SOC 435: Social Inequality, Fall 2001

Texts:

• Hurst, Charles E.: Social Inequality - Forms, Causes, and Consequences. 4^thed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001



• Shapiro, Thomas M. (ed.): Great Divides, Readings in Social Inequality in the United States. 2^nd ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 2001
  

Materials on Reserved in the Library

Topical Outline

"Social inequality" refers to the unequal allotment, among a society's individuals and families/households, of the advantages and burdens whose distribution is influenced by the society's social and cultural structures. Concretely this inequality comprises many things, such as suffering from specific illnesses, having to sit in the back of the bus, dying a violent death, being excluded from priesthood, attending college, feeling good about one's self, winding up in a particular type of occupation, but directly or indirectly all seem to reflect the impact of three major factors: money, political control of institutions, and dominant ideas about human worth. The set of social arrangements determining people's unequal access to money, political representation, and the high regard bestowed on individuals deemed superior, may therefore be considered the foundation of social inequality. Besides providing information about the many manifestations of social inequality, particularly in the United States, this course aims above all to increase students' understanding of the operation of the underlying social arrangements. To this end, a fair amount of time will be devoted to the discussion of various theories advanced in the literature to explain this complex configuration of phenomena.

• Social Structure and Social Inequality - Some Remarks on the Sociological Approach

Required reading: Hurst, chapter 1 and 11

Shapiro, selections 1, 2

• The Distribution of Income and Wealth in the U.S.

Required Reading: Hurst, chapters 2 and 8

Shapiro, selections 3, 4, 23, 31

• Poverty

Required Readings: Hurst, chapter 16

Shapiro, selections 22, 24

Essay #1

• Marx's Theory of Capitalist Development

Required Reading: Hurst, chapter 9, pp 168-177

Shapiro, selection 5

Richard F. Hamilton: The Bourgeois Epoch. pp 4-9 (on reserve)

• The Debate over the Middle Classes

Required Reading: Michael D. Grimes: Class in Twentieth-Century American Sociology. New York: Praeger, 1991. pp. 168-195 (on reserve)

Barbara and John Ehrenreich: "The Professional-Managerial Class." Radical America 11#2 (March-April 1977):7-31; 11#3 (May-June 1977):7-22 (on reserve)

• Human Capital and Segmented Labor Markets

Required Reading: Hurst, chapter 10, pp 190-195

Shapiro, selections 7,8

Essay #2

• Social Mobility and Status Attainment

Required Reading: Hurst, chapter 13

Shapiro, selections 9, 10, 42

• Political Power and Organization

Required Reading: Hurst chapter 7

Shapiro, selection 19

• Who Rules? Politics and Class Struggle

Required Reading: Hurst, chapters 12, 15

Shapiro, selection 21

• Functional Theory of Stratification and the Measurement of Social Status

Required Reading: Hurst, chapter 3

Shapiro, selection 10

• Life Style and Social Worth

Required Reading: Hurst, Chapters 5 and 6

Shapiro, selection 15

• Gender Inequality

Required Reading: Hurst chapter 4

Shapiro, selections 35, 38, and 40

• Racial Inequality

Required Reading: Hurst, chapter 6

Shapiro, selections 26, 29, 30, 32, 34

Essay #3

Bassis for grade in course:

• Attendance, 25% (decrease of one letter grade for every five unexcused absences).

• Essay #1, 25% (10 page paper describing wealth and income distributions)

• Essay #2, 25% (10 page paper on Marx's view of capitalism)

• Essay #3, 25% (10 page paper on social status inequality, based on lectures and readings),

There is no opportunity for extra credit. Graduate students must write an additional paper on a subject of their choice (after consulting with the instructor).