Sociology Final
The specific consequences of poverty for adults who were poor during childhood
- Completed two fewer years of schooling on average - Had incomes less than half of other adults who were not poor during childhood -Less likely to graduate high school or go to college -Received $826 more annually in food stamps on average -Were 3 times more likely to report being in poor health -Were 2 times as likely to have been arrested (males only) -Were 5 times as likely to have borne a child (females only)
Examples of institutional discrimination
-Health care -Mortgages, redlining, & residential segregation -Employment discrimination
The general consequences of poverty for anyone who lives in poverty
-More street crime -Greater risk for family problems, including divorce & domestic violence -More likely to have many kinds of health problems & less likely to receive adequate medical care -Rundown schools with inadequate facilities = inadequate schooling -More likely to be homeless, live in dilapidated housing & unable to buy their own home -Account for the bulk of our street crime (homicide, robbery, burglary, etc.) & the bulk of victims of street crime
Mental health & race/ethnicity
-No clear connection -Evidence is mixed: many studies find higher rates of mental disorder among people of color, but some studies find similar rates to whites'
The implication of cultural explanations of gender for gender inequality today
-Perceive gender as something that is learned from society (social construction) -Center around society creating gender roles -- product of society -Implications: if we create gender roles, then we can change gender roles -CAN BE CHANGED
Reasons for higher fertility rates in poor nations
-Poor nations are usually agricultural ones. Families are more productive if they have children. Children are resources -Infant and mortality rates are high in these nations. -Parents have more children to make up for the anticipated deaths of their children before adulthood. -Preference of sons over daughters in low-income nations. Keep having kids until they have a son -Traditional gender roles = women should be wives and mothers -Contraception is uncommon
Mental health & social class
-Poor people more likely to suffer from mental health problems than richer people - EX: schizophrenia, serious depression -Most scholars believe that poverty contributes to mental illness more than mental illness contributes to poverty -Evidence for both
Likelihood of good health & health problems in poor children and adults
-The poorest nations suffer terribly - poor nutrition, unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, rampant disease, & inadequate health care. -People in the poorest nations have shorter life spans than those in the richest Nations. -Poor adults are at greater risk for many health problems
Traditional/Old-fashioned racism vs. Modern racism
-Traditional/Old Fashioned Racism: Blatant bigotry, firms beliefs in the need for segregation, & the view that blacks were less intelligent than whites -Modern Racism: Kinder, gentler, antiblack ideology that avoids notions of biological inferiority
How health care expenditures per capita in the U.S. compares to that in other industrial nations
-We have the largest figure per capita in the industrial world -Medicine in the U.S. is a big business -Huge expenditure might be justified if the quality of health and health care was higher in the U.S. compared to other industrial nations, but that is not the case. -If the U.S. spends more than peer nations on health care but still lags behind them in many indicators >> Conclusion: the U.S. is spending much more than it should be spending on health care. AND spending ineffectively.
The official poverty rate in 2018 (rough %)
11.8% of Americans lived in poverty
Frustration theory (scapegoat theory): prejudice
Individuals with various problems become frustrated & tend to blame their troubles on groups that are often disliked in the real world
gender identity
Our beliefs about ourselves as females or males
Cause of climate change/global warming
burning of fossil fuels contributes to global climate change (aka global warming), due to the greenhouse effect caused by the trapping of gasses in the atmosphere that makes the earth warmer. Rise of 1 degree celsius over the last century.
