Social Stratification Final

Front 1

Question 1: origins of racism, consequences of this oppression, development of racism in the U.S. from slavery-present, what was the predicament for blacks in the 20th cent.?

Back 1

Origins of racism
- belief that racial groups are biological --> in biological difference --> segregated into different communities
- provides a source of labor low-wage or dirty jobs
- divides oppressed people so that they cannot raise up against the dominant class
- use the minorities as a scapegoat

- history of development: plantation labor (blacks adjusted well, most profitable)
- emancipation of blacks (they were emancipated but worked in the same conditions)
- disenfranchisement (manipulated in voting for ruling group, Jim Crow split poor whites from blacks)

- wealthy dominating class legitimizes their oppression of the lower class

Front 2

Question 2:
What are the diff. levels of racism, what are the characteristics of each level, how are they interrelated , how do they constitute a broader part of society in which racism prevails, define/discuss levels with examples.

Back 2

Racism occurs at three distinct,
but interrelated levels
1. Structural level (systemic racism):
Class-based exploitation and oppression of subordinate races
and ethnic groups (wages, income, wealth, power, etc.)

2. Institutional level (institutional racism):
Racial / ethnic oppression through the major social, economic,
and political institutions of society (education, employment,
health care, housing, etc.)

Some Consequences of Structural
and Institutional Racism
Wage differentials of 30 to 40 percent
Unemployment rate that is double the
white unemployment rate
Poverty rate that is triple the white
poverty rate (32% vs. 10%)
Discrimination in housing, education,
health care, etc.

3. Interpersonal level (individual racism):
Racial / ethnic oppression in interpersonal relations at the
individual level (racist behavior, racist language, hate crimes,
etc.)

Front 3

Question 3: how do class and race interact to produce racism and racial oppression? how is this related to exploitation of labor? who benefits/loses from racism (with reference to readings).

Back 3

The dominant class uses racism to legitimize the oppression and low social class of minorities.

Who benefits from racism:
Capitalists, landowners, slave-owners, and other dominant
classes throughout history and across the world.

Who loses:
All workers (regardless of their race and ethnicity), peasants,
the poor, and all other exploited and oppressed people around
the world.

Front 4

Question 4: what's the relationship between gender and class in society? how do they interact to produce patriarchy and women's oppression? how is the oppression of women related to the exploitation of labor? who benefits and loses from this process?

Back 4

- The History of Patriarchy
in the Modern World:
§ Women’s labor in agriculture, mines, mills, and factories
under emerging capitalism
§ Subordination of women in the domestic sphere for
reproductive and socializing (family) functions
§ Exploitation of low-wage female labor under advanced
capitalism (service industry)
§ Super-exploitation of women workers in third world
export processing zones (sweatshops)
§ Male domination and violence against women (rape,
abuse, sexual harassment)

- Who benefits from the exploitation of women's labor:
Capitalists, landowners, slave-owners, and other
dominant classes throughout history and across the
world (regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender).

- Who loses as a result of the exploitation of women's labor:
All workers, peasants, the poor, and all other exploited
and oppressed people throughout history and across
the world (regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender).

- Sexism under capitalism serves
the following major functions:
Super-exploitation of a segment of the
working class as a source of cheap labor for
the capitalists

- Sexism is rooted in the exploitation
and/or oppression of women by the
dominant exploiting classes (slaveowners,
landlords, and capitalists) of
the dominant gender (men) for
purposes of profit.

Front 5

Question 9: what is globalization? how is globalization connected to social, economic and political processes? what are the forces of globalization and what are the outcomes of this process? discuss the impact of globalization on working people, including the U.S.

Back 5

- Globalization is the most advanced and
fastest growing stage of worldwide economic
expansion, nurtured by transnational
capital in the late 20th and early 21st
century.

Globalization, much as during earlier stages of
worldwide economic expansion, is driven by:
the logic of profit
for the private accumulation of capital
through the use of low-wage labor abroad.

