GENDER Sociologists disagree with biological essentialism Instead we argue that gender is a social construct Gender isn t something we are rather it s something we perform Both genders are influenced by the dictates of hegemonic masculinity Sexuality is also a performance as people perform straightness and gayness We live in a heterocentric society in which straightness is imbed ded in social institutions IN YOUR READINGS KNOW Messner Becoming 100 Straight Heterosexuality is performative all sexuality is performative Heterosexuality and masculinity are inseparable This article discusses why people want to know what make someone gay So Messner departs on a path of trying to determine what makes a person hetero sexual He also discusses how boys struggling with admitting they are gay at tempt to be more aggressive or masculine because they believe that is how all men are more importantly how straight men are Zones Beauty Myths Realities Women spend an inordinate amount of time fo cusing on their bodies Why What is the affect of this This article discusses the way women change their body to appear beautiful in the eyes of society The effect of this is great on both physical health and mental health Women who were perceived as beautiful were found to have a lower blood pressure than those who were not This also has an effect on the health of their bodies because beautiful is perceived as thin or fit which could lead women to go through harmful weight loss diets Women also dye their hair to be per ceived as pretty this has been associated with an increase in cancer rates Men tal health is also affected because women become insecure when they are not perceived as pretty This lowers their self esteem which in turn also increases health problems Women who are perceived as beautiful who become injured become shy and insecure and some are not able to function as well as they did before the injury The perception of beauty causes women to change their bod ies through surgery and change the appearance of their bodies by shaving hair dying and other chemical and physical procedures to change the texture of their hair dieting make up all to be perceived as beautiful which in turn makes them feel more confident and successful Know Biological Essentialism used to explain human behavior People act the way they do because they are male or female Homophobia is the range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexu ality or people who are perceived to be homosexual Hegemonic Masculinity practices that guarantee the dominant social position of men and the subordinate social position of women This is the theory that men are better than women at some things simply because they are men Hegemony When socially powerful people use their influence to convince less powerful people it is in their best interest to do what is actually in the most power ful people s best interest Heterocentrism Discrimination or prejudice against lesbians or gay men by het erosexual people SOCIAL CLASS Social class is a very important variable that determines a per son s opportunities access to resources and life chances Our primary schools fail at teaching this to students giving us the impression that we live in a merito cratic society where upward mobility is achievable if one simply works hard enough We thus blame individuals for their laziness if they fail to achieve the American dream IN YOUR READINGS KNOW Loewen Land of Opportunity from lies my teacher told me Social class is the 1 most important variable to consider This article discusses how those born in poverty are most likely to continue living in poverty because of the way they re treated or because of the hand they are dealt Someone born in poverty more than likely attends a school that does not have the financial stability to provide a good education to everyone teachers are typically overworked and some may not even care about the wellbeing of their students because they don t have the materials they need to care Students born in poverty who are able to go to a wealthy school are typically treated as second class students and are perceived to be not as smart as the rich kids because of their family background They are treated differently than the other students by the teachers and mocked by the students Rank Rethinking American Poverty we have to consider the structural effects rather than the personal problems underlying poverty This article discusses the reason why there are still people living in poverty Most people believe people who are poor are poor because they were lazy or didn t work hard enough The more prominent problem however is the struc tural foundation behind poverty that keeps people stuck in that situation Poverty is not caused by people unwilling to work it is caused by the unavailability of jobs in regards to a large amount of the population willing to work Jobs that are avail able are poor paying part time jobs with no benefits This leads to people having jobs but not making enough to live at a comfortable level Ehrenreich Nickel and Dimed on Not Getting By in America Poverty is difficult entrenched and demoralizing This article discusses the life that Ehrenreich lived when she left her job and liv ing to try to live on minimum wage She realized that even working two minimum wage jobs did not give her enough money to be able to live comfortably let alone completely pay all of her bills This article served to show the struggle some peo ple live on a daily basis She discusses how no matter how hard she worked and what she dealt with there was still not enough income coming in to support her self People with families living off of minimum wage put in long hours and give up leisurely and family time while getting treated poorly for an income that is not enough Know Meritocracy myth of meritocracy people will achieve success on their own merit Believe that poor don t work as hard as rich rich more responsible and are smarter Stratification classification of people into groups based on shared socio eco nomic conditions a relational set of inequalities with economic social political and ideological dimensions Social stratification is based on four basic principles 1 Social stratification is a trait of society not simply a reflection of individual differences 2 Social stratification carries over from generation to generation 3 Social stratification is universal but variable 4 Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as