Judi Kessler
Wallace Hall, Lower Level, 3
x2165
jkessler@monm.edu
Office Hours: TTh, 1-2:30, and by appt.
Social Inequalities
Spring 2008 - MW,
2:00-3:15
What I want to see above all is that this remains a country where someone can always get rich – President Ronald Reagan
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Throughout the past century, many social thinkers proclaimed the end of various forms of inequality and predicted the emergence of a world in which ethnicity, race, gender, and social origins would no longer determine social status.
However, universal public education and a variety of legislative measures intended to prevent discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and other attributes have failed to eliminate patterned and systemic differences in socioeconomic status between dominant and minority groups. Consequently, ascriptive (given by birth) and other characteristics continue to have profound implications for a person's life chances.
This course attempts to explain the causes and nature of persistent inequality in and across contemporary society. We will first examine the classical theoretical foundations of social stratification and inequality, followed by perspectives on inequalities between nation-states (global inequality). We will then move on to consider research on and issues related to inequalities by class, gender, ethnicity, and race (and their interactive effects), along with collective challenges to discrimination, oppression, and inequality. Our two case studies illuminate the precarious situation of the US middle class and the unique vulnerabilities of the US black middle class.
Upon completion of this course, the student can expect to be knowledgeable in:
1. concepts of social
inequalities, as seen from a sociological perspective
2. forms, causes, and
consequences of social inequalities
3. basic interpretation of social data on inequality issues
4. cross-cultural and global perspectives on social inequality
Required Reading:
Worlds Apart: Social
Inequalities in a Global Economy (2nd Ed)
Scott Sernau
2006: Pine Forge Press
Postindustrial
Peasants: The Illusion of Middle-Class Prosperity
Kevin T. Leicht & Scott T. Fitzgerald
2007: Worth Publishers
The Black Middle Class:
Social Mobility – and Vulnerability
Benjamin P. Bowser
2007: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Additional handouts to be distributed in class
Your grade will be determined as follows:
First
Exam 16%
Second Exam 16%
Third Exam 16%
Research Paper
16%
Media Response Papers (2) 16%
Attendance/Participation
20%
All of the above course requirements must be completed in order to be eligible
to pass this course.
All exams will be essay
format; material for exams will include lectures, discussions, films, and
readings. The instructions for the research paper will be reviewed early in the
semester.
You will write 2 short media response papers that analyze news in the context of
course materials. Instructions for these assignments will be reviewed early in
the semester.
Most of the “homework” for this class is reading. As such, students are expected to come to class current on reading assignments and ready to actively participate in class discussions through relevant questions and comments.
Spotty attendance will affect your participation grade. If you are unable to attend a class meeting, you are expected to notify the instructor ahead of time via email or voicemail. If you miss more than 25% of the course meetings (more than 7 class sessions) you will receive an “F” for attendance/ participation.
Students are expected to turn in all assignments on time and take all exams as scheduled. Special arrangements for writing exams (such as “make-ups”) will be at the discretion of the instructor and will only be arranged with prior notification. If you miss an exam without notifying the instructor beforehand you will receive no credit (0 points) for that exam and you will forfeit the possibility of taking a make-up exam.
All written work will be submitted in hard copy and to turnitin.com (password: inequality; ID#: 2123586)
Students who doze off in class will be asked, and expected, to leave.
Special Needs:
Students with special needs should make arrangements through the Student Affairs
Office and notify the professor during the first week of class.
Academic Integrity:
As mentioned
above, all written work for this class (media response papers and research
paper) will be submitted to “turnitin.com” for plagiarism analysis. Please
notify me if you do not know how to submit papers to turnitin and I will provide
you with instructions.
In writing course papers, students must document (that is, cite both in-text and on a reference page) all words and ideas that are borrowed from any source. Direct quotations should be used sparingly. Papers must represent research conducted for the course in which they were assigned and no other; it is not appropriate to submit a paper that has already been or will be submitted for another course. Finally, papers must be the products of the students’ own work. Papers, or sections of papers, written by anyone other than the student, including those purchased from commercial research services, are plagiarized products.
Students found to have engaged in any form of academic dishonesty –
intentional or unintentional, and including, but not limited to plagiarism –
will receive a penalty ranging from a “zero” for the assignment to an “F” in the
course. In addition, the college may choose to impose further sanctions,
including dismissal or expulsion. The instructor will report all incidents of
academic dishonesty to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and documentation
will be placed in the student’s file.
Please turn off audibles
on all electronic devices while in class
Reading Schedule
(subject to
change)
Week 1 – Jan. 14-18
Class
does not meet
Week 2 – Jan. 21-25
Worlds
Apart, pp 3-27
“The Great Debate”
Week 3 – Jan. 28-Feb. 1
Worlds Apart, pp 29-57 “Inequalities Across Societies”
Class
Week 4 – Feb. 4-8
Worlds Apart,
pp 61-86 “Race/Class/Gender”; pp 87-109 “Class”
Week 5 – Feb. 11-15
Continue with
"Class"
Week 6 – Feb. 18-22
Postindustrial Peasants,
pp xiii-xv (Preface); 1-33 (C1 & 2); 48-61 (part of C3)
The Class Structure of the United States (handout)
The
Poverty Business (handout)
Americans Start to Pay as they Go
Smaller Average Incomes
We're More Productive. Who Get's the
Money? (OpEd)
Approval of
paper topic by Friday, Feb. 22nd
First Exam,
February 18th - Study Guide
Week 7 – Feb. 25-29
Postindustrial Peasants,
pp 80-103 (C5); 117-127 (part of C6); 148-158 (C8)
Can the Mortgage Crisis Swallow a
Town?
First Media
Response Paper due Wednesday, Feb. 27th
Week 8 – Mar. 3-7
Finish
Postindustrial Peasants
Worlds Apart, pp 165-185 “Status Prestige”
Week 9 – Spring Break
Race, Gender, and Class
Week 10 – Mar. 17-20 (no classes, Mar. 21)
Finish Postindustrial Peasants
Worlds Apart, pp 165-185 “Status Prestige”
Week 11 – Mar. 25-28 (no classes, Mar. 24)
Finish "Status Prestige"
Worlds Apart, pp 145-164 “Gender & Class”
Week 12 – Mar. 31-Apr. 4
Finish "Gender & Class"
Second Exam, April 7th - Study Guide
Week 13 – Apr. 7-11
Worlds Apart, pp 111-141 “Race & Class”
Reading Study Questions (Intro - C4) - The Black Middle Class
Week 14 – Apr. 14-18
Finish "Race & Class"
The Black Middle Class, pp 1-11 “Introduction”; 27-43 “The Emergence of a Black Middle Class; 45-69 “The Class That Jim Crow Built”
Second Media
Response Paper due Wednesday, Apr. 16th
Week 15 – Apr. 21-25 (no classes, Apr. 22)
The Black Middle Class, pp 101-126 “From Affirmative Action to Diversity”; 127-150 “Anatomy of
Today’s Black Middle Class”; 151-165 “The Future of Race, Economic Inequality, and Class”
Challenges of Inequality
Week 16 – Apr. 28-May 2
Worlds Apart, pp 217-244 “Education and Mobility”
Research paper due Monday, Apr. 28th
Week 17 – May 5-7 (May 7 is the last day of classes)
Worlds Apart, pp 273-301 “Reversing the Race to the Bottom”
Third Exam: Friday, May 9th, at 6:00pm - study guide