Attendance
Exam review games
Break
Final Exam
Have a great break!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Day 14 (16-day format)
Prahayana
I don't know if this is the right day, but for the class on bodies and shit, norms and heightism.
I don't know if this is the right day, but for the class on bodies and shit, norms and heightism.
Day 13 (16-day format): Class
Class
Why do most americans think they're "middle class"?
Interrogating Inequality
Play Spent!
Watch PBS Frontline: TWO AMERICAN FAMILIES
+ other video
bill moyers article?
6:00 - Attendance, collect Daily Top 5 lists, facilitators confer
6:10 - Discussion lead by (???)
7:30 - Instructor-lead discussion
What is Bill missing? Why can't money buy you class, and why does he regret not getting more education? ---> 227
SocioEconomic Status
"Class" implies stratification and inequality...
Meritocracy and the American work-ethic as cultural values
Wealth vs. Income
The state of inequality in America (228)
Stratification determines how resources are distributed in a population.
Paradoxically, the more resources a society has, the less equal this distribution is.
This short video explains this paradox that abundance causes inequality.
Hunter/gatherers - 1 calorie expended for every 3 calories gained, very little stratification
Horticultural and pastoral - 1:5
Agricultural - 1:50
Industrial - 1:5,000
Marx's dialectical cycle of historyComplications regarding Marx's simplistic view (stock, unions...)
Discourse (236)
Brazil?
Do we have an ideology of equality? (238)
Brazil - who do you think you are? vs. do you know who you are talking to? (239)
poor rural whites vs. poor urban blacks?
Problems of identity politics for the poor... (242)
What about 1996 welfare reform?
FOR NEXT TIME :
Why do most americans think they're "middle class"?
Interrogating Inequality
Play Spent!
Watch PBS Frontline: TWO AMERICAN FAMILIES
+ other video
bill moyers article?
6:00 - Attendance, collect Daily Top 5 lists, facilitators confer
6:10 - Discussion lead by (???)
7:30 - Instructor-lead discussion
What is Bill missing? Why can't money buy you class, and why does he regret not getting more education? ---> 227
SocioEconomic Status
"Class" implies stratification and inequality...
Meritocracy and the American work-ethic as cultural values
Wealth vs. Income
The state of inequality in America (228)
Stratification determines how resources are distributed in a population.
Paradoxically, the more resources a society has, the less equal this distribution is.
This short video explains this paradox that abundance causes inequality.
Hunter/gatherers - 1 calorie expended for every 3 calories gained, very little stratification
Horticultural and pastoral - 1:5
Agricultural - 1:50
Industrial - 1:5,000
Industrial Revolution, Great Depression, WWII, post-war era, Information Revolution and globalization...
Marx and Weber (229)
Marx's dialectical cycle of historyComplications regarding Marx's simplistic view (stock, unions...)
Weber's wealth, power, & prestige dimensions (explains Bill's predicament)
Poverty/homelessness - "opportunities and life chances are not distributed equally" (231)?
Poverty/homelessness - "opportunities and life chances are not distributed equally" (231)?
Over 10% of Americans live in poverty < $23,000 for a family of 4 (Play SPENT?)
Kids are more likely to be poor than adults, and therefore lack opportunities, education, nutrition, etc... which then perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty.
Kids are more likely to be poor than adults, and therefore lack opportunities, education, nutrition, etc... which then perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty.
Check out the new Frontline special: Poor Kids. It's the first Frontline made from children's point of view.Meritocracy -------- Class --------- Caste
(13)
Domination, Hegemony, and Resistance
Public/hidden transcripts?
Ideology and internalizing the values of dominators, accepting their "naturalness"
(13)
CLASS IN THE U.S.A.
- We are becoming less of a “middle-class” society as inequality grows. A small minority have most of our wealth, better education, health, longer lives, etc.
- What are the classes?
- Upper class (about 5%)
- upper-upper class gets their wealth through inheritance (i.e. old money)(a.k.a. "the 1%")
- lower-upper class may have similar or even greater wealth, but they earned it somehow through their own efforts and abilities
- Middle class (about 35%)
- upper-middle class are doctors, lawyers, engineers, businesspeople who are doing very well in terms of income; they have some wealth and investments that make additional money for them, too.
- average middle class people tend to have white-collar jobs: they are managers, teachers, civil servants, and even some highly skilled blue-collar workers (tradesmen, contractors). They usually have a bit of wealth, but it is almost entirely tied up in homes and retirement savings.
- Working class a.k.a. "lower-middle class" people (about 35%) are mostly blue-collar or service-industry workers with routinized jobs requiring little creativity. They get few benefits and have little or no wealth, usually renting or perhaps owning inexpensive homes in poor neighborhoods. Their kids probably won't go to college. They are vulnerable to illness and unemployment, since they probably lack health insurance and have no wealth to tide them over while looking for work after they lose a job.
- Lower class people a.k.a. "the working poor" (about 25%), half of them are in poverty. If they have a job at all, their job pays very little, has low prestige, and certainly offers no benefits or job security. They are extremely vulnerable to illness and unemployment, and often rely on social safety nets to meet basic needs.
- Upper class (about 5%)
Domination, Hegemony, and Resistance
Public/hidden transcripts?
Ideology and internalizing the values of dominators, accepting their "naturalness"
A stratification system also consists of the beliefs that support it.
- For example, India's caste system is accepted as fair and just because of belief in dharma (duty), karma, and reincarnation.
- The United Kingdom's old caste system was accepted as fair and just because of belief in predestination and the "divine right of kings."
- The beliefs that allow us to accept our American brand of stratification as fair and just are beliefs such as that people get what they deserve: "rich people are rich because they are smart and hard-working, and poor people are poorbecause they are lazy and foolish." Social darwinism.
Discourse (236)
Brazil?
