Sociology Midterm 2 Ethnicity shared cultural practices and attitudes that set people apart Voluntary self defined nonhierarchical cultural and not so closely linked with power differences Segregation Segregation is the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity maintains position of dominant group o Official U S policy until the 1960 s o De facto residential educational segregation still exists ex part of town people live o Preferences of minority group vs discrimination o Minority groups have preferences to live and be around their same color because of fear of not being welcome How Race Matters Inequality Educational Attainment Employment Income and Wealth Political Power Family later Health later Race and Education 84 1 of African Americans have high school degrees only 20 in 1960 compared to 87 1 of whites 29 9 of whites graduate from college but only 19 3 of African Americans do Only 13 2 of Hispanics hold a college degree Unemployment and Income Unemployment rate o Twice as high for blacks as for whites 2011 Poverty rate o Nearly 3 times higher for blacks 24 2 and Hispanics 20 3 than whites 9 Income gap gradually diminishing but wealth gap remains large o Black men earn 73 5 of earnings of white men o Black women earn 86 9 as much as white women do Race and Political Power Tremendous gains but huge disparities remain o Number increased from 40 in 1960 to 9 101 in 2000 all elected public offices o But African Americans account for 2 of elected offices in the U S o Very underrepresented in Congress 8 black 42 House 2 Senate 13 2 of the U S population is black African American Understanding Racial Inequality Colonization rather than willing immigrants o Role of racism discrimination Race vs Class Values and the case of model minorities On average African Americans have worse jobs income and housing than white people Do you think these differences are mainly due to discrimination No Colonization Discrimination Most disadvantaged minority groups arrived in the U S as colonized people including slaves rather than willing immigrants o This is motivated by and brings with it racism and discrimination Do you think these differences are because most African Americans don t have the chance for education that it takes to rise out of poverty 50 50 Race vs Class Williams Julius Wilson old racial barriers are less important than class in explaining the persistence of race ethnic inequality Economic gap between affluent and poor African Americans has grown over time Critique Wilson s perspective does not give enough attention to ongoing discrimination and racist beliefs On average African American have worse jobs income and housing than white people Do you think these differences are mainly due to lack of will Yes Culture and Model Minorities Argument that culture and values explain why some racial ethnic groups Asian Jews and Cubans are less disadvantaged than others African Americans Values Thrift family hard work education But likely that class background upon arrival in the U S is more important than culture and values Are we a post racial society Although overtly racist beliefs may no longer be socially acceptable to what extent does race continue to influence our attitudes beliefs and behaviors Video nonscientific experiment Race IAT To what extent does prejudice and discrimination shape our everyday social interactions Poverty Deprivation due to economic circumstances severe enough that one cannot live with dignity absolute poverty uncommon in U S life threatening lack of resources cannot meet minimal requirements to purchase food relative poverty deprivation of some people in relation to those who have more Lacks decent standard of living and healthy living conditions Marx Conflict Explanation of Inequality People in power capitalists who own the means of production are able to define what is valuable in society and structure rewards accordingly in ways that protect their interests laws policies and ideology Stratification is not functional but leads to conflict and social tension Rising Inequality since 1980 Functionalist beginning in 1980 the skills intelligence and talents of the wealthiest individuals became much more valuable than those of the least wealthy maybe to some extent increasing role of technology in the economy may make skills of wealthy more valued by the economy but this is probably not the entire explanation Functionalist Explanation of Stratification Davis Moore Thesis Social stratification has beneficial consequences for society the greater the functional importance of a position the more rewards a society attaches to it having an egalitarian society requires allowing anyone to perform highly skilled jobs and giving rewards that are not based on quality social position based entirely on innate talent and efforts all groups benefit when most valuable positions receive the greatest rewards trickle down economy Stratification exists because people have different talents and efforts and some jobs and skills are more important to society than others People in power are able to define what is valuable in society and structure economic rewards in ways that protect their interests Inequality and Social Mobility one of the biggest problems with rising levels of inequality is that it inhibits social mobility this conflicts with our strong cultural notions of U S as the land of equal opportunity Social mobility ability to change positions in a social stratification system intragenerational social mobility within the course of one person s life within only ONE generation Intergenerational social mobility from one generation to another Income gap between high income and low income individuals has increased dramatically over the last thirty years Upper class wealthiest 1 approximately 1 3 of nation s wealth Middle class white collar non manual jobs that pay significantly above poverty lines Working class blue collar manual labor and pink collar service labor that pay above poverty line Working poor unskilled low pay jobs usually without benefits minimum wage jobs leave many in poverty Underclass Poor 15 income based many live in inner cities Socioeconomic Status SES Basic metric of stratification in modern U S Income earnings from work or investments wages salaries and investment money Wealth total value of money and assets minus debt cash savings investments property Educational Attainment highest level of education Occupation