Course Description
Modern social status systems, with a focus on the United States. The use of prestige, occupational skills, and economic assets to create classes; the impact of class on life chances; and the interaction of class with race, gender, and belief systems to shape individual earnings, wealth, and power.
Athena Title
CLASS STATUS POWER
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is about division, separation, and individuality. Paradoxically, it is also about cohesion, unification, and togetherness, because it is often by coming together in groups that we separate ourselves from others. The readings for this course are about race and gender, education and social networks, economic and political power, and how those things are related. The readings present qualitative and quantitative evidence that helps us identify the things that separate us from each other and from the things we want or need. We will explore why some people are powerful and others are powerless and why some people are wealthy and others are poor. We will also examine why it can be difficult to move from one of those groups to the other. Finally, this course leads us to question whether it is possible or desirable to reduce or eliminate inequality. In short, this course provides an in-depth look at the question that drives most inequality research, namely, "Who gets what and why?" During the course, students are required to explain and critique readings that offer alternative explanations of inequality. Students also produce oral and written: 1. descriptions of the types of inequality that exist in the U.S. and abroad 2. explanations of how personal and structural characteristics affect life chances 3. discussions of the consequences and desirability of inequality
Topical Outline
The following topics may be covered in this course: 1. Trends in income and wealth inequality 2. The meaning and consequences of race, gender, and class 3. The intersection of race, gender, and class 4. Classical theories of stratification 5. Contemporary theories of stratification 6. Social mobility 7. Legitimation
General Education Core
CORE V: Social Sciences