Do we have an ideology of equality? (238)
Brazil - who do you think you are? vs. do you know who you are talking to? (239)
poor rural whites vs. poor urban blacks?
Problems of identity politics for the poor... (242)
What about 1996 welfare reform?
FOR NEXT TIME :
- Read Chapter 14: Places and Spaces, and prepare your Top Ten list
- 3rd Diversity Encounter due (on the Discussion Board)
- ONLY: ??? prepare to lead a discussion on Chapter ??
Day 12 (16-day format): Bodies, Fitness, and Health
6:00 - Attendance, collect Daily Top 5 lists
Group 12 confers: ???
6:10 - Discussion of Chapter 12
7:30 - Break
7:40 - Instructor-led discussion
Ability and Disability
"Health" as a social construct
The status of pregnancy?
Ailment as master status... is this stigmatizing?
Does society treat disability as abnormal and disabled people as aliens?
What does it mean that "social structures and institutions alienate, marginalize, and often threaten people with disabilities" (207)?
Examined Life with Judith Butler
Impairment vs. disability
(NPR article on inclusive playgrounds: "Play teaches children how to make friends, make rules and navigate relationships. But for kids whose disabilities keep them from using playgrounds, those opportunities can be lost.")
American value of self-reliance...
What is the "social construction of disability" (207)?
What is a "culture of disability" and how does it "resist and subvert the social standards of fitness that alienate and exclude them" (208)? Is this another example of identity politics? Is it important to change our language because people with impairments feel dehumanized?
8:00 ------------
:Body variation and enhancement:
Beauty standards change...
Why are there more muscular Americans, and more fatter Americans, than a generation ago?
Is bodily identity an ascribed or achieved status? (209-10) America vs. Brazil...
What about the value of individual responsibility (and therefore, laying blame on victims) in leading us to an "irrational attitude that we can fend off all risks if we just live right..." (211)?
Class implications (212)?
Stereotypes of sports players?
8:10
:Well and sick bodies:
What is the sick role? (213)
Does labeling theory apply (214)?
Intersectionality: race, class, gender, age, etc...
e.g. why the different rates for men and women of death by:
Is breast-cancer awareness political? Why?
Group 12 confers: ???
6:10 - Discussion of Chapter 12
7:30 - Break
7:40 - Instructor-led discussion
Ability and Disability
"Health" as a social construct
The status of pregnancy?
Ailment as master status... is this stigmatizing?
Does society treat disability as abnormal and disabled people as aliens?
What does it mean that "social structures and institutions alienate, marginalize, and often threaten people with disabilities" (207)?
Examined Life with Judith Butler
Impairment vs. disability
(NPR article on inclusive playgrounds: "Play teaches children how to make friends, make rules and navigate relationships. But for kids whose disabilities keep them from using playgrounds, those opportunities can be lost.")
American value of self-reliance...
What is the "social construction of disability" (207)?
What is a "culture of disability" and how does it "resist and subvert the social standards of fitness that alienate and exclude them" (208)? Is this another example of identity politics? Is it important to change our language because people with impairments feel dehumanized?
8:00 ------------
:Body variation and enhancement:
Beauty standards change...
Why are there more muscular Americans, and more fatter Americans, than a generation ago?
Is bodily identity an ascribed or achieved status? (209-10) America vs. Brazil...
What about the value of individual responsibility (and therefore, laying blame on victims) in leading us to an "irrational attitude that we can fend off all risks if we just live right..." (211)?
Class implications (212)?
Stereotypes of sports players?
8:10
:Well and sick bodies:
What is the sick role? (213)
Does labeling theory apply (214)?
Intersectionality: race, class, gender, age, etc...
e.g. why the different rates for men and women of death by:
- accidents?
- AIDS?
- suicide?
- stroke?
Is breast-cancer awareness political? Why?
Here's some info about the controversies surrounding the Susan G. Komen foundation and "pinkwashing."
8:20 -
People With Disabilities
3 domains: communication, mental, physical
36 million Americans (~12%)
What did the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) do?
What are SSI and SSDI? (219)
8:30 - While we're on the subject of health, what does the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) or, as it is commonly known, "ObamaCare" do?
First let's talk about health insurance:
According to the U.S.Census Bureau, the proportion of our population that lacks health insurance is at an all time high of about 51 million.
The cost of health insurance has been spiraling out of control for decades, going up ten times faster than wages since 2000.
Meanwhile industry profits ticked up 250% in the same period. This is why the U.S. Congress finally passed a health care reform law in 2010, after more than a decade of discussing it. The criticism of our health care system is that "for-profit" insurance companies have been gaming the system to increase profits by pricing out the poor and the sick, which is bad for society: when poor, struggling workers get sick or injured, they're not going to just crawl under a rock and die - they have a job to do and a family to support, so they're going to head for the emergency room. This kind of care is far more expensive, and since the poor don't have that kind of money, the hospital has to stick the taxpayers with the bill. So we end up paying more money for emergency health care, and this system keeps about 1 in 6 Americans from getting access to basic preventative medicine, which means more minor issues will progress to major problems requiring more of that expensive emergency-room care!
Why would our system do such a thing? The health insurance industry is not easy to understand. The point of insurance in general is to distribute risk through a population, so that individuals are not ruined by unpredictable disasters. You get car insurance or home insurance just in case a rare bad thing happens, and the small amount you pay per month goes to help the small proportion of people who actually have that bad thing happen to them.
Health insurance in particular also serves another function: helping people bear the predictable costs of maintenance and prevention (check-ups and medicine to cure minor illnesses before they lead to major social disruptions).
