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2.2 Study guide for part i

Minority Studies: A Brief Sociological Text is a very, very brief textbook suitable for use as a supplemental or stand-alone text in a college-level minority studies Sociology course. Any instructor who would choose to use this as a stand-alone textbook would need to supply a large amount of statistical data and other pertinent and extraneous Sociological material in order to "flesh-out" fully this course. Each module/unit of Minority Studies: A Brief Sociological Text contains the text, course objectives, a study guide, key terms and concepts, a lecture outline, assignments, and a reading list.

Study guide for part i

Be able to define and discuss stratification/inequalityStratification
- The unequal distribution of the goods of society
  - Wealth, power, status
- Social inequality
  - A system in which people are denied access to the goods of society based on their group membership
Define, discuss, and give examples of master statusReview master statusRace or ethnicity, sex or gender, age, religion, disability, and SESSES
- S ocio e conomic S tatus= income+education+occupation
Define and discuss SES
- What is SES and how does it impact peoples’ lives?
The stratification hierarchy
- Where someone is placed in terms of access to wealth, power, and status
- Based on various aspects of their master status
- How does the stratification hierarchy affect
  - Racial and ethnic minorities?
  - Women?
  - Sexual orientation minorities?
  - Religious minorities?
  - The disabled?
Define Thomas’s Theorem and explain how it relates to issues of stratification/inequality
- How do our concepts of reality affect the way we judge others?
- Discuss the ways in which the human mind creates social categories
- Define and discuss stereotypes
  - How many stereotypes about groups other than your own can you list?
    - Are any of these stereotypes true?
    - Why or why not?
  - How many stereotypes about your own group can you list?
    - Are any of these stereotypes true?
    - Why or why not?
Define and describe social differentiation
Explain and give examples of social positions
- Rankings of roles and statuses
Explain and give examples of social mobility
- What is the social mobility in your family?
Define and discuss the various dimensions of and theories of stratification/inequality
- Marx
  - Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
  - Based on the economic system
- Weber
  - The bureaucracy
  - Wealth
    - A person’s total economic access
    - Give an example
  - Power
    - The ability to influence over resistance
    - Give an example
  - Status
    - The esteem that society gives to social statuses and social roles
    - Give an example
- Models of power
  - C. Wright Mills: The Power Elite
    - Power is held at the top of society by a handful of people
    - Give an example
  - Robert Dahl: Pluralistic model
    - Power is relatively evenly distributed
    - Give an example
  - Which model is correct?
    - Why?
- The Davis-Moore Debate
  - What are the main points of Davis-Moore’s argument?
  - Why do they say that stratification is functional for society?
  - Do you agree?
    - Why or why not?
- Melvin Tumin’s response to Davis-Moore
  - What are the main points of Tumin’s argument?
  - Why does he disagree with Davis-Moore?
  - Do you agree with Tumin?
    - Why or why not?
Be able to discuss the following dimensions of and theories of stratification/inequality
- E. Digby Baltzell: WASP
  - Who are the WASPs?
  - Are they still “in charge”
- Thorstein Veblen
  - Conspicuous Leisure
    - Give three modern examples
    - Look on Forbes
  - Conspicuous Consumption
    - Give three modern examples
    - Look on Forbes
- Oscar LewisCulture of poverty
  - What are the main characteristics of the culture of poverty?
  - Is the culture of poverty real?
    - Why or why not?
- Charles Murray Losing Ground and The Bell Curve
  - What are Murray’s primary arguments?
  - Do you agree or disagree?
    - Why?
- William Julius Wilson
  - The Truly Disadvantaged
  - When Work Disappears
  - Hyperghettoization
    - What are WJ Wilson’s major arguments?
    - What data sources does he use?
    - Do you agree with his conclusions?
      - Why or why not?
- Herbert Gans
  - The functionality of poverty
  - The War against the Poor
    - What are Gans’s primary points of argument?
    - What are his data sources?
    - Do you agree with his conclusions?
      - Why or why not?
Wealth
- The billionaire’s club
  - Who are the richest people in the world and how rich are they?
