SOC 3013 Social Stratification

Fall, 2013 MWF 11:00-11:50

MH 3.04.14

Instructor: Michael Miller Office Address: MS 4.02.26 Email: michael.miller@utsa.edu Office Hours: M-F 12:00-1:00

Course Materials Schwalbe, M., Rigging the Game: How Inequality Is Reproduced in Everyday Life, 2008. http://www.amazon.com/Rigging-Game-Inequality-Reproduced-Everyday/dp/0195333004 Other course materials will be available online through posted URLs on this syllabus. In addition, ongoing contributions to course content will be made over the semester through the course blog, So Unequal. You will be responsible for keeping abreast of blog posts. I encourage you also to submit course-relevant posts to the blog through me, as well as offer comments on posted entries. (Extra credit will be provided for meaningful contributions.) The Course Description SOC 3013 addresses the manifestations, causes, and consequences of inequality and stratification at global, societal, community, and interpersonal levels by examining major concepts, theoretical perspectives, and empirical findings. Particular attention will be devoted to understanding the structure and dynamics of social inequality in the U.S. within the contexts of globalization and economic reorganization. This section of SOC 3013 is a hybrid course in the sense that it combines conventional in-class teaching with supplemental instruction derived through online resources. Specifically, you are required to devote considerable out-of-class time to examining various video and audio programs and clips linked to the course via this syllabus. To learn about my approach to teaching with media, read A System for Integrating Online Multimedia Into College Curriculum Objective The basic goal of this course is to provide you an opportunity to derive depth understanding of inequality and stratification, and their impact on human well-being. This will be sought through class lectures and discussions, readings, and video and audio assignments. Degree-Program Requirement Successful completion of SOC 3013 satisfies 3 hours of upper-division electives.

Course Management System Blackboard Learn is available by virtue of enrollment in this class. It is an important resource which will allow you access to the course syllabus, assigned materials, and course grades. (Let me know immediately if you have any difficulties with this site.) Student Contributions The course requires your active involvement. At the minimum, you are expected to attend class, read text assignments and cover assigned Internet materials prior to class, and take examinations as specified. You are responsible for adhering to all rules concerning conduct, including those relevant to scholastic dishonesty (see The Student Code of Conduct). You are also expected to reflect the Roadrunner

Creed in your behavior. To additionally facilitate your success, consider the following suggestions: 1. Do not be a “spectator.” Your success in the class will be proportional to your engagement. This is your class—actively participate. Ask questions, discuss experiences, offer opinions... Get to know other students (exchange phone numbers/email addresses). Talk about the course, share lecture notes, hold study sessions before exams... 2. Read / watch / listen to assigned text and Internet materials before the presentation date. It will be helpful to take notes as you watch videos and listen to audios. 3. Should you have any concern or problem that is affecting, or may affect, your academic status or class involvement, please communicate with me about it. If posted meeting times are inconvenient, you may arrange a conference at another time. Note: all e-mail communication should be directed to me at michael.miller@utsa.edu. Support services, including registration assistance and adaptive equipment, are available to those with documented disabilities through the Office of Disability Services. Course Policies and Practices 1. Student Survey. During the first week, please complete an online survey about yourself in order to better meet your learning needs. 2. Class Beginning. A few minutes before starting each class, a selection of popular music may be played that in some way relates to the topic to be discussed that morning. Please listen in silence and try to determine how the lyrics of the song are relevant to topic concepts. At the conclusion of the song, volunteers will be called on for brief discussion. Note: My knowledge of current popular music is quite limited—therefore, any song contribution from you would be appreciated (please e-mail suggestions to me with brief description of how the music applies to concepts). 3. Attendance. Attendance will be taken on a regular basis. 4. Coming Late. Please enter and take a seat without disrupting others. 5. Notetaking. PowerPoint slides are regularly used in class to overview key ideas. Such slides will include images, graphics, animations, and video. Understand that your notetaking effort should also be directed to what I am saying, rather than solely the slides. Slides are not posted to Blackboard. 6. Class Ending. Do not attempt to pack-up until the class is over. Class ends at 11:50—please let me know if I run past that time. 7. Technology Use. Avoid embarrassment: turn your cell phone off before class starts. Under no circumstances can a cell phone be out during an exam. The use of laptop or tablet computers is permitted during class for course purposes only. 8. Grade Reporting. All evaluation results (except those for the final exam) will be returned to you in class (no one else may pick these up for you). Grades will also be made available to you on Blackboard (grades cannot be reported to you by telephone, fax, or e-mail). 9. Drop Procedure. Should you decide to no longer attend, be sure to follow appropriate UTSA withdrawal procedures.

