Exam 1: Lectures

women

- Chromosomes: XX - Genitalia: vagina - Gender identity: woman - Sexual attraction: man - Romantic attraction: man - Stereotypical characteristics: submissive, emotional, artsy

men

- Chromosomes: XY - Genitalia: penis - Gender identity: man - Sexual attraction: woman - Romantic attraction: woman - Stereotypical characteristics: dominant, logical, scientific

glass cliff

- Comes from the study in Silicon Valley in which the study found many asians working there but there are rarely any that are executive or CEOs - They are likely to be appointed to such positions when the company is doing poorly

nature vs nature

- Debate between how much of our gender expression is nature or nurture - For a long time, scientists observed gendered behavior in young children - They assumed that gender was innate and inherent, thereby being nature - Dynamic systems theorists

how much do CEOs make compared to the typical worker?

- CEOs make 278 times more than typical workers CEO to worker compensation ratio: - CEO to worker compensation ratio based on options realized has increased over the years - CEO to worker compensation ratio based on options granted has also increased over the years

christians and race

- Christians found it hard to openly justify the enslavement of a certain group of people, so they created race to justify enslavement - They used race to justify slavery by saying the Africans were different (more animalistic, cannot survive in civilized society without help, biologically different) - They used race as a way to justify slavery while maintaining their moral superiority

Productivity to hourly compensation

- As productivity increased, hourly compensation also increased until about 1980 - Productivity continued to increase but hourly compensation remained largely stagnant - This means that although people produced more goods, they were not receiving more pay and working more hours - Since union membership has decreased, the power to demand more pay has decreased as a result - Union membership has declined so much that we have taken 40 hour work weeks for granted

median single millennial wealth by race and gender

- Black men earn more than black women - Hispanic men earn more than hispanic women - White men earn more then white women

wage gaps between white men and race/gender

- 34% gap between what black women earn and white men earn (Remained stable the past 3 decades) - 22% wage gap between what black men earn and white men earn (Has remained stable) - 22.5% wage gap between what white women earn and white men earn (Has remained stable)

how much of the bottom 90%'s income is based on purely wages?

- 84% - for the top 1%, only 37% of their income is based upon their wages

structural racism

- A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity

US Census: 1850

- Added mulatto because powerful people in the south were curious about the racial admixture between blacks and white - There were debates about race mixing - These powerful people argued that races were different biological species who shouldn't breed, with mixtures being sterile - There were people who argued mixed (mulattos) were higher than blacks because there were white in them - They added mulatto as a choice to determine if they were to die out and become unsterile or actually prove better than blacks - Census reflected the idea of race and eugenics at the time

economic mobility

- Economic mobility has also been worsening over time - The percentage of children that earn more than their parents has decreased significantly over time The strength of correlation between father and son's earnings - The United States is worse than countries like Switzerland, Denmark, etc.

races of millionaires

- Families worth a million dollars or more - 15.2% of whites are millionaires; The number has more than doubled since 1992 - 2.3% of hispanics and 1.9% of blacks are millionaires - There is a great disparity when compared to whites - Black and latino families are more likely to have zero or negative wealth; more likely to be in debt - In 2016, 37% and 34% of black and hispanic families had zero or negative wealth

gendered socialization

- Gendered socialization begins early in childhood - We teach boys and girls different things - Toys for boys consist of construction toys, guns, airplanes, and essentially to teach boys to do things with their hands - Toys for girls is mostly pink stuff along with dolls, vacuum cleaners, kitchen sets, and things to emphasize domestic values - Young children tend to have equal interests in math and science - Over time, girl interests in math and science decreases compared to boys - We teach girls to aspire to different professions

newborn African Americans and their future classes

- Half of black Americans born poor, stay poor - Quantiles are five equal segments of the population - Bottom income quantile = 25% of people who earn the least income - The quantile chart shows what quantile people were born into and what quantile they ended up as adults - Black bottom quantile: The different colors represent the incomes that the bottom quantile adults receive - 51% of black adults that were born as bottom quantile remained bottom quantile as adults - White bottom quantile: Only 23% of white that were born in the bottom quantile remained that way as adults. 19% got into the second quantile as adults

race and home ownership

- Homeownership is heavily skewed towards white families - Most people's wealth is in their home - There are big disparities between who owns a home and who doesn't - In 2016, about 70% of white families owned their home In 2016, only 40% of latino and blacks owned their homes - This is a significant difference from white families

gender identity

- How you identify as a gender person - People often signal their gender identity with gender expression

US Census: 2000

- Included more debates about the classification of asian Americans and multi-racial people - Added a group of Pacific Islanders, whom wanted to be independently identified as native Americans (they argued back against Pacific Islanders wanting to be identified with them) - The office of management and budgets created a new racial category for Pacific Islanders - The first time since the removal of mulatto where people could identify themselves as being mixed (they could choose more than one box) - Multi-racial groups argued they were not represented by the census, forced into arbitrary categories - Civil rights groups argued the census is not about the identity but rather tracking civil rights progress over time

The Promise by C. Wright Mills

- Men feel that they cannot overcome their troubles, which leads to them feeling correct - What ordinary men are directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live - Their visions and powers are limited to close-up scenes of jobs family, neighborhood - The more aware men become of ambitions and threats, the more trapped they seemed to feel - Underlying this sense of feeling trapped is changes in the structure of continent-wide societies - Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both - Men do not typically define the troubles they endure in terms of historical change and institutional contradiction - The shaping of history outpaces the ability of men to orient themselves in accordance with cherished values - Men often sense that older ways of feeling and thinking have collapsed and that newer beginnings are ambiguous to the point of moral stasis Is this a coincidence for why ordinary men cannot cope with the larger world with which they are so suddenly confronted? - Information often dominates the attention of ordinary men and overwhelms their capacity to assimilate it - They don't need to have only skills of reason - What ordinary men need is a quality of mind that will help them to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and what may be happening within themselves - The sociological imagination enables it possessor to understand the larger historical scene with regard to its meaning for the inner life and external career It enables him to take into account how individuals become falsely conscious of their social positions - The first point of the sociological imagination is that the individual can understand his own experience and gauge his own fate only by locating himself within his period - That he can know his own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances - The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society - 3 sorts of questions asked by social analysts: What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its essential components, and how are they related to one another? How does it differ from other varieties of social order? Within is, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change? Where does this society stand in human history? What are the mechanics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its meaning for the development of humanity as a whole? How does any particular feature we are examining affect the historical period in which it moves? How does it differ from other periods? What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period? And what varieties are coming to prevail? In what ways are they selected and formed, liberated, and repressed, made sensitive and blunted? What kinds of human nature are revealed in conduct and character we observe in this society in this period? - The imagination is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another - It is the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self, and to see the relations between the two - With sociological imagination, ordinary men can now feel that they can provide themselves with adequate summations, cohesive assessments, comprehensive orientations - They acquire a new way of thinking and also realize the cultural meaning of the social sciences - "Troubles" occur within the character of the individuals and within the range of his immediate relations with others - They deal with self and those limited areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware - A trouble is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by him to be threatened "Issues" concern matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life - They deal with organization and institutions of a historical society as a whole - An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by public is felt to be threatened - An issue often involves a crisis in institutional arrangements - What we experience in various and specific milieux (social environments) is often caused by structural changes - The number and variety of such structural changes increase as institutions become more embracing and connected with one another - When people cherish some set of values and do not feel any threat to them, they experience well-being - When people cherish a value but do feel them to be threatened, they experience a crisis (either as a personal or public issue) - When all of an individual's values are threatened, they feel the total threat of panic - If people are neither aware of any cherished values nor experience any threat, their experience is described as indifference - The indifference experience becomes apathy if it involves all of the individual's values - If people are unaware of cherished values but are aware of the threat, this experience is called uneasiness (which may become a deadly unspecified malaise) - Man's chief danger today lies in the unruly forces of contemporary society itself, with its alienating methods of production, its enveloping techniques of political domination, its international anarchy - In every intellectual age, some one style of reflection tends to become a common denominator of cultural life - When one common denominator prevails, more general intellectual interests tend to slide - The sociological imagination has become central features of intellectual endeavor and cultural sensibility - The sociological imagination is not a fashion but rather a quality of mind that seems most dramatically to promise an understanding of the intimate realities of ourselves in connection with larger social realities - There are 2 cultures: The scientific The humanistic The essence of the humanistic culture has been literature - Is it social and historical reality that men want to know, and often they do not find contemporary literature an adequate means for knowing it - They yearn for facts, they search for their meanings, they want a big picture in which they can believe and within which they can come to understand themselves - They want orienting values too, and suitable ways of feeling and styles of emotion and vocabularies of motivate - Men do not find any of this in modern literature - In the absence of an adequate social science, critics and novelists, dramatists and poets have been the major (and sometimes only) formulators of private troubles and even of public issues - "Social Science" consists of what duly recognized social scientists are doing - The essential feature of classical social analysis is the concern with historical social structures Its problems are of direct relevance to urgent public issues and insistent human troubles - What is now recognized as sociological work has tended to move in one or more of three general directions to being run into the ground - Tendency 1: Sociology is an encyclopedic endeavor, concerned with the whole of a man's social life Sociology is historical and systematic - Tendency 2: Toward a systematic theory of the nature of man and society - Sociology comes to deal in conceptions intended to be of use in classifying all social relations and providing insight into their supposedly invariant features - Sociology is concerned with a rather static and abstract view of the components of social structure on a quite high level of generality - History is abandoned in this approach - Tendency 3: Toward empirical studies of contemporary social facts and problems