  - What are the most expensive consumer items in the world and who buys them?
    - Use the Internet to look at Forbes Magazine’s lists
    - Use the Internet to find census data
- What are the richest countries in the world and how does the US compare?Use the Internet to find data
  - The CIA World Factbook
  - The G8
- What are the richest companies in the world and how do they compare to the economies of countries?
  - Forbes Magazine’s lists
  - Use the Internet to find data
Find and explain data about the demographics of poverty in the US
- Poverty thresholds
Find and explain data about the feminization of poverty
- The Statistical Abstract of the United States
- Use the Internet to find data about women and poverty
Find information about and explain public policies and poverty programs
- Find and explain data about poverty legislation
  - Georgetown Law Library
  - The Congressional Record
- Use these sites ( The Statistical Abstract of the United States ; ACORN Housing ) to find and explain data about inequality in:
  - Housing
  - Health care
  - Home ownership
  - Business ownership
  - Educational attainment
  - Labor force participation
Find data about the minimum wage vs. the living wage
- What is the minimum wage?
- What are the criteria used to determine what the minimum wage will be?
- Find information about the history of the minimum wage and explain how it relates to the cost of living
- Find information about the living wage; explain what it is and its ramifications for society
  - The Living Wage Resource Center
  - The Economic Policy Institute
  - Living Wage Calculator
  - What is a living wage?
  - How would a living wage impact the US economy?
Look at the World Demographic “Clock” and explain what it shows
- What did you learn from this that you did not know before?
Explain the US and World Population “Clocks”
Find data that break down world demographics into percentages.“If the World Were a Village of 100 People.”
- If the World Were a Village of 100 People
- If the World Were a Village of 100 People (2)
- If the World Were a Village of 100 People (YouTube video)
Define, discuss, and give examples of Infant Mortality Rates, Literacy Rates, Life Expectancy, and GDP/GNP in the richest and poorest nations in the world
- The World Health Organization
- The United Nations
How do most people perceive World Inequality?
- Why?
- What information is available about world inequality to most people?
Identify the levels into which the world is stratified and what those levels mean in terms of life chances
- United Nations Summit on World Poverty
- First, Second, Third, and Fourth Worlds
Define and give examples of:
- First World countries
- Second World countries
- Third World countries
- Fourth World countries
Find data about and discuss carrying capacity and world hunger
- Define carrying capacity
- In the late spring of 2008, there have been food riots in some parts of the world and food prices in some parts of the world have reached an all-time high
  - Find data that explain this
- United Nations Summit on World Hunger
Discuss the health concerns of First, Second, and Third World countries
- What are their health concerns?
- Who does and does not have access to health care?
- Where does the US rank in terms of access to and quality of health care in the world?
- United Nations: Economic and Social Development
- The World Health Organization
Find and explain data about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and how it impacts world poverty
- UNAIDS: Joint United Programme on HIV/AIDS
- Human Rights Watch: AIDS
- World Health Organization: AIDS Day Message
- The World Bank: HIV/AIDS in Africa
Identify and differentiate among the various theories of inequality in the world
- Conquest
- Migration
- Colonialism and Empire
- Neo-Colonialism
- World Systems Theory
- Modernization Theory
- Globalization and Glocalization
  - George Ritzer’s McDonaldization theory.
  - Thomas Friedman’s “Flat World” theory.
Find and explain statistical information concerning world stratification/inequality including such statistical referents as Infant Mortality Rates, Literacy Rates, Life Expectancy, and GDP or GNP.
- The CIA World Factbook
Find and explain data about the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and the ways in which their policies impact global inequality.
- The World Bank
- The International Monetary Fund

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Read also:

OpenStax, Minority studies: a brief sociological text. OpenStax CNX. Mar 31, 2010 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11183/1.13

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