Both of these are socially useful functions – they keep people productive, and that keeps society running smoothly. But in an industry of private health insurance, companies must make a profit. Profit-making is their purpose. In order to do that, they use society's demand for the above functions to raise the price at which they can sell their supply of services. But their fundamental purpose is not to distribute risk, nor to help people maintain their health – it is to make profits. If they are not distributing risk optimally, and they are not helping people maintain their health in the best way, but they are still making profits for their shareholders, then they are still fulfilling their raison d'etre. For decades, the “free market” has been rewarding them for sub-optimal service, so it doesn't make sense to say they "failed," exactly. What proponents of ObamaCare say does make sense is to change the rules of the game, to give them motivation to actually provide socially useful services, and that is what the health reform law is meant to do.
OK so what DOES the law actually do? Well it's a bit complicated, but basically something like this...
Mental health?
Diversity in sickness and in health?
FOR NEXT TIME:
8:20 -
People With Disabilities
3 domains: communication, mental, physical
36 million Americans (~12%)
What did the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) do?
What are SSI and SSDI? (219)
8:30 - While we're on the subject of health, what does the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) or, as it is commonly known, "ObamaCare" do?
First let's talk about health insurance:
According to the U.S.Census Bureau, the proportion of our population that lacks health insurance is at an all time high of about 51 million.
The cost of health insurance has been spiraling out of control for decades, going up ten times faster than wages since 2000.
Meanwhile industry profits ticked up 250% in the same period. This is why the U.S. Congress finally passed a health care reform law in 2010, after more than a decade of discussing it. The criticism of our health care system is that "for-profit" insurance companies have been gaming the system to increase profits by pricing out the poor and the sick, which is bad for society: when poor, struggling workers get sick or injured, they're not going to just crawl under a rock and die - they have a job to do and a family to support, so they're going to head for the emergency room. This kind of care is far more expensive, and since the poor don't have that kind of money, the hospital has to stick the taxpayers with the bill. So we end up paying more money for emergency health care, and this system keeps about 1 in 6 Americans from getting access to basic preventative medicine, which means more minor issues will progress to major problems requiring more of that expensive emergency-room care!
Why would our system do such a thing? The health insurance industry is not easy to understand. The point of insurance in general is to distribute risk through a population, so that individuals are not ruined by unpredictable disasters. You get car insurance or home insurance just in case a rare bad thing happens, and the small amount you pay per month goes to help the small proportion of people who actually have that bad thing happen to them.
Health insurance in particular also serves another function: helping people bear the predictable costs of maintenance and prevention (check-ups and medicine to cure minor illnesses before they lead to major social disruptions).
Both of these are socially useful functions – they keep people productive, and that keeps society running smoothly. But in an industry of private health insurance, companies must make a profit. Profit-making is their purpose. In order to do that, they use society's demand for the above functions to raise the price at which they can sell their supply of services. But their fundamental purpose is not to distribute risk, nor to help people maintain their health – it is to make profits. If they are not distributing risk optimally, and they are not helping people maintain their health in the best way, but they are still making profits for their shareholders, then they are still fulfilling their raison d'etre. For decades, the “free market” has been rewarding them for sub-optimal service, so it doesn't make sense to say they "failed," exactly. What proponents of ObamaCare say does make sense is to change the rules of the game, to give them motivation to actually provide socially useful services, and that is what the health reform law is meant to do.
OK so what DOES the law actually do? Well it's a bit complicated, but basically something like this...
Mental health?
Diversity in sickness and in health?
FOR NEXT TIME:
- Read Chapter 13: Class, and prepare your Daily Top 5 list
- ONLY: ??? - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 13
- Reminder - 3 days until the Career Article Critique paper is due...
Day 11 (16-day format): Age and Cohort
6:00 - Attendance
collect Daily Top 5 lists
Chapter 11 group confers: (???)
6:10 - Group-lead discussion
7:30 - break
7:40 - Instructor-lead discussion
Hopefully, you know what age means. What is a "cohort"?
What cohorts are there in America?
collect Daily Top 5 lists
Chapter 11 group confers: (???)
6:10 - Group-lead discussion
7:30 - break
7:40 - Instructor-lead discussion
Hopefully, you know what age means. What is a "cohort"?
What cohorts are there in America?
- Lost Generation - born at the end of the 1800's, came of age during WWI, enjoyed prosperity of the "roaring" 1920's, virtually all gone now
- Greatest Generation - early 1900-'25, came of age during the Great Depression and fought in WWII
- Silent Generation - 1925-'45, children during Great Depression, too young for WWII but fought the Korean war, grave and fatalistic
- Baby Boomers - 1945-'60, post-war economic boom caused many people who had waited to start families, grew up with affluence and optimism, Cold War with space race and moon landing as formative events, fought the Vietnam war
- Generation X - '60s & '70s, "Baby Bust" drop in fertility rates with increased industrialization, hippie counter-culture, high education, Civil Rights movement as formative, first major generation gap (see p.190) caused resistance to war and resentment towards elders
- Millennials - '80s & '90s (& maybe early 2000s), Generation Y, the "Me" generation is more self-centered (less civic participation, more materialistic), 9/11 and Iraq/Afghanistan wars as formative events
- iGeneration - 2000's - present, Generation Z, children today who never knew a world without advanced technology, multiculturalism, and globalization. Highly connected through social media, possibly will see the Great Recession as a formative influence.
Children can't wait to be grown-ups
Teenagers look forward to independence
Old folks wish they could be young again
Does this imply that our culture values a certain age category?
What is the "meaning" of being old in our culture? Being young? (195)
What is the "meaning" of being old in our culture? Being young? (195)
The Social Construction of Childhood (and other life course stages)... cultural variable
Childhood - Kids often work in other countries. In European art from the middle ages, we often see depictions of kids as small adults, identical in all other ways to adults. We are in a rich country so kids don't HAVE to work, so our culture has shifted to define childhood as carefree and playful. An economic impact of industrialization was the "separation of public and private spheres," and that more education and skills are required of workers, so formal education has become more important... But it wasn't always this way. Here's the Lost Generation in photos from 1908-12.