Evaluation

Exams Three exams, including a non-cumulative final exam, will be administered over the semester. Each exam will consist of 50 multiple-choice questions, and collectively, exams will account for 80 percent of your final grade. Please note: exams from previous semesters are not made available as study aids, nor are exams taken during the semester released. If you miss an exam for a valid reason, you must submit a written request (paper copy) for a make-up exam, including documentation for your absence, at the time of your return to class. All make-up exams will consist of essay-length questions and will be administered immediately after completion of the final exam.

Video Clip Assignment Working in a group with three other students, you will locate an online video clip that is highly relevant to social stratification. The clip should be available through streaming (be sure to provide its URL), and should be no less than 2 minutes and no longer than 8 minutes in length. An appropriate lesson context plan for its classroom use should then be developed. Specifically, the plan must describe how the clip will enhance understanding of social stratification, and as well, include a set of questions that could be asked relative to the classroom application of the clip. Toward the end of the semester, your group will present the clip and the lesson to the class. In addtion, the clip and a summary of the lesson will be uploaded to the course blog for class display. The assignment will account for 20 percent of your final grade. Extra-Credit You will have the opportunity to build your grade through extra-credit points by virtue of posting entries and/or comments to our course blog, So Unequal. Grading Scale Exam scores and final average should be interpreted on the following basis: A = > 89 B = 80 – 89 C = 70 – 79 D = 60 – 69 F = < 60

Course Schedule

Week 1 August 28 Topic: Course Orientation August 30 Topic: Key Concepts: Stratification and Inequality Text Assignment: Schwalbe – Introduction: Thinking Sociologically about Inequality

Week 2 September 2 No class September 4 Topic: Overview: Stratification Perspectives and Theories Video Assignment: People Like Us Provides an excellent introduction by offering insightful vignettes on various aspects of class and status in America. Includes numerous interviews with academics, journalists, and regular people. Determine which video segments you particularly identify with, and those which you found most interesting. Be ready to discuss these in class.

September 6 Topic: Overview: Stratification Perspectives and Theories (continued) Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 1. The Roots of Inequality

Week 3 September 9 Topic: Evolution of Stratification: Transformation of Simple Societies Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 2. Rigging the Game Video Assignment: Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty http://video.pbs.org/video/2296684944/ Why does poverty exist? Identify the roots of human poverty and the varied approaches to resolving the problem. Determine if poverty can ever be resolved.

September 11 Topic: Pre-Industrial Stratification: Slavery Reading Assignment: Social Pecking Order in the Roman World http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/social_structure_01.shtml

Identify major strata comprising Roman society, determinants of rank and power, displays of status, and other elements of this hierarchy. Slavery http://www.learner.org/resources/series123.html?pop=yes&pid=1386

Directions: Scroll down to Program 9 – “slavery” and then click on the “VoD” icon on right side of selection. You may then

need to register at the site to gain free access to streamed videos.

Describe the institution of slavery in the American south and the variable relationships between master and slave.

September 13 Topic: Pre-Industrial Stratification: Slavery (continued) Video Assignment: Slavery by Another Name http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/

Did slavery end with the Civil War? This documentary examines the wholesale re-enslavement of southern blacks through the criminal justice system.

Week 4 September 16 Topic: Pre-Industrial Stratification: Caste Reading Assignment: The Caste System http://targetstudy.com/articles/the-caste-system.html

Video Assignments: The Untouchables http://youtu.be/K1CY48_Tmho

The Untouchables: Breaking Down Caste Barriers in India http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-untouchables-breaking-down-caste-barriers-in-india

Our Journey: How We Know Caste http://youtu.be/JC3C2voZjrA

September 18 Topic: Pre-Industrial Stratification: Estate Reading Assignment: Feudalism http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3045000407.html

Discover Domesday http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/discover-domesday/

Review introduction and parts, and then go to World of Domesday http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/world-of-domesday/ for more detailed description of English society at time of survey. Video Assignment: The Feudal Order http://www.learner.org/resources/series58.html#

Directions: Scroll down to Program 20 – “the feudal order,” and then click on the “VoD” icon on right side of selection. You may then need to register at the site to gain free access to streamed videos.

Historian Eugene Weber’s lecture from The Western Tradition series on the relations between the major strata of the European estate system.

September 20 Topic: Rise of Class Systems Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 3. The Valley of the Nine Families Video Assignment: The Rise of Capitalism http://www.learner.org/resources/series123.html Directions: Scroll down to Program 7 – “the rise of capitalism,” and then click on the “VoD” icon on right side of selection. You may then need to register at the site to gain free access to streamed videos.

Examines the rise of class stratification in U.S. in terms of the history of industrialization and urbanization. For Your Information: The Other Half http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/books/review/Power-t.html

Discusses the photographic work of Jacob Riis (be sure to view slideshow).

