Lecture 15-17 M2 Flashcards
What has research on Western societies found for social mobility? (4)
- children gain/lose success because of family background
- most vertical mobility is between occupations that are very similar
- downward mobility is less common but still widespread
- level of social mobility is low compared to ideal
What is the key to upward mobility?
Education
How do we know education is the key to upward mobility?
- Many jobs require high school completion at minimum
- more jobs require higher education
Compared to Canadians with less education, what do University Graduates have?
- hold a higher proportion of upper white collar jobs
- less likely to be unemployed
- less likely to remain unemployed if lose job
- more likely to earn higher salaries
Why are lower socioeconomic people under represented in university?
- income is a barrier
- parental education is a strong influence
- government policies on funding higher education
What would be a structural functional approach to stratification by class?
- social inequality is an important role in society
- example is David-Moore hypothesis
What is the David-Moore hypothesis?
- because stratification is in every society, it is a necessary part of society
- unequal distribution of resources has beneficial consequences
- jobs vary by importance to society and are rewarded based on that
- people are motivated by the rewards
What are critiques of the David-Moore hypothesis?
-are the huge inequalities found really necessary?
Assumes:
-society is a meritocracy
-there is extensive social mobility
What is the social conflict approach to stratification by class?
- stratification benefits some people at the expense of others
- example is Marx view of capitalism
- class based society in which minority exploits majority
Who introduced the term gender to sociology?
Ann Oakley in 1970s highlighted difference between sex and gender
What does gender refer to?
Nonbiological, culturally and socially produced distinctions between men and women
What does the study of gender draw attention to?
-socially constructed differences between men and women
What are the three types of gender social construction?
- Gender socialization
- Gender roles
- Gender stereotypes
What is gender socialization?
Socialization that contains messages about what it is to be a man and women in society
What are gender roles?
- expected attitudes, behaviours and activities for men and women
- learned through socialization
Are people’s interactions with babies structured based on their gender?
Yes, they are structured by social constructions of masculinity and femininity
How do family members perpetuate gender
- see children in gender related ways
- encourage gender appropriate behaviour
When does gender role socialization begin?
At birth
What children’s thing have been studied that perpetuate gender
Literature and toys
Why have literature and toys been studied extensively for children
- valuable insights into the process of socialization and inequality
- messages about what is attainable or out of reach for girls and boys
What is the strategic illustration used for studying gender in toys and what did it tell us
Girls played with barbies and mrs potato head and we’re given career sheets. With the girls that played with Barbie dolls they said they could do less
What is the dominant stereotype that fairy tales have
“some day my prince will come” and Cinderella complex
What is the Cinderella complex and what is it’s unintended consequence
- that the women will marry a man and live happily ever after
- leads girls to devalue the pursuit of educational and other social opportunities
What is a gender stereotype
Oversimplified ideas about the attitudes, behaviours and aspirations of men and women
What beliefs do gender stereotypes perpetuate
- men and women are inherently different
- tasks to which either gender is naturally suited
- traditional views and gender roles
What is the example of brilliance=male
- stereotypes that suggest we should associate brilliance with men
- looked at kids aged 5,6,7 and read a book
What does brilliance=male conclude
- socialization of gender starts early
- has an effect on children’s interest
- possibly narrows the careers girls consider
What is the bread winner ideology
- a belief in a division of paid work for men and household responsibilities for women
- separate spheres public and private
What did researchers see in adult tv?
- men still outnumber women
- over representation of women in professional careers
What does labour market segmentation describe
The unequal distribution of women and men in the occupational structure
How does inequality work in the labour force?
Persistent differences in pay, conditions of work and types of work
What does the labour market segmentation identify for labor markets
It identifies two labor markets that exist in industrial societies
What are the two labour markets
Primary labor market
Secondary labor market
What is the primary labor market
- work in large corporations, unionized industries and government agencies
- workers get relatively high wages, good job security, good promotion possibilities and private pensions
What is the secondary labour market
- forms of employment that are unstable, job security and wages are low, few opportunities for promotion, working conditions are consistently poor, no private pensions and many jobs are part time
- waitressing, sales work, cleaning, child care and many other service jobs
Which labour market are women’s employment opportunities concentrated in?
Secondary labour market
What is the pink-collar ghetto?
- pink collar, jobs are women’s work
- ghetto, job mobility between the second and primary labour market is restricted (segregated)
Which gender is more likely to work part-time?
Women, mainly involuntarily
When women are seen in the primary labour market, what occupations are most concentrated in?
- Occupations that fit with gender stereotypes of women as caring, nurturing beings
- teaching, nursing and social work
- less prestige than occupations dominated by men
What is happening for cross-over
Trends have shown more cross-over between typical male and female occupations
What is interesting to see with the trends of cross-over for pay equity?
As more women move into ‘mens jobs’ the pay goes down and the exact opposite is seen for men moving into ‘women’s jobs’
Which gender is showing more cross-over?
Women are moving more into male dominated fields than men into women
What percentage is considered female/male dominated in University degrees?
When 60% or more were that gender in the job
What percentage is gender neutral?
Less than 60% of degrees were occupied by women or men
Historically, did we have a gender wage gap?
- large gender wage gap
- even for women and men in same jobs
Now, do we have a gender wage gap?
-attitudes towards women working for pay have become more egalitarian but we still have a gap
How did historical patterns of the gender wage gap reflect breadwinner ideology?
The man was earning money for the entire family, women were just earning money for incidentals
What are the three ways the gender wage gap is studied?
- compare annual earnings for gender, including full and part time
- compare annual earnings of full time workers
- compare hourly wages of full-time working women to full-time working men
What do the different methods of studying gender wage gap still see?
- still is gender wage gap
- some methods are more pronounced than others
What does the wage gap vary systemically by?
- marital status, single never married women
- education, University educated women
- age, younger women
What are the four hypotheses that explain the gender wage gap?
- women are over-represented in occupations at the lower end of the pay scale
- women place a greater value on the non-pecuniary aspects of a job
- gender stereotypes in many workplace organization tend to place higher value on mens patterns of employment
- women’s greater family responsibilities lead them to opt for jobs that offer them a better work life balance
What is hypothesis one, and what does the data show?
- women are over-represented in occupations at the lower end of pay scale
- half of the wage gap was explained by this
- changes in career choice was one of the main factors for reduction in the gender wage gap in the 1980s