When are kids "adults?" This has obviously changed since 1908, but is it still changing? Is it reversing in direction? In America we extend childhood longer, relative to the rest of the world, so of course we are concerned when kids grow up faster, or when there seems to be pressure to grow up faster.
What about imposing adulthood and sexuality on children (Toddlers & Tiaras, etc...)?
Where does this pressure come from?
kids' natural emulation of adults + cultural impetus from media + increasingly indulgent parents (perhaps trying to live vicariously through their children, like in Toddlers & Tiaras - but in doing so are imposing an adult frame of understanding childhood on their kids)
Adolescence – The idea of that there is a long stage between childhood and (young) adulthood that is characterized by immaturity and capriciousness is only about 120 years old. Before this idea was invented, children were expected to take on adult roles as soon as they were able, apprenticing their parents and transitioning to adulthood with the onset of puberty. Sociologist point out that the confusion and emotion we associate with the teenage years come not just from biological puberty, but from social confusion over norms and status (anomie). Teenages are assailed with contradictory messages of being no longer children, but not yet adults either: they can go to war but not drink alcohol; they can be sexy but shouldn't have sex; they should be developing their own independent personalities yet are told to obey their parents...
Adulthood – support yourself, career goals, parenting, different for men and women, have to face aging which our culture doesn't like. (youth-worship, Ageism)
Working class = adults around 20 or shortly after high school, start work and parenting.
Wealthy = adults around 30 or after college, maybe even graduate school or traveling.
Old Age – retirement, hobbies/self-actualization, health problems, social security, become a burden?
What does it mean that aging is a "universal, genetically programmed process" and that, "as a sociocultural process... it varies in structure, content, and meaning?"
If it is universal, how can it vary in structure?
In content?
In meaning?
In content?
In meaning?
Do class, race, ethnicity, and/or gender interact with age in socially significant ways?
(see gender vs. death and poverty rates on p.192)
Small-scale, low-tech societies are often gerontocracies.
Why?
Why not large-scale, high-tech societies?
Are we "overinformed and underenlightened?" (187)
What are the differences in how elderly folks are viewed in these two kinds of societies?
How does each kind of society take care of its elderly?
We will all go through the same age categories, so how does age affect our identity? "Most people probably don't recognize aging by looking in the mirror; they do so situationally and by comparison, gradually perceiving themselves in relation to others who are younger or older." (189)
People are living longer... why?
Older people have more assets than younger people... why?
What does it mean that we are approaching a "Gray Dawn" as the Baby Boomers age?
Economic issues?
Political issues?
Cultural issues? What does "Go south, old woman, go south!" mean? (196)
What does it mean that diversity is increasing among the young? ("The Gray and the Brown" p.198)
Whites are 80% of older Americans, they grew up mainly in white suburbs, and they are now forming mostly homogenous retirement communities... but only 56% of American children are white, and they are experiencing more diversity and multiculturalism... what will this mean for our future?
What's going on in Arizona? (199)
Are the elderly in trouble because they are not valued in our high-tech world and we put value on investing in our kids?
Or are they doing well because we spend $7/senior for every $1/child we spend? (200) Why is that such a strong federal priority?
How does the Tea Party fit in? (18% Americans support, mostly older and white, although only 4% actually donate or attend events)
Identity Politics again... Cohorts? Age groups?
For Next Time:
- Read Chapter 12: Bodies, Fitness, and Health, and prepare your Top Ten list
- ONLY: (???) - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 12
Day 9 (16-day format): Gender
Attendance
Chapter 9 group confers
Jeyson, Denielle, Rebecca, Craig, Erin, Ashley, Maria, Mita, Dalia
Facilitators lead discussion of Chapter 9: Gender
Break
Instructor-lead discussion
Gender - "behaviors and meanings that societies assign to males and females..."
masculinity and femininity
something we "do" or perform - is this important?
What does socio-economic status have to do with it? (Fred and Tonyo story)
Stratification: is there a gender hierarchy?
Sexism, like racism, is not just a matter of individual attitudes, it is built into our very institutions. which can be thought of as patriarchal (or kyriarchal involving intersectionality... does gender operate the same for all races/ethnicities? Classes?)
Role of socialization? (p.143)
...family, peers, school, religion, media...
Sanctions?
What does it mean that "folk classifications... contradict great variance in gender potentialities"? (143)
Are sex and gender inherently linked?
(some gender roles are more sex-linked than others - p.152)
Why isn't sex absolutely binary?
Why isn't gender absolutely binary?
Back to family socialization - gender bias in chores growing up? Parental division of labor?
How are tasks assigned a gender? (data 146-7)
These kinds of patterns are generalities, not universals (148). Exceptions demonstrate that any given set of gender roles is not absolute, inevitable, or intrinsic to humans.
So what does gender actually do for us? Channel our activities?
What are the constraints of femininity?
Of masculinity?
(146)
What about "double standards"? Are men or women more constrained by cultural ideas about gender roles?
Why?
Matrilineal, matrilocal, matriarchy, matrifocal?
Patrilinieal, patrilocal, patriarchy?
Neolocal-nuclear?
What is the "domestic-public dichotomy"? (151)
In America? (155) Changes over time? Feminism?
Why are people concerned about equal pay for equal work?
Why did our congress pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009?
Why do American women make $0.78 for every $1 earned by men?
What are "pink-collar" jobs?
Who does the housework?
Effects of shifting from an agricultural, to an industrial, to a post-industrial economy?
Other sexes... (161-3)
Intersexed (hermaphroditic), 0X, XXX, XXY, XYY
Other genders...
Transgender, third-gender, intermediate, postgender, transexual, etc...
"biology isn't destiny; people construct their identities in society" - what is the role of identity politics here (a.k.a. transgenderism)?
