November 5 2012 Race o The division of the population into groups based on the perceived significance of biological differences Conley o Race is a social construction o Even if race isn t real it has real consequences Human Genome Project El Salvador 7 categories o Race is not biological no genetic or scientific basis o Two siblings can be two different races o The wealthier the whiter The poorer the blacker Regardless of skin color US Census o 1800 s White Negro Mulatto all persons having any perceptible trace of negro blood Chinese Japanese Indian Native American o 1900 s White Negro white any amount negro Chinese Japanese Indian White Indian Community Standard Community decides if someone was white or indian Mexican o 2010 ethinicity Very specific Ethnicity o More to do with culture and or nation o A category of people who are distinguished by others or themselves as inferior or superiors primarily on the basis of cultural or nationally characteristics o Dominant groups a group that is advantaged and has superior resources and rights in a society o Subordinate Group a group whose members because of physical or cultural characteristics are disadvantages and subjected to unequal treatment by the majority group o Dominant group has a lot of invisible privilege o Whiteness is considered both the norm and the superior and there are consequenes o If men define situations as real they are real in their consequences Thomas o Attitudes beliefs and practices to justify superior group o Negative attitude based on faulty generalization o Overgeneralizations about all members of a group Individual discrimination Racism Prejudice Stereotypes subordinate group or their property Institutional discrimination members of subordinate groups Racism happens on the micro level individual Macro level institutions Horatio Alger Jr o One on one acts by members of the dominant group that harm members of the o Day to day practices of organizations and institutions that have a harmful impact on Ideology a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about the world o Strive to Succeed stories o Working class boys start out with nothing then succeed Rags to riches o Horatio Alger myth story that really isn t true Oprah rags to riches story Paul Krugman The Death of Horatio Alger 2003 o Class mobility over time Late1800 s through 1920 s social classes were entrenched born live die in same class 1930 s 1970 s more social mobility 1980 s 2000 s increasing class immobility America is becoming more like a caste system Caste a form of stratification in which people s statuses are lifelong conditions after birth Business Week Waking up form the American Dream o More than of the labor force are trapped in low wage dead end jobs o The good economy of the 90 s increased the wealth of the wealthy social mobility for everyone else decreased o A majority of the poor remained poor o College is out of reach Social mobility is lower in more unequal countries What American s believe o 46 there is more mobility in U S than Europe o 40 there is more social mobility today than 30 years ago o 35 say social mobility has not changed o 23 social mobility has decreased Fixated on American dream so it shapes how we look at America We see what we want to see WASP White Anglo Saxon Protestant o They are where they are because of what they were born into Phipps o Raised by nanny o All boys private schools o Duke Education o A formal system of teaching knowledge skills and values o Formal goal to teach basic skills and impart knowledge o Informal goal to teach values and culture Cultural Capital Social assets such as values beliefs attitudes and competencies in language and culture that are required for success o Poor kid s brains were damaged by stressful environments low socio economic status fewer books games visits to museums Preschool attendance is correlated with social class o Wealthier families have kids in preschool Research children who attend preschool fare better later in school and even in their future careers IQ scores are correlated with social class Better schools are correlated with better schools IQ tests have cultural biases Tracking sorting students into different programs based on their perceived abilities Not all schools are created equal o Poor public schools rural and urban locations aging facilities resource poor low paid teachers limited course offerings sorting students into non academic vocational tracks o Wealthy public schools Suburban Modern facilities Resource rich Well paid teachers Wide variety of classes Sorting students into college tracks o Rural and inner city students attend schools with less than suburan score lower o Boarding schools Lavish facilities Resource rich Upper class communities Highly educated well paid teachers Abundant college prep course offerings Alumni networking All tracks lead to Ivy League o U S Social Class Ladder Social class and cheating is correlated Correlated with parents education stand in for social class The more education a parent has the more likely a college student is to cheat Least likely to cheat first gen freshman Most likely to cheat fraternity and sorority students Jonathon Kozol o Still separate still unequal o American devalues children based on their birth America in 2010 Rankings o 14th for reading o 17th for science o 25th for math Teachers o 14 than other professionals with same amount of education o Salaries have declined o 62 of teachers work second jobs o 46 of teachers quit before their 5th year Best students S Korea and Finland o S Korea 1st in reading and math 3rd in science o Gov recruits talented college students to become teachers o Finland pays for training Differ o Less homework o No standardized tests o More creative play o No private schools What is the sociological imagination and what can it reveal o Perspective Johnson s ideas American society Individualistic perspective Individualistic perspective conceals the influence of larger social forces blind spot Sociology s focus on the individual in society offers a corrective to the individualistic model o C Wright Mills The Sociological Imagination Enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society That is its task and promise Three sorts of questions o What is the structure of this particular society as a whole o What are its essential components and how are they related to one another o How does it differ