mass violence create more mass violence? It is always
the most vulnerable members of any society that suffer the most during times of social upheaval. Children, the elderly, and the
sick are the least likely to survive as refugees. The dead must be buried along the way, but how do you find the grave later?
Where do bury a child who dies while you are escaping from the monsters who want to kill all of you? 259
From 1500 to 1850, a period of 350 years, between 10 and 15 million Africans were landed in chains in the New World,
and 4 to 6 million more are thought to have died during their capture or the Atlantic crossing—a total of between 14 and 21
million people. Some scholars think the Slave Trade may have cost as many as 200 million lives and there are many scholars
today in both the United States, South America, the Caribbean, and East Africa who are attempting to unearth centuries old data
concerning the slave trade. Whatever they find, it is all too clear that the consequences of racism is death!
Name
Genocidal Monsters and Their Crimes 260
Country Where Genocide Occurred
Dates
Numbered Murdered
King Leopold II of Belgium
Congo
1880-1920
20 Million
Mehmed Talaat
Armenia
1915
1.5 Million
Adolph Hitler
Europe
1933-1945
20 Million
Mao Tse Tung
China and Mongolia
1947-1973
35 Million
Josef Stalin
USSR (Russia)
1927-1977
62 Million
Pol Pot
Cambodia
1975-1979
2 Million
Idi Amin
Uganda
1979-1987
300,000
Slobodan Milosevic
Serbia/Kosovo/Bosnia
1997-1998
500,00
Saddam Hussein
Iraq
1987-1999
1.5 Million
However, acts of monstrous evil are sometimes offset by a few of the heroic human beings who resisted and stood up to
evil in their own lands in their own times—people who had the courage to speak truth to power! Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent
civil disobedience against the British Raj in India fueled the fires of human rights campaigns across the world. Fifty years after
his assassination, Gandhi is still revered for his intellectual strength, moral courage, and indomitable will. From Oskar Schindler’s
heroic attempt to save Jews from the death camps, Steven Spielberg made the award winning film, Schindler’s List. When the
Nazis decreed that all Swedish Jews were to wear yellow stars on their clothes, King Gustav V of Sweden, the next day, appeared
in full dress regalia, mounted on a horse and riding through the streets of the capital with a yellow star on his uniform. Cesar
Chavez founded the United Farm Workers Union in order to address the egregious exploitation of migrant laborers. Bishop
Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, spent much of his life in segregated South Africa calling for the dismantling of the
Apartheid system. Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-Apartheid activist became the first black to be freely elected to the
Presidency in the country where he had spent most of his adult life as a political prisoner on Robbyn Island. The courageous Rosa
Parks was not solely responsible for the Civil Rights Movement, but she was the catalyst for the events that followed her 1953
refusal to “move to the back of the bus.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the best known leaders of the American Civil Rights
Movement because of his non-violent civil disobedience, gave a famous speech in Washington, D.C. in which he said “I have a
dream . . . that someday, my little children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.” Perhaps
the courage of these people and others like them will give us all the bravery needed to stop such horrors from happening again in
this, our world. 261
By 2050, the United States will be a Minority-Majority country—California is already a minority-majority state, and
Houston is a minority-majority city which means that there are numerically more minority group members than dominant group
members. Since Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the U.S., who will have the POWER (political, social,
economic) when there are numerically more minorities than whites? Why? What is the basis of POWER?
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIC—Stratification by Race and Ethnicity
20th century is the
problem of the color
line”…91
“You’ve Got To Be
Carefully
Taught.”…92
1964 Civil Rights
Act…92
1965 Voting Rights
Act…92
alien” relocation…95
apartheid…92
ascribed (unearned and
socially defined)
master status…91
ascribed master
status…91
Assimilation…93
Brown v. Board of
Education of
Topeka…92
categorical ideas…91
cognitive
dissonance…93
concentration
camps…92
consequences of
racism…95
Cultural
assimilation…93
de facto…92
De facto
discrimination…92
de jure…92
de jure
discrimination…92
direct personal
discrimination…92
discrimination…92
Discrimination is a
behavior…92
dominant group…91
Dred Scott Decision…90
Dworkin and
Dworkin…92
Erving Goffman…92
essential characteristics
of groups…91
Ethnicity…91
ethnicity is selfdefined…91
ethnocentrism…93
ethnophaulisms…92
expulsion…95
Fair Housing Act…92
First generation
Americans…94
four qualities of
minority groups: 1)
identifiability 2)
differential power 3)
differential and
pejorative treatment
4) group
awareness…92
Genocidal Monsters
and Their
Crimes…98
Genocide…95
Gordon W. Allport…90
Hispanics…99
immigrants…93
Immigration Act…92
indirect institutional
discrimination…92
Jim Crow laws…92
Korematsu
Decision…90
laws of association…90
literacy tests…91
majority status is
unmarked or
unstigmatized…91
McCarran-Walter
Act…92
mental categories…91
minority group…91
minority status…92
Minority-Majority…99
patterns of primary and
secondary structural
assimilation…90–100
Plessy v. Ferguson…90
pogroms…95
Poll taxes…91
POWER…99
prejudice…92
Prejudice is an
attitude…92
Primary structural
assimilation…93
Race…91
race is defined by
others…91
Racism…91, 92
Robert Merton…93
Robert Merton’s
Typology of Bigotry
(Prejudice and
Discrimination)…93
Rosenblum and
Travis…91, 92
second generation
Americans…94
Secondary structural
assimilation…93
social construct…91
socially and not
numerically
defined…92
species…91
stigmatized…92
structural
discrimination…92
superficial physical
differences…91
that which is perceived
to be real is real in its
consequences…92
third generation
Americans…94
Thomas’s Theorem…92
Thomas’s Theorem,
which states that
things perceived to be
real are real in their
consequences…91
Thomas’s Theorem—
that which is
perceived to be real is
real in its
consequences…93
traditional American
assimilation
pattern…93
Trail of Tears…92, 95
tribal stigma…92
two types of
discrimination…92
Typology of Prejudice
and Discrimination
(Bigotry)…93
ultimate in-group…91
W.E.B. DuBois…91
white ethnics…94
Module IIID—Stratification by Sex and Gender
Sex is based on biological differences and physical differences between males and females, while gender is the social
expectations associated with one’s sex. Although men and women seem to be physically more alike than different most of our
medical and biological data has come from the studies conducted on the male of the species, and medical scientists and biologists
have recently learned that there is a significant difference between the brains of males and females—females show greater
intelligence, greater capacity to form and maintain enduring relationships, greater ability to create ongoing cooperation and
consensus among groups than males. It has only been in the last 25 years or so that the medical profession and other researchers
have begun to examine females for models of female health and disease. Sexism, the ideology that one sex is inherently inferior
to the other, supports the differential and unequal treatment of individuals (primarily women) based on ascribed characteristics
(such as being female), is, in part, responsible for the lack of data on women’s bodies and women’s health issues. 262 Sexism is as
old as humankind. As far as we know, there has never been a society in which women have had the political and economic power
over their society. It really is a man’s world, because men are the dominant group across the globe.
Modern feminism, which is an attempt to overcome the worst aspects of male domination, has a hundred year history in
the United States beginning with such women as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. In 1898, Charlotte Perkins
Gilman (1860-1935) wrote Women and Economics in which she reasoned that women are the only creatures who are totally
economically dependent upon the male of the species, and that so long as this condition continued to exist, our American society
would stagnate. Gilman also wrote the famous short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” about a woman treated like an object who
becomes an object. “She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping,” her best-loved poem, is an indictment of the condition of woman who
have been kept emotionally, intellectually, and economically “asleep” by the male-dominated patriarchy. “She walketh veiled and
sleeping / For she knoweth not her power; / She obeyeth but the pleading / Of her heart, and the high leading / of her soul, unto
this hour. / Slow advancing, halting, creeping / Comes the Woman to the hour!— / She walketh veiled and sleeping, / For she
knoweth not her power.” 263
Feminism, which is an ideology aimed at eliminating patriarchy in support of equality between the sexes has been
highly controversial in recent years. It has been linked to the destruction of the family, and there are some conservative social
critics who believe that traditional roles for women are necessary in order to maintain social stability. 264 Traditional mainstream
feminism, however, is concerned with equality in all aspects of life such as equal pay for equal work; affordable, safe, competent
day care; elimination of sexual harassment; tougher rape laws; tougher child abuse laws; tougher domestic violence laws; medical
coverage for families; the family leave act; abortion rights; single parent adoption; and increased funding for shelters, among
other things. However, when most people think of feminism today, they tend to think of the kind of radical lesbian feminism
propounded by activist-writers such as Mary Daly who teaches Feminist Ethics at conservative, Roman Catholic Boston College.
Daly’s most well known book is Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. In this 1978 volume, Daly
discusses in detail the sexism that has caused women to be second-class citizens or even non-citizens in many parts of the world
today (women in Kuwait, ten years after the Gulf War, are still not allowed to vote). The Table of Contents of this book is a
striking example of historical sexism around the world. Topics such as Indian sutee or the immolation of widows on the funeral
pyres of their dead husbands; Chinese footbinding which actually broke the bones and rotted the flesh of little girls for hundreds
of years; and the European witch burnings of the 15th through 17th centuries which resulted in the deaths of over 9 million people,
mostly women, are all egregious examples of the consequences of patriarchal sexism. Radical feminists believe that traditional
gender roles do not address the needs of society.
Gender refers to a cultural understanding of what constitutes masculinity and femininity in any society. Gender
roles are the social and cultural expectations that are associated with a person’s sex and are learned during the socialization
process. Gender is social differentiation based on sex. Masculinity, as a gender differentiation, refers to attributes traditionally
considered appropriate for males such as aggression, athleticism, high levels of physical activity, logical thinking, dominance in
interpersonal relationships; whereas femininity as a gender differentiation, refers to attributes traditionally associated with
behavior appropriate for females such as passivity, docility, fragility, emotionality, and subordination in interpersonal
relationships. although many consider gender to be biological, it is not. gender traits are socially determined, they are not innate.
Margaret Mead’s classic studies of sexual practices and gender roles among various ethnic groups in New Guinea demonstrated
that among the Arapesh both sexes display what Americans would think of as feminine characteristics; among the Mundugumor
both sexes display what Americans would think of as masculine characteristics, and among the Tchambuli Mead documented
women engaging in gender roles that most Americans would consider masculine, while men engaged in gender roles that most
Americans would consider feminine. As with racial and ethnic stereotypes there are also gender stereotypes: men are
instrumental or goal oriented while women are expressive or emotional. 265 Consider the following story. One night a man and
his young son are driving in the car in a terrible rain storm. It is extremely dark, the father cannot see well enough to drive the car
because the rainstorm is so severe. Suddenly, the car stalls on a railroad track just as a freight train is coming. The freight train
hits the car and instantly kills the father. The little boy is thrown from the car. The train engineer radios for Life-Flight who
transports the child to the nearest trauma center. At the hospital, the little boy is rushed immediately into emergency surgery. The
surgeon enters the operating room, looks at the child and says, “I can’t possibly operate on that child, that child is my son.” What,
if anything, is wrong with this story? Why? What was your first reaction? Why?
Until they are about 4 or 5, small children believe that they can be a boy one day and a girl the next day. By the time they
are 5 or 6, however, children understand and accept their gender identity which means acknowledging one’s sex and
internalizing the norms, values, and behaviors of the accompanying gender expectations. Cooley’s Looking-Glass Self theory
explains to us that our recognition of societally acceptable gender role behavior is an important aspect of socialization. In Western
industrial societies, both males and females tend not to exhibit traditional gender role behavior but rather express androgynous
characteristics—androgyny is a blending of both masculine and feminine attributes based on emotions and behaviors. 266
Sexual orientation is one’s choice of sex partners and refers to who one desires or is attracted to as a sex partner.
Heterosexuality, an ascribed status, is attraction to partners of the opposite sex and is encouraged by most, but not all, societies
in order to insure procreation. 267 Homosexuality, an ascribed status, is attraction to partners of the same sex., the word “gay”
traditionally refers to homosexual males, and the term “lesbian” traditionally refers to homosexual females. For our purposes,
when referring to both sexes we will use the term homosexual, when referring to homosexual males we will use the term gay, and
when referring to homosexual females we will use the term lesbian. Although there are many socio-religious, and sociocultural
ideas and ideologies concerning homosexuality, consider the following information: about 10% of the population OF THE
WORLD is gay; children raised by gay or lesbian parents are no more or less likely than children raised by straight parents to
become gay or lesbian; all of our studies show that children raised by gay or lesbian parents are as psychologically normal as
children raised by straight parents; studies indicate that there is NO CHOICE—some people are born homosexual just as others
are born heterosexual; animals, as well as humans, engage in homosexual activity; homosexuals are less likely than the straight
population to be child molesters (over 98% of all child molesters are straight because child sexual molestation is about age
fetishes and uncontrolled age-inappropriate sexual desires; gay teenagers are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than straight
teenagers. 268 Could you change your sexual orientation? If you are heterosexual, how did you “get that way”? What caused you
to become straight?
Some of our religious and cultural attitudes are so homophobic—homophobia is hatred and discrimination directed
against homosexuals, based on an exaggerated fear of homosexuality 269 —that they cause gay bashing and murders such as
the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shephard who was virtually crucified on a barbed-wire fence. The Reverend Pat
Robertson of the Christian Coalition has urged people to call on their Congress members to vote against the Hate Crimes Bill.
Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and the Southern Baptist Convention have all instituted a boycott of
Disney because Disney provides healthcare, insurance, and retirement benefits to domestic partners.
Although America is not as seriously sexist as many countries in the world, there are still certain expectations concerning
sex-appropriate behavior. The Functionalists argue that gender roles are based on tradition and that the divisions of labor
between male and female marriage partners are necessary because dividing household tasks into women’s work and men’s work
is functional for society. The Conflict Perspective argues that traditional gender roles prevent women from competing
economically with men because men attempt to maintain their sociocultural and socioeconomic power. According to the
Symbolic Interactionist perspective, gender roles begin in the family setting where children, through the socialization process,
learn what roles are appropriate for girls and boys. 270 Arlie Hochschild and Anne Machung, in their 1989 book The Second
Shift wrote “women [working outside the home] averaged three hours a day on housework while men averaged 17 minutes;
women spent fifty minutes a day of time exclusively with their children; men spent twelve minutes. On the other side of the coin,
fathers who work outside the home watched television an hour longer than their wives, and slept a half hour longer each
night.” 271 In other words, and this has not changed since the book was written!
World War II began, for the United States, on December 7, 1941, which was a Sunday. By 8:00am the next day, tens of
thousands of American men and boys were lined up at their draft boards to enlist and fight the enemy. As the number
of men entering the military grew, the number of industrial and factory workers was rapidly depleted. At a time when
very high levels of industrial production were required, there was a dearth of men to fill those crucial jobs. The
answer to the dwindling industrial workforce was to hire women to do men’s jobs. Tens of thousands of women
heeded America’s call, took off their skirts and aprons, put on blue jeans and work shirts and went to work building
ships, planes, jeeps, tanks, weapons, and a variety of other industrial products needed by the war effort and by the
civilian population. The name given these women was “Rosie the Riveter.” Rosie the Riveter became the symbol of
women working in jobs that had traditionally gone to men, but in 1945, when the war ended, the Rosies laid down their rivet
guns and welding torches, replaced their blue jeans with skirts and aprons and went home to welcome their men and have babies.
By the mid-1960s, these women were beginning to get restless. The most recent modern women’s movement which largely
coincided with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s had begun and women began to enroll in college, and to enter the
workplace in unprecedented numbers. Although these women led the way for all the rest of us, their struggle is not complete.
Earnings for the same work or level of work still differ for men and women. 272
Minorities, which for the purpose of this discussion, includes white women and all people of color, earn significantly
less for the same work than white men. White women earn about 76 cents for every dollar earned by a white man. Hispanic
women, who are the lowest paid of any minority group, earn about 57 cents for every dollar earned by a white man. When
adjusting for educational attainment and professional job categories the percentage of difference between the earnings of
minorities and white men shrinks but the differences still remain. According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter, separate career ladders
for minorities and men create glass walls; while the glass ceiling is created largely due to homosocial reproduction. Minorities
(white women and people of color) are severely underrepresented in upper-level corporate positions and the glass-ceiling blocks
minorities from being able to climb the corporate ladder to the top—you can see through it, but you can’t get through it. Rosabeth
Moss Kanter in her classic study of women’s work and men’s work in one large multinational corporation, Men and Women of
the Corporation coined the term homosocial reproduction which means that, since most management level personnel are white
and male and since most people want to be around people who are similar to themselves, white males are hired and promoted in
greater numbers than white women or people of color. Some of the consequences of sexism, therefore, are economic. 273 But
Mary Daly writes of one of the most egregious consequences of sexism.
Between two and five million girls in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia are subjected annually to a pre-pubescent rite of
passage called female circumcision or, more properly called by the World Health Organization female genital mutilation or
FGM. There are various forms of this “procedure” as Daly writes.
1)Sunna Circumcision: removal of the prepuce and /or tip of the clitoris.
2)Excision or Clitoridectomy: excision of the entire clitoris with the labia minora and some or most of
the external genitalia.
3)Excision and Infibulation: This means excision of the entire clitoris, labia minora and parts of the
labia majora. The two sides of the vulva are then fastened together in some way either by thorns . . .
[sic] or sewing with catgut, Alternatively the vulva are scraped raw and the child’s limbs are tied
together for several weeks until the wound heals (or she dies). The purpose is to close the vaginal
orifice. Only a small opening is left (usually by inserting a slither [sic] of wood) so the urine or later
menstrual blood can be passed.
It should not be imagined that the horror of the life of an infibulated child/woman ends with
this operation. Her legs are tied together, immobilizing her for weeks, during which time excrement
remains within the bandage. Sometimes accidents occur during the operation: the bladder may be
pierced or the rectum cut open. Sometimes in a spasm of agony the child bites off her tongue. [This
“operation” usually occurs in the child’s home, without anesthetic or sterile instruments—sometimes
kitchen knives or pieces of broken glass are used are used by the child’s female relatives who perform
this torture.] Infections are, needless to say, common. . . .What is certain is that the infibulated girl is
mutilated and that she can look forward to a life of repeated encounters with “the little knife”—the
instrument of her perpetual torture. For women who are infibulated have to be cut open—either by the
husband or by another woman—to permit intercourse. They have to be cut open further for delivery of
a child. Often they are sewn up again after delivery, depending upon the decision of the husband. The
cutting (defibulation) and re-sewing goes on throughout a woman’s living death of reproductive “life.”
Immediate medical results of excision and infibulation include ‘hemorrhage, infections, shock,
retention of urine, damage to adjacent tissues, dermoid cysts, abscesses, keloid scarring, coital
difficulties [!!!], and infertility cause by chronic pelvic infections.” 274
Percent of all Workers Paid Hourly Rates—By Selected Characteristics-1997
Characteristics of
Workers
At or Below the
$5.15 Minimum Wage
Total Workers 25+
Male 25 +
Female 25+
Total
5.4
3.5
7.4
At
1.8
0.9
2.6
Below
3.7
2.6
4.8
275
Median Hourly Per Cent of
Extrapolated Extrapolated
Earnings in
Minimum
Median
Annual
Dollars
Wage Earned Weekly Pre-Tax
Pre-Tax
Earnings
Earnings
(40 hour week) (50 weeks)
9.91
11.16
8.83
1.92
2.17
1.71
$396.80
$446.40
$353.20
$19,840
$22,320
$17,660
8.3
2.8
5.5
8.97
1.74
$358.80
$17,940
White
11.7
4.4
7.2
8.06
1.57
$322.40
$16,120
Black
11.2
4.4
6.8
7.61
1.48
$304.40
$15,220
Hispanic
4.7
1.6
3.1
9.82
1.91
$392.80
$19,640
Full Time
21.2
7.3
13.9
6.24
1.21
$187.20
$9,360
Part Time (30 hr/wk)
9.2
3.2
6.1
8.6
1.67
$344.00
$17,200
Private Sector Industries
3.9
1.3
2.5
10.15
1.98
$406.00
$20,300
Goods Producing
10.9
3.7
7.2
7.92
1.54
$316.80
$15,840
Service Producing
5.2
1.5
3.7
10.88
2.11
$435.20
$21,760
Public Sector
This table shows that women (as well as racial/ethnic minorities) are more likely to be underpaid than men in general, and white
men in particular. Most significantly, women are a full 2.4% more likely to earn less than minimum wage and 1.7% more likely to
earn minimum wage than men. Women earn 1.4% less, as a percent of minimum wage earned, than men. Therefore, even among
the lowest-level wage earners, sex discrimination in wages exists.