- How globalization is linked to the economic process:
- export of capital by transnational
corporations
- control of labor, resources, and
markets
- profit-making on a global scale
- accumulation of capital in private hands globally
- increasing income and wealth inequality
- worldwide between labor and capital
- domination of the global economy by transnational capital for greater profits

How it's linked to the social process:
- transformation of peripheral societies to market oriented
ones integrated into the global economy
- restructuring of the international division of labor
through transfer of manufacturing to low-wage
third world countries
- women workers constituting bulk of low-wage
labor in third world export processing zones, and
increasingly elsewhere in the periphery
- global domination of transnational capital
over wage-labor in all aspects of social life
- conflict in the social and economic spheres
lead to political conflict between labor and
capital on a world scale

Political/military process:
- transnational corporate
control and influence over national states has led to
the erosion of democratic governance
- support of right-wing authoritarian regimes in the
periphery has led to bureaucratic corruption and
violation of human rights
- the leading state of the global economy (currently the
USA) now dominates the “new world order” and
dictates its terms over all other states as a political/military
superpower
- this has led to rivalry and political-diplomatic crises
between the major powers that may lead to political
instability and world war as has occurred in the past
- the leading state of the global economy (currently the
USA) now dominates the “new world order” and
dictates its terms over all other states as a politicalmilitary
superpower
- this has led to rivalry and political-diplomatic crises
between the major powers that may lead to political
instability and world war as has occurred in the past

Impact of Globalization
on Labor
In the Third World
- source of cheap labor for the transnationals (workers
earn as little as $3 a day in Mexico, the Philippines, and
other third world countries)
- high rates of exploitation of labor and immense profits
for the transnationals
- sweatshop conditions in the global garment and
electronics industries with long hours of work
- poor working conditions, high accident rates
and health hazards by exposure to toxic
chemicals
- marginalization of labor through mass
migration to urban areas, leading to
widespread unemployment and poverty
- anti-union, anti-democratic laws and human
rights abuses by repressive states that are
subservient to the neoliberal imperial state

Impact of Globalization on Labor
- in the Advanced Capitalist countries: decline in domestic industrial
production, due to transfer of
manufacturing to third world
countries
immense dislocations in the
national economies of advanced
capitalist states
the massive expansion of capital
worldwid ehas resulted in hundreds
of plant closings
- higher unemployment and under-employment,
and shift in jobs to the low-wage service sector
decline in union membership, due to loss of
unionized jobs
decline in wages of millions of workers and a
drop in income and living standards
- further polarization in income and wealth between
labor and capital, has led to class inequalities

Front 6

Question 11: discuss the nature and dynamics of social movements. how do social movements emerge? what factors go into the formation of social movements? what factors are involved in determined the success of social movements? explain.

Back 6

What's necessary to for social movements to emerge
1. Social structural conditions must lead to certain stresses and strains between classes or other groups in a society.

2. Objective economic, political, or social deprivation, resulting from the structural conditions, must occur.

3. These objective deprivations must lead to conscious feelings of deprivation, which will crystallize into an ideology.

4. This ideology must lead to the organization and mobilization of the discontented group.

5. The structural conditions must also include weakened social control by the ruling class.

6. Given these five conditions, many kinds of precipitating events will lead to a protest movement.

Material conditions necessary for the emergence of social movements and social revolution in contemporary capitalist society

1. Felt oppression:
The oppression of the working class and the other non-privileged classes is increasingly felt to be unnecessary and intolerable (as the technological and social possibilities of living differently become more apparent).
2. Decline of the ruling class’s ideological hegemony:
3. The failure of non-revolutionary solutions to a social crisis
4. Decline of the ruling class’s ability to solve a social crisis and counter the growth of revolutionary movements
5. Efficient organization and adoption of scientific strategy and theory by revolutionary movements

Front 7

Question 5: explain the various feminist theories that deal with the oppression of women in contemporary capitalist society as discussed by Elaine Enarson. what are the implications of each position regarding women's position in society?

Back 7

Liberal Feminism: want to even the playing field for men and women. In favor of affirmative action. Look to the government and legal system for social change. Emphasizes common experiences amongst women. Many of their key reforms only benefit a small group of women.

Radical Feminism: argue that discrimination of women is rooted in patriarchy. Try to compete with men. Need to end male domination. Advocate moving away from male-dominated institutions and working amongst women. Seek times in history when female traits were celebrated more than male's.

Marxist feminism: believe that oppression of women is rooted in social class inequality. Women have economic dependence upon men. Women's household labor is exploited. Men and women need to work together to replace capitalism with a more just system.

Socialist Feminism: need to analyze capitalism and patriarchy in order to overcome the subordination of women. Assesses women's womens work, especially their role as housewives. Strive to combine Marxist and Radical Feminism