men vs. women: job application

- Men tend to be a little more risky with their job applications than women - They attend to apply for jobs in which they meet only half of the qualifications where women apply to jobs where they only qualify - Men are more likely to ask for a raise or promotion than women - Even when women do take the initiative to ask for a raise, they are more likely to be turned down than their man counterparts

black middle class kids

- Most black middle class kids are downwards mobile - This shows the middle income quantile - Black middle quantile: 37% of those who were born into the middle quantile dropped into the second quantile; 32% of those who were born into the middle quantile dropped into the bottom quantile - White middle quantile: 20% of those who were born into the middle quantile dropped into the second quantile; 14% of those who were born into the middle quantile dropped into the bottom quantile - We talk about the US as the land of opportunity but the data proves differently

populations that make up the homeless

- Most minority groups make up a larger share of the homeless population than they do of the general population - Biggest to smallest components of homeless population that is minority: black, 2 or more races, Indian, native Hawaiian, and asian - Pacific Islander have really high rates of homeless - This is followed by blacks, American Indians, 2 or more races, hispanic, white, and Asian

Karl Marx

- Most people agree that we need to improve our economic system - Marx's ideas have been used in real life to influence dictatorships that have failed miserably - Marx's diagnosis of capitalism can be used to help form a better future rather than his ideas being used to create miserable, failed dictatorships - Marx was born in Germany and became involved in the communist party - He advocated for the elimination of the class system and abolishment of private property - Marx worked as a journalist but fled Germany and settled in England Marx's Problems with Capitalism Modern work is alienated - Workers need to see themselves in the objects they have created - Labor should allow us to externalize ourselves in the items we create - Not achievable in the modern world Modern work is incredibly specialized, creating an efficient economy - The worker cannot understand the genuine contribution he or she has made - Modern work has led to alienation (a feeling of disconnection between what you do all day and who you feel you really are) Modern work is insecure - Capitalism makes the human being expendable and easily replaced - Humans do not want to be let go and abandoned Workers get paid little while capitalist get rich - Marx believed that the capitalists decreased the wages of the laborers in order to receive a wide profit margin (private accumulation) - Marx perceived profit as theft rather than being possessed with talent - Marx insisted that capitalism means paying a worker for one thing while selling it to another for a higher price Capitalism is very unstable - Marx proposed that capitalist systems are characterized by crises painted as being rare - Crises are endemic to capitalism - Capitalist crises are due to abundance rather than shortage - There is so much unemployment because we are so good at making things rather than needing so many people - Redistribute the wealth Capitalism is bad for capitalists - Marx argued that marriage was an extension of business and that the relationship was agonizing - Commodity fetishism (makes us value things that have no objective value) - Marx argued that men and women should both enjoy pleasure rather than going out to work - Marx proposed that there is an insidious way the industry influences the ideas we are having - The economy generates an ideology - Capitalism is a society where many groups of people have many different ideas that relate back to the economy - One of the biggest evils of capitalism is that ideas reach all of us to be anxious, competitive, and politically complacent

choice vs. push segregation

- Numerous studies report that women in science or math majors experience negative attitudes and atmosphere - Harassment of women in science and math majors is so strong that 14% of women that finish engineering degrees do not enter the field - In male dominated industries, 60% of women report harassment as a problem - This is extremely high and comparable to industries dominated by women

men versus women: size

- On average, men are a little bigger than women - Over the course of children's lives, we increase the difference between boys and girls at birth - We tell boys to eat all their food but not girls - We often feed boys more and encourage them to eat more - When you eat more, you grow up to be bigger and taller - We begin to structure our society and science around this idea

white workers vs blacks etc.

- On average, white workers are paid more than black and hispanic workers at nearly every educational level - There is income inequality at each educational level - At every educational level, white people tend to earn more money - Educational categories: less than HS, HS, some college, college, advanced degree - Education isn't leveling the playing field as we think it is

black students and what school they attend

- Percentage of black students who attend schools that are at least 50% white - Has been decreasing since 1989 - In 1989, the proportion of black students attending schools that were more than majority white was 44% - In 2011, the proportion of black students dropped to 23% (This is a downward trend since 1989) - School segregation is just as bad today as it was during the civil rights movement in the 1960s - The federal government must act accordingly

races and student loan payback

- Student loan payback (major source of debt for many people) - After 12 years of paying on loans, how much (percentage) do people owe of the original loan? - Blacks own 110% of the loan, indicating they own more than they originally borrowed - Latino men is 80% while latino men is 86% - White males are 56% and white females are 72%

gender wage gap

- The gender wage gap is the ratio of what women earn to what men earn - Calculated by earnings ratio Women earned about 45,000 compared to men 55,000 - This varies by race - The earnings ratio in 2018 was 82% - When we compare to women's salaries of different races to white men salaries, there is an interesting salary

false idea concerning structural racism

- The idea that if we keep waiting for society to become just and the bigots die off....this is a false idea - There is evidence that things become worst over time without federal intervention - In order for change to occur, the government and public must be intensely involved and want change

gendered brains

- The idea that men are right brained and that women are left brained - Scientists have found that there are small, minimal differences between men and women with regard to brains - Some push back saying that appearance doesn't necessarily mean there is different function

gender expression

- The most tangible part of gender that we can visualize - Is defined as being how you express your gender identity - It is how you express how you feel as a gender person - We use gender expression to wrongly stereotype people who identify as the similar gender