The current minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. In constant 1996 dollars, this is worth $5.03 of purchasing power. The 1955
minimum wage of $0.75 per hour, in constant 1996 dollars was worth $4.39 of purchasing power. The current poverty rate, as
calculated by the U.S. Government is about $17, 000 for a family of four.
1997 Employment Status of Civilian Non-Institutionalized Population by Race/Ethnicity and Sex 276
Employed Workers
Unemployed Workers
Total
Percent of Total
Employment to
Unemployed Workers by
Workers Not in
Population
Population Ratio
Percent of Labor Force
Labor Force by
Percent of Population
75
71.3
4.9
25
Male
59.8
56.8
5
40.2
Female
67.5
64.6
4.2
32.5
White
64.7
58.2
10
35.3
Black
67.9
62.6
7.7
32.1
Hispanic
This table shows that women (and racial/ethnic minorities) are more likely to be unemployed or not in the labor force. 75% of the
male population participates in the labor force compared to 60% for women. Women, overall, are slightly more likely to be
unemployed than men, but African Americans are more than two times more likely to be unemployed than whites, and Hispanics
are about 1.5 times more likely to be unemployed than whites.
Wages Earned in Occupational Categories By Sex—1996 277
Weekly Earnings
Occupational Category
Male
Female
Difference
$852
$616
$0.72
Management & Professionals
$567
$394
$0.69
Technical, Sales, Administrative Support
$357
$273
$0.76
Services
$560
$373
$0.67
Precision Production
$422
$307
$0.73
Operators, Fabricators, Laborers
$300
$255
$0.85
Farming, Forestry, Fishing
This table shows that equal pay for equal worth is still only a dream if not a myth. Women in all occupational categories are paid
less than men for the same work. This effects not only women but married-couple families, children, and single-woman headed
households. The inability of women to earn equal pay for equal work is a significant economic barrier to single women with
children to pull themselves out of poverty simply by getting a job. At the lowest levels of wages, there is greater parity, but even
in the lowest paying employment category, women earn 15% less than men for the same work!
From 1997 Economic Census, U.S. Census Bureau Comparison of Women-Owned Firms to All U.S. Firms
In Constant Terms: 1992 and 1997 278
All Firms
Firms with Paid Employees
Women-Owned Firms
1997
1992
Percent Change
Number of
Sales and Number of
Firms
Receipts
Firms Sales and Receipts
(in 1,000s) (in $1,000,000s) (in 1,000s)
(in $1,000,000s)
7,452
1,642,556
1,684
1,486,133
6,403
1,236,605
1,233
1,135,830
16
33
37
31
Employees
(in 1,000s)
14,591
11,411
46
Annual Payroll
(in $millions)
300,831
206,466
46
58,901
54,391
8
1,499,298
1,201,880
25
All U.S. Firms
1997
1992
Percent Change
20,440
19,199
6
8,392,001
6,771,182
24
5,027
4,721
23
7,803,882
6,320,826
23
Percent Difference between Women-Owned Businesses and All Businesses: 1997 and 1992
All Firms
Firms with Paid Employees
Sales and
Number of
Receipts
Number of
Firms
Firms Sales and Receipts
(in
Employees
Annual Payroll
Women-Owned Firms
(in 1,000s)
$1,000,000s)
(in 1,000s)
in ($1,000,000s)
(in 1,000s)
(in $millions)
36.4579%
19.5729%
33.4991%
19.0435%
24.7721%
20.0648%
1997
1992
33.3507%
18.2628%
26.1173%
17.9696%
20.9796%
17.1786%
This table shows that women, as a minority, do better as business owners than all other groups but still lag far behind in terms of
economic well-being. Although women owned 36% of all US businesses in 1997, they only earned 19.5% of all sales revenue.
Women, overall, show significant gains in business ownership, however, these businesses tend to lie largely in the service sector
which tend to be operations such as beauty shops, maid services, cosmetic and home decorating firms, which, in general, earn far
less revenue than other business categories.
Sex
Comparison of Median Weekly Full Time Earnings by Sex and Race—1996 279
Race
Earnings
Difference Compared
Difference Compared
to White Men
to White Women
$599
——
——
All
$580
——
——
White
$412
$0.71
$0.96
Black
$356
$0.61
$0.83
Hispanic
$444
$0.74
——
Females
All
$428
$0.74
——
White
$362
$0.62
$0.85
Black
$316
$0.54
$0.74
Hispanic
This table shows the dramatic, dollar-per-dollar difference between the median weekly earnings of men and women. Women earn
71 cents for every dollar earned by males. The differences become even more significant when race/ethnicity is taken into
account. White women earn 74 cents for every dollar earned by a white man; black women earn 62 cents for every dollar earned
by a white man, and Hispanic women, the most poorly paid population sector, only earn 54 cents for every dollar earned by a
white man. The earnings of white and racial/ethnic minority women also show significant differences. Black women earn 85 cents
for every dollar earned by a white woman, and Hispanic women earn 74 cents for every dollar earned by a white women. The
disparities in women’s earning power makes them more vulnerable to economic downturns, divorce, job loss, and illness.
Women, overall, are greatly more likely to be poor than men.
Males
From U.S. Census Bureau No. 216 Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity, and Sex 1960-2000
(College Graduate or Higher) by Percent 280
Year
All Races
White
Black
Asian
Hispanic
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
9.7
5.8
10.3
6.0
2.8
3.3
--------1960
13.5
8.1
14.4
8.4
4.2
4.6
----7.8
4.3
1970
20.1
12.8
21.3
13.3
8.4
8.3
----9.4
6.0
1980
24.4
18.4
25.3
19.0
11.9
10.8
44.9
35.4
9.8
8.7
1990
27.8
23.6
28.5
23.9
16.3
16.7
47.6
40.7
10.7
10.6
2000
This table shows that white males are more likely to than any other group except Asians to graduate from college. This table also
shows the dramatic increase in the number of Americans of all races/ethnicities earning college degrees. In 1960 only 9.7% of all
American males and only 5.8% of all American females earned college degrees. By 2000, those numbers had increased to 27.8%
for males and 23.6% for females. Similar dramatic increases can be seen in college graduation for male and female racial and
ethnic minorities. Even though racial and ethnic minorities and women earn college degrees in lesser percentages than white men,
they are earning degrees at higher rates than ever before. Only 2.8% of black males earned degrees in 1960, but by 2000, 16.3%
had earned a degree. Black women have always been slightly more likely to earn a degree than black males, but the reverse has
traditionally been true for Hispanics. However, since 1970, the percentage of Hispanic women earning degrees is almost equal to
the percentage of Hispanic men earning degrees.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIID—Stratification by Sex and Gender
Functionalists…101
102
“She Walketh Veiled
and Sleeping,”…100
gay…101
lesbian…101
androgyny…101
gender…100
Looking-Glass
ascribed status…101
Gender…100
Self…101
gender identity…101
biological differences
mainstream
gender roles…101
feminism…100
and physical
Margaret Mead…100
differences…100
Gender roles…100
Mary Daly…100
glass walls…101
Charlotte Perkins
masculinity…100
Gilman…100
glass-ceiling…101
Minorities…101
Heterosexuality…101
Civil Rights Movement
Modern feminism…100
of the 1960s…101
Hispanic women…101
most recent modern
Conflict
Hochschild and Anne
Perspective…101
Machung…101
women’s
movement…101
homophobia…101
female genital
mutilation…102
homophobic…101
radical lesbian
feminism…100
femininity…100
Homosexuality…101
Feminism…100
Rosabeth Moss
homosocial
Kanter…101
FGM…102
reproduction…101,
Rosie the Riveter…101
Sex…100
sex-appropriate
behavior…101
Sexism…100
social and cultural
expectations that are
associated with a
person’s sex…100
social
expectations…100
symbol of women
working in jobs that
had traditionally
gone to men…101
perspective…101
The Second Shift…101
Module IIIE—Stratification by Age
“Grow Old Along With Me / The Best Is Yet to Be / The Last of Time for Which the First Was Made”
Robert Browning
Between 1996 and 2015, over 5,000 Americans PER DAY Will Have Turned 50 Years of Age—these are Americans who
were born between 1946 and 1965, otherwise called the Baby Boom Generation
Old age begins at age 65 years. The young-old are those from 65 to 75 years old; the old-old are between 76 and 84
years old while the oldest-old are 85 years of age or more. The oldest-old are a fast growing segment of the American population.
We have more elderly people now, than ever before in our history. In 1900, only 4% of the American population was over 65, in
1990 12% of Americans were over 65 (a number that has increased in the last decade to 15%-18%). Currently .5% of Americans
are over 100! Each of these major age groups represents a cohort which is a group of people born close to the same time period
who have similar life experiences and similar remembrances For example the Depression Kids who are people who were
adolescents or young adults in 1929; Baby Boomers, people born between after World War II (between 1946 and 1965); and Gen
X who are the children of the Baby Boomers, each have their own distinct memories of memories of war, musical forms,
technological change, medical breakthroughs, epidemics, changing social norms and mores, etc. The shared understanding of a
particular sociocultural milieu is called the cohort effect. In thirty years, when the majority of you are middle-aged, and you are
hanging out with your friends, you will probably be listening to the same music you listen to now, and you will occasionally
reminisce about what life was like when you were young, and the changes you have seen. 281
Although there are many scientists who today are working to overcome the most deleterious effects of aging, and some
who are even attempting to stop aging and expand the life span, for most of us now, aging is an entirely normal process. As we
age, our bodies begin to change and many of us believe, incorrectly, that aging is closely related to virtually complete physical
and mental deterioration. Our cells and organs do indeed change over time, but a healthy life style and engaging in interesting and
challenging activities as well as interacting with other people helps the elderly to remain physically and mentally healthy into very
old age. Some things that do occur however are that skin texture and resiliency changes, hair turns gray or falls out, spinal disks
compress; joints stiffen; and many women suffer from osteoporosis. Generally speaking however, these changes do not
necessarily mean that the older person is falling apart or that they are losing their ability to care for themselves. Many healthy
elderly people are quite capable of living very active lives, in their own homes, into very old age. 282
We tend to believe, again wrongly, that as people age they experience changes in personality. In actuality, unless there
is illness or brain damage such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, changes in personality, perceptions, and attitudes do not
occur. Cranky, ill-tempered, unpleasant older people, in general, were cranky, ill-tempered, unpleasant young people, just
as pleasant, enjoyable, fun old people were pleasant, enjoyable, fun young people. The differences that we think we see often
are related to the conditions in which the elderly live. Elderly people who are alone, or who are in nursing homes (a form of total
institution) often suffer from severe levels of clinical depression. 283 The old people depicted on the television show The
Simpsons who sit in wheelchairs and stare out the window all day are clearly chronically depressed. Elderly people who have
nothing to do, who feel purposeless and useless, tend toward severe depression. Alcoholism and suicide are at nearly epidemic
proportions. However, according to Havighurst different personality types adjust differently to aging; while Russell argues that
aging is a normal process and healthy older people can do most of the same things as younger people. 284
Social roles do change over time as do the norms and folkways concerning “proper” behavior for the elderly, such as
appropriate clothing styles, activity levels, and sexual activity. Healthy oldsters however, should be allowed and encouraged to
engage in physical activity including sex. Most elderly people enjoy normal relationships with spouses and families, and when
their own families are not present they tend to form family-like relationships with others. Contrary to popular wisdom, most
elderly people care for themselves, with spouses caring for each other in times of illness or distress, rather than relying on adult
children to become caregivers. 285
There is indeed inequality that is based on age, although gender and race or ethnicity are more significant indicators
of stratification than age alone. Throughout the years there have been laws that prevented the elderly from working past the age
of 65. However, the Age-Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 made such policies and laws illegal. The AARP (American
Association of Retired Persons) is the largest lobbying group in the United States. (A lobbying group petitions Congress to pass
laws favorable to the specific agenda of the group.) The AARP’s membership is composed of people over the age of 49 who,
along with their younger spouses, pay ten dollars each year and in turn receive discounts on car rentals, vacations, hotels and
motels, resorts, cruises, and insurance, among other things. Most members of the AARP are employed, and are not officially
elderly. Along with Maggie Kuhn of the Grey Panthers—an organization whose goal is to eliminate all aspects of ageism,
which is the belief or ideology that people in a particular age category are inferior to people in other age categories—the
AARP was responsible for the passage of many laws favorable to the elderly. 286
Regardless of any specific theoretical paradigm, it is clear that the elderly have heard the voices from the past, and in the
grandest legacy of the American republic, have assembled in multivariate ways to petition the government, initiating “a new era
in the politics of aging.” 287 It is also clear that the elderly gain significant benefits by engaging in various forms of social
interaction. 288 . Pamela Hubbard, et al. (1992), in a study of political activism among a relatively small sample of institutionalized
(i.e. nursing home residents) seniors found that participation in an active and effective political action group helped seniors
“fulfill their needs to be responsible and contributing community members, gain a sense of empowerment, and enhance their
control over their environment. Residents are able to shed nursing home stereotypes . . . [and] enjoy the social benefits of
participating . . . [in a group in which] the residents are not as sheltered as other institutionalized elderly.” 289
However, political activism among the elderly, regardless of the social benefits that accrue to members, is seldom seen
as benign, and, as with most lobbying groups, the elderly must justify their positions vis á vis the positions of other lobbying
organizations and the preeminent social, economic, and political interests of the polity as an aggregate. The largest, most
financially secure, and arguably most politically powerful elderly advocacy group, AARP, has been criticized for its undemocratic
methodology because “most members join for [the social and financial] benefits, [and] in doing so they automatically become part
of a political army, fighting battles which they may or may not believe in.” 290
According to the AARP (quoting Bureau of the Census statistics), there were, as of 1993, 32.8 million elderly
representing 12.7% of the entire population of the United Sates and that number is expanding: the number of elderly has increased
by 5% since 1990 compared to a 3% increase in the size of the population under 65, and by 2030 the number of those over 65 is
projected by the Census Bureau to be 70.2 million or 20% of the entire population (A Profile 1-2 [1994]), moreover, “the fastest
growing segment of this older population is the age group 85 years and older; this segment is projected to double to 4.2 million
persons by the year 2000” (INFO-PAK n. page. [1995]). Robert N. Binstock’s (1995) figure of 33 million members of the AARP
(Binstock 71 [1995]) leads one to conclude that all people who are over 65 are members and indeed, the AARP (1995) lists its
membership at Amore than 33 million . . . [making it] the largest non-profit organization serving the needs of older persons in the
United States” (AAARP News” 1 [1995]), however, membership in AARP is not restricted to those who are considered elderly
but is open to “anyone age 50 or older, both working and retired,” and, in fact, “over one-third of the Association’s membership is
in the work force” (AAARP News” 1 [1995]) which accounts for the seemingly disparately large numbers of participants. 291 292
The sheer size of the AARP makes it appear formidable, therefore, in order to “respond to charges being levied by some
advocates of generational equity that [old age interest groups] are concerned with the special interests of the elderly population to
the exclusion of the legitimate interests of any others.” Eric R. Kingson (1988) suggests that “the resources . . . at the disposal of
elderly interest groups are more important to the success of their lobbying and other efforts than the perception that they are not
selfish. After all, why should elder interest groups, or any other interest groups for that matter, be expected to be unselfish?”
Furthermore, the elderly have enormous political clout at the polls—they vote in vast numbers. “The AARP’s, members, who are
mainly middle class, can be counted on to turn out at election time. In 1980, 71% of Americans aged 55-64 went to the polls,
compared with 36% of those aged 18-20.” 293 294
Walter A. Rosenbaum (1993) and James W. Button contest Kingson’s (1988) view that there is “a deterioration in the
public image upon which the political privilege of the aging is grounded [and which] is a bellwether of generational tension” and
argue that most studies of political preferences among the elderly generally highlight only those issues and policies that directly
impact the elderly rather than issues and policies that effect all Americans. Indeed, they found that “studies of candidate and party
preference among the aging, like policy studies, seldom reveal significant associations between age and voting choice that cannot
be explained by other socioeconomic factors.” 295 Furthermore, it is clear that the vast majority of all money given to political
parties is given to the party in power 296 297 so that access gained through financial means is largely based on pocketbook issues
that effect most citizens. Moreover, Laurie A. Rhodebeck (1993) maintains that while “older Americans share common agerelated concerns . . . they are hardly subject to the solidifying experiences typical of [other minorities].” She further argues that:
several conditions seem likely to enhance cohesion among older people. The development of retirement
communities may encourage interactions that foster an awareness of common political interests. The availability
of senior citizen perquisites may promote a sense of group entitlement that extends to the policy arena. Finally,
recent deficit reduction measures that have threatened the viability of public assistance for the elderly may serve
as effective mobilizers of group interests and powerful inducements to the maintenance of group unity. 298
With the sea change in the American political scene from a largely liberal Democratic majority in the Congress to a
predominately conservative Republican majority, lobbying and other special interest groups will find it necessary to modify their
approaches. Indeed, as the political climate is transformed so must special interest and lobbying groups adjust their tactics if they
are to be successful petitioners. Binstock (1995) offers a brief analysis of the changes that must take place if old-age activist
groups are to maintain their ability to influence public policies:
Starting in the late 1970s and continuing into the mid-1990s, new stereotypes emerged in popular
culture depicting older people as prosperous, hedonistic, selfish, and politically powerful, greedy geezers. . . . In
this era the activities of old-age interest groups were aimed at protecting existing programs and their specific
features. These defensive efforts were somewhat successful in the broad sense that cutbacks in old-age
programs during this period were generally less than in other social programs. 299
Moreover, Binstock (1995) argues that, as the Congress, if not the country as a whole, becomes more partisan and more
ideologically conservative “this new era in the policies of aging [will pose] difficult challenges for old-age interest groups.” 300
Considering that largest of the age-related special interest groups Binstock (1995) says:
The most difficult and politically important choices will be those made by AARP . . . [which] is by far the most
important [of all old-age advocacy groups] because of its huge membership . . . [of] 33 million members.
(Binstock 71 [1995]) The enormous financial and personnel resources which AARP can muster is a classic
example of RM that is evident in Binstock’s (1995) figures: “in 1994 AARP’s total revenue was $469 million . .
. [and they had] 1,700 employees” not including a host of unpaid local community volunteers. 301
Nonetheless, Binstock (1995) finds that the AARP and other old-age organizations will be forced to make changes if they are to
survive as viable and vigorous political forces. Indeed, as the political mood changes the social dynamic and the cultural milieu:
Proposals for major changes in programs on aging are being generated by conservative political principles and
to balance the federal budget, without much attention to the implications for older people themselves . . .
Consequently the old-age lobby is unlikely to have much impact unless its efforts are coincidentally fortified by
more powerful political forces. 302
Robert N. Butler [1994], in 1993, also argued that the persuasive power of the AARP has declined:
Our form of special interest politics and government is reflected in organizations of older persons. These
organizations are considered influential . . . the American media treat the AARP as if it were a very powerful
special interest group. However, this is exaggerated. It has been weakened in recent years because of the
Medicare Catastrophic Act and its repeal. In any case, compared to powerful interest groups within Washington,
the AARP is not as strong an influence. 303
But Kingson (1988) argues that:
By broadening their agenda, aging advocacy organizations may increase their legitimacy and reduce the
likelihood that the advocates of various groups (the old, the disabled, the young) will expend resources
engaging in divisive competition. And coalitions may provide an important means of expanding needed
programs and services to all groups while simultaneously protecting existing services and programs against
erosion. 304
Whether such coalition building will occur and be politically successful is purely speculative but further study on
coalition politics would be worth pursuing. Although the causal factors involved in political participation and activism among the
general populace are problematic due to the various theoretical paradigms employed to explain such behavior, little specific
research has been conducted on the involvement of the elderly. Furthermore, as the “Baby Boomer” generation reaches retirement
age such research might prove to be an important addition to the literature. As this more affluent and activist cohort ages, and
discovers that, as Alan Neustadtl (1990) argues, “money purchases access at declining rates” will they engage in higher levels of
political and social activism as they find that “highly visible (and often emotionally charged) issues require a greater adherence
[by elected officials and decision makers] to party and constituent desires”? 305 Arguments used to exist over proper
implementation of social welfare programs for the elderly, not over the existence of such programs but as the political situation
reverses liberal legislation will the AARP join with other lobbying groups for the disadvantaged to preserve the status quo? The
entire field of gerontology is ripe for study and theory development and so is the field of political activism among the elderly; the
changes that will ensue as one cohort of the newly elderly slowly replaces the previous generation of elderly will be a fecund
ground for social science research. 306
Societal attitudes toward aging are generally highly stereotyped so that Jennifer McLerran, in apparent agreement with
Kirkland, warns that, although those attitudes have been largely negative stereotypes, there is an equal danger in the trend toward
positive stereotyping which may serve “as evidence of a form of ageism which threatens to propagate public policies and
institutional practices which ignore the specific needs of the elderly” (McLerran 82). 307 John Bell argues that societal attitudes
and stereotypes of old age are rampant on television and although most programming does not “encourage rational discourse on
such important issues as health care for the elderly, they do participate in our society’s overall discourse on aging by providing
compelling, often unexaminedly accepted images of aging and the elderly, thereby fueling stereotypes about elderly persons and
their lives” (Bell 92). Bell further states that many portrayals of the elderly on television are sexist and, as McLerran has
cautioned, other images of the aged are in the categories of either highly negative or highly positive stereotypes which furnish to
the viewers significantly unrealistic perspectives of older Americans (Bell 93). However, Bell does say that, due to a handful of
programs featuring elderly individuals in leading roles, “[t]he picture of the elderly on television . . . appears to be far more
positive than it was [in 1981] . . . the elderly are still an incomplete presence, and significant problems of role presentation,
especially in terms of gender, persist” (Bell 93), furthermore, society would be better served if all members of society, including
the elderly, were depicted in realistic terms on television (Bell 98). 308
Societal attitudes toward the elderly are often displayed as ageism, the term coined in the late 1960’s by Robert Butler
(Kirkland 28) which is inherent in all stereotypes of the elderly and, as Patricia Moore found in her highly publicized and nowfamous experiment, is ubiquitous in American society and includes: rudeness, assault, invisibility, patronizing behaviors, false
assumptions about physical and/or social competence, victimization, and verbal abuse (Ryan 34-35). Among other ageist
stereotypes are the myths of the asexual and uninterested elder (Mayo Clinic 45) which are addressed by Richard Cross who
states the following facts: “all older people are sexual (Cross 101) . . . many older people have a need for a good sexual
relationship (Cross 101) . . . sexual physiology changes with age (Cross 102) . . . social attitudes [toward sexuality between older
adults] are often frustrating (Cross 102) . . . [sexuality must be] used or lost (Cross 103). . older folks do it better” (Cross 103).