Week 5 September 23 Exam 1 September 25 Exam Review September 27 Topic: Class Systems of Stratification: Defining Class Video Assignments: Social Class in America http://archive.org/details/SocialCl1957

This mid-1950s educational film addresses the idea of class inequality by examining the lives of three white males from different social classes in the same small town as they grow from babies into young adults. What does it suggest about the nature of class, particularly as it is played out in this small town? The Declining Significance of Class http://sounequal.blogspot.com/2012/01/declining-significance-of-class.html

This brief blog entry examines an analysis of how television news frames social class in the terms employed to discuss social strata. Website Assignment: Class Matters http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/class/index.html

Become familiar with this New York Times website...

Week 6

September 30 Topic: Stratification Theory: Order Reading Assignments: Some Principles of Stratification http://www.brynmawr.edu/socialwork/GSSW/schram/davis&moore.pdf

Why does inequality exist in modern societies and what important positive role does it play, according to Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore? In your opinion, to what extent is their argument relevant for understanding contemporary inequality and stratification dynamics? October 2 Topic: Stratification Theory: Order (continued) Reading Assignments: The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All http://www.sociology.org.uk/as4p3.pdf

The functional perspective is applied to the analysis of poverty in this article by Herbert Gans. The role played by the poor in contributing to the welfare of the non-poor is outlined. However, does Gans argue that the existence of poverty is necessarily a positive force? A Hereditary Perk the Founding Fathers Failed to Anticipate http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/us/15bar.html

Children of alumni are sometimes given preference over other more qualified applicants in admissions to elite universities. How common is this practice and why does it persist, particularly among a people who pride themselves on having a meritocratic society? How would functional theory deal with it?

October 4 Topic: Stratification Theory: Conflict Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 5. Smoke Screen Video Assignment: Marx: Masters of Money http://youtu.be/QdbyUy-DN80

A recent BBC documentary on Marx. Great introduction to the man, his times, and his writings. Reading Assignment: The Communist Manifesto http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html

Famous call to revolution penned by Marx and Engels. Why do they see capitalists as progressive during early stages of capitalism, but as later regressive? Why will capitalist societies inevitably be transformed into socialist ones, according to the writers? You may also want to examine this work through Zac Robinson’s video, The Communist Manifesto: A Multimedia Introduction http://youtu.be/mdmxBtAW26o.

Week 7 October 7 Topic: Stratification Theory: Conflict (continued) Video Assignment: The Rockefellers http://video.pbs.org/video/2334127894/

Exceptionally enlightening documentary on the richest family during 19th century America. Identify the ways John D. Rockefeller was able to amass fortune. To what extent do Marx’s writings resonate in trying to understand the basis of capitalist accumulation addressed in the film?

October 9 Topic: Stratification Theory: Conflict (continued) Video Assignment: David Harvey’s Marxist Analysis of the Global Recession http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/07/14/david-harvey-with-a-marxist-analysis-of-the-global-recession/

David Harvey examines the latest economic crisis from a Marxian perspective. Identify the major reasons for the recession, according to Harvey. Specify the ways his analysis coincide or contradict your understanding of the recession? Be sure to read viewer comments to the post after viewing video.

October 11 Topic: Stratification Theory: Synthesis Reading Assignment: Explaining Reward Inequality http://www.slideshare.net/soconceptual/miller-explaining-income-inequality-11222709

Identify the major explanations for reward inequality and how these are organized around the concepts of labor supply and labor demand.

Week 8 October 14 Topic: Stratification Theory: Reviewed October 16 Topic: Legitimating Inequality Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 4. Arresting the Imagination Reading Assignments: Working Class Republicans and False Consciousness http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=247

America’s False Consciousness http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/americas-false-consciousness/

Why Working-Class People Vote Conservative http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/05/why-working-class-people-vote-conservative

Video Assignments: The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Ideology and False Consciousness in a Superbowl Ad http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/02/17/ideology-and-false-consciousness-in-a-super-bowl-ad/

October 18 Topic: Legitimating Inequality (continued) Video Assignments: The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Ideology and False Consciousness in a Superbowl Ad http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/02/17/ideology-and-false-consciousness-in-a-super-bowl-ad/

Week 9 October 21 Topic: Inequality in the U.S. Video Assignment: The Grapes of Wrath http://www.amazon.com/The-Grapes-Of-Wrath/dp/B00A32CKKI/

Steinbeck’s book meets the widescreen. Identify the primary argument made in this American classic. To what extent does the plight of the dispossessed in the 1930s still resonate in presentday economic and political realities in the U.S.?