Authoritarian personality: prejudice
develop in childhood in response to parents who practice harsh discipline and strong obedience
Individual Discrimination
discrimination that individuals practice in their daily lives (refusal of service)
How the U.S. health care system compares to health care systems in other industrial nations
- Besides the US, industrial nations throughout the world provide their citizens with some form of national health care and national health insurance - Although the systems may differ, their governments pay all or most of the costs for health care, drugs, and other health needs -US citizens worry that doing this will increase taxes & cause a lack of freedom/choice of insurance
The characteristics/definition of the episodic poverty measure
- Definition: Being poor for at least two consecutive months in a time period - 2004-2007: almost ⅓ of the US population (95 million people) were poor for at least two consecutive months -ONLY 2% were poor for all three years - What does this mean? People go in and out of poverty, but even those that go out of it do not usually move very far from it - Majority of Americans can expect to experience poverty or near poverty at some point in their lives
The characteristics/definition of the supplemental poverty measure
- Definition: accounts for many family expenses in addition to food, geographic cost of living differences, taxes paid & credits received, & government aid - Without government aid: an additional 25 million people would be classified as poor
The characteristics of the U.S. traditional poverty line measurement
- Established in 1963 and hasn't changed since - BASED ON GROSS INCOME (meaning prior to getting taxes taken out!) - Multiplies cost of a very minimal diet by 3 - A family whose cash income is lower than 3 times the cost of a very minimal diet is considered "officially poor" - IS adjusted for inflation and takes # of people in the family into consideration
The reasons the U.S. traditional poverty line measurement is considered out of date
- Many expenses, such as heat and electricity , child care, transportation, and health care, now occupy a greater percentage of the typical family's budget than in 1963 - Ignores a family's non-cash income from benefits such as food stamps and tax credits - Fails to take regional differences in the cost of living into account - A family earning even $1 more than the poverty line is not officially poor, so do not receive assistance - As a result, some poverty experts calculate poverty based on twice the poverty line (twice-poverty data) - Families with incomes between the official poverty line and twice the poverty line still struggle to meet their basic needs
Structural explanations of poverty
- Poverty results from problems in society that leads to a lack of opportunity and a lack of jobs. - Conflict theory
Individualistic explanations of poverty
- Poverty results from the fact that poor people lack the motivation to work and have certain beliefs and values that contribute to their poverty. - Functional theory
The concept that sociological perspectives on poverty attempt to explain → STRATIFICATION
- Sociological perspectives attempt to explain why America is stratified - why it has a range of wealth ranging from the extremely wealthy to the extremely poor. - Functionalist & Conflict Perspectives: try to explain why social stratification exists and endures - Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: discusses the differences that stratification produces for everyday interaction
The characteristics/definition of the twice-poverty measure
- Some poverty experts calculate poverty based on twice the poverty line (twice poverty data) -Families with incomes between the official poverty line and twice the poverty line still struggle to meet their basic needs
Regional differences in the poverty rate (poorest to richest)
- The South → 16.9% -This is thought to be why the South also has the highest rate of illnesses and other health problems compared to other regions - The West → 15.3% - The Midwest → 13.9% - The Northeast → 12.8%
Symbolic Interactionism: stratification and poverty
- stratification affects people's beliefs, lifestyles, daily interaction, and conceptions of themselves - Unlike functionalist & conflict views, does not try to explain why stratification exists in the first place. Rather, it examines the differences that stratification makes for people's lifestyles & their interaction with other people. - Analyses in this perspective focus on the experience of different people in different places. Ex: urban vs. rural poor - Yet, all symbolic interactionism analyses make clear that the poor often lead lives of quiet desperation & must find ways to cope with being poor.
conflict theory: stratification and poverty
- stratification results from lack of opportunity and from discrimination and prejudice against the poor, women, and people of color. it is neither necessary nor inevitable. - The powerful take advantage of their position at the top in order to stay at the top, even if it means oppressing those at the bottom. - They can heavily influence the law, the media, & other institutions in a way that maintains society's class structure. - Attributes stratification & thus poverty to a lack of opportunity from discrimination & prejudice against the poor, women, and people of color. - This makes it difficult for the poor, women, and people of color to move up the socioeconomic ladder & enjoy healthy & productive lives.
What the government data we explored on poverty shows us
- we're able to see that poor people are lazy and don't work IS NOT true → most are working or have a legitimate excuse that prevents them from working - Poor people are lazy & don't work= MYTH
Toilets, Bowties, Gender, & Me
-Audrey Mayson-Hyde (gender fluid) -People make automatic assumptions on if you are a girl or boy and are confused when neither is obvious -Adults and people misgendered the speaker -Assumed that to prevent it, they would dress more girly but instead she dressed more masculine -She became a tomboy, but she felt more girl than boy -At a young age Audrey was misrecognized as a boy by children and adults -Why does it matter if you can identify if they are a boy a girl -It is because we treat women and men a certain way -Toilets are a way we categorize people
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack - McIntosh(PDF)
-Author: Peggy McIntosh -Men refuse to acknowledge their privilege and see racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage -White Privilege -Taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group -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"" -Many white people have unearned race advantage and conferred dominance -We need to acknowledge the colossal unseen dimensions. Obliviousness about white knowledge is very common
The fraction of US women that experience rape or sexual assault in their lifetime
Up to ⅓ women will experience rape or sexual assault, including attempts, at least once in their lives
Gender differences in the poverty rate
Women are more likely to be poor than men → "feminization of poverty"
sexism
a belief in traditional gender role stereotypes and in the inherent inequality between men & women
Symbolic Interactionism: health
health and illness are social constructions. physical and mental conditions have little or no objective reality but instead are considered healthy or ill conditions only I they are defied as such by society
Food insecure
lacking sufficient money for adequate food and nutrition
stratification
rankings of people based on wealth and other resources a society values.