Ageism, as with any negative attitudes toward any members of a minority group is detrimental to society creating obstacles to the
development of competent public policy and general human understanding. 309
There are various Sociological explanations of the aging process which are based on the three major Sociological
paradigms. Within the rubric of the Functionalist paradigm is social disengagement theory which argues that as people age,
they gradually withdraw from social participation and simultaneously are relieved of social responsibilities (Cumming and
Henry). This theory has very little support and according to Nelson and Dannefur, the healthy, non-poor elderly are highly active.
Subculture theory, which comes from the Symbolic Interactionist paradigm, states that older persons form subcultures in
order to interact with others with similar backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, values, beliefs, and lifestyles (Rose), but this theory,
also, ahs very little support because the elderly have been shown to highly heterogeneous. The most highly supported Symbolic
Interactionist theory is called Activity Theory which has shown that the extent to which an individual remains engaged in
meaningful social activity determines the quality of life because desired activity with realistic goals help to determine life
satisfaction. Various theories from the Conflict perspective have some support for the idea that the elderly compete with
younger members of society for the same resources and social rewards and suffer a variety of disadvantages because of their
relative lack of power, however, as stated above, race and ethnicity are more important variables than age in stratification.
Furthermore, the elderly today are more and more likely to be comfortable, healthy, vigorous, and engage. 310
Stratification among the elderly is more a matter of gender and race than age. According to the 1990 census 31% of the
elderly live comfortable, active lives in their own homes (Treas and Torrecilha); 311 only 13% are in poverty with an average
1989 income of less than $7,495; and an average social security income of only $488/month. Minority elderly are more likely to
be poor than white elderly and white women live longer than any other group. Five percent of the elderly are institutionalized,
16% have limited mobility; 25% are rural and thus more likely to be poor; fully 60% are married and living with a spouse; 20%
live with adult children. The vast majority of the elderly are in good health and 50% of those between 75 and 84 are free from
serious medical problems. According to Rogers, healthy lifestyles among the elderly increase their longevity. Feminist writer and
activist Betty Friedan wrote a book titled The Fountain of Age in which she maintained that aging brings with it wisdom and
understanding, and that aging is a time for joy and activity, not deterioration and death. But, of course, death is a part of life,
particularly for the elderly. 312
Due to the traditional sex-typed roles practiced by women and men who are currently among the old-old (85+), gender
differences in role continuity tend to exist with women much more likely than men to maintain close family connections (Barer
74). Women also tend to socialize with peers and be more actively engaged in close interpersonal relationships than men (Barer
74). However, white women outlive white men into old-old age so that Amore men than women, aged eighty-five and over are
still married, 48.7 percent of white men in comparison to only 10.3 percent of white women. . . . As a consequence, more women
live alone in late-late life, two-thirds compared to one-third of men.” 313
To compound the difficulties inherent in widowhood and living alone, the socioeconomic status of women is “relatively
poor. . . . Twenty-three percent of women aged eighty-five and over live in poverty, compared to 16 percent of men” (Barer 74).
Furthermore, women tend to have “greater physical disability because of chronic health conditions [which makes women] less
able to independently manage their activities of daily living” (Barer 78). Men, however, due to traditional sex-typed roles,
although physically better off than women, are more likely to experience problems with domestic chores and tend to face a greater
likelihood of social isolation (Barer 79). Clearly, both sexes in old-old age may be faced with serious problems which have
sociopolitical and socioeconomic ramifications for young and old alike (Tauber 65-67), but, as Cynthia M. Tauber argues, “all of
American society face[s] the challenge of anticipating and preparing for the changing needs and desires of a diverse, aging U. S.”
(Tauber 67). 314
Even though the gender related age gap will continue to exist among the elderly and particularly the old-old, that gap
may be closing as Americans become more aware of health issues and practice preventive maintenance (Kirkland 22; Tauber 65).
According to Richard I. Kirkland, the “advances that will make us live longer and healthier . . . range from the marvelous to the
mundane” (Kirkland 23) and include: “[m]ore targeted medical weaponry” (Kirkland 23); cures for Alzheimer’s disease and other
dementias (Kirkland 24); more powerful antibiotics and immune system strengtheners (Kirkland 24-25); hormone replacement
and enhancement (Kirkland 25); healthier life-styles (Kirkland 25); and genetic engineering to retard the aging process at the
molecular level (Kirkland 25-26). However, echoing Tauber, because “[t]he culture still too often patronizes and stigmatizes its
elderly citizens” (Kirkland 28), there are serious socioeconomic and sociopolitical problems that must be addressed as the
population of the United States ages (Kirkland 28). 315
Thanatologist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, who was a physician who took on only patients were all terminally developed a
stage theory of dying. Dying, assuming one lives long enough to complete it, is for the terminally ill, a process. According to
Kübler-Ross the stages of dying are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. As the Baby Boomers age,
euthanasia, which is helping the terminally ill to die free of pain and with as much dignity as possible, may become a major
social issue. There are two forms of euthanasia—passive euthanasia which is allowing someone to die and active euthanasia
which is helping someone to die 316 . On June 26, 1997, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that said that there is no
constitutional right to die, and states may make their own laws covering euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. How will we
deal with this? What are your feelings about this issue?
As with all other forms of stratification there are serious consequences of ageism which includes elder abuse which is
the mistreatment of older persons and takes several forms: physical abuse is hitting, pushing, shoving, starvation, and rape;
psychological abuse includes threats, intimidation, verbal assaults; and exploitation which is the misuse or theft of financial
assets. 317 How do you want to be treated when you are old? How can you change the way elders are cared for today?
Some Basic Data Concerning the American Elderly-1995
318
Characteristic
82 People who live to age 65 in 1995 can expect to live another 17 years
Life Expectancy at 65
Median Income 1992
Men $14,548
Women $8,189
This data shows that men, as always, are the benchmark for income in the US
White Men $15,276 with elderly white men accounting for the highest levels of income for all elderly in 1992.
Black Women $6,220
Hispanic Women $5,968
Poverty 1989
7%
White Men
13%
White Women
24%
Black Men
36% The poverty statistics for the elderly also show that race and ethnicity are more
Black Women
24% significant indicators of stratification among the elderly than age alone.
American Indian Men
32% Those most likely to be poor as elderly Americans, were those most likely to be
American Indian Women
20% poor as younger Americans: women in general and minority women specifically.
Hispanic Men
27%
Hispanic Women
11%
Asian Men
13%
Asian Women
Dependency
Living Alone
32%
Women Age 65-74
13% Because women generally outlive men, elderly women are much more likely
Men Age 65-74
57% to live alone than elderly men.
Women Age 85+
29%
Men Age 85+
Non-Institutionalized
but Needing Care
9% Although most elderly are able to care for themselves, some need help with activities
Age 65-69
11% of daily living such as bathing, dressing, preparing food, and shopping.
Age 70-74
(When the non-elderly upper middle class has such help the helpers are called
20%
Age 75 to 79
"personal assistants.") Most elderly are not only able to care for themselves but
31% are also free from any serious medical problems at all ages.
Age 80 to 85
50%
Age 85+
Living in Nursing Home
1% Our stereotype is that most elderly are in nursing homes, however, that is not the
Age 65 to 74
25% case for any elderly age group.
Age 85+
Leading Causes of
Death for the Elderly
33%
Heart Disease
The leading causes of death for the elderly (with the exception of stroke and accident)
33% are the same as for other adult age groups.
Cancer
33%
Stroke
Year
Life Expectancy in Years by Race And Sex 1940-1999 with Projections for 2005 and 2010 319
All
White
Years of Difference
Black
Years of
Years of
White
Male
to
Difference
Difference
Male Female Male Female
Male Female
White Female
Black Male to
Black Female to
White Female
White Female
60.8
65.2
62.1
66.6
4.5
——— ———
———
———
1940
65.6
71.1
66.5
72.2
5.7
——— ———
———
———
1950
67.1
74.7
68.0
75.6
7.6
60.0
68.3
15.6
7.3
1960
67.1
74.7
68.0
75.6
7.6
64.1
60.0
11.5
15.6
1970
70.0
77.4
70.7
78.1
7.4
68.1
63.8
10.0
14.3
1980
71.8
78.8
72.7
79.4
6.7
64.5
73.6
14.9
5.8
1990
72.4
79.0
73.3
79.6
6.3
64.9
73.9
14.7
5.7
1994
74.1
79.7
74.7
80.2
5.5
68.7
75.4
11.5
4.8
1999
Projections
74.9
80.7
75.4
81.1
5.7
69.9
76.8
11.2
4.3
2005
75.6
81.4
76.1
81.8
5.7
70.9
77.8
10.9
4.0
2010
This table shows that the length of time one can be expected to live is based on race and, by extrapolation, social class (poverty).
One's life chances, including access to wealth, power, and status, are not solely based on the quality of life, but on the length of
life. Poor people and minorities have shorter actual life spans as well as shorter expected life spans than people in the dominant
group. White women live longer than any other group in American society, 5.5 years longer than white men in 1999, and a
shocking 11.5 years longer than black men who have the shortest life spans of any group. This table is also an indicator that social
class is as much of a measure of inequality among the elderly than age alone.
Number of Men per 100 Women by Age for Those 65 Years of Age and Older 1990 and 2000 320
Age
1990
2000
Percent Difference
67
70
0.96
78
82
0.95
65 to 74 years
60
65
0.92
75 to 84 years
39
41
0.95
85 years and over
This table shows that women live longer than men; it shows the ratio of men to women in the age groups of 65 to 74, 75 to 84,
and over 85. In each age group there are more women than men (which makes unmarried, straight, elderly men a valuable
commodity). In the year 2000, there were only 70 men for every 100 women aged 65 and over. The most elderly, 85 years and
over, show a dramatic difference in the ratio of men to women--in 2000, there were only 41 men for every 100 women. Again,
this is indicative of the considerably longer life spans of women to men. There are some researchers in the biological and medical
sciences who believe that females are simply physiologically and psychologically stronger than males.
65 years and over
Population 65 Years and Over by Age-2000
Age
Number
Percent of Total Population
Percent Increase/Decrease Since 1990
34,991,753
12.40 12.00
65+
18,106,558
6.50 1.60
65-74
10,055,108
4.40 22.90
75-84
2,829,728
1.40 37.90
85-94
250,437
0.10 34.70
95+
This table shows that better health care, more access to health care, better food, and more wealth (based on Social Security and
pensions) allows people to live longer. There are more elderly (people over 65) that at any time in the history of the US and those
numbers will increase as the baby boom generation begins reaching the age of 65 in 2011.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IIIE—Stratification by Age
AARP…106, 107
active euthanasia…109
Activity Theory…109
ageism…106, 108
Ageism…108
ageist stereotypes…108
aging…106
Alcoholism…106
Baby Boomers…106
Betty Friedan…109
changes in
personality…106
clinical depression…106
cohort…106
cohort effect…106
Conflict perspective…109
consequences of
ageism…109
Depression Kids…106
elderly compete with
younger members of
society…109
Elizabeth KüblerRoss…109
euthanasia…109
family-like
relationships…106
folkways…106
Functionalist
paradigm…108
Gen X…106
gender differences in role
continuity…109
Grey Panthers…106
indicators of
stratification…106
lobbying group…106
Maggie Kuhn…106
myths of the asexual and
uninterested elder…108
norms…106
Old age…106
oldest-old…106
old-old…106
passive euthanasia…109
political activism…107
portrayals of the elderly on
television…108
sexual activity…106
social disengagement
theory…108
Social roles…106
Societal attitudes toward
aging…108
socioeconomic status of
women…109
Sociological explanations
of the aging
process…108
spouses caring for e
other…106
stages of dying…10
stratification…109
Stratification…109
Subculture theory…
suicide…106
Symbolic Interactio
paradigm…109
Symbolic Interactio
theory…109
The Fountain of Ag
total institution…1
young-old…106
Module III-F—Stratification: Inequality by Disability
This introduction is an unpublished paper by a student at the University of Houston-Clear Lake who was in Ruth Dunn’s
Minorities in America class in the fall of 2007. Ruth Dunn has the student’s permission to use the paper, but not the student’s
name. Ruth Dunn has made some changes to the style, but not to the substance other than to remove some charts and graphs that
are unnecessary for this discussion.
There are many different types of disabilities and disabled persons in the United States as well as throughout the world.
While no one definition can adequately describe all disabilities, the universally-accepted definition describes a disability as “any
physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” (U.S. Department of Justice, ADA, 2007.)
Determining whether a condition is recognized as a disability is decided on a case-by-case basis. (U.S. Department of Justice,
ADA, 2007.) The term disability includes cognitive, developmental, intellectual, physical, and learning impairments. Some
disabilities are congenital (present at birth), or the result of an accident or illness, or age-related. A person may be mildly or
severely affected by their disability. Some examples of disabilities include attention deficit disorder, Down's syndrome, mental
retardation, autism, deafness, blindness, dyslexia, paralysis, difficulty with memory, and brain injuries caused by trauma.
The term disability does not mean unable and it is not a sickness. (US National Library of Medicine, 2007.) Although
many disabilities limit a person’s mobility and functionality, thousands of disabled individuals in the United States lead relatively
normal lives which include working, playing, and socializing in a world designed for non-disabled persons. Many individuals in
the public spotlight are, or were, disabled, including Helen Keller, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Senator Bob Dole, and
entertainers Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. The purpose of this research paper is to focus on employment of disabled persons in
the United States, what the government has done over the past thirty years to assist and protect disabled individuals in the
workplace, and what difference (if any) these changes have made for disabled persons.
Employment provides individuals with social integration as well as many different, positive feelings about themselves.
Pride, independence, security, self confidence, and self worth are just a few examples of what having a job can mean and how it
can affect one’s perception of self. For a person with a disability however, securing and retaining employment has not always
been an easy endeavor. Statistics reported in the 2006 Disability Status Report published by Cornell University in Ithaca, New
York revealed that in the United States, approximately 37.7 percent of working-age people had a disability. In Texas, this
percentage was 12.7. The percentage of people with a disability who did not have jobs, but were actively looking for one was 8.7
percent. The poverty rate was listed at 25.3 percent for working-aged disabled individuals. (Rehabilitation Research and Training
Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, 2006 Disability Status Report. Ithaca, NY; Cornell University.)
This study also revealed that the employment percentage of working-age individuals who are disabled but not
institutionalized is only 19.3. The research found that the median annual household income for disabled persons was $36,300
compared to $60,000 for persons who were not disabled. In addition, in 2002, five hundred random interviews conducted with
businesses across America revealed that most companies do not employ anyone with a disability. Specifically, only 26 percent of
US business in 2002 had one employee with a disability. Twenty percent of employers interviewed admitted their own
discrimination as the main reason for not hiring disabled individuals. Employers also stated they did not know how to find people
with disabilities to hire; they did not know how to interview them; and they did not know how to address needed accommodations
and assistive technology (i.e. TTY phone system; voice-activated computers and telephones). Other reasons were the assumptions
that a disabled person could not perform to the standards of the business and it would be too costly to provide the necessary
accommodations for the disabled person. (Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and
Statistics, 2006 Disability Status Report. Ithaca, NY; Cornell University.)
In an attempt to eliminate discrimination in the workplace against people with disabilities, the US Rehabilitation Act of
1973 was passed by the United States government. The provisions of the Act state that any government-funded organization must
provide accessibility programs and services to disabled people. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was created
and became effective in 1992. The ADA is a significant civil rights law designed to eliminate the obstacles of employment, stop
discrimination, and guarantee education for disabled individuals. Its purpose is to protect qualified individuals with disabilities
from being discriminated against in the employment areas of hiring; firing; job training and placement, and advancement;
compensation; and any privileges of employment. The ADA applies to labor unions, employment agencies, private companies,
restaurants, retails stores, movie theaters, and state and local governments which employ fifteen or more people. The ADA offers
protection to persons with a physical or mental impairment which limits one or more of their life activities, and requires
employers to extend “reasonable accommodations” to these persons. It also prohibits discrimination based solely on the opinion
that the disabled person is a potential risk to the company (i.e. extensive illness). In the years since the ADA became a law, it has
increased public awareness of disabled persons in the United States, assisted in improving the environment to accommodate
disabilities, and advanced technological communications. (U.S. Department of Justice, ADA, 2007.)
Moreover, advocacy groups across the country continue striving to increase the percentage of employed disabled persons
through programs which promote employer awareness and dispel myths surrounding the disabled community. The progress is
slow, and data collected through research is the most effective tool to change skepticism in hiring into enthusiasm in hiring. These
awareness programs highlight the abilities of the disabled person rather than their disability. Many employers are finally
beginning to recognize the value a person has to offer rather than focusing on that person’s disability. The changing culture of
today’s business world also makes it easier for a disabled person to get hired. Businesses are not as rigid as they were in the past
and turnover is more rapid. New concepts put into place such as flexible work hours, working from home, and teleworking
(videoconferences, net meetings, etc.) can all have a positive impact in the hiring of disabled persons.
Other resources that provide valuable information and assistance to employers and disabled persons are the internet and
the advancement of technology. Government websites, as well as state-based websites now exist and offer instructions and
assistance to disabled persons in the areas of employment, health care, education, taxes, job training, housing, transportation,
emergency preparedness, benefits, technology, community life, and civil rights. Businesses can find websites that guide them
through the process of locating, interviewing, and hiring disabled individuals. Several informative and useful websites are:
DisabilityInfo.gov, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice/ADA home page, and
the City of Houston eGovernment Center. Cutting edge technological advancements such as voice-recognition systems, voice
synthesizers, computer screen readers, telecaptioners (closed captioning), and telephone TTY devices make it much easier for the
disabled world to function and assimilate into the non-disabled world. Additionally, as more and more of these devices become
commonplace, the stigmas associated with the disabled person will dissolve, and they will not be seen as different, unusual,
unable individuals. Two excellent websites are the U.S. Department of Justice, ADA, and ABLEDATA. Both provide valuable
information regarding these devices and how to purchase them which can aid in eliminating the stress, guesswork, dread, and
overwhelmed feeling a person may face when he/she must deal with these issues.
Another positive stride in the employment of disabled persons over the past few years is their visibility in newspaper ads
and television commercials. The national retail chains Home Depot, Walgreens Pharmacy, and CVS Pharmacy all promote hiring
disabled individuals and encourage other businesses to do the same. Home Depot is one retailer who features disabled employees
in many of their newspaper ads and television commercials. This marketing tool is encouraging to other disabled individuals
because it illustrates success stories. It also demonstrates to other employers that disabled persons are competent, valuable
employees who are easily integrated into the work environment. Randall’s and Kroger grocery stores also endorse hiring disabled
persons to perform jobs such as stocking shelves, sacking groceries, and loading groceries into customer vehicles.
