Week 7 - Class and Inequality

Week 7 - Class and Inequality

• Jack's study examines how class and cultural capital influence student engagement at an elite university.
• Interviews with 89 undergraduates revealed variations in how students from different class backgrounds interact with authority figures.
• Class differences weren't solely determined by family background.
• Three groups were analyzed: middle class, privileged poor, and doubly disadvantaged.
• Middle-class students are generally comfortable interacting with authority figures.
• Privileged poor students, despite economic disadvantage, often have pre-college exposure to elite norms, fostering similar confidence in their interactions with authority figures.
• Doubly disadvantaged students often lack confidence and experience resistance when interacting with authority figures due to unfamiliarity with elite educational norms.
• Economic capital affects access to quality pre-college education, impacting academic success at university.
• Cultural capital is present in privileged poor students from elite schools, while doubly disadvantaged students lack this.
• Established social networks (social capital) are more common in elite and higher-income students.
• Elite universities often prioritize independence and proactive engagement, potentially disadvantaging unfamiliar working-class students.
• The "hidden curriculum" creates a cultural mismatch for students unfamiliar with these practices.
• This alienation reinforces inequality by limiting access to resources and opportunities impacting academic experiences and long-term outcomes.
• Institutional expectations, such as mandatory office hours, may disproportionately affect students lacking familiarity with these norms.

Global and Local Inequality

• Global Disparities: Inequality between countries often stems from colonial legacies.
• Internal Disparities: Inequalities within individual countries, impacting access to resources, opportunities, and social mobility.
• Inequalities extend beyond income and wealth, incorporating education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social status.
• "Geographic imaginary": stereotypes and perceptions about regions or groups, influencing views about places and people.
• Systemic issues in capitalism and colonialism contribute to economic inequality.
• Capitalism drives inequality by accumulating wealth for those already having capital, often at the expense of workers.
• Colonial history creates global economic disparities favoring former colonizers.

Intersectionality

• Definition: A framework to analyze how social categories (e.g., race, class, gender) interact and shape individual experiences.
• Application: Understanding how multiple forms of oppression and privilege intertwine to impact individuals' lives.

Week 8 - Gender and Sexuality

• Martin's article critiques scientific descriptions of reproductive biology, highlighting how gender stereotypes shape the portrayal of biological processes.
• Scientific language often reflects societal gender stereotypes, portraying the egg as passive and the sperm as active.
• Martin suggests a shift towards more neutral language in scientific descriptions.
• Wekker examines cultural and social constructions of identity, sexuality, and gender in Suriname through the mati community.
• Western notions of fixed sexual identities are challenged, presenting alternative frameworks of sexuality as fluid and multiplicitous.
• Mati relationships often encompass same-sex and both-sex interactions, challenging Western models of fixed sexual identities.

Week 9 - Ethnicity and Race (Part 1)

• Dennison's study examines the Osage Nation's citizenship reform affecting their sovereignty in a settler-colonial context.
• U.S. policies historically used bodily identification (blood quantum) to control and limit Indigenous identity and territorial claims.
• U.S. recognition policies often impose identity markers as criteria for Indigenous citizenship.
• The Osage Nation's reform process illustrates conflicts between traditional cultural practices and modern political realities.
• Cultural practices, like language, ceremonies, and traditions, are integral to Indigenous identity and sovereignty.
• Tying sovereignty to fixed cultural markers may limit adaptation to societal changes.

Week 10 - Ethnicity and Race (Part 2)

• Rocha and Yeoh's study examines Eurasian identity in Singapore, analyzing how hierarchies of race, class, and phenotype shape belonging and identity.
• Singapore's CMIO framework (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Other) simplifies racial categorization, often marginalizing mixed-race communities.
• Eurasian experiences exhibit historical internal divisions and ongoing class and racial inequalities.
• Racialized hierarchies influence self-perception and recognition of mixed-race identities.
• Garth's study of Cuba examines persistent racial logics despite claims of a post-racial society.
• "Nivel de cultura" (level of culture) serves as a racialized class marker, associating lighter skin with higher social status.
• Despite claims of racial equality, anti-Blackness and biases persist.

Week 11 - Ethnicity and Race (Part 3)

• Racism impacts access to power, resources, and opportunities.
• Racism operates on interpersonal and structural levels.
• Colorblindness aims to resolve racism by ignoring racial distinctions.
• Structural Racism: Inequality embedded in institutions and norms.

Week 12 - Environment

• Chao's study examines oil palm plantations in West Papua, analyzing cultural and ecological consequences for the Marind people.
• Marind culture views the forest as a network of interconnected beings (multispecies cosmology).
• Oil palm, as a monoculture, disrupts traditional Marind relationships with the forest and its inhabitants.
• Capitalism's focus on resources and profit contrasts with the value of reciprocity in Marind culture.
• Mehta's study, examining crab collecting in the Sundarbans, reveals accusations of greed against collectors reflecting the broader political economy and environmental policies.
• Mehta's study highlights how environmental issues often reflect deeper economic and political hierarchies.

General

• Scapegoating environmental problems onto vulnerable communities.
• Environmental injustice impacting marginalized communities.