Class & Poverty - Midterm Exam

Key Figures: Michel Foucault

- primarily addresses the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions - force relations are in effect of difference, inequality or unbalance that exists in other forms of relationships (sexual or economic) - the relations of power always result from inequality, difference or unbalance also means that power always has a goal or purpose

Key Figures: W.E.B. Du Bois

- sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, author, writer, editor, and Pan-Africanist - 1st African American to earn a doctorate - One of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) - believed in full civil rights and increased political representation - racism was his main target

Labor Migration

- temporary move in search of work, with the intention to return home

Industrialization

- the development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale - period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society - involves extensive re-organization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing

Family Income

- total amount of money coming into a family unit

LO6: Ancient arguments on social inequalities within contemporary political discourse

1) Hammurabi (1750 BCE): - King of Ancient Babylon - one of the very first to set down a code of laws, a "constitution" for his kingdom - he was very progressive in some cases, but he did not consider all his subjects to be created equal - laws differed for a "man," essentially a title of nobility, and for the "common man", who did not possess full manhood status - rich v. poor - shown in modern where most people on death row are poor while the wealthy can secure the best lawyers - laws tended to ignore women, except as the property of their man 2) Aryan invaders of India: - established a caste system that formalized a stratified society with fixed social positions - each person is in an appropriate position according to his/her caste's divine origins (teacher, soldier, cattle herder, lowly servant) for the sake of the prosperity of the worlds 3) Hebrew Prophets: - one of the first recorded challengers of a stratified society - denounced oppression of the poor - prophets were heeded, scorned, or killed - their writings offer examples of the antiquity of the radical antithesis 4) Laozi (Lao-tzu): - radical contemporary of the Hebrew Prophets - Chinese Philosopher - his work became the foundation of Daoism 5) Siddhartha Guatama (500 BCE) - Indian prince - was miserable as he pondered the state of humanity and the misery of the poor - fasted & meditate until he reached the enlightenment that earned him the title of the Buddha - taught that right living means moderation in all things, caring for all things, and the giving of the alms - radical - conservative counterpart was Confucius 6) Confucius - believed in justice, duty, and order (hierarchical) - duty to the family, respect for elders, especially males - in a good society individuals knows his/her place & does not challenge the Way of Heaven - Conservative 7) Plato - radical - solution to inequality was the communal raising of children, apart from their families - believed that inequality occurred when family gave their children everything they could to prosper, gave them an advantage, until over time the divides separating families became both large and fixed, resulting in a class of "noble" birth and class of "common" birth - Communist - his ideal state is one in which no inequalities exist except those based on personal talent and merit - Student was Aristotle 8) Aristotle - believed the same idea of a natural order of inequality that the Hindus and Babylonians had before them - Advised Alexander the Great - Conservative - Did not believe a society should be marked by extremes of wealth and poverty, but recommended a golden mean between these extremes - believed inequality was rooted in human nature - challenge from New Faiths Emerged: 9) Jesus and His Followers: - radicals - practice communal sharing and challenged the existing order - one of his followers Paul was a conservative 10) Muhammad: - called followers to a life of devotion to Allah, the one true God - message of religious reform more than social reform - if his people were to honor the one God of justice and righteousness, they would need to overcome religious idolatry, greed, and egotism - Qur'an was Muhammad's great revelation - slavery was acceptable, but Muslims should not enslave other Muslims - Women are encouraged in traditional domestic roles & great modesty but are also to be treated with great respect 11) John Locke & Jean Jacques Rousseau: - emphasis on political rather than economic reform, so legal rights were a prime concern - English & French who argued that rulers' political authority comes from the consent of the governed rather than from divine right - had radical implications - became the basis of the 1776 American Declaration of Independence & of the 1789 U.S. Constitution with its Bill of Rights - 1776 American Declaration: - Thomas Jefferson's assertion that "all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" - 19th Century Socialists wanted to go beyond "false revolutions" to a new, more sweeping revolution that would change the economic foundation of a society - True radicals Karl Marx, and his collaborator, Friedrich Engels

Key Figures: Gunnar Myrdal

- a Swedish economist who was a keen observer of American life - called the great discrepancy between this country's claims to ideals of freedom and equality and the reality that the nation was built on racial oppression and inequality = the American Dilemma - studied race relations - his study was influential in the 1954 landmark U.S. Supreme Court Decision Brown v. Board of Education

Key Figures: World Bank

- an international financial institution that provides loans/grants to the governments of poorer countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects - comprises 2 institutions: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development - International Development Association

Key Figures: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

- an international organization headquartered in D.C., consisting of 189 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty

Visible Minorities

- carry a distinguishing element into the public sphere - usually shown through skin color

Household Income

- data is collected by households in the U.S., so family income is termed this

Guest Workers

- do not get citizenship - they work and then they return to their original homes

Party

- idea of political power

Globalization

- industrial products are manufactured in export zones of poor countries with low wages & then quickly shipped to wealthier consumers around the world

Social Stratification

- patterns of social inequalities - how the inequalities in a society are sorted into identifiable layers of person with common characteristics (social classes)

Primary Labor Market

- professional and technical employment - workers had selected skills and credentials - included Asian Indian Physicians, Filipino, and Hong Kong professionals

