Social Inequalities: Ethnicity, Gender and Age - JSM047

• Title: Social Inequalities: Ethnicity, Gender and Age
• Czech title: Sociální nerovnosti: etnicita, gender a stáří
• Guaranteed by: Department of Sociology (23-KS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2022
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 8
• Examination process: summer s.:combined
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 15 / 15 (12)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students

Annotation

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (06.02.2023)

This course focuses on the critical discussion of various approaches to analysing social inequalities and key concepts addressed in the research on social stratification. It specifically examines ethnicity, gender and age as significant bases of social inequality in contemporary societies. The course explores processes and mechanisms that cause unequal distribution of valued resources and opportunities and examines the means through which inequality develops and is legitimized. The course focuses on the intersectional analysis of (mainly but not only) categories of gender, ethnicity, and age to explore how structural inequality continues to organize human life.

Aim of the course

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (25.01.2022)

By the end of the course students will be able to:1) define and compare different sociological perspectives and theories of social inequality 2) apply theoretical knowledge to understand different dimensions of social inequality 3) critically analyse the various manifestations of social inequality 

Course completion requirements

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (13.02.2024)

organization of the course 2024: please see Moodle which will be the primary platform for the course materials: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=9112#section-0

General course policies

-       The course has an onsite format.

 -       All information regarding the course, as well as reading materials, are available in Moodle. All assignments will be submitted via Moodle: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=9112

-        Please inform me as soon as possible in case you have any difficulties regarding the content of the course or participating in seminars. I understand that emergencies or unexpected circumstances may happen. If some of these occur or you face any other difficulties regarding the course, let me know as soon as possible. If I’m not informed, I cannot look for possible solutions. 

 -       All assignment deadlines are firm (unless consulted in advance with the course supervisor). If your paper does not meet the minimum standard expected for academic writing, you may be asked for a revision. In that case, the paper’s final grade will be automatically lowered by 30%.

 -       All students are responsible for following the principles of academic integrity. Any form of plagiarism is unacceptable. Please, follow the rules outlined in the student handbook How to avoid plagiarism (https://karolinum.cz/data/book/24023/9788024648163%20Foltynek%20-%20How%20to%20avoid%20plagiarism.pdf)

-      AI tools may be used exclusively for information gathering, and students must always critically evaluate information gathered by AI. Written assignments must reflect student's own thoughts and independent work.

 

Assessment methods:

1)    Active participation in the seminars: max 10 points (1 point per class attendance)

All of our class meetings are organized around group discussions. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the compulsory literature. The success of our course largely depends upon our collective engagement with the readings. Participation in seminars is mandatory. Two absences are tolerated. For more absences, please get in touch with the seminar leader. Students can obtain 1 point per class  participation (max 10 points in weeks 29.2.-16.5.)

 

2)    2 short mid-term papers: 40 points (20 points per paper)

At the end of the lesson (14.3., 4.4., 2.5.), students will be provided with a question that will focus on a discussion of the compulsory reading and topic for the particular session (the question will be available in Moodle afterwards for students who will not be able to participate during the lecture).  The student will write a short paper (400-550 words) reflecting on the assigned question.  The deadline for the submission is one week after the question assignment. Three questions will be assigned during the semester. Each student has to submit two papers (i.e. they can decide not to reflect on one of the questions based on their preferences). The paper should primarily focus on compulsory reading (and students are not required to do additional literature reviews for the short papers).  

  

3)     Final written exam test- based on lectures and compulsory literature: 50 points 

The final exam has two parts. 

1) for the first part of the exam, students prepare in advance at home a short reflection on the selected course mateirial, lecture or class discussion. In a short text (350-450 words), students will reflect on the question: How that particular material (e.g. a specific reading), class discussion, or theory/concept discussed during the lecture have changed how you think about social inequality? The hard copy of the reflection will be submitted at the time of the final text (the paper can be written by hand or printed): 15 points

2) The second part of the test will include open-ended questions based on lectures and compulsory literature: 35 points

-       Students must score at least 40% on the test (20 points), otherwise they have to repeat the test (regardless of the point they obtained during the rest of the assignments) 

To pass the final exam, all assignments have to be submitted and accepted.

Grading System 

91 - 100 points: A

81 -  90 points: B

71 - 80 points: C

61 - 70 points: D

51 - 60 points: E

less than 51 points: F

 

Literature

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (25.01.2022)

Compulsory:

Bottero, Wendy. 2004. Stratification: Social division and inequality. London: Routledge.

Grusky, David. 2018 Inequality in the 21st century: A Reader. London: Routledge.

Lareau, Annette. 2002. "Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families." American Sociological Review 67 (5): 747-776.

Savage, M. 2021. The Return of Inequality. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

 

Elected:

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984 Distinction. A social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Calasanti, Toni M. & Kathleen F. Slevin. eds. 2016. Age Matters. Realigning Feminist Thinking. New York: Routledge.

Cann, Paul & Malcolm Dean eds. 2009. Unequal ageing: The untold story of exclusion in old age. Bristol: Policy Press.

Collins, Patricia Hill & Sirma Bilge. 2016. Intersectionality. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Lorber, Judith. 1995. Paradoxes of Gender. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Ryle, Robin. 2015. Questioning Gender. A Sociological Exploration. London: SAGE.

Teaching methods

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (25.01.2022)

lecture, seminar discussion

Requirements to the exam

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (25.01.2022)

Students will be evaluated based on their participation in discussion section, writing assignments and presentation. The final test will cover topic adressed during seminar discussions and compulsory study materials. 

Syllabus

Last update: PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (08.03.2023)

1. Course introduction. Defining inequality. Changing approaches to the study of inequality 

2. "Human nature" and the imaginary of social inequalities

3. Is social stratification functional?

4. How to address inequalities? Between redistribution and recognition claims.

5. The end of the „grand“ narratives of class? The role of class in a globalizing world

6. Social class, symbolic boudaries and the concept of identity

7. Gendered and power relationships.     

8. Parenting styles. How is inequality (re)produced in the families?  

9. Social inequalities across the life course – cumulative disadvantage and life-course perspectives   

10. Family structure and the reproduction of inequalities

11. Spatial dimensions of inequality 

12. Axes of inequalities: care