Sociology 411, Spring 2006, Hogan



Sociology 411, Fall 2008, Hogan

Class Hours: MWF 8:30-9:20

Office Hours: Stone 307, MW 9:30-11:00 or by appointment

phone: 49-44679; email: hoganr@purdue.edu

website: (select "teaching" and then "SOC 411")

Social Stratification

This course offers a general survey of the field of social inequality (what sociologists call "stratification"), following the required text (Kerbo) and focusing on the U.S. In class, lectures will draw upon my experience studying inequality over the past three decades, including some recent work that looks at race, class, and gender inequality through the life course, as a complement to the required readings. We will also read Ehrenreich's story of her experience at minimum wage jobs.

Students interested in taking this course for honors can (if qualified) enroll in SOC 411H and will be required to develop a limited research project (term paper) pursuant to the students' particular interest in inequality, which will involve additional reading and, perhaps, some data management or analysis if not data-gathering. If there are a number of honors students we may arrange for group meetings. Otherwise, I'll meet with you individually during my office hours. Hopefully, at the intersection of the survey and the interests of students and teacher we shall find ample opportunity for lively discussion and considerable disagreement about the extent to which the U.S. was and is the "land of opportunity." Given a critical mass of honors students, this discussion may spill over into lecture.

Books: All Available for Purchase at Von's Books

Required Reading (recommended for purchase: we will read 15/17 chapters in Kerbo and all of Ehrenreich):

Harold R. Kerbo, Social Stratification and Inequality: Class Conflict in Historical, Comparative, and Global Perspective Seventh Edition (NY: McGraw-Hill, 2008)

Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (NY: Henry Holt and Co., 2001)

Recommended Reading (recommended for students who want a little more in a particular area; highly recommended for SOC 402H students, who might also want to look at the bibliography from SOC 611)

Randy Albelda, Robert W. Drago, Steven Shulman, Unlevel Playing Fields: Understanding Wage Inequality and Discrimination (Cambridge, MA: Economic Affairs Bureau, Dollars and Sense, 2004). If you like numbers and economics, this book is for you. It is probably not going to interest most of you.

Dollars & Sense and United for a Fair Economy (Editors), The Wealth Inequality Reader (Cambridge, MA: Economic Affairs Bureau, Dollars and Sense, 2004). This is a much more accessible book on wealth as opposed to wage inequality.

Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer, and Rebecca Adamson, with United for a Fair Economy, The Color of Wealth (NY: The New Press, 2006). This is a similarly accessible book on racial inequality in wealth (which is much greater than wage or income inequality).

Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (NY: Harper Collins, 1992). This is a very readable book on race and education in the U.S., 1988-1990.

Bart Landry (editor), Race, Gender and Class: Theory and Methods of Analysis (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2006). This is a collection of previously published papers by very well known scholars who work at the intersection of race, gender, and class. Patricia Hill Collins, "Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection" (pp. 45-56), might be a good introduction to this literature.

Robert Perrucci and Carolyn C. Perrucci (editors), The Transformation of Work in the New Economy: Sociological Readings (LA: Roxbury Publishing, 2007). This is a collection of excerpts and previously published papers that represent classical and contemporary perspectives on the changing nature of work, particularly since the 1970s.

Rhonda F. Levine, Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). This is a collection of major theoretical (as opposed to empirical) arguments and debates.

Schedule of Weekly Topics and Assignments

|25 August: Introduction and overview |Read preface, introduction (Chapter 1) in Kerbo; start reading Ehrenreich. |

| |Write a short (1-2 page, 250-500 word) essay on yourself or someone else, |

| |following the model offered by Kerbo and Hogan: due on Wed, 3 September |

|No Class Labor Day: 1 September |Read Chapter 2 in Kerbo. Continue reading Ehrenreich. Choose a table or |

| |figure from Kerbo or some other source indicating some aspect of inequality |

|3 September: Dimensions of Inequality in the United States |in the U.S. Write a short description of what the table or figure indicates|

| |(due Mon, 8 Sept) |

| 8 September: The History of Inequality |Read Chapter 3 in Kerbo. Continue reading Ehrenreich. |

| |Read Chapter 4 in Kerbo. Continue reading Ehrenreich. Write a short |

|15 September: Classical Theories |description of your favorite classical theorist (due Mon, 22 Sept.) |

| |Read Chapter 5 in Kerbo. Continue reading Ehrenreich. Write a short paper |

|22 September: Contemporary Theories |describing the functional theory of stratification (due Monday 29 Sept.) |

|29 September: The Upper Class |Read Chapter 6 in Kerbo. Continue reading Ehrenreich. |