Status

- represents non-economic concepts such as honor and prestige

Sociological Imagination

- termed by C. Wright Mills - our ability to connect our personal biographies to the broader sweep of history & society & to see connections between personal troubles & social conditions

Wealth:

- the accumulated property owned by a person or family

Reciprocity

- the sharing of goods

Occupation

- the work we do for compensation

Agribusiness

- uses large amounts of investment capital coupled with large expanses of land to mass-produce agricultural products for carefully media-cultivated consumer market

LO6: Ideas of classical sociological theorists and the trends of social inequalities prevailing in today's world

1) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: - Marx called himself a political economist who was eager to draw on both historical-comparative and quantitative data to support his positions - believed that he was writing not just a history of capitalism but a history of civilization itself - greatly influenced by philosopher Hegel: - Dialectic: - called the debate between an assertion, or thesis, and its opposite, or antithesis this - believed it was the driving force in the history of ideas - believed that the real dialectic was not the struggle between ideas, but the struggle between economic classes - looked at the State of Europe during the Industrial Revolution & contended that the basis of any society is its mode of production (physical/human): - Physical = includes the means of production, the technology of the time - Human = social relations of production, which refers to the positions of groups of people, social classes, in the economic process - 2 Classes: 1) Those who control the means of production = rulers 2) Those who work the means of production = the ruled - Great Struggle of Classes Process: 1) Primitive Communism: - harmonious stage was destroyed by the introduction of private property (great evil) - Men began to treat their wives & children as their property - expansion of private property were based on new & growing divisions between town & country & between emerging social classes - New Group (Bourgeoisie) = leaders, new ruling elite - New Group (Proletariat) = the workers - Capitalism: - necessary evil until the world had enough productive capacity & accumulated wealth to redistribute - Wealth Accumulation: - tremendous productive power & allows for great accumulation of wealth - Narrowing of the Class Structure: - structure is more complex than 2 groups, but the forces of capitalism drive almost everyone into these 2 classes - Homogenization of labor: - workers are "deskilled," turned into highly replaceable parts of the factory production - 2 factors, common skills and common ground, make it easy for capitalists to control the workers - Constant Crisis of Profit: - Capitalists are in an intense competitive struggle that drives them to try to increase production while cutting costs - drives down wages - Alienation: - alienated from the products they make, from nature, and from their own human nature, which longs to take pride in meaningful work - Class Consciousness: - become a "class for themselves," realizing that they are in a struggle not against each other, but against the ruling class - does not believe the capitalist system could be fully reformed - Communist Manifesto 1848 - Aware of importance of technological change, but he was focused on the social relations of capitalism rather than the social relations of industrialism - Some followers believe we now have a monopoly capitalism - Michael Burawoy 1979: - heads of major corporations & financial institutions can coordinate their actions and control their competition to ensure profits while still offering workers enough to secure their consent - Most famous Marxist = Vladimir Lenin - Believed capitalist exploitation had moved from the national to the international level, and the only answer was global revolution and international communism - Russian Revolution 1917 - Max Weber: - founding thinker in the emerging field of sociology - accepted many of Marx's ideas (centrality of economics to all other human affairs, the importance of property relations in making social classes, and the importance of social conflict in creating social change) - wanted to expand and refine Marx's ideas - believed a person's social class is defined by that individual's life chances in the marketplace - power is exercised in different realms (economic, social, and political realm): - Power in the Economic Realm = Social Class - Power in the Social Realm = Status Honor/Prestige - Power in the Political Realm = Party - Believed these 3 realms are constantly interacting, but distinct - Classes are stratified according to their relations to the production and acquisition of good; whereas "status groups" are stratified according to the principles of their consumption of goods as represented by special "styles of life" - stressed the idea of social closure, or monopolization - groups that have attained positions of power, prestige, and privilege try to close off access to other groups, monopolizing these positions - Marx and Weber agreed on 1 common dynamic: - that social interaction is filled with conflict - social organization is built on conflict - social change is the result of conflict 2) Emile Durkheim & the Search for Order - interested in the issue of social Solidarity - Division of Labor: - the way tasks are ever-more likely to be divided into domains of specialists - simple societies have mechanical solidarity: - solidarity that comes from shared experience in which everyone works together on common tasks - reinforced by religion and ritual, forms the basis of social cohesion - modern societies have organic solidarity: - all persons in a society have their own specialized tasks, and each individual need all the others for sruvival - functionalism emerged from this 3) Lenski's Synthesis: - lay out a new theory of stratification, a synthesis of the functionalist and conflict views - focused on societal evolution in a manner like Durkheim and later functionalists - Ecological-Evolutionary Theory: - expansion of technology and growing division of labor made each stage in social development more powerful but also made certain individuals and families within those 8 societies more powerful - Agreeing with Functionalists: - some measure of social inequality is inevitable in complex societies, given the multitude of tasks and social positions that exist - Agreeing with Conflict Theorists: - argued that the level of inequality in complex societies is always higher than necessary , as powerful and well-placed individuals used their social power to increase their prestige and commandeer greater privilege 4) Libertarian and Rational Choice Thinking: - Adam Smith - best known for the "invisible hand" that guides economy & society to prosper when workers & entrepreneurs each seek the best returns for themselves - Neoclassical Economics & Neo-liberalism: - Rational Choice Theory: - importance of free agents making rational choices about personal gain - Libertarian: - point to the importance of power structures and policy in setting the rules of the game - begin with a conservative thesis about human behavior, but also propose progressive policy reform to make sure all actors engage in an equitable and efficient system 5) Postmodernism and Critical Theory: - Michel Foucault = most influential thinkers in this modernism movement - emphasis on hidden structures of power and the importance of discourse - Critical Theory: - originated in loosely neo-Marxist schools - shred Marx's ideals of challenging power structures to bring about real change - Postmodern critical theorists - move beyond strictly political & economic structures to think about how the ways that we learn to think and discuss topics often limit our consciousness and readiness to bring about deep change - Hegemonic Discourse: - our ways of discussing social problems are often predetermined and dominated by powerful, and oppressive, interests

