Bachelor 2020/2021

Social Structure and Social Stratification

Type: Compulsory course (Sociology and Social Informatics)

Area of studies: Sociology

Delivered by: Department of Sociology

Where: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

When: 2 year, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Daniil A. Alexandrov, Alla Loseva, Natalya V. Pecherskaya, Larisa Leonidovna Shpakovskaya

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Contact hours: 32

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 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 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
• 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 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

Course Contents

• Social Stratification Analysis
  Seminars 1-2. Class and Status Analysis. Erik Olin Wright on class analysis. Relational and gradational approaches to class. Max Weber on class, status, and party.
• Categories of Social Structure
  Lecture 1. Categories of Social Structure Studies. Privileges Inequality. Sameness and equality. Stratification. Structure. Typification and categories. Social cognitive science. Age. Gender. Race. Socio-economic groups. Estate, caste, class as generic categories. Institutes and norms. Inequality, discrimination and privileges. Asymmetry of perception of inequality and privileges. White privilege. Male privilege. Residential privilege. Gender inequality in historical perspective. Liberation of women and everyday gender inequality. The pressure on boys. Seminar 3-5. Boundaries between Social Strata. Neo-Weberian analysis of class and status. Status order and class schema, their applicability to the Russian case. Signals and cues for social perception. Boundary policing. Language markers of class. Middle class and opportunity hoarding.
• Operationalizing Inequality
  Seminars 6-7. Within-Country Inequality. Measures of economic inequality. Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient. Cumulative advantages of upper classes. Wealth concentration, financialization, “the 1%”. How wealth becomes power. Elites in Russia and abroad.
• Faces and Effects of Inequality
  Lecture 2. Poverty Poverty. Defining poverty. The poor as a category and a group. Extreme forms of poverty and destitution. Poverty traps. Social capital as a poverty trap. Seminars 8-10. Poverty. Lower middle class and downward mobility. Precarious jobs and unemployment. Poverty traps in time and space. The effects of poverty. Urban poverty experiences in the US, Europe and Russia. Spatial inequality in Russia. Lecture 3. Inequality and Health Inequality and health. Health, development and happiness curves depending on income. Status and health. Effects of poverty. Loads, cognitive load. Long-term effects of poverty. Poverty and children development. Lecture 4. Racial Disparity Racial and socio-economic inequality in relation to each other and in dynamics. Changes in American ghetto. Wealth and its effects: wealth vs. income in explaining racial disparity. Seminars 11-12. Universal Basic Income. Debates on the UBI introduction. How UBI changes the balance of power.

Assessment Elements

• In-class participation
• Practical task
• Essay

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  Grading: 10 points: 60% seminar activity; pass on 5 practical tasks; avg. grade for 2 essays >=8 ; 9 points: 60% seminar activity; pass on 4 practical tasks; avg. grade for 2 essays >=8; 8 points: 60% seminar activity; pass on 4 practical tasks; avg. grade for 2 essays >=6; 7 points: 25% seminar activity; pass on 4 practical tasks; avg. grade for 2 essays >=6; 6 points: 25% seminar activity; pass on 3 practical tasks; avg. grade for 2 essays >=6; 5 points: 25% seminar activity; pass on 3 practical tasks; 4 points: 25% seminar activity; pass on 2 practical tasks; 0-3 points: <25% seminar activity.

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