The racial-ethnic group that the majority of poor people in the U.S. belong to
white (non-Latino)
Morbidity paradox
women outlive men across all racial categories but they have more health problems
Range of earnings for women of color (with the exception of Asians) for every $1.00 that white men earn
-Black women make 0.62 $ for each dollar a man makes -Hispanic women make 0.54 $ for each dollar a man makes -American Indian women make 0.57$ for each dollar a man makes -White women make 0.79$
The Racial Politics of Time
-Brittney Cooper -TIME has a race -Cultural theorist Brittney Cooper examines racism through the lens of time, showing us how historically it has been stolen from people of color, resulting in lost moments of joy and connection, lost years of healthy quality of life and the delay of progress. A candid, thought-provoking take on history and race that may make you reconsider your understanding of time, and your place in it. -"White people control/own time" -Desire to mitigate racism shows up in time -US was never "pre-race" so we cannot be "post-race" -Blacks are viewed as "space takers", not world makers -Observations: 1. THE PAST a. Time has a history & so do blacks b.Africans were people outside of history who had had no impact on time or the march of progress (foundation of white supremacy) 2. PRESENT a. Racial struggles are clashes over time and space b. Those in power dictate pay and how much our work is actually worth c. Gentrifying conditions d. Blacks perceived as "space takers" e. Whites "world makers" f. Lifespan differences based on zip codes 3. FUTURE a. Do black people have a future? b. Time/space clashers don't paint a pretty picture for their future c. Time to be just and free d. Time belongs to everyone
Climate Change Will Displace Millions - Here' How We Prepare
-Colette Pichon -Land loss in Louisiana-Hurricane Katrina -Disappearance of communities before the end of the century -Next century 180 million people will be displaced by climate change -South Louisiana is losing land at one of the fastest rates on the planet -Climate gentrification in anticipation to sea level rise -Placed out of highlands -Damaged homes are green built and out of reach of people who want to return home -Resettle somewhere alone, less climate resilient -WHAT DO WE DO -Reframe understanding of problem -Climate change is not the problem, it's a major side effect of a system that has been built for a few to extract precious aspects of people and earth -Courage to admit we've taken too much -Restoration and restore -New social attitude -Migration is necessary -Collective resilience
How the share of U.S. health care expenditures paid for by public taxes compares to that in other industrial nations
-Conclusion: the U.S. is spending much more than it should be spending on health care. AND spending ineffectively. -The U.S. tax-financed health spending is the highest in the world.
How to Understand the US Healthcare System - Follow the Money
-Dr. Jonathan Burroughs -We spend 2x as much and don't live as long -Perverse Incentives -Why do surgeons make so much but primary care doesn't? -Medicare and medicaid set prices -Based on a return on investment for stakeholder and investor and nothing to human health -We get paid for doing procedures and tests that are a benefit to suppliers. End of life is a 1 trillion dollar business -40% of Americans die in hospitals and 20% die in intensive care unlike the rest of the world -Different doctors can spend vastly different amounts for the same issues -Get paid for sickness and not for health, so much variations -Solution: -Have to digitize healthcare -Our medical information should be in our hands, not in the hospitals -Standardize care -Require physicians to use best practice if there is a better to do it -Require administers to use best practices -Commoditization of health care -It is too expensive and have to lower the costs -Make healthcare less expensive without losing quality -Medical Tourism is popular -Going to different countries for good treatment without having to go bankrupt
Rough % that women (overall) earn in pay compared to men today
-Early 1800's - Women working full time jobs earned < 38% of what men earned -1885 about 50% -1980's about 65% -TODAY: 2011 about 82.2%
Future impacts of population growth
-Environment: increased environmental damage; more vehicles → more pollution; more trees cut down for homes and businesses (deforestation) → increased global warming -Armed conflict: as populations grow, they need more food, water and resources -Individuals within societies will also begin to compete for resources
ethnicity
-Ethnicity: Shared social, cultural, and historical experiences, stemming from common national or regional backgrounds, that make subgroups of a population different from one another -Ethnic Group: a subgroup of a population with a set of shared social, cultural, and historical experiences; with relatively distinctive beliefs, values, and behaviors; and with some sense of identity of belonging to the subgroup
The trends in sexism and feminism since the early 1970s in the US
-First Feminism Movement -Second Feminism Movement -less people today think that women should stay home while men work
Sociological perspective on overpopulation & food scarcity
-Food scarcity results from inequalities in food distribution rather than overpopulation -Reducing social inequalities and increasing poor nations' access to food must involve increasing funds in poor nations to import food, regulating armed conflict, improving human rights, and empowering populations
Many Genes Influence Same-Sex Sexuality, Not a Single 'Gay Gene'
-Genetics do play a role responsible on whether someone has same-sex sexuality -Influences comes from many genes -Study by the National Institutes of Health found differences in genetic details of same-sex behavior in men and women -Same-sex behavior shares some correlation with genes involved in mental health issues and personality traits -Fears that this evidence could cause embryo selection or conversion therapy -Many researchers were unsure if the benefits of the study outweigh its potential harms - A new study found that all genetic effects likely account for about 32% of whether someone will have same-sex sexuality -5 genetic variants present in people's full genomes that appear to be involved -Mental health issues were connect to if someone engaged in same-sex sexual behavior -Said the correlation was because of prejudicial social experiences -Overall the study shows that "Diversity is a natural part of our experience and it's natural part of what we see in the genetics"
Effectiveness of U.S. health care system
-Health has improved drastically -Mortality rate has gone down -Infant Mortality has decreased -Cigarette smoking decreased
The implication of biological explanations of gender for gender inequality today
-Implication: biological explanations argue gender is based on biology, evolution (cannot be changed) → gender inequality IS WHAT IT IS -To an extent we accept biological explanations for gender, we imply that existing gender differences & gender inequality must continue to exist.