Key Figures: Fidel Castro

- Cuban communist revolutionary politician - Marxist-Leninist - Cuban Nationalist - took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the movement in a guerrilla war

Key Figures: Mahatma Gandhi

- Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist - led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and for achieving self-rule - removing poverty & unemployment was the objective of us Gandhian Economic and development approach - approach preferred adapting technology & infrastructure to suit the local situation - called for ending poverty through improved agriculture and small-scale cottage rural industries - disagreed with Marx

Key Figures: John Locke

- Social Contract Theory - admits that some governments come about through force/violence - but government is instituted by the explicit consent of those governed - those who make this agreement transfer to the government their right of executing the law of nature & judging their own case

LO4: 2 reasons why many sociologists view the dimensions of inequality as social constructions

- Different societies vary in the emphasis they place on their constructions of class, race, and gender - each society creates its own explanations of inequality along these dimensions

Class, Race, Gender

- Inequality's core dimensions - Race: - better understood as a social status - those in power may use issues of race to attempt to divide groups that pose a threat to their power - race may become a rallying cry for groups attempting to mobilize and challenge established power

Key Figures: Simon Kuznets

- Kuznets Curve - in poor countries, economic growth increased the income disparity between rich and poor people - in wealthier countries, economic growth narrowed the difference - proposed that as countries experienced economic growth, the income inequality first increases and then decreases - reasoning was that IOT experience growth, countries had to shift from agricultural to industrial sectors

Key Figures: Vladimir Lenin

- a devout Marxist - according to his perspective, humanity would eventually reach pure communism, becoming a stateless, classless, egalitarian society of workers who were free from exploitation and alienation - Leninism - Believed society needed to first enter a period of socialism

LO10: Concentration of economic wealth among the upper classes

- 10% of the population controls 2/3 of the wealth - wealthiest 1% of Americans control more of the total wealth of the nation than the bottom 90% combined: - 90% divided into 2 halves = top half controlling almost all the remaining wealth, and the least wealthy group, almost 45% of the U.S. population, with almost no net assets - upper 10% are investors who have planned portfolios of investments that include stocks, bonds, and other investments - wealth is by its nature conservative - helps ensure that through the reinvestment of assets, which will bring in new assets, the rich will become richer

LO16: Experiences of major U.S. racial and ethnic minorities: African American

- African American: - brought to this continent involuntarily conscripted into slavery - black slave labor filled the gap left by the destruction and removal of the Native population - 2 Stereotypes: 1) Africans were foolish children who needed wise overlords for their own protection 2) Africans had poor control over their sexual and aggressive urges, which made the strict "discipline" of overlords necessary for everyone's protection - Battles over slavery divided the nation from its founding - 3/5 Compromise: - three fifths of the enslave population would be counted for purposes of congressional representation - this issue was power - United States closed to the slave trade in 1817, making existing slaves much more valuable - black freemen were limited in the jobs they could hold and the positions to which they could aspire - Slavery ended in 1865 - segregation controlled African American's movements, wage and job discrimination continued their labor exploitation, voting restriction limited their self-government, and stereotypes persisted - 3 Periods in U.S. History in relation to African Americans: 1) Period of Plantation Economy and Racial-Caste Oppression: - the life experiences and chances of African Americans were dictated by their racial designation 2) Period of Industrial Expansion, Class Conflict, and Racial Oppression: - last quarter of the 19th Century up until the New Deal era of 1930s - competitive labor relations combined with racial exclusion to leave African Americans the most vulnerable of workers seeking a foothold at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy 3) Period of the Progressive Transition from Racial Inequalities to Class Inequalities - racism remains - but the life chances of black Americans are more strongly died to the disadvantaged social class position of many poor and working class blacks in changing economy than to their race - Many blacks are concentrated in central-city areas where there are few jobs available to them

Key Figures: Immanuel Wallerstein

- American sociologist and economic historian - development of the World-Systems Approach - Drew on several intellectual influences - Karl Marx: - followed in emphasizing underlying economic factors and their dominance over ideological factors in global politics - adopted his economic thinking with ideas as dichotomy between capital and labor - criticized traditional Marxian view of world economic development through stages such as feudalism and capitalism - Dependency Theory: - concepts of "core" and "periphery" - argued in several works that this revolution marked the end of "liberalism" as a viable ideology in the modern world system - saw the development of a capitalist world economy as detrimental to a large proportion of the world's population

Key Figures: Alejandro Portes

- Cuban American sociologists - focused on immigration to the United States and factors affecting the fates of immigrants and their children - shaped the study of immigration and urbanization - chronicled the causes/consequences of immigration with an emphasis on informal economies, transnational communities and ethnic enclaves

