Social Structure and Social Stratification

2023/2024

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

4

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент социологии

Статус:

Курс обязательный

Когда читается:

2-й курс, 4 модуль

Преподаватель

Мацкевич Мария Георгиевна

Course Syllabus

Abstract

That people have unequal sets of choices available to them is probably the key message of social science. We welcome you to the course where you will learn how social inequality is structured, reproduced and experienced. A complex of social institutions that generate the inequalities in valued goods, including but not limited to income, wealth and power, is what we call a stratification system. During the course, you will become equipped with analytical and methodological tools to study stratification. In the first weeks, you will learn the concepts and categories that guide our perception of inequality. Then we will discuss how the inequality can be measured empirically. Afterwards, you will study the mechanisms behind stratification systems, and their different aspects. The final weeks of the course are devoted to the theories putting together the previously studied concepts, measures, and mechanisms.

Learning Objectives

• Сhoose appropriate theoretical concepts to describe real-world manifestations of social inequality
• Select optimal indicators to study inequality
• Produce coherent explanations of the mechanisms behind stratification systems
• Use theoretical models to interpret the results of empirical research

Expected Learning Outcomes

• be able to apply theoretical concepts to the analysis of the real-life manifestations of social inequality, to suggest mechanisms of mitigating the effects of social inequality through analyzing social processes on multiple levels
• be able to identify the scientific essence of problems in one’s professional area, to choose appropriate theoretical concepts to describe real-world manifestations of social inequality and stratification, to produce coherent explanations of the mechanisms behind stratification systems, to use theoretical models to interpret the results of empirical research
• be able to select optimal indicators to study inequality, to identify social and cognitive mechanisms that bias one’s perception of social structure, to develop conceptual models of social and individual processes that reproduce social structure, to operationalize the concepts and categories of social structure using appropriate indices
• be able to support theoretical arguments with empirical data, to elaborate collectively on the mechanisms of social stratification, to critically evaluate empirical data to argue on the matters of social stratification

Course Contents

• Categories of Social Structure
• Operationalizing Inequality
• Faces and Effects of Inequality
• Social Stratification Analysis

Assessment Elements

• Particpation in class
• Home assignment
• Quiz
• Written exam

Interim Assessment

• 2023/2024 4th module
  0.15 * Home assignment + 0.15 * Particpation in class + 0.3 * Quiz + 0.4 * Written exam

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Levine, R., Acker, J., Baca-Zinn, M., Collins, P. H., Cox, O., Davis, K., … Wright, E. O. (2006). Social Class and Stratification : Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates (Vol. 2nd ed). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=634844
• Tilly, C. (1998). Durable Inequality. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=6819

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Bottero, W. (2005). Stratification : Social Division and Inequality. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=116686
• Romero, M., & Margolis, E. (2005). The Blackwell Companion to Social Inequalities. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=147324