Transatlantic Slave Trade

- The transatlantic slave trade (and colonization in general) led to the creation of race - Indentured servants was not effective since they gained freedom over time - Native Americans were not useful since they were not so obedient and would escape - Africans were obedient, resistant to diseases, and foreign to the Americas - Did not have local ties to readily escaped - If they did escape, they were easily recognizable to recapture

US Census: 1980

- There were debates among race scholars, public, and census officials about what changes should be made with regard to racial categories - Produced a dramatic change in which the census counted people - The office of management and budgets (conducts census) declared East Asians should be re-classified as whites BUT asian groups pushed back

dynamic systems theorists

- They believe it is an interaction between nature and nurture - Gender social interaction begins much earlier than originally thought - They argue that socialization and biology create a discrete appearance between men and women - Among young children, boys had better motor skills while girls tend to develop better communication skills - People assumed this to be inherent gender differences - Dynamic systems theorists argue that this is a result of gendered interactions with toddlers - How we interact with toddlers and babies creates gendered behavior as early as 3-4 years old

how do researchers conduct research that reveals what is a personal and public issue while remaining ethical?

- This starts with an empirical question (anything that can be answered using data). Cannot ask philosophical questions like morality - After the question, you collect a sample (subset of the population). Sampling is the bedrock of social science because it is unyielding and expensive to ask questions of entire populations. Sampling rests on a core scientific principle: people in similar circumstances will behave similarly. Social scientific samples are random (everybody has an equal chance of being selected, thereby creating a sample that should be generalizable) - Using the question and data, you can argue whether an issue is personal or public. After this, you can then publish the data that is then peer reviewed (the safe-guard for accurate scientific research) - There are multiple types of data as well

union membership

- Union membership has declined significantly over the past few decades - Union membership correlates with income inequality - As membership increases, there are more equitable income and working conditions - There is higher income inequality in the untied states when there is no union memberships

wages and cost of living

- Wages have become stagnant while the cost of living has increased - People now live in a situation where they are not making much money as they used to decades ago Cost of living in 1975 versus cost of living in 2015 (adjusted for inflation) - The median income in 1975 in 2015 money is about 55K (higher than the median income in 2015) - Things cost more in 2015 than 1975 - The cost of living continues to increase, making it difficult to invest and place money in savings

wealth inequality

- Wealth inequality is not getting better but is rather worsening - The gap between whites and minority groups has increased significantly - White wealth has recovered since the recession but not black wealth or hispanics as well - Despite the recovery since the recession, the disparity of minorities between whites persists

income inequality at its lowest in the US

- When income inequality in the United States was at its lowest, tax was high on the top earners - Taxes at the top of the income bracket were around 80-90% - This gave the government income to translate into social programs to help the bottom classes

issues with unobservable data

- When you translate the concepts into tangible data, there is problems with interpreting and answering questions - An example is the black mental health paradox - The consistent findings that black people tend to have better mental health outcomes than white people (confusing to researchers since mental health is correlated to socioeconomic status) - What some researchers speculate is that black and white people (subjects) are viewing these questions differently, thereby giving different questions

race

- a system of classification based on a combination of ancestry and physical characteristics that governs our relationship to the state, institutions, and each other - has not remained consistent over time and has proven to be dynamic across space & time (different countries have different ways of classifying race)

income

- any money that you earn from any source that comes into your household - That's interest on your bank accounts - Money you earn from stock ownership - Money you earn from working etc.

what is wealth and why is it important?

- assets (everything you own) minus debts (everything you owe) - wealth vs income (doesn't strongly correlate together) - wealth is more powerful than income (wealth can be used to increase your income but not the other way around)

limitations of genetic ancestry tests: inexact

- autosomal DNA vs mitochondrial DNA - autosomal DNA: any chromosomes than your sex DNA (good at identifying direct relatives but its predictable capability falls apart after so many generations)

how did the idea of race emerge?

- before race, people were more likely to divide each other based upon factors such as religion, nationality, ethnic group, etc. - the idea of race emerged after previous classification systems were in place - race was not the direct result of humans recognizing differences between different individuals

risks of genetic ancestry testing

- belief in biological races: white nationalism and indigenous cultural appropriation

gender

- combination of social and biological characteristics that classify our femininity and masculinity

limitations of genetic ancestry tests: proprietary data

- companies have different databases - impossible to determine which company can give the best results

unobservable data

- concepts and ideas that are important and are translated into things we can observe (ex: depression) - depression isn't something that is directly observable - social scientists use a scale through a questionnaire (a way of translating intangible concepts like depression into tangible concepts)

why do we care about the difference between personal and public issues?

- creating policy (distinguishing both issues allows for one to rightfully solve a problem)

class

- describes how the distribution of financial resources shapes who has access to power and what they choose to do with it - inherently about inequality and conflict: income inequality, poverty, wealth inequality, economic/social mobility

US Census: 2020

- exact same as the 2000 census

are the lowest paid occupations in the US dominated by males or females?

- females

human genome project

- found that human beings are 99.9% identical - the 0.1% is a result of sex differences and what not - many believed that the project would result in the elimination of the belief regarding race was due to biological differences - What happened amongst the public after the human genome project was the moving away from the biological argument - They began to base their arguments for race around cultural differences - Scientists then focused on the 0.1% difference between humans from the project - This led to ancestry testing

components for gender

- gender expression - chromosomes - genitalia - gender identity - sexual attraction - romantic attraction - stereotypical characteristics

personal issue

- individual problems experienced by only one individual or a couple people

limitations of genetic ancestry tests

- inexact - proprietary data - conflates population groupings and race

evolution of humans

- its widely agreed that humans evolved in central Africa - then humans migrated out of Africa - for the majority of existence of homo sapients, we spent time in Africa

public issues

- macro-level events that impact many people of institutions - examples include war and natural disasters - are a result of institutional and government policy - can sometimes appear as personal issues

are the highest paid occupations in the US dominated by males or females?

- males

C Wright Mills

- one of the most prominent sociologists of his time - he wrote ground breaking books and critiques of his discipline - wrote about how men feel that private lives are a series of traps - the feeling men have remain true today - Wright is writing about the idea that you are a free individual not bound to a certain situation but your choices are limited by your current circumstances

how much wealth does the top 0.01% own?

- over 10%

how much wealth does the top 0.1% own?

- over 20%

how much wealth does the top 1% own?

- over 40%

how do we determine what's a personal or public issue?

- part of it is learning to think bigger than ourselves - in the US, we have to break the rugged individualism and realize the bigger entities at play

what is the general trend when discussing structural racism and class?

- people tend to get stuck into the class they were born in

Asian Americans and racial inequality

- racial inequality doesn't affect each minority group in the same way - inequality doesn't manifest for each group in the same way - Generally, asian Americans are earning a little more than white Americans - Asian Americans encompasses a bunch of different nationalities and ethnic groups - Most asian Americans live in California, where incomes are higher because of the cost of living - Comparing asians with white Americans, who are more evenly distributed, there is income inflation

history of race

- relatively new idea - only a few hundred years old - people formally identified by nationality and/or religion before race - fundamentally about stratification - formalized racial difference to justify differential treatment

what do people tend to believe about personal/public issues?