LO8: 2 or more ways that social/economic inequalities WITHIN countries are influenced by social/economic inequalities BETWEEN countries

- Great Paradox: - markets work best under conditions of relative equality, but they tend to produce conditions of extreme inequality - wag gaps between nations have led to outsourcing, labor migration, and immigration - the most rapidly growing income inequalities are now those within nations between new elites and the excluded and marginalized classes - political economists question the wisdom of trade liberalization in a world of vastly unequal power and access to resources

LO12: Social/economic consequences of shifts in the structures of occupations

- Industrialization: - voluntary and forced movement to place like mills and mines for work - Evils include: - too poor, industrial pollution, vulnerability of urban industrial populations during economic depressions, horrors of industrial war fought on a global scale - Deindustrialization: - workers leave their land for the new industry both voluntary and forced - dramatic decline in farm labor = less than 3% of the U.s. Labor Force is working in agriculture - small farmers are being displaced by American and European agribusiness corporations that rely on economies of scale to enable them to export vast amounts of desired products - White Collar Occupations: - Early 20th Century = self-employed professionals and business people - Dentists, physicians, private attorneys, small shopkeepers - Mid-century = largely male - employees of large businesses and sometimes huge corporations - End of Century = large corporations were downsizing their managerial ranks and people were becoming free agents - consulting, contract work from home, moving from firm to firm - overall, the U.S. economy has created new jobs to replace those that are disappearing - continuing technological development and expansion, coupled with an aging population that will be retiring and then needing health care, means continued job growth for the skilled and the degreed

LO17: Limitations of the concept of race for the experiences of different population groups

- Irish: - treated as colonial labor: - worked the hardest, most dangerous jobs at the very lowest wages - discouraged from entering the political process for fear that their Catholic faith would make them, and hence the U.S., subservient to the wishes of the pope - segregated into bleak slums/shantytowns - Stereotype: - family life was inferior, they had no ambition, they did not keep up their homes - they drank too much, they were not responsible, they had no morals - it was not safe to walk through their neighborhoods at night, they voted the way crooked politicians told them to vote - they were not willing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps - they were not capable of education; they could not think for themselves - they would always remain social problems for the rest of the country - They became white to overcome their disadvantaged position: - stopped talking about the "Irish race" - their ever-greater assimilation meant that the Irish could limit their ethnic solidarity to church, holidays, and associations - Europeans had all become white - Jews: - Stereotypes: - Jews are smart and ambitious but greedy and shrewd - Italians: - Stereotypes: - Italians love to enjoy life and are committed to their families but are unreliable and unlikely to get ahead

LO1: Basic Dimensions of social inequality as distinct from individual demographic characteristics

- Max Weber noted 3 Dimensions: - Class, Race, Gender - Religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and age - Gerhard Lenski termed the same basic divisions: - privilege, prestige, power - it doesn't negate individual differences/efforts, but it seeks to examine patterns that go beyond individual cases, to explore differences in access and opportunity and the constraints that shape people's choices - who we become is the result of a complex interplay between individual characteristics and our place in society, which determines which of our characteristics are encouraged, rewarded, and constrained - social inequality is rooted not so much in individual talent as it is in commanding a privileged position in a complex social network of economic and social exchange

Key Figures: Winston Churchill

- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom - promoted European unity after WWII - Imperialist Views - member of the liberal party and declared that liberalism is not socialism and that it will never be - viewed socialism to seek pulling down wealth, while liberalism seeks to raise up poverty - in some respects, a radical and a reformer, he accepted and endorse the existence of class division in British society

LO11: Causes of shifts in the structure of occupations

- as population grew, people started to move into cities/towns giving way to industrialization - Industrialization: - needed more workers to do things - development in technology caused more jobs to emerge - Deindustrialization: - introduced a new international division of labor - design, engineering, sales, service, and marketing - shift from agricultural to industrial occupations - increase in White-Collar Occupations - Devastation of War and its aftermath affected occupations - Blue-Collar Employment - Pink-Collar Jobs: - low-wage, often female-dominated employment in clerical work and personal services - secretaries, data entry clerks, nurses' assistants, home health aides, retail workers - Green Collar Jobs: - clean offices, medical facilities, and stores - service tasks of modern urban America - Low-investment, low-wage jobs - Burgundy Collar Jobs - fast-food jobs that provide first employment for many young people

Key Figures: Emile Durkheim

- assumes that humans are inherently egoistic, while "collective consciousness" (i.e. norms, beliefs, and values) forms the moral basis of the society, resulting in social integration - collective consciousness is a KEY IMPORTANCE to the society - produces the society and holds it together - the emotional part of the collective consciousness overrides our egoism as we are emotionally bound to culture, and act socially because we recognize it is the responsible, moral way to act

Key Figures: Cesar Chavez

- became a folk saint among Mexican Americans - born to a Mexican American Family - organized strikes among farm workers , and was influenced by the ideals of Indian Independence leader Mahatma Ghandi - emphasized direct but nonviolent tactics to pressure farm owners into granting strikers' demands - his work led to numerous improvements for union laborers

Key Figures: C. Wright Mills

- believed in Marxism stating that it had become an essential tool for sociologists