|6 October: The Corporate Class |Read Chapter 7 in Kerbo. Finish Ehrenreich. |

|October Break (10/13-10/14) |We will review on Wednesday |

| |Midterm will be on Friday October 17 |

|20 October: The Middle/Working Class |Read Chapter 8 in Kerbo. Write a short expressive essay on your reaction |

| |to the first half of the course (due Monday October 27) |

|27 October: Poverty and Welfare |Read Chapter 9 in Kerbo. |

|3 November: Gender Inequality |Read Chapter 10 in Kerbo. |

|10 November: Race and Ethnicity |Read Chapter 11 in Kerbo. Write a short essay describing your racial or |

| |ethnic identity (due Monday, 17 Nov.) |

|17 November: Social Mobility |Read Chapter 12 in Kerbo. |

| | |

|24 November: Legitimacy |Read Chapter 13 in Kerbo |

|Thanksgiving Break Nov. 26-28 | |

|1 Deember: Global Inequality: Core Nations |Read Chapter 14 in Kerbo |

|8 December: Global Inequality: Peripheral Nations |Read Chapter 17 in Kerbo. Write a short essay on inequality as you now |

| |understand it (due at Final Exam). |

|15-20 December: Final Exam |The date, time, and location will be announced. Make sure that you make no |

| |travel plans that would entail departure before December 16th |

Quizzes and Exams

There will be unscheduled ("pop") quizzes on readings and lectures to assess your progress between exams. There will also be a midterm and a final exam. All of these will be objective ("just the facts") tests, composed of multiple choice and true/false questions.

There will be no make-up quizzes and no make-up exams except by prior arrangement. If you are hit by a car on the way to take the midterm make sure that your next of kin calls the SOC-ANTH department secretary and informs me that you will be unable to take the exam.

Arrangements will be made to accommodate the differently abled, but you must take the initiative and contact me with your circumstances and needs, prior to the first quizz or exam.

Your grade will be based on a weighted average of quizzes and exams. The details will be worked out based on the number of quizzes and the general standards that you set (collectively). The weighting will probably be something like this:

- quizzes: 15-20%

- midterm: 25-30%

- final: 35-40%

Writing Assignments

There will be required writing assignments that must be turned in on the date due. These papers must be typed (word processed and printed) and turned in during class on the due date. No e-mailed papers will be accepted. Generally, these papers will not be graded. If they are acceptable, you will get points that will count for 5-10% of your grade.

Attendance and Class Participation

Most probably, we will have a seating chart, which I will use to take attendance and to evaluate your participation in class. This will provide the basis for a class participation score that will count for 5-15% of your grade.

One Last Word on Grading

Although the details may change, the general plan is to have an objective score (0-100) that will count for something like 75% or more of your grade. What that means is that if you never miss a quiz, always come to class, turn in all the writing assignments, and participate in class discussions (to the extent that is possible) then you should have 15-25 percentage points (in the example below, 25% of 100 points for writing and participation) to add to your "objective" score. This could represent one letter grade. Theoretically, you could average 75% on the objective tests (including quizzes) and still get a B in the course (75*.75 + 100*.25 = 81.25%). Alternatively, you could get 100% on the midterm and the final but never come to class, never take a quiz, never turn in a paper and earn a D (100*.25 [ midterm] + 100*.35 [final] + 0 [quizzes] + 0 [papers] + 0 [participation] = 60%).

Of course, most people who come to class will do better on the exams. Most people who don't will fail, but the math is offered as a reminder that attendance and class participation can help raise a grade. Absence and non-participation can result in failure for students who might otherwise have squeaked by.

Cheating on exams (using crib notes/cell phones, copying from your neighbor, etc.) or plagiarizing writing assignments (presenting some one else's words or ideas as your own—without quotes or references) will be grounds for failure in this course and possible referral to the dean of students, which could result in expulsion from the university.

Ringing cell phones, loud or incessant talking, snoring, rude comments, and other forms of anti-social behavior will not be tolerated. You will be asked to leave on the first instance and will be asked to withdraw from the class on the third.

Finally, since I'm teaching this course for only the second time I expect that I shall have to be somewhat flexible in weighting grades to account for the fact that I write hard questions and that we might have fewer quizzes because I don't have a TA. I promised my department head that I wouldn't flunk you all or scare you all away. At the same time, however, I intend to establish this as a serious upper division course (perhaps not as hard as SOC 402 but more demanding than SOC 220). If you have not taken SOC 100 (or 312) and SOC 220 you might consider dropping this course and taking it next year (after I get more of the bugs out and after you have a few more courses under your belt). Certainly, students who have already taken SOC 382 and SOC 383 would have an advantage in some areas of this course.

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