- some issues may appear personal and many think that an individual should solve that issue themselves but the issue the individual is experiencing is a result of public policy and interactions of the institution around us ex: a person being deprived of sleep because of city construction being done at night in a residential area

United States vs. world: class inequality

- the US is one of the most unequal countries int he world - 40th most unequal out of 150 countries analyzed by the CIA - some countries with more equitable wealth distribution: Iran, Russia, Pakistan

dynamic systems theory

- the social and biological create a feed back look - e.g. motor skills - average size (perception and nutrition)

genetic diversity

- there is much more genetic diversity in Africa then anywhere found around the world - this is due to the fact that humans spent so much time on the continent historically

observable data

- things that have a real, tangible meaning (ex: income) - things we can measure directly

earnings ratio

- women earnings divided by mens earnings - the earning ratio was 82%, meaning that men get paid more than women

timeline of race options on US census survey

1790: White and free colored persons 1850: White and Black (and Mulatto) 1870: White, Black (including Mulatto), Indian, and Chinese 1980: White, Black (Negro), American Indian, Chinese (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.), Mexican (hispanic), other 2000: White, Black (African American or Negro), American Indian, Chinese (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.), Native Hawaiian, Mexican (Hispanic), other 2020: White, Black (African American or Negro), American Indian, Chinese (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.), Native Hawaiian, Mexican (Hispanic), other

US Census: 1870

Adding Chinese to the census was in response to the growing population of asians as a result of railroad building westward

gender wage gap: race

Asian women earn about 90% of what white men earn - White women is 79% - Black women is 62% - Pacific Islander is 61% - American Indian is 57% - Hispanic women is 54%

bamboo ceiling

Bamboo ceiling is the name given to the finding that asian Americans tend to over educated for their positions

Bonilla: Rethinking Racism

Bonilla: Rethinking Racism The central problem of the various approaches to the study of racial phenomena is their lack of structural theory of racism Many studying racism assume that the phenomenon is self-evident, and therefore either do not provide a definition or elementary definition Most analysts regard racism as a purely ideological phenomenon Benedict defined race as the dogma that one ethnic group is condemned by nature to congenital inferiority and another group is destined to congenital superiority Van den Berghe states that racism is any set of beliefs that organic, genetically transmitted differences between human groups are intrinsically associated with the presence of the absence of certain socially relevant abilities or characteristics, hence that such differences are a legitimate basis of invidious distinctions between groups socially defined as races Schaefer defines racism as a doctrine of racial supremacy, that one race is superior Racism is defined as a set of ideas or beliefs Those beliefs are regarded as having the potential to lead individuals to develop prejudice, defined as negative attitude towards an entire group of people The prejudicial attitudes may induce individuals to real actions or discrimination against racial minorities From an institutionalist perspective, racism is defined as a combination of prejudice and power that allows the dominant race to institutionalize its dominance at all levels in a society From an internal colonialism perspective, racism is viewed as an institutional matter based on a system in which the white majority raises its social position by exploiting, controlling, and keeping down others who are categorized in racial or ethnic terms Regards racial minorities as colonial subjects, which leads unequivocally to nationalist solutions The racial formation perspective is the most recent theoretical alternative to mainstream idealist approaches Racial formation is defined as the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed Race should be regarded as an organizing principle of social relationships that shapes the identity of individual actors at the micro level and shapes all spheres of social life at the macro level This perspective does not regard races as truly social collectivities, and overemphasizes the racial project's of certain actors Racism is only part of a larger racial system Limitations of mainstream idealist views and of some alternative frameworks: Racism is excluded form the foundation of structure of the social system Racism is ultimately viewed as a psychological phenomenon to be examined at the individual level Racism is treated as a static (unchanging) phenomenon Analysts defining racism in an idealist manner view racism as incorrect or irrational thinking, thus they label racists as irrational and rigid Racism is understood as overt behavior Contemporary racism is viewed as an expression of "original sin" - as a remnant of past historical racial situations Racism is analyzed in a circular manner Racialized social systems = refers to societies in which economic, political, social, and ideological levels are partially structured by the placement of actors in racial categories or races Race are typically identified by their phenotype, but the selection of certain human traits to designate a racial group is always social rather than biologically based In all radicalized social systems, the placement of people into racial categories involves some form of hierarchy that produces definite social relations between the races The race in the superior position tends to receive greater economic remuneration and access to better occupations in the labor market The totality of these radicalized social relations and practices constitutes the racial structure of a society Although all racialized social systems are hierarchical, the particular character of the hierarchy, and thus of the racial structure, is variable As races receive different social rewards at all levels, they develop dissimilar objective interests which can be detected in their struggles to transform or maintain a particular racial order The interests are collective rather than individual, are based on relations between races rather than on particular group needs, and are not structural but practical Although the races' interests can be detected from their practices, they are not subjective and individual but collective and shaped by the field of real practical alternatives, which is itself rooted in the power struggles between the races Historically, the radicalization of social systems did not imply the exclusion of other forms of oppression In some cases, class interests may take precedence over racial interests In other situations, racial interests may take precedence over class interests The systemic salience of class in relation to race increases when the economic, political, and social distance between races decrease substantially Even when class-based conflict becomes more salient in a social order, the racial component survives until the races' life chances are equalized and the mechanisms and social practices that produce those differences are eliminated Racial actors are classed and gendered Races are the outcome of the racialization process (the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group) Classification of people into races has been a political act associated with conquest and colonization, enslavement, etc. Categories like negros and Indians were created to justify the conquest and exploitation of various peoples Races are the effect of racial practices of opposition at the economic, political, social, and ideological levels Races are not biologically but rather socially determined categories of identity and group association They are analogous to class and gender Phenotypical characteristics are used to denote racial distinctions Although the content of racial categories changes over time through manifold processes and struggles, race is not a secondary category of group association Ethnic identity implies a series of constraints on the kinds of roles an individual is allowed to play and is similar to sex and rank, in that it contains the incumbent in all his activities The placement of people into racial categories stemmed initially from the interests of power actors in the social system After racial categories were used to organize social relations in a society, race became an independent element of the operation of the social system Radicalized social orders emerged after the imperialist expansion of Europe to the new world and Africa After a social formation is radicalized, its normal dynamics always include a racial component Societal struggles based on class or gender contain a racial component since both of those social categories are also racialized Racial contestation = the struggle of racial groups for systemic changes regarding their position at one or more levels Most of this is at an individual level but it can become collective and effect meaningful systemic changes in a society's racial organization It may take a form that is passive and subtle or more active and overt Fundamental changes in radicalized social systems are accompanied by struggles that reach the point of overt protest Social systems and their supporters must be "shaken' if fundamental transformations are to take place Racism is a term for the segment of the ideological structure of a social system that crystallizes racial notions and stereotypes Racism provides the rationalizations for social, political, and economic interactions between the races Although racism or racial ideology originates in race relations, it acquires relative autonomy in the social system and performs practical functions Racism provides the rules for perceiving and dealing with the other in a racialized society Radicalized social systems are societies that allocate differential economic, political, social, and even psychological rewards to groups along racial lines After a society becomes racialized, a set of social relations and practices based on racial distinctions develops at all societal levels Most struggles in a racialized social system contain a racial component, but sometimes they acquire and/or exhibit a distinct racial character Racial contestation is the logical outcome of a society with a racial hierarchy The process of racial contestation reveals the different objective interests of the races in a racialized system Race is a social construct that has independent effects in social life Becomes an independent criterion for vertical hierarchy in society Different races experience positions of subordination and super ordination in society and develop different interests Advantages of Silva's alternative framework: Racial phenomena are regarded as the "normal" outcome of the social structure of a society The changing nature of what analysts label "racism" is explained as the normal outcome of racial contestation in a racialized social system The framework of racialization allows analysts to explain overt as well as covert racial behavior Racially motivated behavior, whether or not the actors are conscious of it, is regarded as "rational" — that is, as based on the races' different interests The reproduction of racial phenomena in contemporary societies is explained in this framework, not by reference to a long-distant past, but in relation to its own contemporary structure A racialization framework accounts for the ways in which racial/ethnic stereotypes emerge, are transformed, and disappear

federal tax rate

Since the 1970s, the federal tax rate for the top income earners decrease significantly We are at a place right now where the federal tax rate is at its lowest since the 1920s