Key Figures: Thomas Hobbes

- believed in the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war - to avoid a brutish life, people must enter into a social contract and establish a civil society - no doctrine of separation of powers here

Key Figures: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

- believed that the first-class division may have come along the lines of gender & age as men began to treat women & children as their personal property - Mark believed that Capitalism mediates social relationships of production through commodities - Engels called this commodity "false consciousness" - believed that the control that one class exercises over the means of production includes not only the production of food or manufactured goods, but also the production of ideas

Key Figures: Thomas Jefferson

- believed that the independent yeoman and agrarian life were ideals of republican virtues - distrusted cities/financiers - citizens have certain unalienable rights - believed that individual liberties were the fruit of political equality

Key Figures: Gerhard Lenski

- built on the foundations of evolutionary theory to propose a more contemporary ecological & evolutionary theory of societal development from the Stone Age to present - viewed the accumulation of information, especially technological information, as the most basic and most powerful factor in the evolution of human societies - Identifies 7 Types of Societies: 1) Hunters & Gatherers 2) Horticultural Societies 3) Agricultural or Agrarian Societies 4) Industrial Societies 5) Fishing Societies 6) Herding Societies 7) Maritime Societies

Key Figures: Davis-Moore Hypothesis

- central claim within the structural functionalist paradigm of sociological theory - advanced by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore - it is an attempt to explain social stratification based on the idea of "functional necessity" - argue that the most difficult jobs in any society are the most necessary & require the highest rewards & compensation to sufficiently motivate individuals to fill them - once the roles are filled, the division of labor functions properly, based on the notion of organic solidarity advanced by Emile Durkheim

Key Figures: Joseph Stalin

- communist ideologically committed to the Leninist interpretation of Marxism - issued the 5-year plans where the country underwent agricultural collectivization and rapid industrialization, creating a centralized command economy - champion of the working class and socialism

Key Figures: Henry Louis (Skip) Gates:

- concerned about the inequality within the African American community - believes that each black person still fights stereotypes about racial difference that are inherited from the 19th Century and the institution of slavery

Personal Earnings

- consist of the money an individual receives in wages, commissions, and tips for work performed - good measure to use in considering returns on work

LO9: importance of social class position on who gets what and why

- core features of life in the working class, the upper-middle class, and the elite-capitalist class - Karl Marx states that the key variables in determining social class are in individual's accumulated private property (wealth) - big money comes from acquiring monopolies and amassing wealth in the form of properties, houses, and hotels - wealth is far more concentrated than is income (U.S) - movement between classes is not fluid & many people remain in their classes of origin - placing together wealth, occupation, education, and family income, we get a picture of the American Class Structure

Key Figures: William Julius Wilson

- demonstrated how limited employment opportunities & weakened institutional resources exacerbated poverty within American inner-city neighborhoods

Key Figures: Robert Blauner

- developer of the Internal Colonialism theory - term was coined to highlight the "blurred" lines between geographically close locations that are clearly different in terms of culture - main difference between neocolonialism and internal colonialism is the source of exploitation

Key Figures: Adam Smith

- develops a theory of psychology in which individuals seek the approval of the impartial spectator as a result of a natural desire to have outside observers sympathize with their sentiments - invisible hand concepts - states that when an individual pursues his self-interest under conditions of justice, he promotes the good of society - self-interested competition in the free market, would tend to benefit society by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services - wary of businessmen and warned of their conspiracy against the public to raise prices

Key Figures: Bretton Woods

- formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference - gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, U.S. - to regulate internationally monetary and financial order after the conclusion of WWII - established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Key Figures: Max Weber

- formulated a 3-component theory of stratification, with social class, social status and political party as distinct elements - contrast to Karl Marx - issues of honor and prestige are important - Social Class = based on economically determined relationship to the market (owner, renter, employee) - Status = based on non-economic qualities like honor, prestige and religion - Party = affiliations in the political domain

Key Figures: Jean Jacques Rousseau

- goal to find a way of preserving human freedom in a world where human beings are increasingly dependent on one another for the satisfaction of their needs - 2 routes to achieve and protect freedom: 1) construct political institutions that allow for the co-existence of free and equal citizens in a community where they themselves are sovereign 2) project for child development and education that fosters autonomy and avoids the development of the most destructive forms of self-interest

LO2: Historical trend in social inequality and how it has varied according to the technological base of societies