As visibility of competent, qualified, dependable disabled persons in the working environment increases, more business
owners will have confidence in selecting future employees from the disabled community, thus creating social change and
dissolving old stereotypes. Disabled individuals will be seen as valuable employees and will be afforded improved education,
housing, and transportation opportunities. The disabled community will no longer be dependent on others to take care of them or
speak for them. They will be independent members of society who have equality, autonomy, and confidence in knowing they are
viable members of the world in which they live.
Almost one in five people has a disability. An estimated 19.4% of non-institutionalized civilians in the United States,
totaling 8.9 million people, have a disability. Almost half of these people (an estimated 24.1 million people) can be considered to
have a severe disability. Activities considered to be major are: children under age 5: playing; persons 5-17: attending school;
persons 18-69: working or keeping house; People age 70 and over: ability to care for oneself (bathing, eating, dressing, or getting
around the home) and one's home (doing household chores, doing necessary business, shopping, or getting around for other
purposes) without another person's assistance.
Almost one out of every seven people has an activity limitation. Activity limitation: In the National Health Interview
Survey (NHIS), each person is classified into one of four categories: (a) unable to perform the major activity, (b) able to perform
the major activity but limited in the kind or amount of this activity, (c) not limited in the major activity but limited in the kind or
amount of other activities, and (d) not limited in any way. The NHIS classifies people as limited (groups a-c) or not limited
(group d). Persons are not classified as limited in activity unless one or more chronic health conditions are reported as the cause of
the activity limitation (see also chronic health condition and major activity).
An estimated 4.0% (9.2 million) of the non-institutionalized population age 5 and over in the United States need personal
assistance with one or more activities. Over 5.8 million people need assistance in "instrumental activities of daily living" (IADL),
while 3.4 million need assistance in "activities of daily living" (ADL). ADL includes bathing, dressing, eating, walking, and other
personal functioning activities. IADL covers preparing meals, shopping, using the phone, doing laundry, and other measures of
living independently. If someone has a need for assistance in ADL, it is assumed that they will have a need for assistance in IADL
also. One in 25 people age 5 and over needs assistance in daily activities.
The number of non-institutionalized people in the United States with a work disability is estimated to be 16.9 million,
which represents 10.1% of the working age population (16 to 64 years old). Higher percentages of blacks are work disabled than
whites or Hispanics: 15.4% of blacks have a work disability (3.2 million people) compared to 9.6% for people of Hispanic origin
(1.6 million), 9.4% of whites (13 million) and 8.5% of other races (700,000). Work disability increases in frequency with age. At
16-24 years, 4.2% are work disabled; for 25-34 years, the proportion rises to 6.4%; for 35-44 years, 9.4%; from 45-54 years,
13.3%; and for 55-64 years, 22.9% are work disabled. Technical Note: The Hispanic category can include people of any race.
Blacks report the highest rates of work disability.
Works Cited
ABLEDATA
http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=19327&top=13436&deep=2&trail=22
Disability Info. 2007.
http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=9
The Disability Rights Movement. 2000.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/disabilityrights/exhibit.html
Medline Plus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/developmentaldisabilities.html
US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. 2007.
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics. 2007. 2006 Disability Status Report.
Ithaca, New York. Cornell University.
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/disabilitystatistics/StatusReports/2006-HTML/2006StatusReport_US.html?CFID=98139&CFTOKEN=51397315#top
The U.S. Department of Justice, ADA Home Page. 2007.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
Module IVA—The Family and Marriage (Compiled and written primarily by Dr. Luis Salinas)
Marriage is a socially approved union between two or more people. Marriage may be sanctioned by religious ceremony
but overall and throughout history, it is a method by which legitimate families are formed according to social norms. Marriage
can be defined as a social construct whereby adults have certain socially determined rights and obligations to one another and to
children produced by the union. Marriage grants social permission for people to engage in sexual relations and allows inheritance
by spouses and legitimate offspring. Marriage can also be defined as a union between two or more people that is legally
sanctioned and controlled by the government.
Who can marry whom is based on kinship which has to do with blood relationships and includes consanguinal marriage,
or marriage between blood relatives such as sibling marriage and cousin marriage. In most societies a person cannot marry: their
parents, their children, their grandparents, their biological aunts or uncles, their siblings, their immediate cousins. Who can marry
whom is also a concomitant of the age of consent which differs according to social norms. In some societies parents can consent
to the marriage of children as young a ten.
In some cultures same sex marriages are approved and there are parts of the world where some groups of nonheterosexual people are considered a third sex such as the Berdache in some American Indian groups and the Hijra of India. In
some parts of Eastern Europe there is also a tradition of a third sex. In some cultures people of the opposite sex engage in sexual
relations only for the purpose of procreation, however, in most cultures marriage between people of the opposite sex is the norm.
As of 2008, Canada, Spain, South Africa, and Belgium permitted same sex marriage and California, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut permitted same sex marriage as of November 2008, although some of these statutes are being debated both at the
polls and by the legislatures of those states. As of 2008 the following states in the United States permitted civil unions:
Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the following countries permitted permitted civil unions.
Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland, United Kingdom.
In most societies marriage, divorce, division of property, custody of children, etc. are matters of law and are determined and
controlled by the state.
Kinship is a social bond of people whose social relationships are based on common ancestry (blood) marriage, adoption,
and/or affiliation. Consanguineous kin are relatives related through biological or blood ties. Affinal kin are relatives related by
marriage. Adopted or fictive kin are related by special ties or rituals such as godparents. (If you have a family friend who is
otherwise unrelated to you whom you call aunt or uncle, that is an example of fictive kin.
Descent is the way in which members of a society trace kinship over generations and is important for: recognition as a family
member, passing on property, as well as other benefits of being a family member. There are three types of descent according to
Sociologists and Anthropologists: Patrilineal, matrilineal, and bilateral.
Patrilineal descent traces kinship through the male line. The family name is traced through father’s line and such descent
usually occurs in patriarchal societies where the oldest living son is typically the inheritor of property. In cases of primogenitor,
the eldest living son inherits all the land and all other real property. This pattern is found primarily in preindustrial and
monarchical societies.
Matrilineal descent traces kinship through the female line and the family name is traced through mother’s line and such
descent usually occurs in matriarchal societies where the oldest living daughter is typically the inheritor of property. However,
many matrilineal societies are still patriarchal and the majority of power resides in the eldest living brother of the woman in
question. This is also called an avuncular society: the uncle has the economic, social and political power. Matrilineal descent is
often found in small scale horticultural societies like the Navajo.
Bilateral descent traces kinship through both men and women and the family name can be traced through both parents
although customarily women still assume their husband’s name. In conditions of bilateral descent, any child may inherit property.
This pattern is often found in industrial societies.
Marriage patterns also differ from society to society. Where do newly wedded people live? Patrilocality means that newly
married people live with or near the husband’s family. This pattern is often associated with patriarchal authority where male
elders dominate the decision-making process and women have little control over their lives. Matrilocality means that newly
married people live with or near the wife’s family and the husband moves to the home of his wife or her kin group. This is
sometimes associated with matriarchal authority but is often avuncular authority. Neolocality means setting up house apart from
both families. This is the typical pattern in the United States where married people establish independent households and is often
associated with egalitarian authority patterns.
Module IVB: Education (Compiled and written by Dr. Luis Salinas)
I.
Education: A Global Survey.
A. Education has been defined as simply the social institution guiding a society’s transmission of knowledge.
B. It has also been defined as the institutionalized process of systematically teaching certain cognitive skills and
knowledge, and the generational transmission of these.
C. Schooling is formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers.
D. In some countries such as India, many children work, greatly limiting their opportunity for schooling.
E. Japan’s educational system is widely praised for producing some of the world’s highest achievers.
II. The Functions of Schooling.
A. The Structural-functional paradigm examines how formal education enhances the operation and stability of society.
1. Education is the social institution that is responsible for systematically teaching certain cognitive skills and
knowledge, and transmitting these skills and knowledge from one generation to the next generation.
2. Specifically this paradigm views Education as having several manifest and latent functions for society.
a. Some of the Manifest Functions or intended consequences of Education are:
i. Cultural transmission is the process whereby culture is passed from one generation to the
next.
ii. Culture has two forms
 Cognitive -thoughts, ideas and knowledge
 The prevalent ideas of society are passed on.
 Normative -norms, values, attitudes and beliefs.
1. The expected way of behaving in society is passed on through the
education system.
3. Some of the Latent Functions in society which are unintended and have unrecognized consequences
a. The hidden curriculum serves to teach the dominant norms and values.
b. Students taught by WASP middle class teachers, this maintains the political and economic status
quo in society.
c. It is here that the established social values are taught thoroughly.
d. The educational system also serves as a Day care, a place to take care of children during the day.
This is so basic that when students have a day off, for teachers in-service or whatever other reason,
many parents panic, because they do not have a place for them to take care of the kids.
e. Education is important in the Job Market. Often by simply knowing that someone went to the
same school you did is often another key to employment.
f. Students regularly date other students with whom they go to school they go to school.
g. Since people in general marry people they date, so also students frequently marry people they go
to school with.
h. Anticipatory socialization is the teaching of knowledge and skills for the successful fulfillment of
future roles and statuses.
4. Many of the little things taught in school, such as sitting for a long period of time are taught in schools in
anticipation of jobs that have that requirement in modern society.
5. Other examples of Anticipatory socialization include coloring within the lines, raising your hand to speak
knowing where to sit and eating only at designated times like snack time.
6. Education also serves to enhance social and cultural integration in society by bringing together people from
diverse social backgrounds so that they share widespread social experiences and thus acquire commonly
held societal norms, attitudes and beliefs.
a. By interacting with people from many different social and cultural backgrounds, individuals learn
to get along with other individuals who are very different from them.
b. Kindergarten has been called the academic boot camp in socialization.
c. The best example of this has been captured in this essay:
i. ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in
kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the
sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and
sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick
together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the
roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why,
but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the
Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned
- the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love
and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies
and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies
for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back
where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true; no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is
best to hold hands and stick together.
[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN
KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at
http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]
B. De facto segregation and its relationship to busing.
1. More discrimination by contact with hostile whites is often cited as the result of forcing people to go to
school together.
C. Mass public education involves assimilation and the Americanization process
1. Students learn a common culture, dress, language in the school system.
2. Steve Kleinberg argues that the current school system has immigrants assimilating much faster than other
large immigrant waves in the past
3. Innovation and cultural change involves creating new knowledge and finding ways to use existing
knowledge.
4. Because of Academic Freedom and creative thinking, much of new social knowledge that goes on in
society is in Higher Education.
5. Using and applying existing knowledge in new ways is also often seen in Higher Education.
III. Conflict: Schooling and Social Inequality
A. Social-conflict analysis argues that schools routinely provide learning according to students’ social background,
thereby perpetuating social inequality.
B. Unequal Access to Schooling and Educational Inequality
1. Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto argued for universal access to education.
2. Inequality exists among schools in a district and within schools themselves.
3. The Coleman Report and Colman Hoffer argue that attending private schools do offer higher scores,
academic achievement and college entrance scores than attending public schools.
4. Kozol’s Savage Inequalities has provided an illustration of inequalities in schools.
5. Wealthy School districts have better buildings, state of the art technology, higher teacher salaries, more
ancillary programs such as Art and Music and better sports equipment.
C. Educational Credentials:
1. Schools as a Screening Device
a. Schools serve as a screening device to fill positions of unequal status.
b. Tracking is a basic screening device - placing of students perceived to have similar intelligence
and academic abilities in the same classroom.
c. Edgar Friedberg has pointed out that while success or failure in schools is certainly determined by
skill and ability, sex and ethnicity also play a large part in it.
2. Educational and Occupational Opportunities
a. Credentialism is the overemphasis on educational credentials for job placement.
i. The result is that many individuals are placed in jobs for which they are overeducated.
ii. Creation of Credentials- Higher education created the credentialism in today’s society,
where the level of education one has achieved is important to do many things. This level
of education is assumed to afford the student with all the appropriate knowledge they
need for jobs.
D. Race is a major factor in determining educational outcomes.
1. "Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" 347 U.S. 483 (1954) is a case history for the facilitation
of social and cultural education.
2. It was regarded as a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, since it overturned previous
established rulings going back to Plessy vs. Ferguson which established Separate but Equal in 1896.
3. It declared that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students essentially
denied black children equal educational opportunities.
4. This ruling which was handed down on May 17, 1954, by Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated
that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
5. As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment of the United States Constitution. This began the long process of integration in the schools,
which is still not complete.
IV. Contemporary Trends in American Education
A. Mass Education and Utilitarianism
1. John Dewey argued for the practical aspects of education.
2. education was to produce good workers for society.
B. Sociologists are skeptical about the possibility that schools alone can solve society's problems.
C. Dilemmas in the Schools and in Higher Education
1. Some social problems in schools include vandalism, physical assaults, shootings and drugs.
2. While violence increased in 1990's, it has plateaued or dropped in 2000’s
3. This school violence is linked to larger social violence, poverty, drug sales, drug abuse, gangs.
4. According to NCES 46% of schools reported a theft/larceny in 2005-6
5. A Nation at Risk discusses its concern for declining test scores and poor academic performance.
a. Kindergarten kids least prepared for school in nations history.
b. Professors blame students for lack of interest, poor academic ability
c. Critics say that Higher education killed the student’s interest.
d. Conservatives and liberals have both called for school reform, but have different approaches.
D. The Home Schooling Movement
1. Interactive Web based programs will encourage more parents to favor home based education.
2. In home schooling children are not sent to school and receive their formal education from one or both
parents
3. The legal aspects of home schooling are intricate and vary by State.
4. Some advantages of home schooling include
a. alleviation of school crowding, curricular and pedagogical alternative and strengthening family
relationships.
b. Home Schooled individuals do have lower drop-out rates, children learn at own rate, and score
higher on standardized tests.
5. Some of the disadvantages of home schooling include
a. inadequate educational background of parents
b. limited technological resources.
c. students get a homogenous view of society
6. There are some patterns on who gets home schooling. It more likely to occur if:
a. Parents are better educated.
b. Family income is lower
c. If there are two parents and only one parent is in the labor force
d. There are three or more children in the household.
e. Family is not White or Hispanic
Number and percentage distribution of all school-age children who were homeschooled and homeschooling rate, by
selected characteristics: 1999 and 2003
1999
Characteristic
Total
Homeschooled entirely
Homeschooled and enrolled in school part
time
Enrolled in school less than 9 hours per
week
Enrolled in school 9–25 hours per week
Race/ethnicity2
Black
White
Other
Hispanic
Sex
Male
Female
Number of children in the household
One child
Two children
Three or more children
Number of parents in the household
Two parents
One parent
Nonparental guardians
Parents’ participation in the labor force
Two parents, one in labor force
Two parents, both in labor force
One parent in labor force
No parent in labor force
Household income
$25,000 or less
$25,001–50,000
$50,001–75,000
$75,001 or more
Parents’ education
High school diploma or less
Some college or vocational/technical
Bachelor’s degree
Graduate/professional degree
Number
2003
Percentage
Homedistribution schooling
rate1
Percentage
distribution
Homeschooling
rate1
Number
850,000
697,000
100.0
82.0
1.7
100.0
1,096,000
898,000
100.0
82.0
2.2
100.0
153,000
18.0
100.0
198,000
18.0
100.0
107,000
46,000
12.6
5.4
100.0
100.0
137,000
61,000
12.5
5.6
100.0
100.0
84,000
640,000
49,000
77,000
9.9
75.3
5.8
9.1
1.0
2.0
1.9
1.1
103,000
843,000
91,000
59,000
9.4
77.0
8.3
5.3
1.3
2.7
3.0
0.7
417,000
434,000
49.0
51.0
1.6
1.8
569,000
527,000
51.9
48.1
2.2
2.1
120,000
207,000
523,000
14.1
24.4
61.6
1.5
1.0
2.4
110,000
306,000
679,000
10.1
28.0
62.0
1.4
1.5
3.1
683,000
142,000
25,000
80.4
16.7
2.9
2.1
0.9
1.4
886,000
196,000
14,000
80.8
17.9
1.3
2.5
1.5
0.9
444,000
237,000
98,000
71,000
52.2
27.9
11.6
8.3
4.6
1.0
0.7
1.9
594,000
274,000
174,000
54,000
54.2
25.0
15.9
4.9
5.6
1.1
1.4
1.8
262,000
278,000
162,000
148,000
30.9
32.7
19.1
17.4
1.6
1.8
1.9
1.5
283,000
311,000
264,000
238,000
25.8
28.4
24.1
21.7
2.3
2.4
2.4
1.7
160,000
287,000
213,000
190,000
18.9
33.7
25.1
22.3
0.9
1.9
2.6
2.3
269,000
338,000
274,000
215,000
24.5
30.8
25.0
19.6
1.7
2.1
2.8
2.5
SOURCE: Princiotta, D., Bielick, S., Van Brunt, A., and Chapman, C. (2006). Homeschooling in the United States: 2003
(NCES 2005–101), tables 1, 2, and 3. Data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics,
Parent Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1999 and Parent and Family Involvement in
Education Survey of the NHES, 2003.
E. Multicultural Education
1. Multicultural education is a strategy in which students' cultural backgrounds are viewed as positive and
essential in developing classroom instruction and school environment.
2. As minority students become the majority, competence in multicultural education for teachers will become
more important.
Both the number and the percent of students speaking a language other than English and Speaking English with
difficulty has been growing.
Number and percentage of children ages 5–17 who spoke a language other than English at home and who spoke
English with difficulty: Selected years, 1979–2005
Spoke a language other than English at home
Spoke English with difficulty1
Year
Total population
(in millions)
Number
(in millions)
1979
1989
1992
1995
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
44.7
42.3
47.7
47.5
52.7
52.5
53.0
53.0
53.0
52.9
52.8
3.8
5.2
6.3
6.7
8.8
9.5
9.8
9.8
9.9
9.9
10.6
2005
18.2
Percent of total
population
Number
(in millions)
Percent of those who
spoke a language
Percent of total
other than
population
English at home
8.5
1.3
12.3
1.8
13.2
2.2
14.1
2.4
16.7
2.6
18.1
2.9
18.5
2.8
18.5
2.8
18.7
2.9
18.8
2.8
20.0
2.8
Percentage change compared with 1979
177.9
135.1
118
2.8
4.3
4.6
5.2
5.0
5.5
5.4
5.3
5.5
5.3
5.4
34.2
34.6
34.9
35.8
29.5
30.5
28.6
28.6
29.4
27.9
26.8
91.6!
-21.6
SOURSOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), 1979 and 1989
November Supplement and 1992, 1995, and 1999 October Supplement, and American Community Survey (ACS),
2000–05.
V. Affirmative Action
A. Hopwood
1. Hopwood erased all affirmative action programs from the state of Texas in a very short time. Subsequently,
Cheryl Hopwood was not found to be good enough to get into the UT Law School.
2. Affirmative Action is still found in other states and private colleges.
3. In Texas, the top ten percent of any school can go to any state school they want.
VI. Computers, Increased Technology and the Mass Media
A. There has been an increase in the availability of computers in schools since the mid-1980's.
B. In 2000 there was One computer for every 10 students, this has now dropped to 1:4 in Elementary Schools, and 1:3
in High Schools.
C. Among other positive impacts, computer assisted instruction increases students' enthusiasm for learning.
D. Since 2003 all public schools have had internet access.
E. Interactive media can also facilitate student learning.
F. Television, while often described in negative terms, is sometimes seen by many teachers as complementary to their
teaching.
G. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found lower science scores associated with more TV watching.
H. According to the NCES Of 18 other countries reporting data, only Scotland had a higher proportion of students
report watching 2 hours or more of TV daily than did the United States. The percentage for China (35 percent), the
country with the lowest percentage of students who watched television 2 hours or more daily, was 49 percentage
points lower than that of the United States (84 percent).
I. Some have encouraged schools to develop television literacy in their students.
J. 96% of middle and high school teachers use television to complement their teaching
1. Critics have suggested that television encourages:
a. passive learning
b. reduces homework and reading time
c. impedes creativity
d. has a powerful hidden curriculum for encouraging the acceptance of the prevailing value system.
2. Postman – researched how watching Sesame Street teaches children to learn to watch TV.
K. Computers and Schools
1. There is a big divide between poor urban schools and affluent ones in terms of the availability of
computers.
VII. Problems in the Schools.
A. Almost everyone agrees that schools should teach personal discipline, but only a few think schools are succeeding at
this goal.
B. Student passivity is promoted in many ways in large bureaucratic school systems. This has many implications for
subsequent social life.
C. The dropout rate has declined slightly in recent decades; currently about 11 percent of people between the ages of
eighteen and twenty-four have dropped out of school. It remains substantial for Hispanics in many urban school
districts.