The reasons why we should all care about poverty
1. The US spends much more money (billions of dollars) than it needs to because of the consequences of poverty, such as worse physical & mental health, family problems, higher crime rates, etc. 2. The majority of Americans can actually expect to be poor or near poor at some point in their lives and using social safety net programs. 75% of Americans ages 20-75 years live in or near poverty at some point in their lives. 3. A high poverty rate impairs economic progress. When a large number of people cannot afford to purchase goods and services, economic growth is more difficult. 4. Poverty produces crime and other social problems that affect people across the socioeconomic ladder. Reducing poverty would help both the poor and people who are not poor.
Number of people that die annually because of a lack of health insurance
45,000 people die annually because they do not have health insurance
race
A category of people who share certain INHERITED, PHYSICAL characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and stature
The racial-ethnic group that has the highest poverty rate in the U.S.
African American
sex
Anatomical and other biological differences between females and males that are determined at the moment if conception & develop in the womb, throughout childhood and adolescence
discrimination
Arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, & opportunities to members of a group
Why Gender Equality Is Good for Everyone
-Michael Kimmel -All women experience the same discrimination -But actually white vs black women -"Privilege is invisible to those who have it." -Making gender visible to men is the first step in engaging them to support gender equality -Some acknowledge as fair, right, just -Some try to take control and fix -Others reject -Men must address their entitlement -"A black woman got my job" -Not "YOUR" job- instead, the job; a job -Men have a sense of entitlement -More gender-equal countries have higher happiness rates, have more involved fathers leading to healthier and happier wives & children -More gender-equal companies are better for workers, lower job turnover, high rates of retention -Gender-equality good for men: relationship with children, wives work outside home, be just as dedicated -When men begin the process of balancing working and family -"Pitch in" "help out" -Better for families when men help; happier kids, happier wives -Gender equality is in the best interest of countries, companies, men, their children and their partners -To fully support women and girls it has to start with men and boys because privilege is invisible to those who have it
Impacts of population change
-Population increase & decline can lead to pretty serious consequences. -Increase: can lead to higher demand for resources, large cities become even larger, schools become more crowded, and hospital & social services are strained. -Decline: can lead to a loss of tax money (college students leaving), schools closing, depressed real estate market from empty housing, and can lead to an older population (college students leaving) which leads to a greater need for state services for residents.
Life spans in poor nations vs. rich nations
-The poorest nations suffer terribly - poor nutrition, unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, rampant disease, & inadequate health care. -People in the poorest nations have shorter life spans than those in the richest nations.
The relationship between the poverty rate for people of color and the total population of people of color in the U.S.
-There is a higher poverty rate for people of color → "the colors of poverty." -The poverty rate for people of color is disproportionate to their total population. -The poverty rate for colored people is higher than it should be when looking at the proportion of their total population.