Smedley: Chapter 1

Smedley: Chapter 1 This work represents an anthropological perspective on history, one that seeks the interconnections among cultural features and events over time and the ideologies that humans use to embrace their cultural develops, to explain present-day realities The meaning of race does not lay in the physical features of different human populations nor the lists of taxa of biological scientists Factors that define race: Material conditions Cultural and naturalistic knowledge Motivations and objectives Levels of consciousness and comprehension Important to understand race as its meaning unfolded in the cognitive world of its creators and first formulators It is necessary and essential to distinguish naturally occurring physical diversity in human species from culturally based perceptions and interpretations of this diversity We must separate in our minds variations in skin color, hair texture, body size and shape, eye formation, etc. from prevailing cultural attitudes and beliefs about people with these different physical features The human perception of phenotypic differences as "race" is universal, in a genetic sense "Race" is a shorthand term for, as well as a symbol of, a "knowledge system", a way of knowing, of perceiving, and of interpreting the world, and of rationalizing its contents in terms that are derived from previous cultural-historical experience and reflective of contemporary social values, relationships, and conditions Race is the mechanism through which Americans have been conditioned in our culture to view other human beings The concept and meaning are not clearly confined to just Americans Race is a relatively recent concept in human history Cultural structuring of a racial worldview coincides with the colonial expansion of certain western European nations, their encountering of different populations, and creation of slavery Expansion, conquest, exploitation, and enslavement are events that have not resulted in the development of ideologies or social systems based on race The first stage in the development of race as occurring between 1685 and 1815 The two other stages proceeded during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries During exploration and expansion, competition between European nations and their consciousness of power to dominate others affected the way europeans perceived indigenous people These methods eventually affected all aliens Race as a mode of describing and categorizing human being appeared in the dominant European nations Colored people did not participate in the invention of race or in the compilation of racial classification imposed upon themselves or others They have inherited the system of racial divisions created for them by dominant europeans The racial worldview exacerbates already existing interethnic animosities Race is a cultural construct invented by human beings Ideas are critical, necessary aspects of culture that may vary in strength and form of expression over time and space but invariably meet some cultural need or advance the interests of those who hold them Ideas cannot be interpreted or analyzed aspart from their cultural matrices Ideas arise out of specific material and social circumstances and are constituted of individual and group perceptions, understandings, and decision made by human beings who inevitably have an imperfect comprehension of the complexity of the situations that confront them Multiple individual decision may well accumulate and become entrenched as cultural orientations that persist through time and space Once established and conventionalized, worldview become enthroned in individuals as mind-sets In the US, race is a ordering system that divides the world's peoples into what are thought to be biologically discrete and exclusive groups These groups are by nature unequal and can be ranked along a gradient of superiority-inferiority Race as a worldview can be understood as composed of specific ideological components Ideologies = sets of beliefs, values, and assumptions that act as guidelines to or prescriptions for individual and group behavior Ideological beliefs about human differences vary depending on values, histories, and experiences of the colonizing powers Some worldview are highly flexible and generalizable, capable of being diffused to and adopted by other societies The culture bearers can then modify the components to fit their needs, fears, beliefs, biases, ambitions, and goals Among the general public, the fundamental belief that races exist is unaffected by contradictions or inconsistencies We do not discard the basic patterns of thought or question the need for racial classifications when we are faced with great variation and complexity in physical traits and ambiguous realities and uncertainties about the racial identity of an individual or group Race is the major mode of social differentiation in American society It takes priority over social class, education, occupation, gender, age, religion, culture, and other differences Race is a social principle by which society allocates desired rewards and status It is involved to all relations of power For most people, race is a given, a biological reality that does not require great leaps of consciousness or intellect to comprehend They see it in the phenotypic variability experienced in interactions with heterogeneous populations Biogenetic variations in the human species are not the same phenomena as the social clusters we call "races" Humans attempt to use one term in an objective, impartial, scientific way, while its related and derivative terms are so infused with negative and judgmental elements that they cannot be functionally neutral The "no-race" view constitutes a challenge to our cultural worldview, to what we perceive as commonsense knowledge, and to the kinds of relationships that large numbers of people experience The challenge is a real sense is to negate the structure of American society Race is about status and inequality of rank in a society where competition for wealth and power are played out at an individual level Race in the American mind was and is tantamount to a statement about profound and unbridgeable differences There are separate churches, social organizations, and residential areas for blacks and whites Music is defined as being either lack or white The media constantly portrays and supports the racial divide Race provides the unspoken guidelines for daily interaction between persons defined as being of different races, especially black and white It sets the standards and rules for conduct even though individuals may not always be conscious of the fact Americans believe unarticulated differences between the races to be profound and ineradicable Reality of race rests in the uniqueness of the attitudes toward human diversity that it expresses Race is a way of looking at humanity, and dividing it into exclusive units and imposing upon them attributes and features that conform to a ranking system within the cultures that are defining the races It is useful to ignore actual phenotypic or biological differences if we want to understand how the ideology of race functions in American society Physical variations had something to do with the origin and persistence of race categorization Race originated as the imposition of an arbitrary value system on the facts of biological variations in the human species It was the cultural invention of arbitrary meanings applied to what appeared to be natural divisions within the human species The meanings had social value but no intrinsic relationship to biological diversity itself Race was a reality created In the human mind, not a reflection of objective truths Physical differences were a major tool by which the dominant whites constructed and maintained social barriers and economic inequalities They consciously sought to create social stratification based on visible differences Primordialist attitudes are those that have a naive belief that it is basic human nature to be fearful of those who are different from ourselves There is a universal human tendency to interpret physical differences between populations as somehow socially meaningful There appears to be a common tendency among many historians and social scientists to regard biophysical variations as the basis for races and to presume that racial classifications are the norm for any society in which such variations occur They argue that race and racism may be natural components of the human psyche When people are conditioned from childhood to have negative feelings about dark skin color, they may indeed respond with fear, hatred, and loathing, depending on what they have been taught Race cannot be explained by reference to psychological processes that we speculate may be taking place within an individual It is not the presence of objective physical differences between groups that creates races, but the social recognition of such differences as socially significant or relevant It is historically accurate to recognize that physical differences were and still are an important ingredient in the development of race in North America Color and physiognomy remain in the public mind as symboled of race differences Race was, from its inception, a folk classification A product of popular beliefs about human differences that evolved from 16th to 19th century Race was an ordering stem structured out of the political, economic, and social experiences of peoples who had emerged as expansionist, conquering, domination nations for wealth and power In the US, the racial worldview has persistent in response to economic forces that alter the conditions of labor competition and to political realities that from time to time have incorporated or advanced the interest of the low-status races Race was a product of folk concept, NOT scientific investigations Race initially had no bias, no point of origin The folk idea was embraced by naturalists and given legitimacy as a supposed product of scientific investigations Science is inevitably shaped by existing knowledge, values, beliefs, and presuppositions Race was a way of categorizing what were already conceived as inherently unequal populations If European explorers perceived all humans as equal, there would be no use for the race concept Separateness and inequality are central to the idea of race Five parts of the racial worldview in the US: Universal classification of human groups as exclusive and discrete biological entities Imposition of an inegalitarian ethos that required the ranking of the groups vis-a-vis one another Belief that the outer physical characteristics of different human populations were but surface manifestations of inner realities All of these qualities were inheritable Belief that each exclusive group (race) was created unique and distinct by nature or by god so that the imputed differences could never be bridged or transcended Once structured on a hierarchy of inequality, different races became socially meaningful wherever the term was used and to whatever groups it could be extended In the 19th century, race offered a new mechanism for structuring society based on a conception of naturally fixed, heritable, and immutable status categories linked initially to visible physical markers The racial worldview was institutionalized and made a systemic and dominant component of American social structure In the early 20th century, the idea of race differences was seized upon to divide, separate, and rank European populations and to justify the dominance of certain class groups or ethnic elements Race still remains as a symbol of a world-view and ideology that promotes an easy and simple explanation for human history and progress It declares a kind of ordered structure to society that appears to be grounded in the very diversity created by nature A modern way of expressing the common interest of people who are perceived by others and themselves as having the same culture is to speak of them as an ethnic group When ethnic groups evolve values the project their own lifestyles as superior to the cultures of others, that is called ethnocentric Culture is defined as "that complex whole which induces knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" Culture is learned, not inborn, behavior Culture refers to ways of behaving and thinking that we learn as we group up in any society Culture refers to the things we learn when we adapt to or assimilate features of a different culture Ethnic and ethnicity are terms that refer to all those traditions, customs, activities, beliefs, and practices that pertain to a particular group of people who see themselves and are seen by others as having distinct cultural features, a separate history, and a specific sociocultural identity Members of an ethnic group do not need to have common physical traits Biophysical traits should never be used as part of the definition of ethnicity One of the tragedies of the racial worldview is that certain differences in physical appearance are so powerful as social dividers and status markers that they cannot perceive the cultural similarities that mark them all as Americans to outsiders Ethnocentrism is grounded in the empirical reality and perceptions of sociocultural differences and the separateness of interests and goals that this may entail There could be no ethnocentrism without cultural differences Racism does not require the presence of empirically determinable cultural differences When the racial worldview is operant, there can never be an alteration of an individual's status, as both status and behavior are presumed to be biologically fixed