Percentage of high school dropouts (status dropouts) among persons 16 to 24 years old, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 19722005
Race/ethnicity2
Year
Total1
White
Black
Hispanic
1972
14.6
12.3
21.3
34.3
1980
14.1
11.4
19.1
35.2
1985
12.6
10.4
15.2
27.6
1990
12.1
9.0
13.2
32.4
1995
12.0
8.6
12.1
30.0
1996
11.1
7.3
13.0
29.4
1997
11.0
7.6
13.4
25.3
1998
11.8
7.7
13.8
29.5
1999
11.2
7.3
12.6
28.6
2000
10.9
6.9
13.1
27.8
2001
10.7
7.3
10.9
27.0
2002
10.5
6.5
11.3
25.7
2003
9.9
6.3
10.9
23.5
2004
10.3
6.8
11.8
23.8
2005
9.4
6.0
10.4
22.4
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). The Condition of Education 2007
(NCES 2007-064), Table 23-1.
D. According to A Nation At Risk, the quality of U.S. education has declined sharply and functional illiteracy, defines
as reading and writing skills that are insufficient for everyday life, is widespread. Efforts to curtail it have been only
marginally successful.
VIII.
Recent Issues in U.S. Education.
A. School choice proponents advocate such developments as magnet schools, schooling for profit, and charter schools.
B. Schooling people with disabilities often involves mainstreaming, or integrating special students into the overall
educational program.
C. The share of U.S. students aged twenty-five and older has risen sharply in recent years and now accounts for almost
half of all people in the classroom.
D. Low salaries, frustration, and retirement, as well as rising enrollment and reductions in class size, have combined to
create teaching vacancies.
IX. Looking Ahead: Schooling in the Twenty-first century.
A. Computers and other new types of information technology will continue to be important.
B. Technology cannot solve all of our educational problems.
C. Education should be More Future Oriented
1. The work of Alvin Toffler, Future Shock and the Third wave. Educational
systems should be future oriented by becoming restructured & revolutionized and curriculums revamped
D. Changes in Education
1. There will be more nontraditional students.
2. In 2010 Minority Students will make up 1/2 of the student population.
3. The home-schooling movement will increase.
4. There will be an increase in the use of technology in different ways.
5. Education will continue to be a major public agenda item.
Module IVC—Religion
The vast majority of people in the world believe in something greater than themselves, something awesome, something
numinous that creates in the believer a sense of being in touch with or being touched by the supernatural. Sociologists see
religion primarily as two things: 1) a societal institution; 2) group/organizational behavior. 321 However, that does not mean
that Sociologists do not understand or study the highly symbolic and spiritual nature of religion. What most Sociologists agree on
is that religion is created by humans for humans. Again, this statement requires a disclaimer—religion and a deity or deities are
not the same thing. Religion is the form of worship or system of belief—the deity being worshiped is part of the expression of
the religion but is not the religion.
There are more than 5,000 different religions in the world, many of which are sub-divided into a wide variety of sects or
denominations. A denomination is the ways in which members of a religion interpret their sacred writings and/or sacred oral
traditions. For example, Christianity is the most wide-spread religion in the world, but it is broken into many, many parts—e.g.
Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(Mormons), Church of Christ, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and many, many more. Islam, which is the fastest
growing major religion in the world, is divided into Sunni, Shi’ite, Sufi, and Wahabi, but 150 years ago, Babaism and Baha’i
broke off from Islam to form their own separate religions. In Judaism, there are four major denominations—Orthodox,
Conservative, Reform, and liberal/Progressive, but among the Orthodox, there are several different branches each of which has
slightly different religious practices from the others. Most major and many minor religions are thus splintered into many factions,
each with its own specific set of beliefs and practices.
Religion is variously defined as “a system of beliefs and rituals with reference to the sacred which binds people together
into social groups . . . any set of coherent answers to human existential dilemmas which make the world meaningful;” 322 and “a
set of beliefs, symbols, and practices (e.g. rituals) which is based on the idea of the sacred, and which unites believers into a
socio-religious community. The sacred is contrasted with the profane because it involves feelings of awe;” 323 and “a shared,
collective way of dealing with the unknown and un-knowable aspects of human life, with the mysteries of life, death, and the
difficult dilemmas that arise in the process of making moral decisions . . . the profane consists of all we can know through our
senses . . .the sacred encompasses all that exists beyond the everyday, natural world . . . the sacred inspires feelings of awe.” 324
What each of these definitions has in common is that religion is about meaning, it is shared with others, and it
bifurcates the world into the sacred and the profane—the supernatural or transcendent and the ordinary. The sacred is the
numinous, the transcendent, the supernatural, while the profane is the ordinary, pedestrian, natural, day-today world. French
sociologist and father of functionalism Émile Durkheim argued that legitimation of the social structure is the primary purpose
of religion; in other words, religion helps to make the social structure acceptable to the members of society. Whenever people
gather together into groups that are in general concordance with one another—such as religious services and ceremonies—the
existing social structure is maintained because balance has been preserved. Furthermore, religion may include worship of any
single deity or group of deities, or symbols such as totems, or even civic religion in which the state or some particular arm of the
state becomes so meaningful that the ceremonies and rituals surrounding it have become apotheosized. Durkheim, 325 writing in
1912, posits that ecstatic rituals or celebrations as engaged in by members of traditional peoples are transfiguring,
transformational, and indicative of the differentiation between the sacred and the profane:
everything is just as though he really were transported into a special world, entirely different from the one
where he ordinarily lives, and into an environment filled with exceptionally intense forces that take hold of him
and metamorphose him. How could such experiences as these, especially when they are repeated every day for
weeks, fail to leave in him the conviction that there really exist two heterogeneous and mutually incomparable
worlds? One is that where his daily life drags wearily along; but he cannot penetrate into the other without at
once entering into relations with extraordinary powers that excite him to the point of frenzy. The first is the
profane world, the second, that of sacred things. (Durkheim 250)
Max Weber wrote that religion serves a social purpose that draws in the individual when a priestly class that serves as
an intermediate between the individual and the Gods emerges. Moreover, Weber stated that, often based on patterns of authority,
the forms that religion takes differ from one manifestation to another. He argued that traditional religions with their virtually
“inviolable norms” are usually associated with highly routinized, rationalized patterns of authority and are often patriarchal and
are based in patriarchal societies. According to Weber, charismatic religions are often non-rational and find their foundations with
one powerful individual who is capable of gaining and holding the imagination and loyalty (fealty) of the adherents. Moreover,
Weber discussed the bureaucratization of religion. The most routinized, rationalized form is the bureaucratic form which may
arise out of either traditional or charismatic forms. The bureaucratic form is simply the end result of growth in size and growth of
a hierarchical ruling or quasi-ruling priestly (or bureaucratic) class. 326 327
Modern Sociologist Peter Berger equates religion with a “sacred canopy” that arches over all human activity. Religion
then, which Berger describes as “the human enterprise by which a sacred cosmos is established,” 328 like culture, is a completely
human activity. The sacred cosmos established by religion prevents, or staves off, the terror of the unknown, the deviance, the
meaninglessness that would otherwise encroach upon and perhaps destroy culture and society. Once norms and values are
established by a group of humans, religion helps to uphold those norms and values by given them a patina of holiness or
acceptableness to the holy. 329
It is necessary that agents within any given society internalize the society's norms and values, must find those norms
acceptable, must embrace or at least acquiesce to the social structure. This sanction, approval, and approbation by individual
agents, as well as groups, on a purely psychologically subjective level, Berger calls the plausibility structure. In other words, the
structure of a society must make sense, its Weltanschauung must be ontologically real, it must, as William James might say, have
practical applications and practical consequences, it must be functional in order to be acceptable and, therefore, acted upon. 330
Religion, then, is a pathway to the deity and an attempt to make sense out of the senseless and give meaning to the meaningless.
In general, the culture of any given society helps to determine the kind of religion that society professes. The two
primary forms of religion are monotheism and polytheism. Monotheism is the belief in one, and only one, deity. (The use of the
term deity is more accurate than God, Gods, Goddess, Goddesses, totems because it is all encompassing, and refers to all
possible objects of worship.) Polytheism is the belief in more than one deity. The three great monotheistic religions in the world
are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Among the great polytheistic religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto, and
Jainism. Most monotheistic religions are patriarchal and envision their deity as male, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and
transcendent of humanness, whereas polytheistic religions may be either patriarchal or matriarchal, believing in deities that are
male, female, simultaneously male and female, animals, places, and things. For polytheists, deities often exhibit human traits and
behave in very human ways. Polytheism is essentially a belief system in which the universe is seen as so enormous, dreadful, and
unknowable that no single deity can encompass it all. This said, however, most polytheistic religions do have a seminal or original
deity or pair of deities or argue that all deities are avatars (representations) of one ultimate, supreme deity. 331
Religions may also be either inclusive or exclusive. Inclusive religions tend to be politically liberal, socially active, and
to accept diversity. Inclusive religions, by definition, include everyone. Every member of the society is a potential member of an
inclusive religion. Exclusive religions tend to add to their membership through natural increase rather than proselytizing or
accepting members from outside their group. Christianity and Islam tend to be inclusive religions whereas Hinduism, Sikhism,
Jainism, and Shinto tend to be exclusive. However, within each of the inclusive religions, there are denominations or sects that
are extremely exclusive. 332
As a social institution, religion provides a cosmology, a system of morality, a way of answering questions that matter,
a community of like-minded or like-believing people, and provides a set of symbols that its adherents recognize and that serves
as both a legitimating mechanism and a cohesive device. Because symbols are always representations of other things, the form of
the symbol is immaterial and what matters is that the adherents accept the symbol as representative of something sacred—
something distinctly and profoundly different from the normal, natural, everyday things of life. For Christians, a major symbol is
the cross. During the rule of the Roman Empire, the cross was an instrument of torture and a method of execution, but the reality
of the original use of the cross has been transmuted so that today the cross is a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus and the
overwhelming love of God. If the electric chair, rather than the cross, had existed 2000 years ago, Christians might take it as a
sacred symbol and wear tiny chairs that light up. All Christians recognize the cross and accept it as a holy, sacred symbol of their
deity, their belief, their community. Therefore, the sacred may be any object, person, or place so long as someone believes that
that object, person, or place has been, in some way, transformed from the ordinary. 333 Some other relatively common, easily
identifiable religious symbols include the Muslim Star and Crescent, the Jewish Magen David, the various Buddha statues and
figures, as well as the yellow robes of the Buddhists, the dreadlocks of the Rastafarians, and the turbans of male Sikhs.
Consider the following evidence of the apotheosis of Elvis Presley: he is known in most of the industrialized world by
only his first name; he is more popular now, twenty-some years after his death, than he was while alive; he has a large world-wide
contingent of followers; “sacred” relics, artifacts, and other memorabilia are collected and cherished; he is often referred to as
“The King,” he is rumored to have transcended death; his personal history has been revised to make him appear benevolent,
charitable, philanthropic, and saintly; there is a shrine erected to his memory and “postulants” make their pilgrimages daily; his
“disciples” engage in eleemosynary (charitable) activities in his name; his physical image has undergone a transfiguration; his
image is reputed to be seen in visions. In many instances, all of this would be indicative of a deity! Sports, particularly football
and stock car racing, in the US, certainly have “worshipers”—people who “religiously” attend and follow the events both
individually and in groups.
As an organization, religion is divided into churches (note the Christian term), sects, and cults. Churches include
mosques, temples, tabernacles and any other mainstream house of worship/congregation. Churches both see themselves and are
seen by others—often society as a whole—as the legitimate, formal, usually bureaucratized manifestation of religion in an
otherwise secular (non-religious) society. 334 Within churches, there are often many denominations. Sociologically a
denomination is “a large organized religion that is not linked officially with the state or government,” 335 but in religious terms, a
denomination is the way in which members of a religion interpret their sacred writings and/or sacred oral traditions—thus,
Christianity is a religion with many different denominations including Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, etc.; while Islam has
several denominations including Sunni and Shi’ite. Most, but not all, religions have denominations. Sects, on the other hand, are
“groups that have broken off from an established church [and] emerge when a faction within an established religion questions the
legitimacy or purity of the group from which they are separating.” 336 Shakers, Quakers, Anabaptists, Amish, and Mennonites are
Christian sects who all broke away from established churches because they believed the fundamental tenets (doctrines) were not
being upheld. Cults (which have an extremely negative image in contemporary American society) are “religious groups devoted
to a specific dogma, cause, or charismatic leader.” 337 Some churches, such as the Church of Christ Scientist (Christian Science)
originally began as cults. However, cults may also be relatively secular or quasi-religious. The Heaven’s Gate cult believed that a
spaceship, cruising behind the Hale-Bopp comet that struck Jupiter in 1997, would pick them up and take them “home.” Ninety
cult members committed suicide because they believed that the alien beings would give them new bodies. Cults tend to be
relatively loosely organized and are often centered on a specific individual who is seen as charismatic. Charisma was first
discussed by Max Weber who wrote that the charismatic leader is seen as having special gifts, powers, or abilities and has been
specially favored by the deity and granted special access to the mind of the deity; groups loyal to a charismatic leader generally
disband if that leader leaves or dies. Charismatic leadership requires fealty (extreme levels of loyalty often bordering on or
crossing the line of fanaticism) from the followers, therefore charisma is not relegated only to religious leaders. 338 Throughout
history there have been charismatic secular leaders: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, George Washington, Hitler, Stalin, Mao
Tse Tung, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il. 339 Unfortunately, many secular charismatic leaders seem also to be human monsters!
Because not all leadership is religious, not all religion is sacred. There are secular or civic religions throughout the world such as
Communism, Juche or Kimilsungism in North Korea, and animal rights activism. However, even in the United States a form of
civic religion is practiced. Notice July 4th parades, presidential inaugurations, and the like—they have a sacred character such as
“hymns” (patriotic songs), symbols (the flag), prayers (actual prayers but always invoking the deity to bless the nation), and
patterned group responses and activities. As Durkheim wrote:
What essential difference is there between an assembly of Christians celebrating the principal dates of the life of
Christ, or of Jews remembering the exodus from Egypt or the promulgation of the Decalogue [the Ten
Commandments], and a reunion of citizens commemorating the promulgation of a new moral or legal system or
some great event of national life? (p. 475) 340
Indeed, we have American flags in our churches and we invoke the deity in Congress. Religion in American life is so
caught up with the culture that it is difficult to separate the two. In most countries where there is a primary religious belief the
separation between “church” and state is nearly impossible and is often not even desired. Religion is so much a part of human
life and human experience that we are socialized into the prevailing socioreligious milieu from the time we are infants. Even
people new to the United States know what Christmas is and quickly become accustomed to both sacred and profane Christmas
music—this is a clear indication of the overarching presence of Christianity in our otherwise diverse American culture. In India,
Hinduism is inextricably linked to the culture, and in Saudi Arabia, the Qur’an (the holy book of Islam) is the basis of the
monarchical system of government. Although Israel has a constitution and a parliament (the Knesset), its judicial system is based
on the Holy book of Judaism, the Torah. Moreover, in the US and most of Europe, the laws have their basis in the Ten
Commandments and the “Golden Rule.”
Religion is a complex social fact in almost all societies in the world and is often tightly bound to the culture and the other
institutions of society. For many people, practicing their religion is part of their daily activities and brings a sense of stability,
eternity, comfort, and community. In many societies, religion is an important, if not definitive, aspect of one’s master status—
people have been warring with one another and killing one another over religious differences for thousands of years! For more
information on religion go to http://www.adherents.com/, a massive and fairly comprehensive website featuring demographic data
about more than 4,600 different religions.
Largest World Religions—97% of All Largest World Religions 341
Religion
Christianity
Islam
Hindu
Secular/Non-Religious/Agnostic/Atheist
Buddhism
Chinese Traditional
Primal Indigenous (Animism)
% of Adherents in the World
33%
22%
15%
14%
6%
4%
3%
# of Adherents in the World
2.0 Billion
1.3 Billion
900 Million
850 Million
360 Million
225 Million
190 Million
Remaining 3% of All Other Largest World Religions 342
Communism
Sikh
Yoruba
Juche (Kimilsungism)
Spiritism
Judaism
Baha’i
Jainism
Shinto
Cao Dai
Tenrikyo
New Pagan
Unitarian and Universalist
Scientology
Rastafarianism
Zoroastrianism
63 Million
23 Million
20 Million
19 Million
14 Million
14 Million
6 Million
4 Million
4 Million
3 Million
2.4 Million
1 Million
800 Thousand
750 Thousand
700 Thousand
150 Thousand
Largest Denominations in the World 343
Denomination
Catholic
Sunni Islam
Eastern Orthodox
Jinja Honcho
Anglican
Assembly of God
Ethiopian Orthodox
German Evangelical Church (EKD)
Sikh
Juche
Southern Baptist
Jehovah’s Witnesses
United Methodist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(Mormons)
Seventh Day Adventists
Baha’i
# of Adherents in the World
1 Billion
875 Million
225 Million
83 Million
68 Million
32 Million
30 Million
27 Million
23 Million
19 Million
16 Million
15 Million
12 Million
11 Million
11 Million
6 Million
Largest Religions in the United States 344
Religion
Christianity
Non-Religious
Islam
Judaism
Agnostic
Unitarian and Universalist
Buddhist
Native American
Scientology
% of Adherents in the US
86%
7.5%`
2.0%
1.8%
0.7%
0.3%
0.4%
---------------
# of Adherents in the US
151 Million
13 Million
4 Million
3 Million
1.2 Million
500 Thousand
400 Thousand
47 Thousand
45 Thousand
Largest Denominations in the United States 345
Religion
Catholic
Baptist
Methodist
Lutheran
Presbyterian
Judaism
Pentecostal
Episcopalian
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(Mormons)
Church of Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Symbolic
Interactionism
Functionalism
Conflict
Paradigm
1)
2)
3)
4)
% of Adherents in the US
26.2%
18.4%
8%
5.2%
2.8%
1.8%
1.8%
1.8%
1.4%
# of Adherents in the US
46 Million
34 Million
14 Million
9 Million
5 Million
3 Million
3 Million
3 Million
2.5 Million
1.0%
.8%
1.6 Million
1.4 Million
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of Religion
Religion is “the opiate of the masses.”
Religion acts as a drug, which keeps the proletariat from rising up against their oppressors.
Religion serves to legitimate the social structure and serves the needs of the elite to oppress the workers.
Religion lulls the workers into a false sense of security.
1) Religion (along with the family and law) serves to legitimate (make acceptable) the social structure of
any given society.
2) Religion (along with the family and law) helps to maintain social stability and balance by binding
people to the normative aspects of their society.
3) Religion (along with law) provides a system of behavioral guidelines for society.
1) Religion is a set of symbols that identify and join adherents.
2) Religion is shared among groups and between individuals.
3) Religion provides meaning.
Key Terms and Concepts for: Module IVC—Religion
Charisma…56
charismatic leader…56
churches…56
civic religions…56
community…56
cosmology…56
cross…56
cults…56
Cults…56
deity…54
denomination…54, 56
denominations…56
dreadlocks…56
Émile Durkheim…55
Exclusive religions…56
fanaticism…56
fealty…56
form of worship…54
group/organizational
behavior…54
Inclusive religions…56
Largest Denominations in the
United States…58
Largest Denominations in the
World…58
Largest Religions in the United
States…58
Largest World Religions…57
legitimation of the social
structure…55
Magen David…56
master status…57
Max Weber…55
Monotheism…55
monotheistic religions…55
Peter Berger…55
Polytheism…55
polytheistic religions…55
profane…55
religion…54
Religion…54, 55
religion is about meaning…55
religion serves a social
purpose…55
representative of something
sacred…56
sacred…55
sacred canopy…55
sacred cosmos…55
sacred symbol…56
sects…56
Sects…56
separation between “church” and
state…57
shared with others…55
social institution…56
societal institution…54
Star and Crescent…56
symbols…56
system of belief…54
system of morality…56
The Three Sociological Paradigms:
Explanations of Religion…59
turbans…56
Module IVD: Law, Politics, and Government (Compiled and written by Dr. Luis Salinas)
I.
Government and Politics: Historical Overview.
A. Politics distributes power, sets a society’s agenda, and makes decisions.
1. Power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others despite their resistance.
2. Authority is power that people perceive as legitimate rather than coercive
3. The state also has an exclusive right on legitimate force or violence.
B. According to Weber the state not only claims a monopoly on violence but the right to punish everyone else that
does.
1. Traditional authority is power legitimized by respect for long-established customs and practices.
a. This is usually found in more traditional societies such as pre-industrial ones.
b. It is done through birth deciding who the next leader will be.
c. It is a “we have always done it this way” approach.
2. Rational-legal authority is power legitimized by legally enacted written rules and regulations of political
systems.
a. This refers to matters agreed to by different people and written into law
b. It may be as broad as a national constitution or as narrow as a contract between too people.
c. It is also centered on a social status that a person may hold as opposed to the individual
themselves.It is also the type of authority found in bureaucracies.
d. The rules apply to everyone in the organization or the society.
