In this chapter on the external gender environment, Patterson explains how African-American women are not in fact victims of both their gender and their ethnicity. He argues that African-American women are definitely grouped in with gender discrimination, but not ethnicity discrimination, despite what others may believe.
Patterson starts out by telling us that these days, African-American men are at a greater risk for gender discrimination within their own ethnicity than African-American women. In fact, women of all ethnic groups experience higher levels of poverty than men. He goes on to say that there is little evidence of a “double burden” of gender and ethnic prejudice. African-American women are now making more money than they ever have, and soon will surpass African-American men in income levels. African-American women have come a long way and are now achieving a bachelor’s degree or higher in some cases. Patterson then ends his argument about inequalities in the economic world by pointing out that African-American women do indeed suffer gender biases, but it is equally suffered with Euro-American women as well.
He then goes on to discuss the life chances between men and women. He found that African-American women have a greater life expectancy than that of African-American and Euro-American men, and are fast catching up with Euro-American women. So we can see that African-American women are not at a total loss. Also Patterson discussed the suicide rate briefly. He found that African-American men are 6.2 times more likely to commit suicide than African-American women.
Patterson then goes back to the education factor. He states that in all other ethnic groups, women have been surpassing men in the number of bachelor’s degrees since the early eighties. I thought this fact was quite amazing. The fact that African-American women have come so far in this world is quite impressive, yet knowledge of this seems to be slim to none. If we were to look at the patterns in the workplace, we would learn that African-American women are sometimes at a benefit because of the fact that they are treated more as a professional simply because men do not view them as sexually attractive or as a “women” so to speak. Patterson then wraps things up by stating once again, that African-American women are not at a “double burden” for both gender and ethnic discrimination, they are simply in the same boat as any woman around the world.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Broken Bloodlines: The External Gender Environment
In this chapter on the external gender environment, Patterson explains how African-American women are not in fact victims of both their gender and their ethnicity. He argues that African-American women are definitely grouped in with gender discrimination, but not ethnicity discrimination, despite what others may believe.
Race, Class Gender as Categories
Men still think that race and gender have means of power, but when it came to women and African Americans who had more power since they were in the minority group, so to speak. I like the point made about how oppression is full of contradictions. We tell our children not continue oppression yet we put ourselves in that situation and continue to support it.
Broken Bloodlines: The External Gender Environment
In this article, Orlando Patterson spends a great deal of time examining the “burdens” and gender discrepancies in regards to Afro-American men and women, Euro-American men and women, and Latino men and women in some instances. It was once thought that Afro-American women were at a greater gender risk than the males were but this is no longer the case. Additionally, women do bear the greater burden than their male counterparts. “Afro-American women writers and leaders have claimed for some time that they share a double burden, being victims of both their gender and their ethnicity.” Following are the attempts that have been made at figuring out the factors that affect the lives of the Afro-American people.
Monday, October 26, 2009
The Problem of Power
Sorry this is late! Along with the rest of campus I have been sick for about a week and a half, while being slightly sedated by the codine cough syrup I was prescribed I wrote down both of my summaries as November instead of October. Thanks for your patience!
In the piece Markets, Marriages, and other Mates: The Problem of Power, the power struggle between husband and wife is studied. The focus is on how each marital role is valued and how the contribution of power within the relationship is based on the individuals ability to provide for the marriage financially. Historically the husband is expected to be the breadwinner of the family and the wife is expected to supply the domestic support. Both partners make investments in a marriage that are either general ( basic needs) or relationship specific (only benefit inside on the relationship).
Race, Class, Gender
First I would like to say sorry for being a little late and not being so thorough. I have the flu and have had it since Saturday so I’m not all “here.”
In this article, Collins discusses oppression and how people classify themselves and also relate themselves to other social groups. Collins also talks about how people identify with certain types of oppression and how the view other group’s oppression. I find this article very interesting and one reason is because I can identify myself with an oppressed group since I am a woman. I like the part where Collins’ states, “White feminists routinely point with confidence to their oppression as women but resist seeing how much their white skin privileges them.” I like this statement a lot because this kind of stuff happens every day.
The Problem of Power
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Marital power has a great deal with who makes more money in the relationship. I agree with some of the points that were made. The person who makes more in the relationship usually has the most power in the relationship overall. Like who decides certain decisions is usually the male because usually he makes more money.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sex and Violence
Rhode’s writing on Sex and Violence is my favorite of all the readings we’ve done this year. She offers a thorough explanation of the types of violence that occur, who the victims and perpetrators are, why it happens, theories and solutions to the problem; all done while speaking in a somewhat sarcastic, sharp manner and calling out ignorant critics, judges, and general public who refuse to admit there is a problem.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sex and Violence
This article is about sexual harassment and how it affects and is affected by men and women. Rhode talks about how the victims are generally the ones that are trying to defend themselves in court not the alleged perpetrators. She says that a lot of Americans believe that sexual harassment is over exaggerated and that it really doesn’t happen that much when it actually happens quite frequently. She said that 90% of women under 50 in the military have been sexually harassed even though they claim to have a zero tolerance policy. She also talks about how many people feel that a woman would be much better off to just not even mention the things that happen.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Second Shift
Alright, I guess I'd like to know that we were not always dealing with the most extreme cases in these readings. In Sociology of the Family there was always a discussion about the "second shift" for women, and I just feel like all we hear as young sociologists is how extreme cases work where women get the shaft and men do nothing.