Singleton and Straits: Chapter 2

Students' image of sociology does not fit recollections of high school courses in biology, chemistry, or physics, with their accumulated facts, abstract formulas, and laboratory experiments Science is not really about collections of facts and formulas, precise instrumentation, white lab coats and test tubes, ingenious people or remarkable discoveries and inventions What unites science are its objectives, its presuppositions, its general methodology, and its logic Some people who associate scientific discovery with modern technology often see science as harmful or destructive Others doubt science as being relevant for solving the most intractable human problems Science has been characterized falsely by some as a profound body of knowledge Profound in that is is not trivial and comprehensible to the average person The practical implications of scientific knowledge often are difficult to foresee Qualities like profundity, relevance, and significance are of little use in differentiating science from non-science The aim of science is to produce knowledge, to understand and explain some aspect of the world around us What makes an endeavor scientific is a matter of how and why knowledge is accepted by the scientific community 2 sets of criteria for acceptance or rejection by the scientific community: Pertains to the form or logical structure of knowledge The evidence on which it is based The real goal of science is to achieve understanding: the basic product is ideas Despite of differences, all scientific knowledge (regardless of field of study) shares certain defining characteristics such as the type of questions that may be addressed Whether a question can be approached scientifically depends on whether it can be subjected to verifiable observations that can be made Philosophical questions are beyond science Scientists assume that the world exists and that there his order to the world Scientists try to describe and explain the order that they assume to exist in the world Scientific questions are questions that can be answered by making observations that identify the conditions under which certain events occur The answers to these questions must meet the requirements of description, explanation, prediction, and understanding Scientific knowledge by definition verifiable For verification, explanations and findings must be clearly communicated Description is the first step in producing scientific knowledge Concepts are abstractions communicated by words or other signs that refer to common properties among phenomena One rule: one word, one concept Second rule: there must be agreed-on ways of trying them to tangible objects and events Concepts must be defined or indirectly in terms of precise, reliable observations Measurement: linking concepts to observable events Another feature of language (conventional and scientific) is that it determines what we see in the world Concepts are judged by their usefulness Once the concepts are not useful anymore, they are discarded Thus, the history of science is a graveyard Explanation: attempts to satisfy curiosity Satisfying curiosity can be done multiple ways: by labeling, by defining or giving examples, by evoking empathy, by appealing to authority, or by citing a general empirical rule The "empirical rules" with which scientific explanations are built consist of abstract statements, or propositions, that relate changes in one general class of events to changes in another class of events under certain conditions These propositions are abstract in 2 senes: Since they may refer to past, present, or future changes, they make no reference to historical time Each proposition pertains to a general class of events The abstractness is important because the ideal in science is to develop the most general understanding: to establish propositions capable of explaining and predicting the widest possible range of events Propositions can be called empirical generalizations when they are derived from observations or hypothesis when they have been proposed but not tested Propositions become scientific laws when they have been repeatedly verified and are widely accepted They describe, explain, and predict particular phenomena The terms contained within the propositions are the concepts that describe the phenomena to be explained Although specific events are explained by empirical laws, the regularities expressed by these laws themselves require explanation To explain the laws, science introduces theory Scientific theory consists of a set of interconnected propositions that have the same form as laws but are more general or abstract What is most critical is not how the theory is presented but rather that it is logically consistent and empirically testable Scientific concepts describe what is being studied Scientific hypothesis and theories explain how and why patterned events occur One theory is judged superior to other competing theories because: It involves the fewest number of statements and assumptions Explains the broadest range of phenomena Makes the most accurate predictions Scientific laws and theories must also provide a sense of understanding (met by describing general processes that connects events) A law or hypothesis is thought to be scientifically meaningful when it describes a casual relationship (relationship in which one event forces, produces, or brings about changes in another) It is possible to predict an event on the basis of empirical generalizations without understanding the connection between generalization and prediction These generalization can be tested but not predicted, however their utility is limited Identifying casual processes enhances the utility of knowledge Scientific hypothesis and theories provide a sense of understanding by describing the underlying causes of phenomena Explanation in social science generally boils down to a search for causes Scientist never achieve a complete understanding Every answer leads to new questions Every new fact, law, or theory presents new problems that leads to more needed to know The primitive scientific knowledge that is possessed by many is assumed to be tentative and uncertain for another, more definitive reason Science bases the truth of its statements upon observable evidence, which is subject to change through reinterpretation or contradicting evidence Scientific propositions, which are based on regulatory, cannot be proven since regularity does not guarantee certainty Knowledge: the best understanding that we have been able to produce thus far, not a statement of what is ultimately real Cannot be proven as the search for understanding is uncertain and unending Theories are accepted by the scientific community according to: The accuracy of their predictions The frequency with which they have been supported by empirical evidence Process: signifies a series of operations or actions that bring about an end result In contrast, in science change in built onto the process The product itself, knowledge, is never finished but is constantly remodeled to fit the facts The most characteristic feature of the scientific process is its cyclical nature Science must start with facts and end with facts, no matter what theoretical structures it builds in between Scientists observe facts, attempt to explain what they see, then make predictions based upon their theory, which they check against their observations again The scientific process: observations -> empirical generalization -> theories -> hypothesis The development of theory is the goal of science Research supports this goal through systematic observation that generates the facts from which theories are inferred and tested Science is a process involving the continuous interaction of theory and research Serendipity pattern: unanticipated findings occur that cannot be interpreted meaningfully in terms of prevailing theories and that give rise to new theories Durkheim's study of suicide best demonstrates the interplay between theory and research He relied on data previously published, which analyzed the impact of factors (religion, urbanization, etc) on suicide rates He highlighted how suicide rates between countries varied considerably although they were stable over time He dialectically and empirically challenged existing theories of suicide prior to his research He argued the theory on purely logical grounds and then presented data to test his reasoning He found that the weaker the integration of the religious community, the more likely that an individual would commit suicide He moved from observation to generalization at this point Every social factor that was related to suicide rates was explained by him based upon the theory that suicide varies inversely with degree of integration of the social groups of which the individual forms a part The end result of his study was a theory based in fact of observation Scientists are expected to follow the principles of logical reasoning Once an act of reasoning has taken place and is communicated, logic provides the criteria for evaluating the correctness of the reasoning 2 types of logical reasoning that differ in terms of the strength of certainty with which the evidence supports the conclusion Deductive reasoning: the conclusion is absolutely certain if the evidence is true Inductive reasoning: the conclusion is uncertain even if the evidence is true because its content goes beyond the evidence Scientists reason inductively when they infer empirical generalizations from specific observations Inductive reasoning is a bottom-up process, moving from specific observations to empirical generalizations to theories Scientists reason deductively when they show how a hypothesis explains or predicts specific facts Deductive reasoning represents a top-down process, proceeding from general principles to specific observations or facts Inductive inferences are analyzed in terms of the degree to which the evidence supports the conclusion The more diverse sample eliminates the possibility that the inference Inductive inferences vary in strength of probability Deductive reasoning, as when deriving a hypothesis from a theory, is either valid or invalid Inductive reasoning, as when generating from specific observations, is more or less sound depending on the scope of the observations To avoid a faulty hypothesis, scientists must: Repeatedly conduct research to build up a large and diversified body of confirming evidence, or to find disconfirming evidence if there is any Take all steps necessary to ensure accurate, unbiased evidence 3 key principles to which scientists adhere in gathering evidence: Empiricism A way of knowing or understanding the world that relies directly or indirectly on what we experience through our senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch Pieces of data are accepted so long as they can be observed under specifiable conditions by others The only admissible evidence for or against a scientific hypothesis or theory must be observable, directly or indirectly, through some tangible manifestation Observables: anything that can be related to the results of perceived measurements Objectivity Objectivity (observation that is free from emotion, conjecture, or personal bias) is rarely ever possible; practical impossibility Observations are inevitably distorted to some extent by factors not under our conscious control Intersubjective testability: must be possible for 2 or more independent observers working under the same conditions to agree that they are observing the same event Control There are many ways in which scientists attempt to control for and minimize bias in order to maximize the trustworthiness of their observations The use of control procedures to rule out biases and confounding explanations of the vents being studied is the principal way in which scientific inquiry differs from casual observations Double blind investigations are utilized in order to minimize the placebo effect The idea of control is to employ procedures that effectively rule out all explanations except the one in which the researcher is interested Other control procures include: using several independent observers, withholding information form subjects, and exploring instruments that eliminate errors of omission and commission on the part of human observers Theoretical knowledge is not well developed in the social sciences Social scientific theories tend to be stated less formally than the logical deductions found in natural sciences Theory in social sciences may refer to all sorts of speculative ideas offered as explanations for phenomena Theories do not have to make precisely accurate predictions to be judged as scientifically useful Theoretical predictions in the physical sciences is much more accurate than in the social sciences Scientists actively interpret what they see on the basic of socially shared ideas and assumptions They naturally develop an intense commitment to their work, which may lead them to overlook or reject evidence that is contrary to their own ideas As long as scientists are committed to accurate reporting and to making their assumptions and biases as explicit as possible, findings can be reviewed critically by others And by considering alternative explanations and alternative research strategies, scientists can exercise the power of self correction Scientists' personal values may influence what they choose to study, how they conduct their research, and how they interpret evidence The aim of science in a broad sense is to know and understand the world around us Science addresses questions hat can be answered by identifying conditions under which observable events take place

