Guiding questions Flashcards
What is inequality, and how do sociologists explain it?
distinguishing social, economic and political factors
between families: race and class
within families: gender
What is “gender” and how is gender difference maintained?
social construct of one’s sex
maintained by socialization – at a very young age
reinforced by laws, political representation, and gender wage gap
“doing” gender – how we perform and interact (ex. housework)
What is the relationship between gender and household labor?
Second shift – unpaid labor that is performed at home, typically by women
What’s missing from a time- and action-focused perspective on household labor?
Cognitive labor – anticipate, identify, decide, monitor
How have Americans’ ideals and intensions vis-a-vis gender, work, and caregiving change in recent decades?
young adults are more interested in egalitarianism
women are more self-reliant
men are neotraditional – put their career first
What are the key obstacles to acting on those changing ideals re: gender, work, and caregiving
discrimination: occupational segregation, gender wage gap, and motherhood penalty/fatherhood premium
o.s: men’s jobs get paid more, male and female dominated fields
g.w gap: narrow but substantial, different wages, occupational segregation and discrimination affect this
motherhood penalty: mothers are earning less than non-mothers, reduced cultural capital, less effort, discrimination
fatherhood premium: fathers earn more than comparable non-fathers
What are race and ethnicity?
Race: visual characteristics, phenotypes
social boundaries – formed by internal and external processes
ethnicity: based on cultural identification
based on language, religion, and traditions, etc.
What are the key trends/characteristics that differentiate Black, Latino, and Asian families, and how do sociologists explain these?
sociologists believe race/ethnicity is correlated with inequalities among these families
Black families: higher rates in poverty, non-marital births
lower rates in marriage –> affected by economic pressures, self-reliant women, high mortality rate for Black men
Latinos: high rates in poverty + births to unmarried women, strong emphasis on familism, different groups are more disadvantaged than others (Cubans have the highest income than any other group, esp. PR and Central Americans)
Asian families: strong emphasis on education and caring for elders, model minority group, highest income, more educated than the U.S average, lower rates of poverty and births to unmarried women
What are the sources of diversity within racial/ethnic groups, and how do sociologists explain these?
intermarriage – increasing from 3% to 17%
more common among Asians and Hispanics, not Black and white people
What unique strengths and challenge characterize immigrant families in the U.S?
strengths: immigrants are healthier than U.S born residents, youth tends to do better than native-born peers
challenges: different generations acculturate at different rates, intergenerational conflict tensions can cause frustration for their desire to fit in and ties to their origin country
What is social class, and how do sociologists measure it?
social class: group of individuals that share similar economic position
measured by income, education, wealth, and occupation
Why/how does social class shape young people’s trajectories?
describe ascribed and achieved characteristics
How have attitudes and behaviors related to teenage sex changed over time and varied across cultures?
Americans have grown acceptance towards pre-marital sex but not teen sex, encourage abstinence, report have a lack of control in early sexual encounters
Dutch parents normalize teen sex, widespread acceptance, teens feel in control of their sexual encounters, positive aspects in sex ed
How have Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex marriage changed over time?
Beginning (Pre-1880): ungodly, unnatural, focused on behaviors (scientific and religious lens)
19th century: different kind of people, medicalized as an illness, identity was externally adopted
21st century: changes in law, public opinion changed (more support)
What do we know about how parents’ gender impacts children (why is this a hard question to answer?)
families with two-parents have the best outcome for their kids (same sex or different sex)
evidence that co-lesbian mothers have the best outcome because double dose of female parenting
– downside: high rates of relationship dissolution
gay co-fathers = similar to mothering than heterosexual fathering
difficult to answer because less evidence on gay co-fathers and trans parenting and their outcome
