SOC 100 midterm 2

power relations connected with other patterns of inequality (gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity)

• society is composed of layers
• hierarchical arrangement of individuals based on wealth, power, prestige
• but there's not just one cake

advantages given to members of certain groups

ex. for white workers, they got additional "wage" by being able to feel superior over black people

• movement within a stratified social system where boundries between social strata are not rigid
• you can move between classes or occupational groups

familial expectations

assigned at birth and includes race, gender, disability, age

earned over your life course

a system based upon achieved status

• society best characterized by conflict
• capitalism split bw two central classes
• bourgeoisise: control means of production
• proletariat: only have labour to sell
• conflict between these two groups becomes inevitable as inequality becomes more pronounced

• awareness of worker's shared interests and ability to act in those interests 
• people need to recognize themselves as part of a class before they can fight for it

• early societies held together by mechanical solidarity
• as division of labour became more complex, organic solidarity becomes evident
• no one can survive each other
• society differentiates into interdependent parts (organs)

• focus is on how inequality is represented and interpreted
• how do we represent our wealth? status symbols

purchasing expensive goods and services in order to put them on display

ppl lack the basic necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter)

people are poor relative to the average canadian

• low income
• shortage of affordable housing
• economic shifts
• experience of discrimination

• personal circumstances
• traumatic events
• personal crisis
• mental health and addictions challenges

• low income cutoff point (LICO)
• market basket measure (MBM)
• low income measure (LIM)

• little recognition of women in class analysis in the past
• gender intersects w social class (ex. unpaid labour in the home "second shift")

• women
• aboriginal people
• new immigrants and visible minorities
• people living with disability

• institutional arrangements
• legislative barriers (welfare requirements, minimum wage)

• old age pensions act
• unemployment insurance
• family allowance act

• progressive income taxes 
• generally taxed wealthy more than others
• this generally reversed through the 80s and 90s

• benefits for seniors
• social assistance
• employment benefits
• child and family benefits

• rate of return on investment > growth of economy
• if you have a lot of money and you can invest it, the return will get you more money than if you were just relying on wage alone 
• people with the most money are getting the biggest returns and pulling away from the rest of us

• social unrest/resentment
• political instability

education and occupation

many aspects of our lives built on the assumption that "normal" people are cisgendered (gender expression matches assigned sex) and heterosexual

exclusion, isolation, invisibility

• philosophy of the outside
• value of marginal social positions to provide a critical outsider perspective for viewing social interaction

what it means to be a man/woman, boy/girl

normal/abnormal kinds of sexuality (hetero/homosexuality, fetishes, paedophelia, etc)

• idea that people have cores or essences that are natural, normal, inevitable
• many ppl believe that masculinity and femininity are essences that all people possess

performative sense, what you do

what you identify as

• often characterized as a conservative approach
• often ends up confirming the status quo as the way it should be

• males possess instrumental character traits (rationality, goal achievement)
• females display expressive character traits (emotional communication, interaction with others)

interlocking/intersectional variables (racialization, immigrant status, ethnic inequalities)

intersectionality

• men socialized to be more assertive
• women socialized to diffuse conflict
• men tend to get more promotions/raises because they will more often ask for them, while women won't

• dominant form of masculinity in society that says men should be strong, aggressive, self-relient, free from traditional feminine characteristics
• is this still the dominant form?

social distinctions and relations among individuals and groups based upon their cultural characteristics

people's assumed but socially significant physical or genetic characteristics

• every facet of society has a particular function
• they all work together to allow society to function
• helping different racial and ethnic groups integrate into a new society

• what does it mean to be part of these different groups
• how does being part of these different groups shape our identity
• our identity can be shaped by interacting with other groups

• thought ethnicity was more subjective, presumed identity based on "folk-feeling"
• not necessarily blood-ties
• similarity/contrast can induce a "consciousness of kind"

economic, political, social processes where members of the in-group have access to scarce resources and outsiders don't

• set of social processes and practices through which social relations among people are structured by the significance of different human biological characteristics
• define and construct differentiated social collectives

• way of categorizing human populations
• came out of european colonization, exploitation, domination of indigenous populations

• "extension of civilization"
• control over a dependent country, territory or people

• 1700s
• nation-to-nation relationships bw the Crown and First Nations
• focus on trade and military alliances

• land became most important
• 1800s: aboriginal groups increasingly desperate and facing existential challenges due to impacts of white settlement

• christian values
• agricultural way of life 
• purpose: management and control

• control
• resocialization (total institution)

french and english

• immigrated to Canada under the rules of charter groups
• screened intensely
• mostly white europeans

• a lot less white
• top source countries are Philippines, India, China

• skilled workers
• family class
• refugees
• business immigrants

• Porter
• classic in subdiscipline of race and ethnic relations
• ethnic affiliation important determinant of social class status

• racialized vertical mosaic
• whites on top, non-whites on bottom

• demographic reality
• pluralist ideology
• struggle bw diff groups for access to resources
• set of govt policies and programs

• not successful at integrating members of society
• too much emphasized on the symbolic displays, not the issues
• false impression of dealing with real inequality
• focuses only on cultural barriers, not racial/discriminating barriers

• suggests culture causes ethnic and racial inequality
• values affect the psychological composition of group members

suggests socially created groups are affected by social structures that impede freedom

• based on "othering"
• often begin as labour problems

negative views of and attitudes about members of various minority groups

• practices that affect certain social groups 
• reproducing inequalities and stereotypes

• police face of racism
• talk of multiculturalism and reasonable accomodation serves to mask continuing inequalities

• racism doesn't exist in canada
• canadians are tolerant
• "I'm not racist but...."

durable and persistent

• meaning
• more than just income

• social institution where people carry out production, distribution, consumption of goods and services
• economy and our location in it afffect the quality of healthcare, housing, diet, nutrition, overall quality of life

• Marx
• system based on private ownership of the means of production
• has ability to grow, distribute, doesn't need a central planner 
• system of unequal exchange (proletariat vs. bourgeoisie)

• profit
• so work is structured in the most efficient way
• workers are paid as little as possible and capitalists try to extract the most amount of work possible

• mid to late 1800s
• a few families controlled most of the country's wealth (owned businesses)
• their accumulated wealth was passed on to their children

• people who approached the Crown and asked to be able to go out and do stuff
• like exploit North America for furs

• limited liability
• corporation is a seperate legal entity to the owners
• so people are more willing to invest because there is less risk tied to them

• in canada, yes!
• "legal persons"
• can't vote, can contribute to political stuff

• "transnational" or "multinational" corporations
• move beyond traditional boundaries to secure cheapest labour, lowest infrastructure costs, and permissive regulation
• "race to the bottom"

involve extraction of natural resources

• work we don't usually think of as part of the economy
• reproducing our labour power
• raising children, support systems that support wives, daycare so parents can go to work
• most of this work doesn't pay

• side jobs and illegal stuff
• babysitting, peddling, street drugs, busking

• new technology allowing for new kinds of jobs that weren't available before
• bloggers, youtubers, work at home

• commons-based peer production
• more exploitative form of capitalism?
• workers more marginalized
• all about customers
• not everyone can take advantage of these opportunites, reinforces inequalities

shrink/eliminate core workforce and replace them with workers in non-standard work

• employment arrangements
• ex. temp work
• fastest growing type of employment in Canada

lots of young people right now overqualified for the work they have

~ 1/3

• intersectionality
• men vs women?