Final Exam

Final Exam 

• When: Will be updated. 
• Where: Will be updated. 
• How:  Will be updated. 

Topic 7. Class and Social Stratification

• Social Status VS. class
• Social stratification
• Structured inequalities
• Intersectionality
• Karl Marx VS. Max Weber
• Systems of Stratification: three characteristics
• Stratification systems
  • Slavery
  • Caste system: India and South Africa
  • Class systems
  • What makes class systems different from slavery and caste systems?
• Indicators
  • Income VS. wealth
  • Education
  • Occupation
  • Cultural factors
• The U.S. class structure
  • The upper class
  • The middle class (the upper middle class and the lower middle class)
  • The working class
  • The lower class
  • +The underclass (The “new urban poor”)
• Social mobility
  • Intergenerational mobility VS. Intragenerational mobility
  • Structural mobility VS. exchange mobility
  • Upward mobility VS. downward mobility
• Poverty in the United States
  • Absolute poverty VS. Relative poverty
  • Poverty line
  • Who are the poor?
    • Working poor
    • Minority groups
    • The feminization of poverty
    • Children
  • Homelessness
• Thomas Piketty: “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”
• The sociological debate
  • “Blame the victim” theories
    • Culture of poverty
    • Dependency culture
  • “Blame the system” theories

Topic 8: Race and Ethnicity

• Race VS. ethnicity
  • Remember that race is NOT just about biological difference, but classification system.
• Racism
  • Overt racism
  • Microaggression
  • Color-blind racism
  • Institutional Racism
  • From old racism to new racism
    • From biology to culture
  • Three reasons for the rise of modern racism
  • Racialization
  • Stereotype: positive and negative
    • We talked about various racial stereotypes, including positive stereotypes of Asians. Yet, remember that positive stereotypes could harm other racial minority groups.
  • Cultural appropriation & cultural appreciation
    • We talked about various examples of cultural appropriation.
  • Situational ethnicity
  • Symbolic ethnicity
    • Remember one can celebrate their ethnicity without hurting or losing anything.
  • Intersectionality
    • Remind yourself of a definition of intersectionality and think about how you could use this term to understand current social issues.
    • Gender, race, and class?
  • Racial categories
    • Not fixed but have changed over time.
  • The one-drop rule
    • Think about Tiger Woods.
  • Antiracism
  • Prejudice VS. discrimination
    • Thoughts VS. actions
  • Scapegoats
  • Minority Groups
  • Ethnic conflict: see these different terms.
    • Genocide
    • Ethnic cleansing
    • Segregation
  • Models of ethnic integration: these terms sound very similar, but different. Understand the difference.
    • Assimilation
    • Melting pot
    • Pluralism
    • Multiculturalism
  • Global migration
    • Immigration VS. emigration
    • Push and pull factors: what causes to push people out or to attract people into a new country?
    • Diaspora

Topic 9. Gender inequality

• Gender differences: Nature versus Nurture
• Sex VS. Gender
• The biological and anatomical differences VS. The psychological, social, and cultural differences
• Gender Socialization
• The learning of gender roles with the help of social agencies such as the family and the media.
• Gender is NOT biological! (by Margaret Mead)
• Evidence in New Guinea: think about what we learn from her work.
• Gender boundaries?
• Cisgender, transgender and intersex
• Forms of Gender Inequality
• Patriarchy
• Gender inequality
• The Gender Pay Gap: The Sociological Debate
• Sex segregation
• Gender typing
• Glass ceiling: racial inequality as well.
• Glass elevator (or escalator)
• Sexual harassment
• Violence against Women
• Rape
• Rape culture
• Sociological Theories of Gender Inequalities
• Functionalism
  • Think about why functionalism has been criticized by feminists.
• Feminism
• Liberal feminists
  • What they focus on?” social and cultural attitudes
  • Instead of focusing on issues of patriarchy, they concentrate on issues of sexism and discrimination in the workplace, educational institutions, and the media.
• Radical Feminism
  • Inequality results from male dominance in all aspects of social and economic life.
  • How to solve these problems?: Revolution
• Black Feminism
  • Intersectionality: gender, class, and race combine to create multiple disadvantages for nonwhite women.
• Postmodern Feminism
• Reject one grand theory explaining the position of women.
• They encourage the acceptance of many different standpoints

+ Transnational feminism and socialist feminism 

Topic 10. Intersectionality

• Intersectionality
• Black feminism and intersectionality
• Afro-punk subculture
• Hip hop and intersectionality
• White beauty: race, gender, and class
• Atlanta shootings: race, gender, and class

Topic 11. Globalization

• Types of globalization: economic, cultural, social and political globalization 
  • McDonaldization 
• Global stratification
• Global classification
  • Cold War terminology: the first world, the second world, the third world, and the fourth world.
• Immanuel Wallerstein: World Systems Approach
• Global wealth and poverty
  • Relative poverty VS. absolute poverty
  • Subjective poverty
• Who are poor?
  • Global feminization of poverty
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • The Middle East and North Africa region (MENA)
• The dark side of globalization
  • Border crisis
  • Fashion industry, globalization, and sustainability
  • The anti-globalization movement 

Topic 12. Urban Issues

• Urbanization
• The growth of cities
  • Suburbs and exurbs
  • Megalopolis
• Suburbanization and race
  • White flight
  • Ghettos
  • Racial discrimination
• Gentrification