Singleton and Straits: Chapter 3

The moral dimension is another dimension of social science Ethics is both a subject matter and a discipline Subject matter consists of standards of right and wrong Ethics tells us how to act in moral and responsible ways Research ethics involves the application of ethical principles to scientific research Comes from 2 sources: society at large and research professions Each progression has standards of moral conduct that apply to people in their professional roles Professional standards are determined and limited by generally accepted concepts of morality It was widely assumed then the that social science could be pursued without regard for its impact on others, and it was left to individual investigators to deal with ethical issues that arose from their research Since WW2, professional organizations developed codes of ethical standards to guide scientific work It was not until the 1960s or 1970s that the federal government placed a system for the protection of human research subjects 3 broad areas of ethical concern in scientific research: Ethics of data collection and analysis Ethics of treatment of participants Ethics of responsibility to society The clashes between scientific practice and the rights/welfare of research participants that led to the adoption of federal regulations regarding research practices Conducting ethical social research involves researchers' obligations to one another and to their discipline to make sure that their data are sound and trustworthy Scientific norms therefore demand intellectual integrity Scientists are expected to be honest in their observations and analyses Social scientists consider careless errors and poorly conducted research as violations of ethical standards Some social scientists maintain that judgements about ethics should be separated from judgements about the scientific quality and utility of research Sloppy research and unintentional errors are not considered unethical Research misconduct: unethical actions in the conduct of research Includes fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism Fabrication: consists of making up data and reporting them Falsification: manipulating data so that recorded results do not accurately represent actual findings Plagiarism: appropriating another person's ideas, results, or words without giving proper credit Measures that could be taken by social scientists to prevent misconduct: Educate students about scientific misconduct Institutions, funding agencies, and individual researchers should periodically check data Investigators should prescribe specific criteria for the inclusion or exclusion of certain data In submitted papers, researchers should provide detailed information about how they collected, processed, and analyzed their data 4 problems regarding the ethical treatment of human subjects: Potential harm The right of any participant is the right to personal safety Harm is sometimes difficult to define and predict Researchers are expected to weigh potential harm against the benefits that might be derived from research Risks to subjects are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits (it has proven difficult to weight the costs and benefits) Some ethical practices designed to protect participants from harm: Subjects should be informed of any risks or discomforts beforehand Researchers should screen out research participants who might be harmed If stress of potential harm is possible, measures should be taken after the study and participants should be informed Lack of informed consent Subjects should be voluntary and must be given enough information about the research to make an informed decision regarding participation How much information should be conveyed to subjects is always not clear and largely depends on the nature of the research Ethical regulations dictate that informed consent must be used when more than minimal risk of harm is anticipated In some instances, presenting full documentation of the experiment for consent can or will present methodological problems Experiments conducted in natural setting present the greatest ethical risk with regard to informed consent Deception Deception violates the moral obligation that people have toward one another to tell the truth Deception is widely used and accepted when practicing social research Withholding information about the hypothesis or research design from subjects is not considered deceptive Deception occurs when researchers deliberately mislead of misinform subjects about some aspect of the study Deception includes using confederates to mislead subjects about research purposes as well as providing false feedback about subjects' own behavior as a way of manipulating their thoughts and ideas Some argue that deception is necessary in order to ensure the subjects will behave naturally The ethical defense for deception is that it is permissible so long as it is used as a last resort after careful consideration of alternative procedures Privacy invasion The right to privacy is the individual's right to decide when, where, to whom, and to what extent his or her attitudes, beliefs, and behavior will be reveled Ethical investigators protect the right to privacy by guaranteeing anonymity or confidentiality Possible only in surveys without names attached Ways researchers can ensure confidentiality: removing names and other identifying data, not disclosing an individual's identity, and by not divulging the info to persons or organizations requesting it Questions to reasonably ask each participant to ensure confidentiality: Whether the account is accurate or fair Whether any material would be embarrassing to anyone Whether they had any comments, corrections, or other reactions Areas where potential ethical conflicts may occur: Harm to participants Involuntary participation Intention deception Invasion of privacy Deontology: basic moral principles should allow no exceptions, no matter the consequences Teleological: the morality of acts should be judged in relation to the ends they produce Underlying principles of this POV is utilitarianism (greatest good for the greatest number) Professional ethical codes are designed to protect the welfare of individuals while also guiding researchers in making ethically responsible choices There are federal regulations ensuring this The Belmont Report identifies three broad, unifying ethical principles that formed the basis for specific regulations: Respect for persons researchers must treat individuals as autonomous agents with freedom to decide what happens Beneficence Requires researchers to consider the welfare of participants so that they maximize possible benefits and minimize possible harms Justice The benefits and burdens of research should be daily distributed The Common Rule provides information about the application of regulations, defines terms such as "human subject" and "minimal risk", and presents criteria for approval of research, including requirements for informed consent Also requires that all applicable institution establish a committee to review and approve research involving human and animal subjects Criteria of institutional review boards: Risks to subjects are minimized Risks to subjects are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits and importance of