FOR NEXT TIME:
Chapter 9 group confers
Jeyson, Denielle, Rebecca, Craig, Erin, Ashley, Maria, Mita, Dalia
Facilitators lead discussion of Chapter 9: Gender
Break
Instructor-lead discussion
Gender - "behaviors and meanings that societies assign to males and females..."
masculinity and femininity
something we "do" or perform - is this important?
What does socio-economic status have to do with it? (Fred and Tonyo story)
Cultures tend to assume gender
differences are "natural" results of biology. The argument goes that biological determinism (evolution)(or, divine creation) made women less interested and intelligent about civic affairs... this is why women couldn't vote in
1848 (when feminism first began), but obviously we now know this attitude had nothing to do with biology. Is there a girl brain?
Stratification: is there a gender hierarchy?
Sexism, like racism, is not just a matter of individual attitudes, it is built into our very institutions. which can be thought of as patriarchal (or kyriarchal involving intersectionality... does gender operate the same for all races/ethnicities? Classes?)
To understand why patriarchy persists,
we need to see how gender is rooted and reproduced in society.
Role of socialization? (p.143)
...family, peers, school, religion, media...
Sanctions?
What does it mean that "folk classifications... contradict great variance in gender potentialities"? (143)
Are sex and gender inherently linked?
(some gender roles are more sex-linked than others - p.152)
Why isn't sex absolutely binary?
Why isn't gender absolutely binary?
Back to family socialization - gender bias in chores growing up? Parental division of labor?
How are tasks assigned a gender? (data 146-7)
These kinds of patterns are generalities, not universals (148). Exceptions demonstrate that any given set of gender roles is not absolute, inevitable, or intrinsic to humans.
So what does gender actually do for us? Channel our activities?
What are the constraints of femininity?
Of masculinity?
(146)
What about "double standards"? Are men or women more constrained by cultural ideas about gender roles?
Why?
Matrilineal, matrilocal, matriarchy, matrifocal?
Patrilinieal, patrilocal, patriarchy?
Neolocal-nuclear?
What is the "domestic-public dichotomy"? (151)
In America? (155) Changes over time? Feminism?
Why are people concerned about equal pay for equal work?
Why did our congress pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009?
Why do American women make $0.78 for every $1 earned by men?
What are "pink-collar" jobs?
Who does the housework?
Effects of shifting from an agricultural, to an industrial, to a post-industrial economy?
as we advance technologically,
physicality becomes less important. Computer programmers need less
strength than factory workers, who need less strength than farm
laborers. But it is still "masculine" to be independant,
self-supporting, a "bread-winner," but it is becoming less
important to be physically strong to do that.
So is there a gender anomie for males?
Is there a cultural compensation?
Other sexes... (161-3)
Intersexed (hermaphroditic), 0X, XXX, XXY, XYY
Other genders...
Transgender, third-gender, intermediate, postgender, transexual, etc...
"biology isn't destiny; people construct their identities in society" - what is the role of identity politics here (a.k.a. transgenderism)?
FOR NEXT TIME:
- Read Chapter 10: Sexual Orientation, and prepare your Top Ten list
- Your 2nd Cultural Encounter is due
- ONLY: Alex, Felicia, Diana, Gabriella, Denielle, Kaelyn, Rebecca, Maddie - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 10
Day 8 (16-day format): Race - soc
6:00 - Attendance, facilitators confer
7:15 - Instructor-lead discussion
If race has been discredited as a biological concept, what does it mean to say that it is a cultural construct?
Jane Elliot's A Class Divided
Overview of the social construction of race...
Why haven't we learned to apply the common-sense adage, "don't judge a book by its cover," to our interactions with other human beings?
Why does our tendency to classify and stratify people by their appearance continue despite decades of scientific evidence contradicting natural and absolute divisions of humanity?
What does it mean that we "look with our eyes, but see with our hearts, instincts, and history"?(p.126)
How did social reformers and the 1960's Civil Rights movement accentuate race-based differentation and stratification?
What is the role of legislation? (p.130)
Are Americans beginning to understand that "race is no longer as simple as black and white"? (p.128)
Is there a "continuum" of racial awareness, or are people either racist or non-racist?
Where does race and racism come from? (p.130)Stephen Colbert interviews Nell Irvin Painter on The History of White People
jokes to talk about
Race as ascribed, and arbitrary (p.132)
Hypodescent? President Obama?
Elizabeth Warren as Native American?
Political issues with the U.S. Census?
How do other societies conceptualize race? (Japan, Brazil)
Finish watching Crash
FOR NEXT TIME:
Hannah, Maria, Erika, Keva, Nathan, Kaelyn - facilitate a discussion on Chapter 8
7:15 - Instructor-lead discussion
If race has been discredited as a biological concept, what does it mean to say that it is a cultural construct?
Jane Elliot's A Class Divided
Overview of the social construction of race...
Why haven't we learned to apply the common-sense adage, "don't judge a book by its cover," to our interactions with other human beings?
Why does our tendency to classify and stratify people by their appearance continue despite decades of scientific evidence contradicting natural and absolute divisions of humanity?
What does it mean that we "look with our eyes, but see with our hearts, instincts, and history"?(p.126)
How did social reformers and the 1960's Civil Rights movement accentuate race-based differentation and stratification?
What is the role of legislation? (p.130)
Are Americans beginning to understand that "race is no longer as simple as black and white"? (p.128)
Is there a "continuum" of racial awareness, or are people either racist or non-racist?
Where does race and racism come from? (p.130)Stephen Colbert interviews Nell Irvin Painter on The History of White People
jokes to talk about
"I don't see race"
"I have a Ph.D, am I white? - relationship to class"
"gets fired up about Scots-Irish people – historical/religious antagonism"
"White people are the default color"
"class, Jimmy Buffet records"
Race as ascribed, and arbitrary (p.132)
Hypodescent? President Obama?
Elizabeth Warren as Native American?