How performance on health indicators of the U.S. compares to that of other industrial nations
-US lags behind many other industrial nations in several important health indicators -Food insecure (14.5%) -Low birth weight -Childhood obesity, asthma, other chronic conditions are on the RISE -Big problems in the distribution of health -US relies largely on a direct-fee system in which patients under 65 are expected to pay for medical costs themselves -Even for Americans on public insurance the coverage they receive does not match the coverage enjoyed by the rest of the industrial world
White Fragility - DiAngelo (PDF)
-White fragility: low tolerance for racial stress; minimal amount triggers emotions -Whites live a life protected from race-based stress -First factor leading to white fragility is the segregated lives white people live -Whites are taught their perspectives are objective & representative -White fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves -Factors leading to white fragility -Segregated lives which most white people live -White people are taught not to feel any loss over the absence of people of color in their lives -Universalism & Individualism -Whites are taught to see their perspectives as objective and representative of reality -Whites are taught to see their interests and perspectives as universal, they are also taught to value the individual and to see themselves as individuals rather than part of a racially socialialized group -Entitlement to Racial Comfort -Whites are almost always racially comfortable and have developed unchallenged expectations to remain -Racial Arrogance -Strongly positive images of the white self as well as strongly negative images of racial "others" -Racial Belonging -White people enjoy a deeply internalized, largely unconscious sense of racial belonging in U.S. society -Psychic Freedom -Race is constructed as residing in people of color, whites don't bear the social burden of race. -Constant messages that we are more valuable-through representation in everything -What does white fragility look like? -Organize their identity around a denial of the racially based privileges they hold that reinforce racist disadvantage for others -Defensive -Key take away: -White people often believe anti-racist education is only necessary for those who interact with "diverse" environments -We need to generate the development of perspectives and skills that enable all people to be active initiators of change -White racism is a white problem -Many white people have never been given direct or complex information about racism before, and often cannot explicitly see, feel, or understand it
More Than a Knapsack -Strmic-Pawl (PDF)
-White supremacy gives rise to white privilege -This article suggests that White supremacy versus White privilege provides a clearer and more accurate conceptual understanding of how racism operates, evolves, and sustains itself. This article suggests a specific model for teaching White supremacy, the White supremacy flower, and describes the application and benefits of the model. -White Supremacy Flower Method: displays racism's evolution & how the structure is upheld -Roots- constitution, plantations, slavery, native american genocide -Stem- jim crow laws, creation of reservations, chinese exclusion act, japanese internment -Petals- white privilege, wealth inequality, prison industrial complex -Difference in white supremacy and white privilege -Cant have white privilege without white supremacy
Explanations for the gender pay gap
-Women are funneled into certain jobs while men are funneled into other jobs -Either intentionally or through socialization -The jobs women work are lower-paying for no reason other than the job's gender
What sexual harassment in the workplace results from
-culture/socialization of men -More sexually assertive -Gender socialization from males -Power differentials -Men are more likely to be in leadership positions while women are not
Culture & Gender
-gender changes based upon which culture you are looking at. -These androgynous genders remind us that gender is a social construction & not just a biological fact. -Culture affects gender roles, and socialization is the process through which culture is learned.
Functionalism: stratification and poverty
-stratification is necessary to induce people with special intelligence, knowledge and skills to enter the most occupations. For this reason, stratification is necessary and inevitable. -Davis & Moore: stratification is necessary & inevitable. -Ex: some jobs are more important than others & require more skill. A higher income influences people to do the higher skilled jobs . -Gans: poverty exists because it serves positive functions for society. -Ex: poor people do the work that others don't want to do. The help programs for the poor provide jobs for others & poor people provide jobs for professionals that may not be competent enough to earn a position that cares for wealthier people. The poor purchase goods others would not
Reasons health has improved in the U.S. over the last century
-thanks in large part to better public sanitation and the discovery of antibiotics. -Other medical discoveries & advances have also reduced the extent & seriousness of major illnesses, such as cancer, and have prolonged our lives.
Number of people per year globally that suffer from infections & diseases resulting from unsafe drinking water & inadequate sanitation
At least 200 million people per year globally
The effect of white privilege on estimations of the degree of racial/ethnic inequality
Because whites' whiteness is not a part of their daily lived experience, they tend to underestimate the degree of racial inequality in the US
Cause of most air pollution
Burning of fossil fuels- oil, gas, coal
The poverty trend since the war on poverty in the 1960s
Decline from 1960s (war on poverty) but at an overall standstill since then
Institutional Discrimination
Discrimnation that pervades the practices of whole institutions, such as housing, medical care, law enforcement, employment, and education
Functionalism: health
Emphasizes that good health and effective medical care are essential for a society's ability to function
Number of people per year that die due to health conditions caused by air pollution
Globally 1.3 million people per year
Environmental racism
Greater likelihood of people of color to experience these problems
Anthropologist George Murdock (1937)
Illustrates how gender roles differ from one culture to the next & implies it's not biologically determined.
