Class 4_ Inequalities of Class, Gender, and Ethnicity.pptx

Inequalities of Class, Gender, and Ethnicity CLASS  Class Usually used to describe level of economic wealth – Although sometimes it is cultural (high class / low class) 2 ways of describing class: 1) Durkheimian – Different levels of wealth along...

Inequalities of Class, Gender, and Ethnicity CLASS  Class Usually used to describe level of economic wealth – Although sometimes it is cultural (high class / low class) 2 ways of describing class: 1) Durkheimian – Different levels of wealth along a continuum – Inequalities were natural 2) Marxian – Two distinct categories – Class is ones relationship to the “means of production” – Inequalities were based on exploitation and subjugation Proletariat (workers) Bourgeoisie (owners) Economic/Class Inequality Exists between, within countries, and across countries ACROSS COUNTRIES: World Income Distribution  World Wealth Distribution (World Economic Forum, 2017) 42 richest people in the world own half the wealth in the world (Oxfam, 2018) 8 men own more than the poorest half of the worlds population (Oxfam 2018) 82% of new wealth in 2017 went to richest 1%. Enough to end extreme poverty seven times over (Oxfam, 2018) Income Share of richest 10%: https://wid.world/world/#sptinc_p90p100_z/US;FR;DE;CN;ZA;GB;WO/l ast/eu/k/p/yearly/s/false/24.339999999999996/80/curve/false/countr y  Comparative Economic Inequality Between Societies Wealth: – USA: Wealthiest 20% own 85% of the wealth – 2016 – World: Wealthiest 10% own 85% of the wealth - 2016  Inequality WITHIN Societies Gini Coefficient: ranked 0-1; 0 = perfect equality; 1 = perfect inequality Trade-off between inequality and national income? No. Lux is very equal; Mex is not; OECD countries (wealthiest) are more equal than the poorest  Income and Wealth Inequality in Canada Canada: top 20% earn 43% of income Bottom 20% earn 5.2% In the last 30 years, the income share of the wealthiest 1% increased by 75% The share of the poorest 20% fell by 20% WEALTH: top 20% hold 69% of net US Study on Wealth: Intergenerational Income Elasticity (The correlation between parents and children's’ income) Increases with inequality  continuum In many ways class, gender, and race all represent arbitrary categorizations along a continuum. E.g: marks are arbitrary categorizations: F=50 and below; D=50-60; C=60-70; B=70-80; A=80- 90; A+ = 90-100 F= below 60; D=60-70; C=70-80; B=80-90; A=90-100 Or why not have B=76.35768 – 82.777777? These are socially constructed categories Take first example. What if your mark is 79? Are you in the same grade class as someone with 80%; 71% So are classes, races, ethnicities, even genders  Race / Ethnicity Race: based on physical difference Ethnicity: Based on cultural identity Both are socially constructed categories arbitrarily dividing humans along a continuum  Race Remember our example of grades: 79%=B; 80%=A; 71%=B; race is like that  Some say races: All derived from Negroid (‘black’); Caucasoid (‘white’); Mongoloid (‘yellow’) BUT: The Human Genome Project has shown only 15% of genetic variation to occur between ‘races’ (85% within ‘races’) i.e. “There could be more genetic difference between two randomly selected Cambodians than between a Cambodian and Norwegian” (p. 59). But, belief = sociological significance Race Continuum Ethnicity Ethnic Inequality US Ethnicity & Inequality Toronto  Racism / Ethnocentrism Racism: the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination Ethnic discrimination: discriminating due to ethnicity Ethnocentrism: making value judgments about another culture from perspectives of one's own cultural system Dichotomous Sex Categories Dichotomous Male Female  Continuous Male Female  Sex a cultural categorization of diverse human physiology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUDKEI4 QKI Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling has proposed that we replace our two-sex system with a five-sex system: 1. Males 2. Females, 3. Herms ("true" hermaphrodites) 4. Merms (male "pseudohermaphrodites") 5. Ferms (female "pseudohermaphrodites")  Gender Gender: A set of shared cultural understandings of how men, women, girls, and boys should look and act. Gender roles: The patterns of behaviour that a society expects of males and females and that all members of society learn, to a greater or lesser extent, as part of the socialization process. Gender socialization: The process by which people learn their culturally prescribed gender roles  Gender Biological Determinists Structural Functionalists Gender roles are natural and related to physical differences Men are naturally more aggressive, violent, and physically suited to physical tasks – being the provider. Women, since they give birth, are more nurturing – the caregiver.  But … Women and Violence: Women commit the majority of child homicides in the U.S. Women commit the majority of physical child abuse in the U.S. Women commit about 25% of the child sexual abuse in the U.S. Women are primarily responsible for infanticide. In Canada 7% of women have been abused by former partners; Men: 6% Aileen Wuorno s  Gender Inequality Gender Income Gap – difference between male and female full-time earnings: – Expressed as a percentage of male earnings Canada: 21% (33rd in the world) USA: 23% World: 15.6% Africa: 23.2% Asia: 21.2% Oceana: 13% Mexico: 15.5% Europe: 14.5%  You Throw Like a Girl A culture of gender discrimination? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X jJQBjWYDTs  Ethnocentrism and Gender https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DY BD3SM https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DXYJ5S3