Political issues with the U.S. Census?
How do other societies conceptualize race? (Japan, Brazil)
Finish watching Crash
FOR NEXT TIME:
- Read Chapter 9: Gender, and prepare your Top Ten list
- ONLY: Jeyson, Denielle, Rebecca, Craig, Erin, Ashley, Maria, Mita, Dalia - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 9
Day 7 (16-day format): Race: Bio
6:00 - Attendance, facilitators confer
6:10 - Group-lead discussion
7:10 - Break
7:20 - Instructor-lead discussion
What is racial profiling and how does it work?
criticism of NYPD's "stop-and-frisk" policy.
How does it relate to "identity politics?"
Arabs in airports? Blacks in Milwaukee? Latinos in Arizona?
CJ system colorblind?
If "biological differences are real, important, and apparent to us all," then why has biology "abandoned" racial classification?
I don't want to delve too deeply into the hard science in this chapter, except just to point out that "it is not possible to define races biologically." (p.114)
According to biology's current taxonomy of life, every organism can be classified at 7 different levels:
Each level contains organisms with similar characteristics. The kingdom is the largest group and very broad. Each successive group contains fewer organisms, but the organisms are more similar. Species is the lowest category. Organisms within a species are able to mate. There is no human subspecies.
In theory, a "race" would reflect shared genetic material, but instead what we think of as the races are based on shared phenotypical traits (salient physical characteristics) which don't correlate with genes. Plus, we have hundreds of such traits, so why focus on skin color?
Oversimplified, but politically expedient (p.112) to have 3 Great Races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid.
Scientists began to question this after WWII. How to fit in outlier groups? Other problems?
Far more genetic variation exists within each of these traditional racial categories, than exists between their averages.
What about phenotypical variation?
Can it be culturally determined?
Brazilian swimmers?
African-American football and basketball players?
The Thomas Theorum...
SO - race is not a valid biological concept. BUT this does NOT mean it is not a valid social, cultural, and political concept... (p.121)
How can dominant groups "use racial ideology to justify, explain, and preserve their privileged social positions"?
What about when science does it?
The Bell Curve...
How do you measure "intelligence"?
What do test scores measure?
How can fairness and equal opportunity be combined with maintenance of student bodies that reflect national diversity?
Why did Justice O'Connor say that we still need affirmative action in America, (p.124) but that "we expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today"? What was the "interest"?
PBS? RACE - THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION...
8:00 - Begin Crash? - note that it is rated R for language, some sexual content, and some violence
Please pay attention to the characters' motivations.
FOR NEXT TIME:
6:10 - Group-lead discussion
7:10 - Break
7:20 - Instructor-lead discussion
What is racial profiling and how does it work?
criticism of NYPD's "stop-and-frisk" policy.
How does it relate to "identity politics?"
Arabs in airports? Blacks in Milwaukee? Latinos in Arizona?
CJ system colorblind?
If "biological differences are real, important, and apparent to us all," then why has biology "abandoned" racial classification?
I don't want to delve too deeply into the hard science in this chapter, except just to point out that "it is not possible to define races biologically." (p.114)
According to biology's current taxonomy of life, every organism can be classified at 7 different levels:
- Kingdom: Animal
- Phylum: Chordate
- Class: Mammal
- Order: Primate
- Family: Hominid
- Genus: Homo
- Species: Sapiens
Each level contains organisms with similar characteristics. The kingdom is the largest group and very broad. Each successive group contains fewer organisms, but the organisms are more similar. Species is the lowest category. Organisms within a species are able to mate. There is no human subspecies.
In theory, a "race" would reflect shared genetic material, but instead what we think of as the races are based on shared phenotypical traits (salient physical characteristics) which don't correlate with genes. Plus, we have hundreds of such traits, so why focus on skin color?
Oversimplified, but politically expedient (p.112) to have 3 Great Races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid.
Scientists began to question this after WWII. How to fit in outlier groups? Other problems?
Far more genetic variation exists within each of these traditional racial categories, than exists between their averages.
What about phenotypical variation?
Can it be culturally determined?
Brazilian swimmers?
African-American football and basketball players?
The Thomas Theorum...
SO - race is not a valid biological concept. BUT this does NOT mean it is not a valid social, cultural, and political concept... (p.121)
How can dominant groups "use racial ideology to justify, explain, and preserve their privileged social positions"?
What about when science does it?
The Bell Curve...
How do you measure "intelligence"?
What do test scores measure?
How can fairness and equal opportunity be combined with maintenance of student bodies that reflect national diversity?
Why did Justice O'Connor say that we still need affirmative action in America, (p.124) but that "we expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today"? What was the "interest"?
PBS? RACE - THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION...
8:00 - Begin Crash? - note that it is rated R for language, some sexual content, and some violence
Please pay attention to the characters' motivations.
FOR NEXT TIME:
- Read Chapter 8: Race - Its Social Construction, and prepare your daily Top Ten List
- ONLY: Hannah,
Leslie, Maria,Jolene, Erika, Keva,Laura, Nathan - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 8
Day 6 (16-day format): Religion
6:00 - Attendance, collect Top Ten lists, Chapter 6 group confers, read An American Tragedy
6:15 - Discuss Chapter 6: Religion
Facilitators: Mita, Diana, Craig, Felicia, Dalia, Ashley, Maria 7:20 - Break
7:30 - Instructor-lead discussion...
Display of cultural markers to symbolize identity/affiliation
Discuss feminism, fundamentalism, and interpretations of the hijab
What about the burqa? Banned in France...
What about ultra-orthodox Jewish blinders?
Other intersections of religion and gender...
Implications of "Adam & Eve"?
Balpreet Kaur?
Religious symbols are functional - they provide "emotional and intellectual affirmation of values and beliefs" and reinforce collective identity and solidarity. But they are multivocal - so they can also highlight division and encourage conflict.