3. Charismatic authority is power legitimized through extraordinary personal or emotional abilities that
inspire devotion and obedience.
4. People may be drawn to this individual because they believe they are exceptional or have been called by
a higher power to lead the people.
5. Because these leaders are not following tradition or a written set of laws, they can pose a significant
threat to the established order that is based on rational-legal or traditional authority.
C. Global Political Systems.
1. Monarchy is a type of political system that transfers power from generation to generation in a single
family. It may be a king, queen, or other heredity ruler
a. At first these were the rulers of a city-state.
b. Influence expanded to cover several City-States which in turn became a region.
c. Over time people identifies with these Regions and the modern State came into being.
2. Democracy is a political system in which power is exercised by the people as a whole. It literally means
power to the people.
a.
One of the first examples of democracy was the original city-sate of Athens. However, only adult
males were allowed to vote.
b. Some Native American tribes were more “democratic” in that they allowed both men and women
to participate in the election of their chief.
c. Since it is impractical at the national level of a large country such as the United States to have the
populace voting on all issues, sometimes a representative democracy is used
i. At the beginning, only white, male, landowners were allowed to vote or run for office.
This was extended to the non-property owning population, then the African American
population and in the beginning of the 20th century women.
d. Today it seems inconceivable that gender, social class or race would keep them from voting.
D. Authoritarianism is a political system that denies popular participation in government.
1. Totalitarianism is a political system that extensively regulates people’s lives. 1. It involves virtual
complete government control and surveillance on all aspects of a social and political life.
a. Frequently, no opposing opinions are tolerated.
b. In some Middle east countries, individuals who say any negative thing about the royal family are
removed from society if they local citizens, or deported if they are foreign citizens.
2. Dictatorship – one person has almost total power over the citizens in a society. Some may be very popular
and others rule by fear.
II. Politics in the United States.
A. Our cultural emphasis on individualism implies the desirability of a small government, but in recent decades the
U.S. government has expanded into a vast welfare state.
B. Political Parties-Are supposed to represent different ideals in the political process.
1. 34% of Americans see themselves as Democrats, 36 % see themselves as Independents and 29 % see
themselves as Republicans.
2. These differences are narrowing. But generally Democrats tend to be more liberal and Republicans tend to
be more conservative.
3. Special-interest groups are political alliances of people interested in some economic or social issue.
a. These are people who think alike on a particular issue and can can mobilize others for political
action.
b. Sometimes these groups employ lobbyists to get the legislation in their favor.
c. Many lobbyists are former congressional representatives.
4. Political action committees are organizations formed by a special-interest groups, independent of political
parties, to pursue political aims by raising and spending money.
a. It skirts the laws that require all donations of $1,000 or more to be reported.
b. Currently there are some 4,000 PAC’s in the United States.
c. Some represent a social interest, such as the environment.
d. Many represent the financial and political welfare of specific groups.
e. Because of their economic power, they have the attention of Congress. So Congress ends up doing
not the will of the people, but the will of the special interest groups.
C. Political participation- In general, people vote increasingly less over time.
1. Today less than 60% vote, while at the turn of the century80% voted.
2. People in US vote less than many of the other industrialized countries and even less than some developing
countries such as India and Cambodia. Of the 140 countries having parliamentary elections since 1945, US
ranked 114th
3. Some states have tried various solutions to this voter apathy. Some have extended the period a person is
allowed to vote. Other States like Oregon permit only mail in ballots.
4. Generally the more individuals feel vested in a political system, the more likely they are to vote.
5. The groups most likely to vote in the US are older whites who are more affluent, and educated.
6. Young people tend to vote the least. In 1972, 55% of people under 30 voted. In 200 this number had
dropped to 42%.
a. Trends in the opinions of America's youngest voters are often a barometer of shifting political
winds. According to the Pew research center. The current generation of young voters, who came
of age during the George W. Bush years, is leading the way in giving the Democrats a wide
advantage in party identification, just as the previous generation of young people who grew up in
the Reagan years -- Generation X -- fueled the Republican surge of the mid-1990's.
III. IV. Theoretical Analysis of Politics.
A. The pluralist model is an analysis of politics that views power as dispersed among many competing interest groups.
1. Robert Dahl found that community power was diffuse. Groups exerting influence in one situation do not in
another.
a. Failed to account that local leaders belong to national ruling elites.
b. Some elites can keep some issues out of the government debate.
c. Fails to account for minorities especially African Americans being excluded.
d. New communication technologies allow for input from many people.
2. Internet as a Political data source
a. People checking candidate facts doubled between 2002 and 2004.
b. Internet users search out candidates positions on issues on line.
c. Serving to reduce voter apathy
d. Public is divided on whether blogs and cell phone pictures are more reliable than traditional new
organizations.
e. Cyberactivism is having an effect on how people organize and seek support around the world.
B. The power-elite model is an analysis of politics that views power as concentrated among the rich. It is linked with
the social-conflict paradigm.
1. C. Wright Mills in his book the Power Elite points out that the US is run by the Power Elite, a group of
military, industrial and government leaders. In the middle are Legislatures, local leaders and Interest group
leaders. At the bottom are the unorganized and exploited masses.
2. G. William Domhoff also focuses on the Power Elite. But he looks at it from the point of view of the
leaders in the Social Upper Class, the Corporate Community and Policy-formation organizers.
3. The Marxist political-economy model is an analysis that explains politics in terms of the operation of a
society's economic system.
a. Industrialized societies are dominated by the relatively small bourgeoisie. All other leaders in
government, and military were basically servants of this class.
b. All decisions made by the government serve the interests of this class.
IV. Power Beyond the Rules.
A. Political revolution is the overthrow of one political system in order to establish another.
B. Terrorism constitutes the use of random acts of violence or the threat of such violence by an individual or group as
a political strategy.
1. May be motivated by group hatred.
2. Intimidation is very important aspect of achieving goal
3. Media is used to achieve attention for the cause.
4. It has been very common in world history and is just getting attention for Americans.
5. It is often used when one group is more powerful than the other. The weaker group cannot compete on an
even field with the larger stronger group. It takes on the more powerful adversary through terrorism.
V. War is armed conflict among the people of various societies.
A. There are three basic models to study War.
1. Macro view- why/how do two countries become involved in conflict
2. Nation-State view – examine how the internal political, cultural and socioeconomic forces interact to create
War.
3. Micro view focus on the effect that Was has on social groups and their members.
B. Since the Gulf War in 1991, American became more supportive of War.
C. War has a significant impact on the world. In the 20th century over 50 million lives were lost.
D. Why Nations go to War
1. Cultural tradition of War. That it has been a solution in the past it is a potential solution in the present.
2. Antagonistic situations. This occurs when two nations want the same resources or things.
3. “Fuel” that heats antagonisms to the point where violence breaks out.
4. Revenge- getting back for problems from past conflicts
5. Power-forcing other nations to do their bidding.
6. Prestige-to save face for the nation.
7. Unity- uniting competing social groups in the country.
8. Positions- enhancing their own situation.
9. Ethnicity- to bring back people of the same group that is somewhere else.
10. Beliefs-forcing others to take on religious or political view
VI. Peace is cooperative relations between states as well as the absence of war.
A. In the 1990’s most of the conflicts that occurred between countries were within states.
B. Reasons for peace include
1. mutual dependence through trade and immigration.
2. NGO’s nongovernmental services wherever they are needed without regard to nationality.
3. Security is maintained through mutual security arrangements not threatening violence.
Conclusion
Sociology is the study of human behavior in groups and we have identified the major paradigms that guide our research
and inform our understanding of the social world in which we live. We have studied the history of Sociology and its roots in the
Enlightenment and have learned about the seminal theorists in Sociology and how Sociology differs from the other social
sciences. We have briefly looked at social science research methods and how science differs from other ways of knowing. We
have learned that culture is learned through the socialization process and that group behavior differs from individual behavior. We
have seen how bureaucracies function and learned about different models of the social structure and different types of societies.
We have identified and discussed some of the institutions of society such as religion, and how the government constrains our
activities vis á vis power elite theories and pluralistic theories, and how the United States government passed segregation laws
(made by the ultimate in group in order to consolidate their power). We have taken a look at stratification in the United States and
in the world system and have tried to understand, albeit, somewhat superficially, why inequality exists. We have studied racism,
sexism, and ageism and have looked at some of the truly horrific consequences of inequality. All in all, we have been introduced
to Sociology.
It is my hope that you will have learned to look at the world in which you live with new eyes, and, using your critical
thinking skills, to be able to analyze the human condition in ways you never before dreamed! Perhaps I will see some of you
again in my classes at the University!
Index
!Kung, 51
“and eek men shal nat make ernest of game”, 30
“She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping,”, 87
“The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the
color line”, 78
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of
the color line,”, 13
“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught.”, 79
1964 Civil Rights Act, 79
1965 Voting Rights Act, 79
5 largest countries in Western Europe, 62
A Few English Words with Non-English Roots, 31
AARP, 94
abominations of the body, 51
Achieved statuses, 45
ACT, 14
active euthanasia, 97
Activity Theory, 96
actors, 50
acts, 50
Adopted or fictive kin, 103
Affirmative Action, 108
age structure, 74
ageism, 94, 95
Ageism, 96
ageist stereotypes, 96
agents of socialization, 38
aging, 93
Agrarianists, 43
Alcoholism, 93
alien” relocation, 82
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN
KINDERGARTEN, 104
Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the
Conscience of a Nation, 64
American core values, 34
Amish, 51
An Extremely Simplified Model of the Hawthorne
Experiment, 26
androgyny, 88
Anomie, 53
anticipatory socialization, 38
apartheid, 79
Applied Sociology, 13
ascribed (unearned and socially defined) master status,
79
ascribed master status, 79
ascribed status, 88
Ascribed statuses, 45
Assimilation, 80
audience, 50
August Comte, 11
Authoritarianism, 116
Authority, 19
Baby Boomers, 93
baseline, 24
basic steps in the scientific method, 21
Berdache, 103
Betty Friedan, 96
Bilateral descent, 103
biological differences and physical differences, 87
birth rate, 74
Blau and Duncan, 64
blemishes of individual character, 51
body language, 30
Bourgeoisie, 12
Brahman, 59
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 79
bureaucracy, 13, 43, 48
C. Wright Mills, 9, 10, 13, 60
capital punishment, 52
case studies, 27
caste system, 59
categorical ideas, 78
causality, 25
cause and effect, 20
cause and effect relationship, 24
changes in personality, 93
characteristics of bureaucracies, 48
Charisma, 112
Charismatic authority, 115
charismatic leader, 112
Charles Dickens, 42
Charles Horton Cooley, 14, 37, 46, 47
Charles Murray, 64
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 87
Chicago School of Sociology, 13
churches, 112
civic religions, 112
Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, 88
civil unions, 103
class system, 59
class, status, and power, 12
clinical depression, 93
closed form, 59
Code of Ethics, 28
coercive power, 59
cognitive culture, 29
cognitive dissonance, 80
cohort, 93
cohort effect, 93
collection and analysis of data, 27
colonialism, 71
Colonialism, 72
community, 111
Community and Society, 43
Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups, 46
Comparison of Richest to Poorest Countries Based on
Selected Demographic Characteristics, 74
Computers, Increased Technology and the Mass Media,
108
concentration camps, 79
conceptual definition, 24
Conflict model, 9
Conflict Paradigm, 40, 72
Conflict perspective, 96
Conflict Perspective, 88
confounding variables, 25
consanguinal marriage, 103
Consanguineous kin, 103
consequences of ageism, 97
consequences of racism, 82
conspicuous consumption, 61
Conspicuous consumption, 61
conspicuous leisure, 61
Conspicuous leisure, 61
content analysis, 27
control group, 24
Cooley’s Looking-Glass Self, 50
Core, 72
Correlational studies, 25
Correlations, 25
cosmology, 111
Countercultures, 35
creaming effect, 60
Crimes against Consumer, Environmental Crime,
Institutional Corruption, Fiduciary Fraud, Crimes by
the Government, Corruption of Public Officials,
Medical Crime, and Computer Crime, 51
Critical thinking, 10
cross, 111
cults, 112
Cults, 112
Cultural assimilation, 80
Cultural Lag Hypothesis, 31
Cultural relativism, 35
Cultural universals, 31
culture, 4, 29, 50
culture of poverty, 64
Culture Shock, 35
Dalit, 59
data concerning the death penalty specifically and the
criminal justice system in general, 52
Davis-Moore debate, 60
de facto, 79
De facto discrimination, 79
De facto segregation and its relationship to busing, 105
de jure, 79
de jure discrimination, 79
dead languages, 31
Dead Languages, 31
define the problem, 24
degradation ceremony, 38
deity, 110
Democracy, 115
denomination, 110, 112
denominations, 111
dependency theory, 71
dependent population, 74
Dependent Variable, 24
Depression Kids, 93
Descent, 103
Deterrence theory, 52
develop a conclusion, 28
Deviance, 49
Dewey Wins, 28
Dictatorship, 116
Differential association theory, 55
direct personal discrimination, 79
discrimination, 79
Discrimination is a behavior, 79
dominant group, 79
double blind study, 24
dreadlocks, 111
Dred Scott Decision, 77
Durkheim, 12, 53
DV, 24
Dworkin and Dworkin, 79
dyad, 48
dysfunctional or negative consequences of deviance, 50
E. Digby Baltzell, 60
economic determinism, 41, 43
Educational and Occupational Opportunities, 106
Educational Credentials, 105
educational system, 38
elderly compete with younger members of society, 96
elite model, 60
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, 97
Émile Durkheim, 9, 12, 110
Epistemology, 19
Erving Goffman, 38, 51, 55, 79
essential characteristics of groups, 78
estate system, 59
Ethnicity, 79
ethnicity is self-defined, 79
ethnocentrism, 35, 80
ethnographic interviews, 27
ethnophaulisms, 79
Eugenics movement, 11
euthanasia, 97
Examples of Difference in a Few Cultural Universals, 32
examples of Groupthink, 48
Exclusive religions, 111
Experience, 19
Experimental designs, 27
experimental group, 24
experimental method, 24
expulsion, 82
face work, 38
face-work, 55
factors involved in increased suicide rates, 53
Fair Housing Act, 79
Faith, 19
family, 38
family, education, religion, law/politics/government, the
economy, medicine, and media, 46
Family, Education, Religion, Politics/Law/Government,
the Economy, Medicine, and Media, 6
family-like relationships, 94
fanaticism, 112
fealty, 112
female genital mutilation, 89
femininity, 87
Feminism, 87
feminization of poverty, 62
Feral children, 36
Ferdinand Tönnies, 43
fertility rate, 74
FGM, 89
First generation Americans, 81
First World, 70, 72
five largest states, 62
folkways, 93
Folkways, 35, 50
form of worship, 110
Formal social control, 50
Forms of stratification, 59
formulation of the hypothesis, 24
four basic elements of the social structure, 45
four characteristics of total institutions, 38
four elements of deviance, 50
four major castes, 59
four qualities of minority groups: 1) identifiability 2)
differential power 3) differential and pejorative
treatment 4) group awareness, 79
four relativisms of deviance, 50
four stages: 1) doubt; 2) search for alternatives; 3)
departure; 4) creation of a new identity, 46
four statistical measures of inequality, 70
Four Statistical Measures of Inequality in the World, 73
four systems of stratification, 59
Four Theories of Sociostructural Change, 45, 39–47
four types of suicide, 53
Franz Boas, 35
Frederick Engels, 42
Fritz Machlup, 20
functional or positive consequences of deviance, 50
Functionalist model, 9
Functionalist paradigm, 96
Functionalist Paradigm, 10, 40
Functionalists, 88
functionality of stratification, 60
Functions of Schooling, 104
Game Stage, 37
gay, 88
Gemeinschaft, 51
Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, 43
Gen X, 93
gender, 87
Gender, 87
gender differences in role continuity, 96
gender identity, 88
gender roles, 88
Gender roles, 87
General deterrence theories, 52
Generalized Other, 38
Genie, 36
Genocidal Monsters and Their Crimes, 85
Genocide, 82
Georg Simmel, 9, 13, 47
George Herbert Mead, 13, 37
George Ritzer, 10, 48
Gerhard Lenski and Jean Lenski, 43
glass walls, 88
glass-ceiling, 88
Global Political Systems, 115
goal of science, 20
Goffman, 38
goods of society (wealth, power, and status), 8
goods of society—wealth, power, and status, 70
Gordon W. Allport, 78
Gossip, ridicule, shame, 51
Grey Panthers, 94
Gross Domestic Product, 70
Gross National Product, 70
Ground in the Mill, 42
group, 46
Group Polarization Phenomenon, 48
group relationships, 47
group size determines the quality of group relations, 47
group/organizational behavior, 110
groups, 45
Groupthink, 48
Affinal kin, 103
Hard Times, 42
Harriet Martineau, 11
Hawthorne effect, 25
Hawthorne Effect, 25
Hawthorne experiment, 25
Helen Rose Ebaugh, 46
Herbert Blumer, 14, 39
Herbert Gans, 64
Herbert Spencer, 11
Heterosexuality, 88
hidden curriculum, 104
Hijra, 103
Hispanic women, 88
Hispanics, 86
Hochschild and Anne Machung, 88
homophobia, 88
homophobic, 88
Homosexuality, 88
homosocial reproduction, 88, 89
Hopi, 51
Hopwood, 108
Horticulturalists, 43
How to Observe Manners and Morals, 11
Dilemmas in the Schools and in Higher Education, 106
Home Schooling, 106
Hull House, 13
Human Institutions, 6
human subjects committees, 28
NCES, 109
Hunter-Gatherers, 43
Problems in the Schools, 109
hypothesis, 24
I, 37
ideal culture, 30
Ideal Types, 12
If the World Were A Village of 100 People, 71
Immanuel Wallerstein, 71, 72
immigrants, 80
Immigration Act, 79
Impression management, 38
Inclusive religions, 111
income, 60
independent rule, 71
Independent Variable, 24
indicators of stratification, 94
indirect institutional discrimination, 79
individual acts, 39
individualism, 116
Industrial Societies, 43
infant mortality rate, 74
infant mortality rates, 70
Informal social control, 51
information rich and information poor, 43
in-group, 47
institutions of society, 38
Institutions of Society, 6
inter-group relations, 47
INTERPRET, 14
intervening variables, 25
Involuntary social control, 50
iron cage, 13
Iron Law of Oligarchy, 48
Irving Janis, 48
isolated individual, 48
IV, 24
Jane Addams, 13
Jim Crow laws, 79
Jonathan Kozol, 64
just taking up space, 46
Karl Marx, 9, 11, 12
Karl Marx’s View of the Social Structure, 41
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, 60
Kinship, 103
knowledge acquisition, 19
Korematsu Decision, 77
Kshatriya, 59
Labeling theories, 56
labor power, 12
lack of jobs creates poverty, 64
Language, 30
language acquisition device, 30
Language enables people to store culture, 31
Language is dynamic, 30
Largest Denominations in the United States, 114
Largest Denominations in the World, 113
Largest Religions in the United States, 113
Largest World Religions, 113
Latent Functions, 104
Law, 50
laws, 50
laws of association, 78
legal boundaries, 47
legitimating mechanisms, 12
legitimation of the social structure, 110
lesbian, 88
Lester Ward, 13
Liberty Needs Glasses, 54
life chances, 70
life expectancy rates, 70
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, 60
linguistics, 30
literacy rates, 70
literacy tests, 78
lobbying group, 94
Looking Glass, 51
Looking Glass Self, 36, 37
Looking-Glass Self, 14, 88
Losing Ground, 64
Machlup’s conclusion, 20
macrolevel approach, 13
Magen David, 111
Maggie Kuhn, 94
mainstream feminism, 87
major dimensions of stratification, 59
majority status is unmarked or unstigmatized, 79
Manifest Functions, 104
Margaret Mead, 87
Margaret Sanger, 13
Marriage, 103
Marx’s model of the social structure, 41
Mary Daly, 87
masculinity, 87
Mass Education and Utilitarianism, 106
mass media, 38
Mass public education, 105
master status, 45, 47, 58, 112
Master Status, 9, 34, 45
Master Statuses, 58
material culture, 29
Matrilineal descent, 103
Matrilocality, 103
Max Weber, 9, 12, 43, 48, 59, 111
McCarran-Walter Act, 79
Me, 37
ME, 37
Mead's generalized other, 50
mechanical solidarity, 12
Mechanical solidarity, 12
Melvin Tumin, 60
mental categories, 78
mercantilism, 72
Merton’s Theory of Deviant Responses to Anomie, 55
Merton’s Typology of Deviant Responses to Anomie, 55
Michael Harrington, 43
microlevel approach, 13
Milgram, 28
Mind, Self, and Society, 13, 37
Minorities, 88
minority group, 79
minority status, 79
Minority-Majority, 86
Model of the Experimental Method, 25
Modern feminism, 87
modern natural and social sciences, 11
Modernization Theory, 72
Monarchy, 115
Monotheism, 111
monotheistic religions, 111
Mores, 35, 50
most damaging form of deviance, 52
most recent modern women’s movement, 88