- inequality grows as societies become larger and more powerful - advanced industrial societies have seen a decrease in inequality with the growth of a large middle class - the effects of global, postindustrial economies are still uncertain, but many postindustrial societies are again seeing rises in inequality 1) Hunting & Gathering Societies: - they have gender-divided societies where the men hunt, and the women gather - gender division is probably based in social needs as well as in biology - class divisions unheard of among them - power resides primarily in the consensus of the group, based on their personal charisma or ability to command respect 2) Horticultural and Herding Societies: - differ from hunter-gatherer societies in many ways as they often must shift their cultivation, but they may stay in one place when they do so, like in a village in the middle of shifting gardens - can produce economic surpluses and store them, creating commodities - key positions of political/economic power often monopolized by men - power based on charisma and influence - privileges based on ability to redistribute goods to everyone's satisfaction and to his own advantage - prestige based on ability to reward supporters generously - age brings respect - restrictions on female sexuality were sometimes less stringent than in European society - Herding societies are marked by distinct social inequalities: - protection of property = men - men dominate these societies 3) Agrarian Societies - based on cultivation, but they practice intense and continuous cultivation of the land rather than rely on shifting gardens - become vastly more stratified than their predecessors - women's prominence in society declined - division of societal members into true and largely fixed classes - private property became very important - increased centralization of power increased the wealth and power of a few - slaves and servants in abundance - Capitalism began to replace feudalism as Agrarian empires were carried to the Americas - Emergence of Markets, where goods are bought and sold with common currency and prices are set by a balance of supply and demand - industrial revolution began to transform these societies - brought slavery, serfdom, chronic warfare, forced taxation, devastating plagues and famines, and malnourished poor 4) Maritime and Frontier Societies: - dependent upon sea trade = maritime - dependent upon farming & herding = Frontier - more equal 5) Industrial Societies: - led to horrific conditions & gross inequalities - faced greater production, greater power, and more inequalities - then inequality declined as middle classes filled some of the gap between rich and poor, sharing some of the privilege of the rich

United Nations Development Programme

- issues a Human Development Report - reveals a gap between nations in income, wealth, and well-being - United Nations' global development network - advocates for chance & connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life for themselves

Immigration

- leaving one's country of origin to live in another country

Secondary Labor Market

- low-wage jobs with few benefits and little security - includes many recent Latin American and Caribbean immigrants - as well as labor migrants and "internal colonial" groups such as African Americans and Mexican Americans

Key Figures: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

- member of the democratic party - directed federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda, which was designed to produce relief, recovery, and reform - created many programs to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery - advocacy of government social programs was instrumental in redefining liberalism for coming generations

Dimensions of Inequality

- more than one set of dimensions - example: class, race, gender, age, sexuality, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion

LO3: Kuznets Curve, its significance & Limitations

- named after economist Simon Kuznets - inequality within a society increases until the society reaches a certain point in industrialization at which it declines - argued that this describes the experiences of GB, G, USA - the nations of the world with the lowest levels of social equality are the "industrializing agrarian societies" - Limitations: - United States is an example - it has seen 2 decades of rapid growth accompanied by widening inequality

Kuznets Curve

- named after economist Simon Kuznets who first called attention to a trend in national development - inverted U-shaped relation between income inequality and economic growth - the inequality within a society increases until the society reaches a certain point in industrialization at which it declines

Bretton Woods Conference:

- named after the New Hampshire town where it was held - created the International Monetary Fund (IMF) & the World Bank in 1944 - Called Bretton Woods Institutions: - purpose was to create stability in the world economy & to encourage socioeconomic development in the countries that came to be known as the "third world" or the "developing world"

Social Constructions

- not facts of nature, but the results of societal forms and patterns of power

Key Figures: Ralf Dahrendorf

- published a book on social inequality called "Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society" - believed that neither structural functionalism nor Marxism could alone account for all of society - Believed in 2 approaches in society: 1) Utopian - the balance of values and solidarity 2) Rationalist: - the dissension and disagreement - believes the struggle for authority creates conflict - Class Conflict Theory: - authority is the generic form of dominate - attempts to bring together structural functionalism and Marxism - functionalism is beneficial while trying to understand consensus while the conflict theory is used to understand conflict and coercion

LO13: How race is a socially constructed concept

- societies have created racial divisions in attempts to categorize the range of human physical diversity - race matters b/c of the importance people give to it - elements that constitute the social construction of race: - discrimination in housing, employment, and marketing - segregation in housing and impersonal networks - stereotyping of culture and language

LO5: trace the broad outlines of history of thought on social inequalities from antiquity until today

- some of the earliest writings that have survived consist of rules of order and justice - Gerhard Lenski (1996): - studying the seep of inequality across human societies - divides the responses to the question of "what constitutes a just social order?" into: - Conservative Thesis: - argument that inequality is a part of the natural/divine order of things - it cannot/should not be changed - view has dominated history - Radical Antithesis: - Counterargument - argument that equality is the natural/divine order of things - inequality is a usurpation of privilege and should be abolished or at least greatly reduced - most ancient rulers who sat in their stratified societies were conservative on the issue of inequality but had radical counterparts - no more succinct and vigorous statements of class struggle would come until the time of Karl Marx - tension between radical & conservative Christianity continued through the middle ages - radical thinking reached England by the 17th Century, also in religious context - the Levelers: - desire to equalize, or "level," society - Methodism: - John Wesley founded it - preached social order & respect for authority - preached to the poorest segments of society & took great interest in their welfare - by the 18th Century in Europe, arguments for social changed tended to draw less on the Bible than on a new understanding of a Social Contract that included the rights of all

LO14: How has the categories and boundaries of race shifted during U.S. History?