What about the mosque they're trying to build here in Waukesha?
(Waukesha patch)(Brookfield patch)
Should religion and religious views enter the political realm? (p.88-9)
- tax code
- Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution
- other countries?
- "sharia" law
- the "social gospel" and civil rights
- elections? (This November: A Tale of Two Catholics?)
So what IS religion?
What else do you think of when you think of religion? What is NECESSARY for something to have in order for us to consider it a religion?
-cults
-sects
-spirituality
-magic
-civil religion/sports (p.107)
Importance of rituals? (p.92)
Rites of passage and the liminal void...
Individuality vs. collectivity
What does the religious landscape look like?
Protestant (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Mennonite, etc...)
Catholic
Jewish
"Other"?
Eastern Orthodox
Muslim
Buddhist
Hindu
Sikh
Wiccan
Agnostic
Atheist
EvangelicalPentecostal
Fundamentalist (p.103)Scientology
New Age
Mormon
etc...
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?
Social Control as a function of religion
-ecology and evolution metaphors
-views on reproduction
-strictness, free-riders, and rational choice
FOR NEXT TIME:
6:15 - Discuss Chapter 6: Religion
Facilitators: Mita, Diana, Craig, Felicia, Dalia, Ashley, Maria 7:20 - Break
7:30 - Instructor-lead discussion...
Display of cultural markers to symbolize identity/affiliation
Discuss feminism, fundamentalism, and interpretations of the hijab
What about the burqa? Banned in France...
What about ultra-orthodox Jewish blinders?
Other intersections of religion and gender...
Implications of "Adam & Eve"?
Balpreet Kaur?
Religious symbols are functional - they provide "emotional and intellectual affirmation of values and beliefs" and reinforce collective identity and solidarity. But they are multivocal - so they can also highlight division and encourage conflict.
What about the mosque they're trying to build here in Waukesha?
(Waukesha patch)(Brookfield patch)
Should religion and religious views enter the political realm? (p.88-9)
- tax code
- Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution
- other countries?
- "sharia" law
- the "social gospel" and civil rights
- elections? (This November: A Tale of Two Catholics?)
So what IS religion?
- "belief and ritual concerned w/ supernatural beings?"
- "bodies of people who gather together regularly for worship?"
- that which "ties and binds" (the Latin, religare)
- what is the importance of "effervescence"?
What else do you think of when you think of religion? What is NECESSARY for something to have in order for us to consider it a religion?
-cults
-sects
-spirituality
-magic
-civil religion/sports (p.107)
Importance of rituals? (p.92)
Rites of passage and the liminal void...
Individuality vs. collectivity
What does the religious landscape look like?
Protestant (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Mennonite, etc...)
Catholic
Jewish
"Other"?
Eastern Orthodox
Muslim
Buddhist
Hindu
Sikh
Wiccan
Agnostic
Atheist
EvangelicalPentecostal
Fundamentalist (p.103)Scientology
New Age
Mormon
etc...
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?
Social Control as a function of religion
-ecology and evolution metaphors
-views on reproduction
-strictness, free-riders, and rational choice
FOR NEXT TIME:
- Read Chapter 7: Race - Its Biological Dimensions, and prepare your daily Top Ten List
- ONLY: Nathan, Nate, Kaelyn, Maddie, Jeyson, Alex, Gabriella, Denielle - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 7
Day 5 (16-day format): Ethnicity
what about respectability politics and Trayvon Martin?
6:00 - Attendance, collect Daily Top 5 lists
Chapter 5 group confers
6:10 - Discuss Chapter 5: Ethnicity
Facilitators: ( April, Sarah, Kelley, and Valerie )
7:10 - Break
7:20 - Instructor-lead discussion...
Connotations of "ethnic" vs. denotation.
The subject in the story (p.66) is left feeling "devalued - different and less than." Why? What does this mean?
Objective vs. subjective ethnic status?
Last time we talked about how elements of our identity can be chosen by others and sort of projected on to us. Is what constitutes an ethnic group "chosen" by the group? (p.67)
Can members of an ethnic group incorporate into the American elite without adopting mainstream American values and behavioral practices?
What about the "double-closet"? Binationalism? The transnational community?
On p.68, the text says that ethnicity "no longer" implies lower class or inferior social status. Did it before? Why? Why doesn't it now?
What does the middle-class professional immigrant mean by saying, "We can afford to be ethnic!"?
What about Barth's 1969 definition, that ethnicity only exists when people CLAIM an ethnic identity AND are defined by others as having that identity?
Can it exist without one or the other, or both?
Does this relate to the 2012 Massachusetts Senate race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren? Warren claims Native American ancestry, how can we tell?
Social identity as something that is constantly negotiated - we wear "different hats" in different situations... (p.69)
"Minorities" does not necessarily refer to numbers, but to power/position in a hierarchy (p.70)
Check out the income distribution in 2007 (pre-recession) by race on p. 70,
then check out this updated Census data on wealth distribution in 2010 (in the midst of the recession)
Status shifting and "conversion" experiences
Nations, states, nation-states, nationalities
Assimilation as a political ideology
"Plural Society" as a descriptive (not prescriptive like Pluralism) view
Multiculturalism as a political ideology
Demographic shifts
Attitudinal Prejudice vs. Individual Discrimination vs. Institutional Discrimination
-last time we discussed how racist thoughts or statements can sometimes slip out, even if it is not deliberate or intentional. But there is another kind of racism that also can occur without any one having deliberate intentions to treat another race differently...
example from American history:
1930's-'40's: Coming out the Great Depression and into WWII, the federal government began programs to subsidize low-cost loans for millions of working class americans. Government underwriters used a "national appraisal system" tying property value and loan eligibility to race –all white communities got the highest ratings and loans with the best terms. Minority neighborhoods got low ratings and bad loan terms, or were denied. Less than 2% of these loans went to non-whites. So minorities were locked out of home ownership.