Scientific support for global climate change
KEY: lots of scientific reports/evidence that supports climate change, it's not entirely a natural change & humans have contributed to the change.
correlation between education and prejudice
Less educated are more likely to be prejudiced than educated people
How life spans of Americans whose family incomes are above federal poverty level compares to those living in poverty
Live an average of 6.5 years longer than those living in poverty
Environmental inequality/injustice
Low-income people and people of color are disproportionately likely to experience various environmental problems
prejudice
Set of negative attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about whole categories of people, and about individual members of those categories, because of their perceived race and/or ethnicity
Testosterone- Aggression Explanation
Several studies find that males have higher levels of aggression to their higher levels of testosterone = higher levels of aggression.
conflict theory: health
Social inequality characterizes the quality of health and the quality of health care. People from disadvantaged social backgrounds are more likely to become ill and to receive inadequate health care. Partly to increase their incomes, physicians have tried to control the practice of medicine and to define social problems as medical problems.
gender roles
Society's expectations of people's behavior & attitudes based on whether they are females or males
correlation between region of residence and prejudice
Southerners are usually more prejudiced than non-Southerners
What social scientists argue about the status of people of color today
That the status of people of color has been worsening since the Kerner Commission's report
white privilege
The advantage that US whites enjoy in their daily lives simply because they are white
The poverty measure that underestimates the true extent of poverty
The official poverty rate is based on the size of a family and a minimal food budget; this measure underestimates the true extent of poverty. The official federal poverty measure.
correlation between gender and prejudice
-Although women are thought to be more empathetic than men and thus to be less likely to be prejudiced, racial views of white women and men are very similar & the two are about equally as prejudiced -Supports group threat theory White women & men are responding more as whites than as women or men in formulating their racial views.
Evolutionary Psychology Explanation
-Argues for an evolutionary basis for traditional gender roles -Prehistoric societies: two major social roles existed. 1. Hunting and gathering food to relieve hunger 2. Bearing and nursing children
The consequences of racial/ethnic inequality that we can see in the real-world today
-The increasing racial/ethnic wealth gap -The hidden toll of racial & ethnic inequality
Social learning theory: emphasizes conformity & socialization: prejudice
People who are prejudiced are conforming to the culture in which they grew up, and prejudice is the result of socializations from parents, peers, media and etc.
Group threat theory: emphasizes economic & political competitions: prejudice
Prejudice arises from competition over jobs & other resources & from disagreement over various political issues
The Most Important Thing You Can Do to Fight Climate Change - Talk About It
-#1 factor that climate is changing and that humans are reacting are impacts are serious and dangerous has NOTHING to do with science → Political party -Wean off of fossil fuels as soon as possible is the only way to fix it -"Yes, it's a real problem, but NO we don't want to fix it" -Natural -In it for the money -It's the sun -EVERYTHING to do with ideology and identity -70% of people in the US believe climate is changing and it will HARM future generations -60% think it will affect the US -40% will affect us personally -⅔ of people say NO we don't talk about climate change -¾ of people say NO they don't hear it within the media -How do we break cycle -Talk about it -Been talking about it for 150+ year -50 years since Lyndon Johnson was warned about climate change -WHY IT MATTERS TO US -Shared values -Parents, activities, live in same area, climate, national securities, FAITH -Connect the dots and figure out why they have an impact on climate change -Most people have the values they need to care about the climate -FOUR WAY TEST 1. Is it the truth? 2. Is it fair? 3. Would it be beneficial to all? 4. Would it build goodwill? -Fix it: Rational Hope -Need a vision of a better future -Stable economy -Resources available to all -SOLUTIONS -Switch -Lifestyle choices (lower down food change) -Lower food waste -Fastest growing power: solar
Ineffectiveness of U.S. health care system
-A lot of the money we spend on healthcare goes towards the administrative costs. -Professionals are relatively free to charge whatever they want for their services -Because professionals are paid for every service they perform, they have an incentive to perform more diagnostic tests and procedures than may be necessary
Sociological explanations for physical health for the poor and people of color
-African Americans are more likely than whites to: -Die from heart disease -Be overweight -Suffer from asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and have certain types of cancer -Why? -Higher Poverty rates -Unconscious racial bias among health care providers -Stress from living in a racially prejudiced and discriminatory society -More likely to live in urban areas with air and water pollutions, hazardous wastes, etc
Life expectancy between racial/ethnic groups
-African Americans can expect to live about five fewer years than whites. Among men, they can expect to live almost six fewer years, and among women, four fewer years. -Health & illness both reflect & reinforce society's social inequalities.
Socialization & Gender
-Agents of socialization: family, peers, school, mass media, & religion; institutions that help to socialize people into their gender roles & develop their gender identities. -To the extent that gender is shaped by society & culture through socialization, it is possible to change gender & to help bring about a society where both men & women have more opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Cultural Differences in Gender & Sexuality
-Although all societies distinguish "femaleness" & "maleness," additional gender categories exist in some societies. -Native Americans known as the Mohave recognize four genders: a woman, a woman who acts like a man, a man, and a man who acts like a woman.