- some racial categories bring together enormously diverse groups - the complexity of race division is seen in the growing numbers of multiracial individuals - when having Native American roots became socially desirable, many "whites" suddenly discovered and proclaimed their Indian great-grandmothers - Americans have often treated race as an attribute of certain individuals rather than a a boundary or category of privilege - "one thing about white people, we tend to either be proud or ashamed of being white, proud in a supremacist way or guilty in a liberal way." - the United States was "built" by many groups from many shores, but some of the builders are still waiting to be truly welcomed into the house

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

- system of needs - dimension of civil society involves the pursuit of need satisfaction - work is the mode of acquisition and transformation of the means for satisfying needs as well as a mode of practical education in abilities and understanding - work also reveals the way in which people are dependent upon one another in their self-seeking and how every individual contributes to the need satisfaction of all others - natural inequalities between individuals will translate into social inequalities - social class divisions are necessary as each class is important for society

Key Figures: Oscar Lewis

- termed Culture of Poverty - stated that "by the time slum children are of age six or seven, they usually absorbed the basic values and attitudes of their subculture and are not psychologically geared to take full advantage of the changing conditions or increased opportunities that may occur in their lifetime - had vivid depictions of the lives of slum dwellers

Culture of Poverty

- termed by Oscar Lewis to describe common attributes he found among the poor in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States - Fatalism, a present rather than future orientation, mother-centered families, and suspicion of outside institutions - it is both an adaptation and a reaction of the poor to their marginal position in a class stratified, highly individuated, capitalistic society

Key Figures: William Ryan

- termed the cultural argument "blaming the victim" - new scapegoat: culture, or more properly, subculture - instead of arguing that "Negroes" themselves were inferior, one could argue that they were the unfortunate victims of an inferior set of cultural norms and practices - this view allowed "conservatives" to subtly blame the victims of poverty and discrimination for their own misery

Deindustrialization

- the loss of industrial work undermines the gains of labor unions & the working class, creating unemployment and a "race to the bottom" as workers in advanced industrial economies must compete with poorly paid workers in a new industrializing countries

LO15: Concept of Internal Colonialism

- the process of groups being victims of colonial oppression but within their own country rather than being imposed by a foreign power - Four Basic Elements: 1) Control Over a Group's Governance: - the colonial group is allowed neither full autonomy nor full participation in the national government 2) Restriction of Freedom of Movement - colonial peoples are not willing immigrants but are involuntarily incorporated into the national society - their ability to choose where they live, and work is severely restricted 3) Colonial-Style Labor Exploitation: - a "cultural division of labor" exists in which the colonial peoples are assigned to the most menial or dangerous work and given the least compensation for that work 4) Belief in a Group's Inferiority: - prejudice follows from discrimination - the exploitation of the colonial group must be justified, and this is done through an ideology that asserts the group's moral, intellectual, and cultural inferiority - domination of the group's members by others is "for their own good."

LO16: Experiences of major U.S. racial and ethnic minorities: Native American

- viewed as either "the noble savage" or "the savage killer" - some though they could assimilate the Native peoples if only they could educate them properly - others attempted to annihilate them - many Native peoples were not united in one great peace-loving brotherhood and agreed to fight in the bloodiest of campaigns in the service of France, England, and the United States - Many Native peoples did try to assimilate, but under President Jackson, he had them marched on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) - under Jackson, all Natives were moved to the west until they are moved to small and remote reservations - Cruelty directed toward Native Americans is seen as the American version of the empire building of the time - Native Americans' hope for partial autonomy returned with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal - Indian New Deal 1934: - ended allotment, extended credit, promoted the revival of Native cultures and crafts, and encouraged tribal self-government - 1953 Termination Act: - designed to eliminate reservation status - Native-controlled land was lost, and poverty persisted - 1973 Restoration Act: - restored lost reservation status - 1975 Self-Determination Act: - Promoted autonomy - 1980s under Ronald Reagan's secretary James Watt - promoted assimilation and Indian "enterprise zones" like those in inner cities, along with mining and resource extraction on Native lands - poverty grew deeper - First Bush Administration and Clinton Years - Indian languages were again encouraged, and tribes began to experiment with self-determination apart from control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs - 1989 Indian Gaming Act - any state that allows some form of gambling within its borders must also negotiate to allow Indian gaming - Native Tribes started to open casinos - American Indian population is growing rapidly, less b/c of high birthrates than b/c "being Indian" is now a mark of distinction, and many "whites" are reclaiming their partial Native heritage - they have moved from "captive nations" to "internal colonies"

LO16: Experiences of major U.S. racial and ethnic minorities: Hispanic Americans

- viewed with suspicion as "outsiders" in an Anglo-dominated Southwest - strong backbone of the labor force in the Southwest - poorly paid, they provided the "colonial labor" and were excluded from governing coalitions - Stereotype: - said to be less capable, less industrious, less clever than whites - seen as best suited to working under the watchful eye of Anglo supervisors - 1924 -- U.S. Border Patrol was established - Creation of the Bracero Program after WWII: - recruited Mexicans to work in the United States - ended in 1964 - Strong anti-immigrant sentiment prevailed in California, where voters have passed propositions intended to limit the rights of immigrants and their children - Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. Territory: - have no official representation in the U.S. Congress - Do not face immigration limits in coming to the U.S. Mainland - better off than some of their Caribbean neighbors, but stall are the poorest Latino group - rates of poverty/unemployment, as well as rates of family disruption, are closer to those for African and Native Americans than they are to those for most other Latino groups

Key Figures: Stanley Lieberson

- worked on race and ethnic relations - showed that the pressure to exclude African Americans from specific occupations increases with their relative size in the population - the minority is perceived to pose a threat to the whites' privileged position

American Class Structure:

1) Capitalist Class: - investors, heirs, and executives - typically, with prestigious university education - annual family incomes over $2 million, mostly from assets 2) Upper-Middle Class: - high-level managers, professionals, midsize business owners - with college education, advanced degress - with family incomes of $120,000 or more 3) Middle Class: - low-level managers, semiprofessionals, some persons in sales & skilled crafts - usually some college, technical training or apprenticeship - Family incomes of about $55,000 4) Working Class: - high school educated operatives, clerical workers, most retail salesclerks, routinized assembly and factory workers, and related "blue-collar" employees - family incomes of about $35,000 5) Working Poor: - poorly paid service workers and laborers, operatives, and clerical workers in low-wage sectors - usually with some high school - family incomes of around $22,000 6) Underclass: - persons with erratic job histories & weak attachment to the formal labor force - unemployed or able to find only seasonal or part-time work, dependent on temporary or informal employment or some form of social assistance - family income of $12,000

Horticulturalists

- plant cultivators

LO7: Major Theoretical Perspectives on economic development since WWII. Side of the "Great Debate"

1) Chain-Reaction View: - chain-reaction that, in time, will bring modernity and prosperity to ever-greater numbers of people - as enterprises become ever-more linked around the world 2) Race to the Bottom View: - in the efforts to keep jobs and attract new ones, states may be tempted to give away all the things that might help build a better quality of life for their residents 3) Modernization School: - Conservative Side of the Great Debate - believe that poverty is the basic primordial condition of humanity, that like the conservative thesis, states that inequality is a part of the natural order of things - Functionalist ideas about inequality - Answer was to blame traditionalism - poverty is the basic primordial condition of humanity = once all societies are poor, they stay poor b/c they cling to traditional/inefficient attitudes, technologies, and poor institutions - Modern attitudes (drive to experiment/achieve), modern technologies (machinery/electronics), and modern institutions (manage all of this) - once key foundations of modernity are in place, countries will take off toward prosperity and a modern, high-consumption consumer economy - termed the mainstream school of scholarship - has been criticized as ethnocentric, and biased toward the west 4) Dependency Theory: - Radical Antithesis side of the Great Debate: - stresses the problem of the dependency of poor nations on the whims and power of the rich, which is like the radical antithesis b/c within the antithesis, they believe inequality is a usurpation of privilege - additionally, unlike the conservative thesis, the radical ride of the great debate and the dependency theory both believe that poor societies were made, not born, not natural - rooted in conflict notions about inequality - stressed the problem of the dependency of poor nations on the whims and power of the rich - First Theorists = Lenin, Bukharin - Answer to poverty = blame colonial imperialism - worldwide industrial capitalism brings exploitation through unequal exchange & removal of surplus through profits, domination through subtle but powerful neocolonialism, & distortion through disarticulated economies that serve export needs but not the needs of local populations - Latin America Thinkers were key in this emerging line of thought - Believed that poor societies were made, not born - not undeveloped, but rather underdeveloped due to capitalist penetration 5) Neoliberalism: - little bit of both - Conservative side and radical antithesis of the Great Debate - Neoliberalism has its roots in the economics of Adam Smith, who is best known for the "invisible hand," but also for the emergence of the term "libertarian." - this term within neoliberalism is like both the conservative thesis and radical antithesis b/c libertarian began with a conservative thesis and radical antithesis b/c libertarian began with a conservative leaning & viewpoint about human behavior, but then it also encompasses propositions of progressive policy reforms to make sure all actors engage in an equitable and efficient system - could arguably be more conservative than radical due to its defining characteristic which sees competition with a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency, not encouraging the reduction/elimination of inequality, but seeing it as necessary to competition - Economic philosophy of American political conservatives - roots in the economics of Adam Smith - dominated the world - Structural Adjustment: - World Bank and IMF use this - Housecleaning as it calls on nations to reduce government spending and bureaucracy, to encourage markets, to export, and to encourage entrepreneurship - stresses the importance of individual rights to smooth-functioning economies - also called the Washington Consensus, emphasizing the U.S.Role 6) World Systems Theory: - Conservative side of the Great Debate - seen as an adaptation of dependency theory, neo-Marxist, Immanuel's Wallersteins' World Systems Theory leans more towards the conservative side - one of his "structures" that he finds most important of the world-system is a power of hierarchy between "core" and "periphery," in which powerful and wealthy "core" societies dominate and exploit weak and poor peripheral societies - with this statement and analysis, Immanuel is showing this structure, creating inequality globally as well as within countries, is important, that it is a "divine order of things" aligned with the conservative view - Stress external causes - developed by Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) - sees the "new world order" as 500 years old, beginning with the global capitalism of the emerging European powers - Modern world system has 3 different core centers of power: - United Provinces (Dutch capitalists who began this process) - United Kingdom and its various forms of empire - United States and its global economic dominance - Second World of trading states: - Other parts of Europe - Japan - Serve as middleman - Periphery: - poorest states - bear the brunt of the oppressive system - likely to remain that way until the entire system of global capitalism is overturned or radically altered 7) Political Economy Perspective: - radical antithesis side of the Global Debate - those who have deep concerns about global capitalism's ability to meet the needs of the world's poor - Karl Marx - Stresses the interplay of power & politics with the world of the market & exchange - most sides in this debate agree that the key actors in the modern world are the multinational corporations, transnational lending institution, international media, and expanding global technology and trade