October 23 Topic: Economic Inequality in the U.S. Reading Assignment: Among the Wealthiest 1%, Many Variations http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/business/the-1-percent-paint-a-more-nuanced-portrait-of-the-rich.html

Internet Assignments: The Richest Americans http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/

Identify Americ’s super-rich today. Overviews the magnitude and source of wealth of the richest 400 Americans, and includes a short biography on each. Who are they? How did they make their money? The Great Divergence in Pictures

http://www.slate.com/slideshows/news_and_politics/the-great-divergence-in-pictures-a-visual-guide-to-income-inequality.html

Provides graphics and text delineating growing U.S. economic inequality over historical time. Ratio of Pay: CEO to Worker http://www.payscale.com/ceo-income/fortune-50

Provides information about the pay of CEOs in largest U.S. corporations, and compares that data with average pay for employees. U.S. Income Distribution: Just How Unequal? http://inequality.org/unequal-americas-income-distribution/

Describes a common measure of inequality, the Gini coefficient. What Percent Are You? http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/15/business/one-percent-map.html

Identify where your family stands in terms of position within the structure of income distribution.

October 25 Exam 2 Week 10 October 28 Exam Review October 30 Topic: Economic Inequality: Does It Matter? Video Assignments: The United States of Inequality http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-united-states-of-inequality/

In what ways does inequality in our society matter, according to Bill Moyers? Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/makingsense_10-26.html

Identify the positive functions of inequality outlined in this video. Assess their relevance. Reading Assignment: Wealth Gap Causes All of America’s Economic Woes http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Stiglitz-wealth-gap-inequality/2012/08/09/id/448084?s=al&promo_code=FB99-1

November 1 Topic: Economic Inequality: Does It Matter? (continued) Video Assignments: Critical Condition http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08212009/watch.html

What do you do if you get sick, but have no health insurance? Describe the hardships and horrors experienced by the several families featured in this documentary. Front Lines and Food Lines http://youtu.be/QNB-jpiCdq8

Identify the contradictions that military personnel and their families face as they are forced to rely on food donations.

Week 11 November 4 Topic: Class Mobility Video Assignment: Who Gets the Best Jobs? Social Mobility in Britain

http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/1/post/2011/07/who-gets-the-best-jobs-social-mobility-in-britain.html

View chapter 1 of this documentary distributed on YouTube. Identify the major arguments about why certain kinds of people get better jobs than others, despite similar educational attainment? In your opinion, how applicable are these findings to the U.S.?

November 6 Topic: Class Mobility (continued) Reading Assignments: Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations http://www.pewstates.org/research/reports/pursuing-the-american-dream-85899403228

Are Americans Better Off Than Their Parents? http://inequality.org/americans-parents-data/

Harder for Americans to Rise from Lower Rungs http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-lower-rungs.html

November 8 Topic: Political Inequality Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 6. Regulating the Action Reading Assignment: Who Rules America? http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/

Week 12 November 11 Topic: Political Inequality (continued) Reading Assignment: World’s Most Repressive Societies http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/special-reports/worst-worst-2012-worlds-most-repressive-societies

Video Assignment: Stigma http://yalevisuallawproject.org/film/stigma/ Examines the policing practice and effects of aggressive stop and frisk on the streets of New York. Identify the political dimensions and implications this behavior.

November 13 Topic: Status Inequality

Reading Assignments: Conspicuous Consumption http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/DSS/Veblen/CONSPIC.HTML

The Vicious Cycle of Status Envy http://www.good.is/post/the-vicious-cycle-of-status-envy-why-we-buy-things-we-can-t- afford/

Audio Assignment: The Death of WASP Culture http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93740408

The heir of the Johnson and Johnson fortune describes the demise of White, Anglo, Saxon, Protestant cultural dominance in the U.S.

November 15 Topic: Political / Status Inequality: Structured Oppression Video Assignment:

The Essential Blue-Eyed Examine the dynamics of minority-group construction, exclusion, and hostility through a training session directed by Jane Elliott. Determine how a category of people are stigmatized and marginalized, and how such dominance is maintained by dominant group members. After watching this video, ask if you are in everyday life an oppressor or one of the oppressed? Explain your response. Be sure to view the "debriefing" which immediately follows the main part of the video. For Your Information: Confronting Racism http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6591359

What gave the deli counterman the ability to behave in such manner? Describe the several different ways store patrons reacted when they witnessed other customers being subjected to such negative treatment? How would you have reacted had you been in the shoes of the victims? of the witnesses?

Week 13 November 18 Topic: Inequality and Social Movements Text Assignment: Schwalbe – 7. Interview with Rania O Reading Assignment: Occupy Wall Street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

November 20 Topic: Inequality and Social Movements (continued) Video Assignment:

Freedom Riders http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/watch

Who were the Freedom Riders and what was the purpose of their activities? What kinds of public reactions did they encounter, and why were such reactions common? How successful were they in accomplishing goals? Had you been alive during this era, how likely would you have been to volunteer to be a Freedom Rider?

November 22 Topic Course Conclusion Week 14 November 25-27 Group Presentations Week 15 December 2, 4, 6 Group Presentations _____________________________________________________________________________________ December 12 Final Exam (Thursday, 9:45-12:15)