Mental health & gender
-It depends on what mental health issue: -Females tend to have higher rates of emotional mental health disorders (anxiety, depression, manic-depressive disorder, serious depression) -Men have higher rates of more behavioral mental problems (border-line personality disorder, antisocial personality disorders) that can lead them to be a threat to others -WHY: -Gender socialization -Encourages women to keep problems inside of themselves emotionally, while encouraging men to express their problems outwardly through violence -Higher poverty rates, stress, and discrimination against women
Examples of individual discrimination
-Joe Feagin interview -Many African Americans had been refused service, or received poor service -Others had been harassed by the police -Denise Segura interview -More than 40% of the women(152) said they had encountered workplace discrimination based on their ethnicity and/or gender -Attributed their treatment to stereotypes held by their employers & coworkers
The Urgency of Intersectionality
-Kimberle Crenshaw -People are not aware are police brutality against black women -We need frames to see social impacts of all targeted members -Black women face double discrimination -People think they can double-dip in two issues -A court case was thrown out by this issue: Local Car manufacturer -The framing was distorted -Intersectionality: If you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both -Black women sit on the intersectionality of being black and a woman -Impacted by both and abandoned by both
Family structure differences in the poverty rate
-Married couples: 11.6% -Living with only mother: 46.9% -African American children living with only their mother: 53.3% -Latino children living with only their mother: 57% -Households that are headed by a woman only show the highest poverty rates within family structures.
The cost of being male
-Men face problems in a society that promotes male dominance and traditional masculinity standards -Socialization into masculinity can lead to emotional problems due to expectation of emotional inexpressiveness and reluctance to admit or seek help for various personal problems -Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with emotional disorder, learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder, and they are more likely to commit suicide or drop out of highschool -Men also die earlier than women and are injured more often, men also miss out on the joys of parenting more than women are much more likely to experience
The history of racial/ethnic inequality in the U.S.
-Race & ethnicity have been an issue in America since Christopher Columbus -Estimated 1 million Native Americans at that time, dwindled to about 240,000 -Killed by white settlers & died from contracted diseases people with European backgrounds -Africans were forcibly transported from their homelands to be sold as slaves in the Americas. -Mob violence -Era of Jim Crow racism in the South -Mob violence against immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Eastern Europe, Mexico, & Asia in the 19th & early 20th centuries -1930s & 1940s: Nazi racism
Sociologists conception of race
-Race as a social construction -Race is a concept that has no objective reality but rather is what people decide it is. Race has no real existence other than what and how people think of it. -Although race is a social construction, it has real consequences because people do perceive race as something real. People are classified into different races & treated unequally based on their classification.
Wealth Inequality in America
-Reality of Wealth Distribution -Bottom 20: Barely have any of the nation's wealth -Second 20: Barely have any of the nation's wealth -Middle 20: Barely distinguishable from the poor -Top 1%: Have more of the countries wealth than 9/10 Americans BELIEVE the top 20 should have -Socialism: wealth distributed equally -Ideal: (9/10 people choose this curve; 92%) -Wealthy 10-20% are 10-20x better off than poor Americans -Poor people aren't even considered poor (poverty line doesn't even make the chart) -What Americans THINK it is currently: -Poorest 20-30% suffer -Middle- suffer more than they do in the ideal -Wealthy: making 100x more than poor Americans and 10x more than the middle class -Reality: -Poorest Americans are making merely pocket change -Bottom 80% maintain 7% of all wealth within America -Middle class is barely distinguishable from the poor -Wealthy -Top 2-5% is off the scale -The "1%" of Americans has 40% of America's wealth own about 50% of stocks, bonds -Bottom 50% own only 0.5% of the investments -Poor-middle class have 7% of the wealth -Top 1% maintains 40% of all wealth within America -Income has TRIPLED over the past 30 years -The average worker needs to work more than a month to make what the CEO makes in an hour
Living in A Poor Neighborhood
-Redlining: poisoned the mortgage market for black people -Drew a line between where black families could and could not get loans -This SYSTEMATICALLY forced blacks to live in other neighborhoods -2 Divergent Americas 1. One with money 2. One without money a.Largely black b.Living in neighborhoods of extreme poverty -40% of residents are below the poverty line -Residents of America are increasingly living in neighborhoods of extreme poverty -If you're black and your parents grew up in a poor neighborhood, then you probably ended up in a poor neighborhood too. -Living in poor neighborhoods is a huge factor in what our lives and our children's lives turn out to be -⅓ black children grew up in poverty during the civil rights movement -Black children born between 1985-2000 still continued to grow up in the poorest neighborhoods -Moving to Opportunity Experiment: -Took 4,600 families living in poor neighborhoods and put them in three groups with vouches: First voucher could only be used in wealthier