SCI - Social Categories and Inequality Overview

Social Categories and Inequality Overview

Inequality Word Cloud Alexis de Tocqueville, French sociologist and political thinker, traveled to the United States in 1831 to investigate the "Great American Experiment". Determined to understand why Americans were able to adopt a democratic system of government without civil bloodshed while the rest of Europe had not, de Tocqueville traveled throughout America studying her land, her people, and her social institutions. In his introduction to the result of his findings, Democracy in America, he wrote, "Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions." Most 21^st Century Americans would find that an unusual statement to make at a time in American history when slavery existed, only white males could vote, no government safety net to protect and provide for those in need existed. De Tocqueville viewed the United States through the lens of his upbringing, as a Frenchman born in the aftermath of the French Revolution and coming of age as a white male during the 19th Century. Social stratification, the hierarchy of people based on power, prestige or wealth, was common place. As a white 19th Century male, he probably had seen his share of and probably benefitted from social inequality based on age, gender or race.

In this module, you will learn about historical social inequality in the United States and the reform movements that transformed America. You will explore the perspectives in sociology that explore inequality. By the end of this module, you should understand how a man (i.e. President Barack Obama) whose skin color would have enslaved him during the time of de Tocqueville came to be the representative of all Americans, how a woman (i.e. Oprah Winfrey) whose choices of not marrying and having children would have ostracized her during the time of de Tocqueville came to be one of the most respected women in the world, and how a government evolved to stand up for those who could not stand up for themselves.

Essential Questions

What causes social inequality?
How does society perpetuate social inequality?
How does a society change social inequality?
Which of the major theoretical perspectives' view on social inequality do you agree with most?
How can the application of concepts from sociology help reduce social inequality?
What is your definition of social inequality?
What is the importance or role of social categorization in society?
What factors or events lead to social equality?

Key Terms

Achieved Status - a status that is either earned or chosen
Activity Theory - the idea that a high level of activity increases personal satisfaction in old age; symbolic-interactionist perspective
Age - a socially-constructed category that refers to the expectations and social positions that society attaches the number of years a person has lived
Age Stratification - the unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege based on age
Ascribed Status - an assigned status that is neither earned nor chosen but given at birth
Assimilation - a state in which a minority social category adopts the social patterns and culture of a dominant social category
Authoritarian Personality Theory - theory explaining prejudice as a personality trait of certain individuals, often of individuals with little education and raised in an authoritarian household
Conflict Theory (Prejudice) - theory explaining prejudice as a tool used by the powerful to divide and suppress the population
Culture Theory - theory explaining prejudice as rooted in culture
Disabilities - physical, mental or emotional conditions that limit a person's movements, senses, or activities
Discrimination - treatment or distinction of a person not based on individual merit; an action
Disengagement Theory - the idea that society functions in an orderly way by removing people from positions of responsibility as they reach old age; structural-functionalist perspective
Emory Bogardus - (1882-1973) an American sociologist noted for his work on measuring the amounts of prejudice within society and creating the Social Distance Scale
Ethnicity - shared cultural heritage that distinguishes one group from another within a society
Expressed Racial Identity - the words and actions that convey a person beliefs about an individual's race as the result of a blending of the opinions and processes that form internal and external racial identities
External Racial Identity - the race that others see a person as
Feminization of Poverty - the trend of women making up an increasing proportion of the poor
Gender Stratification - the unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege among men and women
Gender - a socially-constructed category that refers to the personal traits and social positions that society attaches to being male or female
Genocide - the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group, race, or nation
Group - people who interact with one another and think of themselves as belonging together
Hate Crime - a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation
In-Group - a social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty; the social group a person identifies with
Internal Racial Identity - the race a person sees themselves as
Intersection Theory - theory that posits that race, class and gender interplay and result in multiple dimensions of disadvantage or inequality
Minority - a culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct social category that coexists with but is subordinate to a more dominant social category
Out-Group - a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition
Pluralism - a state in which people of all races and ethnicities are distinct but share equal social standing
Prejudice - an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or reason; an attitude
Race - a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important
Richard LaPiere - (1899-1986) an American sociologist most noted for his 1934 article "Attitudes versus Actions" that documented his research on the gap between attitudes and behaviors regarding race/ethnicity in American society
Scapegoat - a person who is unfairly blamed for something that others have done
Scapegoat Theory - theory explaining prejudice as the result from frustration among people who are disadvantaged
Segregation - a state in which social categories are physically and socially separated either by law (de jure segregation) or by custom (de facto segregation)
Sexual Orientation - a person's sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted
Social Category - a collection of people who share a similar status but do not necessarily interact
Social Distance Scale - a psychological testing scale to empirically measure people's willingness to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with members of diverse social categories; Emory Bogardus
Social Inequality - the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social categories within society; the condition in which members of a society have unequal amounts of wealth, power or prestige based on association with a social category
Status - a social position a person holds in society
Stereotype - a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing
Thomas Theorem - a sociological theory that contends that situations defined as real are real in their consequences

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