Multicultural Education, 108
Multinational Corporations, 72
myths of the asexual and uninterested elder, 96
natural sciences, 20
Nature vs. Nurture, 36
Nazi Holocaust, 11
Negative Correlation, 26
negative social sanctions, 52
neocolonialism, 71
Neolocality, 103
net migration rate, 74
neutralization of deviance, 55
No Correlation, 27
Noam Chomsky, 30
non-material culture, 29
normative culture, 29
norms, 50, 93
Norms, 35, 49
objective/external, coercive, and concrete, 40
objectivity, 20
Occam’s Razor, 20
Old age, 93
oldest-old, 93
old-old, 93
oligarchy, 48
one-to-one (1:1), or perfect correlation, 25
open form, 59
operational definition, 24
Operationalizing, 24
organic solidarity, 12
Organic Solidarity, 12
Oscar Lewis, 64
ostracism, 51
out-group, 47
owners of private property, 12
owners of the means (land, labor, capital) and modes
(technologies) of production, 12
paradigm, 9
paradigms, 9
Paradigms, 10
Paradigms and theories, 9
Participant observation, 27
passive euthanasia, 97
Pastoralists, 43
Patrilineal descent, 103
Patrilocality, 103
patterns of primary and secondary structural
assimilation, 77–87
Peace, 118
Peer groups, 38
Per capita, 70
per capita GDP, 70
per capita GNP, 70
performing the role, 45
Peripheral, 72
personal power, 59
Peter Berger, 111
physical boundaries, 47
place, 50
Planned Parenthood, 13
Play Stage, 37
playing the role, 46
Plessy v. Ferguson, 77
pluralist model, 117
pluralistic model, 60
pogroms, 82
Political action committees, 116
political activism, 94
Political participation, 116
Political Parties, 116
Political revolution, 117
Politics, 115
Politics in the United States, 116
Poll taxes, 78
Polytheism, 111
polytheistic religions, 111
population, 27
portrayals of the elderly on television, 95
Positive Correlation, 26
Positive Philosophy, 11
Positivism, 11
Postindustrial Society, 43
postponed violence, 52
post-test, 24
poverty, 62
poverty is functional, 64
power, 47, 60
POWER, 86
Power Beyond the Rules, 117
Power elite theories, 60
power-elite model, 117
prejudice, 79
Prejudice is an attitude, 79
Preparatory (Imitative) Stage, 37
pre-test, 24
Primary deviance, 56
primary elements of culture, 34
primary group, 46
Primary structural assimilation, 80
process of becoming human, 36
productive capacity, 74
profane, 110
Proletariat, 12
property offenses, 50, 51
public order offenses, 51
Pure Sociology, 13
qualitative research, 24
Qualitative research designs, 27
quantitative research, 24
Quantitative research designs, 27
questionnaires, 27
Race, 78
race is defined by others, 78
Racism, 78, 79
radical lesbian feminism, 87
Ralph Nader, 52
random sample, 27
rationalization, 13
Rational-legal authority, 115
REACT, 14
real culture, 29–36
Recent Issues in U.S. Education, 109
Reliability, 25
religion, 110
Religion, 38, 110, 111
religion is about meaning, 110
religion serves a social purpose, 111
representative of something sacred, 111
representative sample, 27
research design, 27
research objectives, 24
resocialization, 38
resocialize, 37
reviewing the literature, 24
rites of passage, 38
Robert Merton, 54, 80
Robert Merton’s Typology of Bigotry (Prejudice and
Discrimination), 80
Robert Michels, 48
role conflict, 46
role exit, 46
Role Taking, 37
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, 88
Rosenblum and Travis, 79
Rosie the Riveter, 88
Rosoff, 52
rule by a few, 48
sacred, 110
sacred canopy, 111
sacred cosmos, 111
sacred symbol, 111
same sex marriage, 103
Sampling, 27
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, 30
Schooling, 104
Schooling in the Twenty-first century, 110
Science, 4
scientific inquiry, 20
scientific method, 21
scientific research, 19
second generation Americans, 81
Second World, 70, 72
secondary analysis, 27
Secondary deviance, 56
Secondary group, 46
Secondary structural assimilation, 80
sects, 112
Sects, 112
Semi-Peripheral, 72
separation between “church” and state, 112
SES, 9, 35, 45, 47, 58
seven criteria for comparing the social (soft) sciences to
the natural (hard) sciences, 20
Sex, 87
sex-appropriate behavior, 88
Sexism, 87
sexual activity, 93
shared with others, 110
Shift Phenomenon, 48
Shudra, 59
Significant Others, 37
single blind study, 24
situation, 50
six degrees of separation, 46
six types of societies, 43
slave system, 59
social acts, 39
social and cultural expectations that are associated with
a person’s sex, 87
social bonding theory, 55
social boundaries, 47
Social boundaries, 47
social construct, 78
social control, 50
social control theories, 55
Social Darwinism, 11
Social differentiation, 59
social disengagement theory, 96
Social Dynamics, 11
social expectations, 87
social imperative, 11
Social inequality, 59
social institution, 111
social institutions, 45
Social institutions, 46
Social Institutions, 4–9
social interaction, 39–47
Social labels, 56
Social learning theories, 55
Social mobility, 64
Social networks, 46
social position, 45
social positions, 46
Social positions, 59
social power, 59
social role, 46
social roles, 45, 46
Social roles, 93
social science, 4
social sciences, 5, 20
Social Statics, 11
social status, 45
Social stratification is a form of inequality in which
categories of people are systematically ranked in a
hierarchy on the basis of their access to scarce but
valued resources, 59
social structure, 39, 40
Social structure, 39
Socialization, 36–39, 36
socialization process, 36
socially and not numerically defined, 79
Societal attitudes toward aging, 95
societal institution, 110
society, 4, 30, 48
society is a mirror in which the individual is reflected, 14
sociocultural evolution, 43
Socioeconomic Status, 9
socioeconomic status of women, 96
Sociological explanations of the aging process, 96
Sociological Imagination, 10
Sociology, 4, 9–19
Sociology is a science, 19
Some, 16
Special-interest groups, 116
species, 78
Specific deterrence theory, 52
spouses caring for each other, 94
spurious variables, 25
stage theory of the development of the self, 37
stages of dying, 97
standard of living, 70
Star and Crescent, 111
Status, 60
Status/Prestige, 59
statuses, 45
Statuses, 45
Stigma, 51
stigmatized, 79
strain theory, 53
stratification, 96
Stratification, 58–70, 96
stratification hierarchy, 58
stratification is dysfunctional for society, 60
stratified random sample, 27
Street crime, 52
street crimes, 51
strength of the relationship, 25
structural discrimination, 79
Structural theories, 53
subculture, 35
Subculture theory, 96
Subcultures, 35
subjective interpretation, 27
subjective, abstract, and constantly changing, 40
subjects, 24
suicide, 53, 93
Suicide, 12
suicide rates, 53
superficial physical differences, 78
surveys, 27
survival of the fittest, 11
Sykes and Matza, 55
Sykes and Matza’s Techniques of Neutralization of
Deviance, 56
symbol of women working in jobs that had traditionally
gone to men, 88
Symbolic Interactionist model, 9
Symbolic Interactionist paradigm, 14, 96
Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm, 13, 40
Symbolic Interactionist perspective, 88
Symbolic Interactionist theory, 96
symbols, 111
system of belief, 110
system of morality, 111
tabula rasa, 36–39
Terrorism, 117
that which is perceived to be real is real in its
consequences, 79
The 62 Poorest Countries in the World, 75
the ability to control the labor of others, 12
The Bell Curve, 64
The Chicago School, 13
The Communist Manifesto, 12
The Conflict Paradigm, 9
The Declining Significance of Race, 64
The Dysfunctionality of Stratification, 60
The Enlightenment, 9, 11
The Flea, 50
The Fountain of Age, 96
The Functionality of Stratification, 60
the goods of society (wealth, status, power), 59
the Iron Cage of Bureaucracy, 48
The McDonaldization of Society, 48
The Power Elite, 60
The Scientific Method: The Steps and Sub-Steps
Explained, 21
The Second Coming, 53
The Second Shift, 88
the Self, 37
The Sociological Imagination, 9, 10, 13
The Souls of Black Folk, 13
The Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm, 10
The Theory of the Leisure Class, 60, 61
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of
Bureaucracies, 49
Deviance, 57
Religion, 114
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, 16
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Explanations of the
Socialization Process, 39
The Three Sociological Paradigms: Views of the Social
Structure, 41
The Truly Disadvantaged, 64
The War Against the Poor, 64
Theoretical Analysis of Politics, 117
theoretical responses to the existence of bureaucracies,
48
theories of the causes of poverty, 64
theory, 10
third generation Americans, 81
Third World, 70, 72
Thomas’ Theorem, 14, 58
Thomas’s Theorem, 79
Thomas’s Theorem, which states that things perceived to
be real are real in their consequences, 78
Thomas’s Theorem—that which is perceived to be real is
real in its consequences, 80
Thorstein Veblen, 60, 61
three basic types of crimes, 50
Three Major Sociological Paradigms, 15
three primary types of norms, 50
three types of crimes listed by the FBI, 51
three types of groups, 48
time, 50
total institution, 38, 93
Totalitarianism, 116
Tracking, 105
Tradition, 19
traditional American assimilation pattern, 81
Traditional authority, 115
Trail of Tears, 79, 82
triad, 48
tribal stigma, 51, 79
Tupac Shakur, 54
turbans, 111
Tuskegee Experiment, 11
two components of the Self, 37
two types of discrimination, 79
types of social interaction, 39
Types of Societies, 44
Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination (Bigotry), 80
A Nation at Risk, 106
ultimate in group, 62
ultimate in-group, 47, 79
Unequal Access to Schooling and Educational
Inequality, 105
United States is inarguably the richest nation in the
world, 62
Vaishya, 59
Validity, 25
value-free research, 12
value-free theories, 12
Values, 34
variable, 24
variables, 24
verbal symbols, 30
verification, 20
Verification, 20
Verstehen, 12
Victor, 36, 37
violent crime, 50, 51
Voluntary social control, 50
W. E. B. DuBois, 13
W. I. Thomas, 58
W.E.B. DuBois, 78
War, 117
WASP, 60
Wealth, 60
wealth, power, and status, 59
Weber, 60
welfare state, 116
When Work Disappears, 64
white collar crime, 52
White collar crime, 51
White Collar Crime, 51
white ethnics, 81
William Butler Yeats, 53
William F. Ogburn, 29, 31
William Foote Whyte’s Street Corner Society, 27
William I. Thomas, 14
William Julius Wilson, 64
William of Ockham, 20
working classes in Manchester, 42
World Systems Theory, 71, 72
xenocentrism, 35
xenophobia, 35
young-old, 93
Zimbardo, 28
End Notes and References
1
Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology: 2nd Edition. Thompson, William E. and Joseph V. Hickey. New York: HarperCollins. 1996. Sociology: Sixth
Edition. Schaefer, Richard T. and Robert P. Lamm. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Andersen, Margaret L. and
Howard F. Taylor. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 2000.
2
3
4
5
A paradigm is a model; a viewpoint or perspective; a particular way of looking at the world; a specific pattern of thought, belief, or understanding; an archetype;
a Weltanschauung. Paradigms are much broader than theories, and are the driving mechanisms behind the development of theories in all scientific disciplines.
For example, if we believe that the earth is flat (a paradigm), then we develop methods (theories) of navigating on a non-curved surface, and we devise
explanations (theories) for the transit of extra-planetary bodies. Unfortunately, in every day parlance, we often use the word “theory” as if it was synonymous with
the word “paradigm,” which regularly leads to confusion.
6
The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) out of the University of Chicago, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
(ICPSR) out of the University of Michigan, are two national social science research organizations whose findings are often used in public policy and public
information forums.
7
8
Source A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. p. 266.
9
10
11
Master Status includes race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, religion, disability, and SES (socioeconomic status which is inclusive of the combined effects of income,
occupation, and education). Master Status is a ranking that combines several factors to assess peoples’ positions in the stratification hierarchy (levels of social
acceptance by the dominant group). Of all the statuses a person occupies, it is the one that largely defines who that person is, and what his or her goals and
opportunities are. All people have at least one and possibly several Master Statuses. For example, this writer occupies several statuses in society: white, married,
female, middle-aged, upper middle class, professor of Sociology and her Master Status (as is true with most people) is the way in which she defines herself to
herself and others. Master Status includes those elements we are born with (ascribed statuses) as well as those we accomplish or attain through our own efforts
(achieved statuses). Ascribed statuses include those aspects of ourselves that we are born with and that we do not generally change such as our race/ethnicity, sex,
eye color and shape, hair texture, and basic physical appearance (phenotype). Achieved statuses on the other hand are those aspects of ourselves that require us to
do something to accomplish such as our adult income, education, and occupation (SES). One’s Master Status, or the Master Status one chooses to present, is
sometimes situationally dependent. For instance, this writer’s Master Status as a professor of Sociology generally becomes evident only when performing the
role of professor of Sociology. Her Master Status as a white female, although always evident, is largely ignored unless whiteness or femaleness becomes a
particular situational issue.
12
Everyone has master status—the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group! It is not about social acceptability as
such. Various parts of our master status make us more or less acceptable, more or less privileged vis á vis the dominant group, but everyone has race/ethnicity,
sex/gender, age, religion, ability/disability, and SES (income+education+occupation) whether or not they are part of the dominant group. Consider a Hispanic
doctor in the 1930s—his (note the male pronoun) master status as a doctor (SES) is privileged but his master status as a Hispanic (race/ethnicity) is not, vis á vis
the dominant group. Both minorities and dominant group members have master status—to reiterate, the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a
member of the dominant group!
13
14
15
16
17
18
Weltanschauung—a German word which, literally translated, means worldview. It is the way one sees one’s own place in the world, one’s understanding of the
way their world functions—our expectations of our physical and social universe. One’s Weltanschauung is based on sociohistorical/sociocultural time and place,
epistemology, and theology. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology by Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill, and Bryan S. Turner defines Weltanschauung as “a
term synonymously used with world-vision . . . [to] refer to the set of beliefs constituting an outlook on the world characteristic of a particular social group, be it
social class, generation, or religious sect. For example, the worldview of the nineteenth-century [sic] entrepreneur is said to comprise individualism, thrift, a sense
of family propriety, moral order and moderate religious devotion” (p. 463).
19
20
21
The Conflict model was derived from the works of Karl Marx and Max Weber.
The Functionalist model was developed by Émile Durkheim.
The Symbolic Interactionist model was derived from the works of Georg Simmel and Max Weber.
22
The oldest of the Sociological paradigms are the Conflict Paradigm and the Functionalist Paradigm. The Conflict Paradigm argues that all of society is in a
constant state of conflict (economic competition), whereas the Functionalist Paradigm posits that all of society is characterized by consensus and stability. Even in
the natural sciences this dichotomy exists—is the geophysical world characterized by stability or by change? According to paleontologist and essayist Stephen Jay
Gould, the geophysical (geological) world is characterized by long periods of relative stability that are occasionally disrupted by cataclysmic and often (quite
literally) world changing events, such as the destruction of the dinosaurs by a massive collision with an asteroid (the dinosaurs were the dominant form of life on
this planet for several hundred million years). Gould calls this process of stability interrupted by change, punctuated equilibrium. The essence of Gould’s
argument is applicable to the geopolitical (social, human) world. Throughout most of our existence as humans, society seemed relatively stable over time.
However, there are world changing, world shattering events which create not only great change but also great crises. How and even if such “punctuated
equilibrium” exists has long been the driving question behind the sociological inquiries associated with the four great paradigms.
23
Zeitgeist is a German word which literally means “spirit of the time.” It is the milieu, sociocultural climate, atmosphere, environment, or mood of a specific
sociohistorical period.
24
25
26
27
28
29
John Locke (1632-1704) in The Second Treatise of Government laid the groundwork for Jean Jacques Rousseau’s (1712-1788) The Social Contract. Both of
these works questioned the “Divine Right of Kings” and argued that governments are instituted by God but exist only “with the consent of the governed.” A
concept central to American democracy and stated in the written Declaration of Independence in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson.
30
Martin Luther (1483-1546), although a pre-Enlightenment figure, developed a new theology in which the church was no longer needed as an intercessor
between humankind and God. Luther argued that every man is his own priest, that the spark of the divine is within everyone, therefore, anyone, with proper
catechetical education, would be able to interpret God’s will through God’s words without the interference of a corrupt or potentially corrupt hierarchical clergy
ruled from a foreign city. Luther’s Protestant Reformation, which began in 1507), led to the translation of the Bible from Latin into the common languages of the
peoples of Europe, which ultimately ushered in an understanding of human beings as individuals and not merely as collectivities—a truly radical and
revolutionary concept in human history.
31
32
Locke and Rousseau among others.
Locke and Rousseau among others.
33
Epistemology—in philosophy, the theories of the acquisition and maintenance of knowledge; the study of the ways in which knowledge is gained.
Epistemology has also been called “ways of knowing.” Some of our “ways of knowing” are: Experience—empirical knowledge gained through the senses and
verified through personal experience; Faith—a strong belief in “truths” that can be verified only by personal experience; Tradition— knowledge, often based on
faith, that has been passed down from one generation to the next; Authority—knowledge gained by listening to people who are recognized as experts in their
fields; Science—knowledge based on empirical evidence gained through direct, systematic observation.
34
Modern science has many of its roots in the work of René Descartes (1596-1650) who “gave four rules for reasoning: (1) Accept nothing as true that is not selfevident. (2) Divide problems into their simplest parts. (3) Solve problems by proceeding from simple to complex. (4) Recheck the reasoning. . . . For Descartes, all
knowledge was like a tree—with metaphysics forming the roots, physics the trunk, and medicine, mechanics, and morals the branches—on which the fruit of
knowledge is produced” (December 2, 1999.)
35
Much of the Enlightenment/Age of Reason was synchronous with the French Revolution—that bloody period beginning with the storming of La Bastille on
July 14, 1789 when the ruling class was swept away in an ocean of blood and society was cleansed of their domination, only, of course, to suffer under a new and
equally brutal ruling class during an interval known as The Reign of Terror (1793-1795). Even though the rallying cry of the peasant revolutionaries of France was
“Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood), it took more than a quarter of a century for France to restabilize following the revolution—the
triumph of Napoleon in 1804 and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars throughout Europe aided the destabilization.
36
37
38
39
There is a story that Marx, the eldest child, was not only intellectually precocious but that he was gifted with a rollicking, albeit extraordinarily bizarre, sense of
humor. According to the story, he often engaged in long, self-designed comedic performances for his sisters which purportedly sent his mother and sisters into
gales of nearly uncontrollable laughter. If this story is true, perhaps he was the original Marx brother and should have been called Reddo! Buchholz, Todd G., New
Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought. Plume/Penguin. New York: 1990. Chapter VI.
40
41
42
43
44
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Edited and translated by Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills. Oxford U.P., New York. 1946/1958.
Source A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. pp. 698-699.
45
46
DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. Signet. 1995. p. 41.
47
48
Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context. Lewis A. Coser. Harcourt. Fort Worth. 1977. p. 521.
49
Photo of poster courtesy of: http://store.nrm.org/browse.cfm/4,199.html This illustration first appeared in Look magazine in 1964 and is titled “The Problem
We All Live With.”
50
51
The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. NUMBER: 42813. “A plurality should not be asserted without necessity.” ATTRIBUTION: William of Ockham
(1300–1348), British scholastic philosopher. Quodlibeta Septem. Scriptum in Librum Primum Sententiarum, Opera Theologica, I, p. 74 (c. 1320). So-called
“Ockham’s razor.”http://www.bartleby.com/66/13/42813.html.Also stated as “entities must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary.”
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
Perrow, Charles. Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay, 3rd Edition New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. p. 80.
Source: http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/hawthorne_02.html
Mayo, Elton. The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization. Salem: Ayer Company. 1988.Chapter IV.
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
William E. Thompson and Joseph V. Hickey. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology: Second Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1996, p. 164.
Carole Wade and Carol Tavris. Psychology: Second Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. pp. 656-658.
Ibid.
72
73
Source A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. pp. 359-360.
74
75
Howard F. Taylor. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 2000. Carole Wade and Carol Tavris. Psychology: Second Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. pp. 656-658.