neighborhoods, second could be anywhere, and the last stayed in public housing. -People who moved to nicer neighborhoods earned significantly more than those who were in public housing -Research Shows growing up in poor neighborhoods affects your brain -IQ of a child was lower if they grew up in a poor neighborhood and so did their mom -Abuse, family dysfunction, violence, and neglect have long-term health effects (can psychologically change the brain) -Makes you significantly less happy, less hopeful, and less healthy -Montgomery County, Maryland -Law states if you build a new subdivision, one in eight must be moderately priced -Going to school with wealthier kids helped a lot -Moving to a better neighborhood also made kids more likely to earn more money as adults -The longer kids were exposed to poor environments the stronger the effect was -Ideas to Change -Giving people a choice to move elsewhere -Universal basic income -Programs that provide mental health services, basic needs, and job skills to mothers
Poverty Isn't a Lack of Character, It's a Lack of Cash
-Rutger Bregman -Why do the poor make so many poor decisions? -Margaret Thatcher: "Poverty is a personality defect" -There is an overwhelming idea that there is something wrong with the poor -Sugarcane Farmers -Make 60% of their annual income at once → meaning they are poor one part of the year and okay the other part -Farmers scored worse on the IQ test PRIOR to the harvest... scarcity mentality -Scarcity Mentality -Behave differently when they perceive something to be scared of (food, time, money) -Long-term perspective goes out the window -The poor are not making dumb decisions because they are dumb, but because they are living in a context where anyone would make dumb decisons -Anti-poverty programs DO NOT work.... Why? -There is not a lack of knowledge, there is simply a lack of cash -Investments in education and money management have been proven ineffective -"Poverty annihilates the future" george orwell -Modern Politics solutions are CHEAP. "Treating the symptoms, ignoring the underlying cause" -Text Reminders to pay bills -Helping with paperwork -Town in Canada- Dauphin (experiment with a guaranteed basic income) -THIS WORKED -Completely got rid of poverty -Hospitalization, domestic violence, and mental health complaints rate decreased -People in the town had become richer and smarter -Child poverty 500 billion in the U.S. -Cost to end poverty in U.S. is $175 billion, using basic income plan -The basic income guarantee can END poverty -Most hate their jobs or are not engaged -"Working jobs we hate to go buy shit we don't need" -It will free the poor and everyone else
gender
-Social construction -Social and cultural differences a society assigns to people based on their biological sex -Expectations of femininity: gentle, sensitive, nurturing, weak -Expectations of masculinity: strong, insensitive, unemotional
Poor adults are at greater risk fro diseases why?
-Stress (impared immune system) -Live in crowded, dilapidated housing with poor sanitation -Lack of access to adequate healthcare -Lack of education -Unhealthy lifestyles
Gender Differences in Children's Aggression Studies
-Studies of kids as young as 1-2 playing with each other, interacting with adults, or writing down solutions to hypothetical scenarios. -In most of these studies, boys are more physically aggressive in thought & deed than girls. Ex: *kid plays with toy, then it gets taken by an adult.* Boys tend to look angry or try to take the toy back, and girls tend to just sit there and whimper.
Environmental sociology
-Study of the interaction between human behavior and the natural and physical environment -Assumes: humans are part of the environment and the environment and society can only be fully understood in relation to each other -Human activity and decision making -British petroleum oil spill 2010 -Hurricane katrina 2005- no one took care to strengthen/ rebuild weak levees in NOLA
Healthcare - Is It a Right or a Luxury?
-Tarik Sammour -Worked at the best cancer treatment/hospital that you could afford -The hospital staff made him question if healthcare is a right, born to high quality healthcare -Developed nations are moving to where healthcare is not going to be affordable -We are trying to compete against the maximum age limit which is a steep climb as you get further along -3 point plan -Select a system -Private (individual) or Public (shared) Healthcare -Public system treats everyone equally, but its very inefficient -Private system is run like a business and is very brutal -Hybrid is likely the best -Australia spends less and still has same health outcomes (Most balanced healthcare systems) -Care about costs -Heat of the moment you do not worry about costs -Treat healthcare costs like adults, ask price and not correlate cost and quality -Reduce cost if possible (wound dressings) -Quality over Quantity -Blindly pursuing longer life expectancy and looking towards better quality of life -Is it worth living longer with disabilities or shorter life with better quality and reasonable costs? -Difficult and requires difficult discussions: cultural perception and value of life
Male privilege
-The advantages males automatically have in a patriarchal society whether or not they realize they have these advantages -race/ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation can affect to what degree men can enjoy these advantages, but they exist nonetheless
feminism
-The belief that women & men should have equal opportunities in economic, political, and social life -Negative image of feminists & feminism
Present and future effects of continued global climate change
Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, droughts and heat waves, food shortages, wildfires, hurricanes, armed conflict
stereotypes
Mistaken generalizations about people because of their race and/or ethnicity