knowledge expected to result Selection of subjects is equitable Informed consent will be sought from each prospective subject Informed consent will be appropriately documented When appropriate, the research plan makes adequate provision for monitoring data collected to ensure subject's safety When appropriate, there are provisions to protect subject's privacy Ethical decision making therefore ultimately depends on the critical judgement of researchers themselves Some argue that social science should be value-free We can and should make a sharp distinction between the roles of scientist and citizen Science is nonmoral Scientists only present relevant findings and theoretical interpretations Value-free idea (above) not feasible for 2 reasons: It is now clear that values have a substantial influence on the research process Social researchers can remain neutral in accumulating facts about social life (protects scientists self interests and autonomy) Cultural relativity: the idea that cultural values vary widely and must be judged in relation to a given society Research is always contaminated by personal and political sympathies but that the way to deal with this is to consider carefully whose side we are on The ethical debate concerns how much responsibility researchers bear for applications of their research that are destructive of contrary to prevailing scientific or public sentiment Social scientists have an obligation to consider how their findings will be used Scientists should disseminate knowledge to the widest possible audience, to increase public knowledge and encourage debate When research has obvious and immediate applications, scientists have special obligation to promote actively appropriate uses and to prevent misuses of their findings

wages

Money you own directly from exchanging your labor for money

glass escalator

Refers to how men are promoted a lot faster than women in industries dominated by women (ex: teaching and nursing)

glass ceiling

Refers to the metaphorical barrier women reach in many organizations

Roberts: Chapter 2

Roberts: Chapter 2 Human genome project demonstrated that human beings are 99.9% genetically alike This difference (0.1 percent) is seen as encompassing race The function race serves as a political classification system has remained the same Scientists have discovered new ways of identifying, justifying, and proving race as a biological category What links racial science from one generation to the next is the quest to update the theories and methods for dividing human beings into a handful go groups to provide a biological explanation for their differences Scientists were instrumental in inventing the concept of biological races, in specifying their demarcations, and in justifying the social inequalities between them They created the classification system that led to racial categories They creates philosophies for why races differ Science is the most effective tool for giving claims about human difference the stamp of legitimacy Once scientists were committed to understanding human beings as divided into races, they believed that human biology could not be studied without attention to race Race and racism emerged as integral aspects of the American republic, not at all in opposition to it The belief that race is natural has always been validated by mainstream scientific theories and methods The most advanced science of human nature has always been shaped by current political contests over racial inequality Scientists have continually rehabilitated a biological understanding of race throughout the scientific and political upheavals of the last three centuries The way we think about race today is the product of historical coincidence Concept of race a natural category arose during the scientific revolution and age of colonialism Expansion of the slave trade necessitated a racial system of governance Chief scientific method then was taxonomy: observing, naming, and ordering the world by partitioning living things into biologically different types Naturalist made race an object of scientific study and made European conquest and enslavement of foreign peoples seem in line with nature The insistence on finding differences among people so they can be categorized governs the study of human biology to this day By 1800, European naturalist had produced a scientific definition of race as a fundamental taxonomic division of the human species, with their own kind always at the top Biologists and philosophers were also involved Immanuel Kant was involved Problematic question at that time: did the differences that the naturalists were cataloging constitute racial variation within the human species (monogenism) or mark completely distinct species that descended from separate creations (polygenism)?

how much stocks does the top 1% own?

The top 1% owns 50% of the stocks in the country The next 9% owns 40% of stocks The top 10% in the country owns over 90% of stocks

why doesn't the bottom class own more stock?

There are many barriers to entering the stock market for the bottom class The bottom 90% are the people doing the labor that is creating the wealth that is translating into income for those who own most of the stocks

why are employers less likely to hire and promote women?

This boils down to statistical discrimination (refers to how people use statistics to stereotype individuals) Women are statistically more likely to take time off work than men

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Men are unwilling to grant that they are overprivileged even though they acknowledge how much women are at a disadvantage Men often say they will work to improve the status of women but can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's These denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened, or ended Whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught to not recognize male privilege White privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets that remain oblivious to the white individual Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow "them" to be more like "us" White privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject The pressure to avoid it is great Whiteness has protected many from different kinds of hostility, distress, and violence Power from unearned privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or to dominate The silences and denials surrounding privilege are what keep the thinking about equality or equity incomplete This protects unearned advantage and conferred dominance by making these taboo subjects Obliviousness about white advantage is kept strongly inculturated in the US so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all Keeping most people unaware that freedom of confident action is there for just a small number of people props up those in power, and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already

sticky ends

describes how people in the bottom and top quantile are stuck there - Of those born in the bottom quantile, 42% end up being stuck there for their life - Of those born in the top quantile, 40% end up being suck there for their life - There is movement in the middle income quantiles but the majority of people end up being stuck in a specific quantile for their life where they were born