76
77
78
79
80
Everyone has master status—the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group! It is not about social acceptability as
such. Various parts of our master status make us more or less acceptable, more or less privileged vis á vis the dominant group, but everyone has race/ethnicity,
sex/gender, age, religion, ability/disability, and SES (income + education + occupation) whether or not they are part of the dominant group. Consider a Hispanic
81
82
The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill, and Bryan S. Turner. Penguin: London: 1994: pp.287-288.
83
84
85
86
87
Source A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. P. 43.
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
Blumer, Herbert. Symbolic Interactionism. 1969.
100
101
102
103
Source A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. P. 648-649.
After Oettinger.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Penguin, London. 1995.
104
Manchester, which was a major manufacturing city of vast proportions, more than tripled its population between 1801 and 1841 which led to a wide variety of
social pathologies including, crime, prostitution, and unyielding poverty. Source: Flanagan, William G. Urban Sociology: Images and Structure: 2nd Edition.
Allyn and Bacon: Needham Heights, 1990.
105
106
107
108
Flanagan, William G. Urban Sociology: Images and Structure: 2nd Edition. Allyn and Bacon: Needham Heights, 1990.
Kozol, Jonathan. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996.
The institutions of society are: Family, Education, Religion, Law, Politics, and Government, the Economy, Medicine, and Media.
Family, religion, education, law, politics and government, medicine, media.
109
110
111
Tönnies, Ferdinand. Community and Society (Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft). Transaction: New Brunswick, 1996.
A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. p. 248-249.
112
113
114
Adapted from Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology: 2nd Edition. Thompson, William E. and Joseph V. Hickey. New York: HarperCollins. 1996.
The so-called G-8 nations are: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
115
Whereas whiteness is the societal norm and therefore without negative connotations, people of color (racial and ethnic minorities) do not enjoy the same high
level of socioeconomic and normative privilege from their Master Status as do whites. In America, whiteness is the unstigmatized or unmarked category. In other
words, being white in America is being able to be oblivious to racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination and to be oblivious to the harm that institutional
racism still inflicts.
116
117
118
119
Edition. Schaefer, Richard T. and Robert P. Lamm. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Andersen, Margaret L. and
120
121
A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. p. 266.
A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. p. 120-121.
122
123
Sociology: Sixth Edition. Schaefer, Richard T. and Robert P. Lamm. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Table 6.1, p. 154
124
125
126
Source A Dictionary of Sociology: 2nd Edition. Ed. Gordon Marshall. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 1998. p. 317-318.
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
Profit without Honor: White Collar Crime and the Looting of America. Rosoff, Stephen, Henry N. Pontell, Robert Tillman. Profit Without Honor: White
Collar Crime and the Looting of America. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall. 1998.
138
139
140
141
142
143
Donne, John . “The Flea” in The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Volume I. Eds. Frank Kermode, John Hollander, et al. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1973. pp. 1034-1035.
144
145
146
147
148
Sutherland, Edwin H. White Collar Crime. New York: Dryden, 1949.
149
This list is reproduced from the Table of Contents from the book Profit without Honor: White Collar Crime and the Looting of America. Rosoff, Stephen,
Henry N. Pontell, Robert Tillman. Profit Without Honor: White Collar Crime and the Looting of America. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall. 1998.
150
151
152
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1780075.stm. June 13, 2003.
Source: http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=4AF8A2EE-8E18-4DF2-9AFD-2E6795910E63. June 13, 2003.
153
Rosoff, Stephen, Henry N. Pontell, Robert Tillman. Profit Without Honor: White Collar Crime and the Looting of America. Upper Saddle River: PrenticeHall. 1998.
154
155
Source: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/6012808.htm. June 13, 2003.
Source: http://www.msnbc.com/news/924619.asp?0sl=-22&cp1=1#BODY. June 13, 2003.
156
157
158
159
Source: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=186. June 13, 2003.
U.S. Department of Justice. 1997.
160
161
162
163
Yeats, William Butler. “The Second Coming.” Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Laurence Perrine. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1988. p.820.
Yeats, William Butler. “The Second Coming.” Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Laurence Perrine. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1988. p.820.
164
Byron, George Gordon, Lord. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Volume II. Eds. Frank Kermode, John Hollander, et
al. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. pp. 293-307.
165
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Act III: Scene 1:Line 273 Boston: Dana Estes, 1901.
166
“Perhaps most common today is a note of uncertainty, not a desire to turn back to the past but an anxiety about where we seem to be headed. In this view,
modernity seems to be a period of enormously rapid change, a transition from something relatively fixed toward something not yet clear.” Source: Bellah, Robert,
et. al. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: UC Press: 1985/1996. p.276.
167
Source: ©2002 The Tupac-Online™ Network. All rights reserved.
168
169
Merton, Robert K. American Sociological Review 3 (Oct. 1938): 672-82.
170
171
172
Sutherland, Edwin H. American Sociological Review 10, no. 2 (1945): 132-39.
Hirschi, Travis (1969) Causes and Delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
173
174
Sykes, G. and Matza, D.A. (1957) “Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency.” American Sociological Review. 22: 664-670.
175
176
177
Becker, Howard S. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: Free Press, 1963.
Lemert, Edwin M. Social Pathology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951.
178
179
Lemert, Edwin M. Social Pathology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951.
180
181
182
The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill, and Bryan S. Turner. Penguin: London: 1994: pp. 413-414.
Power and Privilege: A Theory of Social Stratification. Gerhard Lenski. UNC Press. Chapel Hill. 1984. Italics in original.
183
184
Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context. Lewis A. Coser. Harcourt. Fort Worth. 1977. p. 521.
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
Davis, Kingsley and Wilbert E. Moore. “Some Principles of Stratification.” In David B. Grusky, Ed. Social Stratification: Class, Race, & Gender in
Sociological Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. 39-46. Tumin, Melvin M. “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis.” In David B.
Grusky, Ed. Social Stratification: Class, Race, & Gender in Sociological Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. 47-54.
192
Davis, Kingsley and Wilbert E. Moore. “Some Principles of Stratification.” In David B. Grusky, Ed. Social Stratification: Class, Race, & Gender in
Sociological Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. 39-46. Tumin, Melvin M. “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis.” In David B. Grusky,
Ed. Social Stratification: Class, Race, & Gender in Sociological Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. 47-54.
193
E. Digby Baltzell’s 1964 classic The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America introduced us to the term WASP—white, Anglo-Saxon
Protestant. In his 20 year long study Baltzell found that most of those in positions of power in industry, politics and government, the media, academia, religion,
and the military were indeed WASPs and WASP men at that. Other more recent studies tend to indicate that there have been few changes in the racial/ethnic,
sexual, or religious make-up of those who wield the most power in the United States—the WASPs still rule!
194
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was an ordained minister serving in Dublin, Ireland at St. Patrick’s. “An ardent pacifist who loathed cruelty, imperialism, and war,
he wrote many pamphlets,” articles, and essays that specifically addressed various aspects of the egregious inequality rampant in the Ireland of his day. “A Modest
Proposal” was a biting satire concerning the inhumanely cruel way in which the ruling British treated the poverty stricken and sometimes starving Irish peasant.
Various laws in Britain had been passed which left the Irish peasantry with no legal status and nowhere to turn to ease their crushing poverty. Swift’s essay
proposed that the Irish should begin to raise human infants for sale to the British middle and upper classes as food. His point being that British laws and British
imperialism were draining the very lifeblood of the Irish peasants. The death rate among Irish children was so high at the time that Swift argued the British were
devouring Irish posterity. In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift also scathingly satirized the British Parliament, science, philosophy, and morality. The Houyhnhnms
(pronounced “whĭ´ nĭmz to equate to the sound of a whinnying horse) were a civilization of sentient horses who were the ultimate in rationalism—the
philosophical assumption that all knowledge may be gained through the use of reason and that the mind is so constructed as to be capable of rendering the truth in
all areas of importance without the use of sense data. A tribal group of animals called the Yahoos lived on the outskirts of Houyhnhnm society and engaged in
highly emotional, non-rational, indeed wild and uncontrolled (uncivilized) behavior that was so deeply disturbing to the Houyhnhnms that they enslaved and even
killed the Yahoos. Dr. Gulliver was profoundly impressed with the completely rational Houyhnhnms and loathed the Yahoos. He was, in fact, so seriously
shocked by the Yahoos that that he hovered precipitously on the edge of insanity when he discovered that he was a Yahoo because the Yahoos were human beings
(Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver’s Travels, Penguin Books: London, 1967).
195
Veblen, in Grusky, p. 104.
196
The development of creatures such as lap dogs that are so small and in some cases so physically deformed that they would be unable to live without the support
of humans is a case in point. Other than lap dogs, wealthy Victorians (people of Veblen’s time period) had a wide variety of items that existed primarily for their
general uselessness or frivolousness. Gazebos were sometimes called follies because they were seldom used and their value was in their obviousness to passersby
or visitors.
197
Source: Forbes Magazine. March 18, 2002. pp. 119-145.
198
Source: CIA World Factbook On-Line. January 2, 2002.
199
Source: CIA World Factbook On-Line. April 2003.
200
Source: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/income.pdf; June 2003. http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/pop.pdf; June 2003.
201
Extrapolated from data in The Statistical Abstract of the U.S 2001. On-Line August 13, 2002
202
203
Gilbert, Dennis and Joseph A. Kahl. The American Class Structure: A New Synthesis, 4th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1993. Klein, Joe. “The Predator
Problem” Newsweek, 29 Apr. 1996, 32. Marger, Martin H. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives, Third Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth,
1994. Monk, Richard C. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Race and Ethnicity. Guilford: Dushkin, 1994. Murray, Charles. Losing Ground:
American Social Policy 1950-1980. New York: Basic Books, 1984. West, Cornel. Race Matters. New York: Vintage, 1993. Wilson, William Julius. The Truly
Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1987.
204
Hyperghettoization is not a word that Wilson uses, the term however, is one that has come to be of some significance in sociological discussions of the innercity. Basically the term means that “the exodus of black middle-class professionals from the inner-city has been increasingly accompanied by a movement of
stable working-class blacks to higher-income neighborhoods in other parts of the city and to the suburbs . . .[leaving] today's ghetto residents [to] represent almost
exclusively the most disadvantaged of the urban black community” thereby setting the scene for such pathologies as extremely high percentages of violent
criminality, out-of-wedlock births, intractable joblessness, welfare dependency, and lack of job skills. It is the collapse of the institutions of society and pervasive
anomic conditions that leads to this condition.
205
Problem” Newsweek, 29 Apr. 1996, 32. Marger, Martin H. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives, Third Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth,
1994. Monk, Richard C. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Race and Ethnicity. Guilford: Dushkin, 1994. Murray, Charles. Losing Ground:
American Social Policy 1950-1980. New York: Basic Books, 1984. West, Cornel. Race Matters. New York: Vintage, 1993. Wilson, William Julius. The Truly
Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1987.
206
Problem” Newsweek, 29 Apr. 1996, 32.
207
Kozol, Jonathan. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996. p. 107.
208
Ibid. p. 3.
209
Personal communication with Andrea White, December 2000.
210
Extrapolated from data in The Statistical Abstract of he U.S 2001. On-Line August 13, 2002.
211
212
213
This quote is from a speech by Winston Churchill. I have not been able to find the attribution.
214
Special Contribution by 2001 HBU Developmental and Educational Seminar Input by [email protected]. Minor alterations (typos, grammar, etc.) by
Walter Stanish. Archived at Pratyeka.
215
Roseberry, William. “Peasants and the World.” In Economic Anthropology. Ed. Stuart Plattner. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1989. pp. 108-126.
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
CIA World Factbook On-line. 2002. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/nh.html January 2, 2002.
World Population Clock. http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
CIA World Factbook On-line. 2002. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/nh.html
Allport Gordon W. The Nature of Prejudice: 25th Anniversary Edition. Perseus: Reading. 1979. p. 171.
Allport Gordon W. The Nature of Prejudice: 25th Anniversary Edition. Perseus: Reading. 1979. p. 103; italics in original.
225
The J-curve theory states that the essential attributes of a group—these characteristics that define the group—tend to follow a J-curve type of distribution.
Furthermore, a J-curve distribution, by definition, includes only group members—no non-group member can be fitted statistically into the distribution. Allport
Gordon W. The Nature of Prejudice: 25th Anniversary Edition. Perseus: Reading. 1979. p. 97.
226
227
DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. Signet. 1995. p. 41.
Ibid. p. 45.
228
229
Everyone has master status—the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group! It is not about social acceptability
as such. Various parts of our master status make us more or less acceptable, more or less privileged vis á vis the dominant group, but everyone has race/ethnicity,
230
Rosenblum, Karen E. and Toni-Michelle C. Travis. The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, and Sexual
Orientation: Second Edition Boston: McGraw-Hill. 2000.
231
Everyone has master status—the word “master” has absolutely nothing to do with being a member of the dominant group! It is not about social acceptability
as such. Various parts of our master status make us more or less acceptable, more or less privileged vis á vis the dominant group, but everyone has race/ethnicity,
232
233
234
Ibid.
The source for this line from South Pacific is my own memory.
235
Harrison and Bennett, “Racial and Ethnic Diversity” in Farley State of the Union: America in the 1990s, Volume Two: Social Trends, pp. 157-164). Harrison,
Roderick J. and Claudette E. Bennett. “Racial and Ethnic Diversity” In State of the Union: America in the 1990s, Volume Two: Social Trends. Reynolds Farley,
Ed. New York: Russell Sage, 1995. 141-210. Farley, Reynolds. The New American Reality: Who We Are, How We Got There, Where We Are Going. New York:
Russell Sage, 1996.
236
Harrison, Roderick J. and Claudette E. Bennett. Racial and Ethnic Diversity.” In State of the Union: America in the 1990s, Volume Two: Social Trends.
Reynolds Farley, Ed. New York: Russell Sage, 1995. 141-210. Current, Richard N. and T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, Alan Brinkley. American History: A
Survey, Sixth Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.Marger, Martin. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives: Fourth Edition.
Wadsworth: Belmont, CA. 1996.
237
Harrison, Roderick J. and Claudette E. Bennett. Racial and Ethnic Diversity.” In State of the Union: America in the 1990s, Volume Two: Social Trends.
Reynolds Farley, Ed. New York: Russell Sage, 1995. 141-210. Current, Richard N. and T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, Alan Brinkley. American History: A
Survey, Sixth Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.Marger, Martin. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives: Fourth Edition.
Wadsworth: Belmont, CA. 1996.
238
239
240
Rosenblum, Karen E. and Toni-Michelle C. Travis. The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, and Sexual
Orientation: Second Edition Boston: McGraw-Hill. 2000.
241
242
Marger, Martin. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives: Fourth Edition. Wadsworth: Belmont, CA: 1996.
De jure discrimination is discrimination that is supported by laws. It is legal and legally enforced discrimination.
243
De facto discrimination is discrimination that exists in fact even when that discrimination is illegal. The kind of structural discrimination—discrimination
based on the racism inherent in the American social structure—that is so prevalent in America today.
244
Harrison, Roderick J. and Claudette E. Bennett. “Racial and Ethnic Diversity” in State of the Union: America in the 1990s Volume Two: Social Trends.
Reynolds Farley, Ed. New York: Russell Sage 1995. 141-210. Current, Richard N. and T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, Alan Brinkley. American History: A
Survey Sixth Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1987. Marger Martin, Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives: Fourth Edition.
Wadsworth: Belmont CA. 1996.
245
Jews have been prevented from joining various clubs living in certain neighborhoods enrolling in certain schools and kept out of certain professions. In some
areas of New York during the great white ethnic immigration (circa 1880-1915), signs reading “No dogs or Irish (or Italians) allowed!” were ubiquitous.
246
Ibid.
247
Parts of Mexico have been annexed through war—Texas, Arizona, New Mexico—and parts through treaty—most of California and the Southernmost borders
of Arizona and New Mexico through the Gadsden Purchase. The history of Mexico since the coming of the European conqueror/explorers has been fraught with
internal strife and external pressure.
248
Harrison, Roderick J. and Claudette E. Bennett. “Racial and Ethnic Diversity” in State of the Union: America in the 1990s Volume Two: Social Trends.
Reynolds Farley, Ed. New York: Russell Sage 1995. 141-210. Current, Richard N. and T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, Alan Brinkley. American History: A
Survey Sixth Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1987. Marger Martin, Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives: Fourth Edition.
Wadsworth: Belmont CA. 1996.
249
250
251
252
253
254
Ibid.
Power, Samantha. “A Problem form Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide. Perennial, New York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4. p. 57.
Power, Samantha. “A Problem form Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide. Perennial, New York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
Source: http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html
Power, Samantha. “A Problem form Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide. Perennial, New York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
255
Source: http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html. Power, Samantha. “A Problem form Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide. Perennial, New
York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
256
York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
257
York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
258
York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
259
York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
260
York: 2003. ISBN: 0-06-054164-4.
261
262
263
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland, The Yellow Wall-Paper, and Selected Writings. Penguin: New York . 1999. p. 320.
264
265
266
267
In Melanesia, there are male rite-of-passage rituals in which homosexual behavior is normative. Among the Etoro of New Guinea, homosexual activity is part
of the belief system, and heterosexual activity is engaged in sparingly and only for procreation. Bisexuality is sexual attraction to people of both sexes and is
normative in parts of Mombassa, Kenya where the activity is based on extreme social differentiation between males and females.
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
Hochschild, Arlie Russell, and Anne Machung. The Second Shift. Avon: New York. 1989. p. 3.
Rosie the Riveter photo courtesy of: http://www.art.com/asp/sp.asp?PD=10059796
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books, 1977.
Daly, Mary. Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon: Boston. 1990. pp. 156-157.
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
Binstock, Robert H. “A New Era in the Politics of Aging: How Will the Old-Age Interest Groups Respond?” Generations: Journal of the American Society on
Aging. 19.3 (1995): 68-74.
288
Hubbard, Pamela, Perla Werner, Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, and Rochelle Shusterman. “Seniors for Justice: A Political and Social Action Group for Nursing
Home Residents.” The Gerontologist. 32.6 (1992) 856-858.
289
Hubbard, Pamela, Perla Werner, Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, and Rochelle Shusterman. “Seniors for Justice: A Political and Social Action Group for Nursing
Home Residents.” The Gerontologist. 32.6 (1992) 856-858.
290
“Old, But Far From Feeble,” The Economist 12 Mar. 1988: 30.
291
A Profile of Older Americans. (Washington: AARP, Program Resources Department, 1994) 1-9. Rhodebeck, Laurie A. “The Politics of Greed? Political
Preferences among the Elderly.” The Journal of Politics. 55.2 (1993): 342-364.
292
INFO-PAK (Washington: American Association of Retired Persons, National Gerontology Research Center, 1995) N. page. “AARP News: Fact Sheet.”
(Washington: American Association of Retired Persons, Communications Division, 1995) 1-10.
293
294
295
296
297
298
Kingson, Eric R. “Generational Equity: An Unexpected Opportunity to Broaden the Politics of Aging.” The Gerontologist. 28.6 (1988): 765-772.
“Old, But Far From Feeble,” The Economist 12 Mar. 1988: 30.
Rosenbaum, Walter A., and James W. Button. “The Unquiet Future of Intergenerational Politics.” The Gerontologist. 33.4 (1993): 481-490.
Rosenbaum, Walter A., and James W. Button. “The Unquiet Future of Intergenerational Politics.” The Gerontologist. 33.4 (1993): 481-490.
Salant, Jonathan D. “Where the PAC Money Goes.” Congressional Quarterly 15 Apr 1995: 1058-1059.
Rhodebeck, Laurie A. “The Politics of Greed? Political Preferences among the Elderly.” The Journal of Politics. 55.2 (1993): 342-364.
299
Binstock, Robert H. “A New Era in the Politics of Aging: How Will the Old-Age Interest Groups Respond?” Generations: Journal of the American Society
on Aging. 19.3 (1995): 68-74.
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on Aging. 19.3 (1995): 68-74.
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on Aging. 19.3 (1995): 68-74.
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Binstock, Robert H. “A New Era in the Politics of Aging: How Will the Old-Age Interest Groups Respond?” Generations: Journal of the American Society on
Aging. 19.3 (1995): 68-74.
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Butler, Robert N. “Politics versus Policy in the Health Care Debate.” The Gerontologist. 14.5 (1994) 614-615.
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McClaren in Annual Editions: Aging. Ed. Harold Cox. Dushkin: Guilford. 1995.
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The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology: Third Edition. Abercrombie, et. al. London: Penguin. 1994. p. 356.
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On the birthday of North Korea’s Kim Jung Il in 2001, there were reports across the country of miraculous lights in the sky, comets, a rain of stars,
spontaneous healings, and other remarkable events.
340
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Source: www.adherents.com. August 21, 2001.

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