1948 – US Supreme Court finally outlawed "Restrictive Covenants" REQUIRING homeowners not to sell or lease to non-whites. Private developers and real estate agents could still choose to. Lenders continued to base property appraisals and loan terms on race (higher fees and interest to cover the "risk" – THIS SYSTEMATIC DEVALUING OF NON-WHITE NEIGHBORHOODS AND HOMEBUYERS BY MEANS OF FEDERAL INTERVENTION DISGUISED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND ENABLED MANY TO CLAIM THAT SEGREGATION WAS "MARKET DRIVEN"
FOR NEXT TIME:
Read Chapter 6: Religion, and read the hand-out "An American Tragedy," and prepare your Daily Top 5 List
ONLY: Melanie, Mandy, Thelma - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 6
Reminder - Ethnic Heritage Presentations due 1 week from today!
6:00 - Attendance, collect Daily Top 5 lists
Chapter 5 group confers
6:10 - Discuss Chapter 5: Ethnicity
Facilitators: ( April, Sarah, Kelley, and Valerie )
7:10 - Break
7:20 - Instructor-lead discussion...
Connotations of "ethnic" vs. denotation.
The subject in the story (p.66) is left feeling "devalued - different and less than." Why? What does this mean?
Objective vs. subjective ethnic status?
Last time we talked about how elements of our identity can be chosen by others and sort of projected on to us. Is what constitutes an ethnic group "chosen" by the group? (p.67)
Can members of an ethnic group incorporate into the American elite without adopting mainstream American values and behavioral practices?
What about the "double-closet"? Binationalism? The transnational community?
On p.68, the text says that ethnicity "no longer" implies lower class or inferior social status. Did it before? Why? Why doesn't it now?
What does the middle-class professional immigrant mean by saying, "We can afford to be ethnic!"?
What about Barth's 1969 definition, that ethnicity only exists when people CLAIM an ethnic identity AND are defined by others as having that identity?
Can it exist without one or the other, or both?
Does this relate to the 2012 Massachusetts Senate race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren? Warren claims Native American ancestry, how can we tell?
Social identity as something that is constantly negotiated - we wear "different hats" in different situations... (p.69)
"Minorities" does not necessarily refer to numbers, but to power/position in a hierarchy (p.70)
Check out the income distribution in 2007 (pre-recession) by race on p. 70,
then check out this updated Census data on wealth distribution in 2010 (in the midst of the recession)
Status shifting and "conversion" experiences
Nations, states, nation-states, nationalities
Assimilation as a political ideology
"Plural Society" as a descriptive (not prescriptive like Pluralism) view
Multiculturalism as a political ideology
Demographic shifts
Attitudinal Prejudice vs. Individual Discrimination vs. Institutional Discrimination
-last time we discussed how racist thoughts or statements can sometimes slip out, even if it is not deliberate or intentional. But there is another kind of racism that also can occur without any one having deliberate intentions to treat another race differently...
- White flight (a.k.a. "Capitol flight" more generally)
example from American history:
Here's an example of what I mean: the story of our legal history:
1935 – Social Security – if you work, you pay into the system, and this guarantees you income after you retire. BUT the law originally excluded agricultural workers and domestic servants, who (guess what) were mostly African-American, Mexican, and Asian. These low-power groups were also least able to save or have pension plans.
1935 Wagner Act – established the right to unionize, but American Federation of Labor fought for the right of unions to exclude non-whites. So minorities were locked out of higher-paying union jobs, and denied benefits such as healthcare and job security. Legally lasted through the 1950's, but it wasn't until the 70's that many unions really did start admitting minorities.
1930's-'40's: Coming out the Great Depression and into WWII, the federal government began programs to subsidize low-cost loans for millions of working class americans. Government underwriters used a "national appraisal system" tying property value and loan eligibility to race –all white communities got the highest ratings and loans with the best terms. Minority neighborhoods got low ratings and bad loan terms, or were denied. Less than 2% of these loans went to non-whites. So minorities were locked out of home ownership.
1948 – US Supreme Court finally outlawed "Restrictive Covenants" REQUIRING homeowners not to sell or lease to non-whites. Private developers and real estate agents could still choose to. Lenders continued to base property appraisals and loan terms on race (higher fees and interest to cover the "risk" – THIS SYSTEMATIC DEVALUING OF NON-WHITE NEIGHBORHOODS AND HOMEBUYERS BY MEANS OF FEDERAL INTERVENTION DISGUISED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND ENABLED MANY TO CLAIM THAT SEGREGATION WAS "MARKET DRIVEN"
1949 – National Housing Act passed. Most non-whites were renting, and so government stepped in and developed "Urban Housing Projects," destroying many taxable properties. So the tax burden was shifted onto fewer and fewer residents. Encouraged "white flight."
1950's-60's: Economic/Housing Boom. Fed/State subsidies to development of suburbs. Construction of many freeways connecting residential areas to business centers in cities, often right through urban "neighborhoods." Many whites moved to suburbs. In the 1960's, many businesses began moving to the suburbs, depriving urban areas of jobs and taking even more tax dollars out of the cities.
1968 – Kennedy's Fair Housing Act, meant to reduce this discrimination, but in practice many appraisers continued to factor in race, use racial steering and predatory lending. In 1988 this law was expanded to make it more enforceable.
1970's, 80's, 90's – housing prices rose dramatically, increasing wealth for homeowners who, as we have seen, were mostly white for the aforementioned reasons. This also increased the cost of entry into the housing market for renters.
FOR NEXT TIME:
Read Chapter 6: Religion, and read the hand-out "An American Tragedy," and prepare your Daily Top 5 List
ONLY: Melanie, Mandy, Thelma - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 6
Reminder - Ethnic Heritage Presentations due 1 week from today!
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