Goldin, From the Valley to the Summit - for J. Barone
I think that one of the biggest reasons women and men have such hard types working in each others gender based work fields is the stereo type as Kirlin mentions above. Men need to be masculine, strong, and provide while women need to be pretty, quiet and on the sidelines this is the American trend. A more important question that we should be asking is why did this trend start? In some Native American cultures basket weaving and clothes making were considered men’s work while women’s work consisted of keeping house and by keeping house I mean building it and maintaining it. It is strange that in these two very different cultures the gender roles would also vary so much.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
"A Speed Up In The Family" by Hochschild
Hochschild paints vivid examples of gender inequality within the household in The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. Hochschild outlines inequalities between the amount of work mothers do at home compared to that of fathers, and states that with more women moving into the economy, families have been hit by a “speed up” in work and family life; the speed up being that there “is no more time in the day than there was when wives stayed home, but there is twice as much to get done” (pg 572). Women are the ones who then typically absorb and deal with this speed up by working a “second shift”, which happens when women who have a salaried job outside the home (shift one) return home only to be confronted with their second shift of work (cooking food, doing laundry, caring for children, cleaning, etc.) all within their household.
Detours on the Road to Equality: Women, Work, and Higher Education
Jerry A. Jacobs states in his article that the incline of women entering male dominated work has been slowing, and seems to have come to a halt in 1990’s. Although this is happening, women are not giving up. They are instead attending secondary higher education institutes; in addition, the author states that women may be attending these institutes at an astronomical number because of the roadblocks they are encountering when attempting to enter male dominated professions. According to the article, in 1998 56% of bachelor’s degrees that were earned were by women. It is also believed that in the near future, the ratio of college degrees earned by women to men will be 60:40. If this is the case why are women experiencing this and what may be contributing to it?
The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home
The information retrieved for this reading was done by interviewing women with different job backgrounds, from lawyers and corporate executives to day care workers and seamstresses. These women, and surprisingly their husbands both felt differently in regards to some issues. For example: how right is it for a mom with young kids to work fulltime, or how many responsibilities a husband should have at home. However, both agreed that it is hard for them to work fulltime jobs and raise their young kids.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Jobless Poverty: A new Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto- Wilson
In this article, Wilson is discussing jobless poverty and how it is effecting different racial groups. When Wilson is talking about "joblessness" he includes both official unemployment and non-labor-force participation. With these statistics he provides for us, it shows that people who live in the high neighborhood joblessness are more devastating than those of high neighborhood poverty. Wilson feels that this is because all of the problems in the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods such as crime, welfare, and low levels of social organizations. The example he presented in this article was a child who grows up in a family with a steady breadwinner and in a neighborhoods in which most adults are employed the child will tend to develop some of the disciplined habits that are reflected in the behavior of those around him. This could be true to some point, however, I do not feel that this is always the case. Some people grow up in poverty and they use this experience to guide them into becoming successful. Many times they learn from this and try to succeed.
Jobless Poverty: A New Form of Social Disclocation
In this chapter by William Julius Wilson, he introduces to us the jobless poverty of today and the jobless poverty of the last. He introduces to us statistics that back up his study. Wilson believed that inner-city joblessness is an extreme and severe problem them is sometimes over shadowed when the main point is focused on poverty and its consequences on being in poverty and or being poor. He focuses his work on the joblessness of the inner city.
The Perpetuation of the Black Underclass
The authors of this article place their main emphasis on the word “segregation.” I don’t even know where to start. The author goes on to say that residential segregation is completely and solely based off whites and I quote “it was manufactured by whites through a self-conscious actions and purposeful institutional arrangements that continue today.” I think it should say “manufactured by upper-class” instead of whites. If were a high ranking top paid doctor, I would want my house in a neighborhood with people of similar socio-economic status. What I am getting at is I believe the price of real estate can be a huge attribute to residential segregation, as well as personal prejudice whether it is coming from a white or black person. An underprivileged white or black person would have trouble moving into a neighborhood that is not within their means. I understand that the author does contend that income is not a factor for residential segregation that it still occurs among blacks and whites of all socio-economic statuses. So instead of saying residential segregation is cause because of the institution and the structure, what about bringing it down to the individuals?
The Perpetuation of the Black Underclass
When someone thinks Black underclass we all think; ghetto, drugs, welfare, etc. But we never think about how those things became associated with the blacks. The word that Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton believe is the main explanation for this is “segregation”. Massey and Denton seem to focus on the fact that the United States has moved into two societies, one being black and one being white – separate and unequal. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s blacks lived in separate neighborhood, or for that matter a separate side of town because of all the racism that was going on at that time. Once civil rights moved in, it was not supposed to be segregated any more; everyone was supposed to be set on equal term. But in today’s society we still see some of the same segregated actions; it’s just not as out in the open as it used to be 70 years ago.
American News Media and Public Misperceptions of Race and Poverty – Martin Gilens
Our opinions and behavior are a reaction to the way we view the world. Lippman believes that what we view through different forms of media leaves “pictures in our heads” that influence our actions and feelings. Many people depend on the media for information on our society and world, however he thinks that these “pictures” do not always represent absolute truth. Everyone knows that reports about the world and its relentless issues come from the mass media.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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Tillys article the roots of durable inequality starts our discussing food and poverty and the way at affected the work force in 1800’s. The people who were lower class were often well on average shorter than the wealthy did grow taller as they came into adult hood or involved with different careers. A lot of the reason for this is because of the nutrition a lot of families were growing their own food because production was exported and they could do it faster themselves. Three to ten percent of the work force did not have enough food to have enough energy and power to be able to work an entire day. Up to 20 percent of the people at this time in all areas were beggars that is an outrageous amount. With the amount of poverty at that time the people who were not beggars barley had enough to feed their family let alone help out others.
Spinning Knowlegde Into Gold
I thought it was interesting that the chapter talks about labor and capital, the two basic productive resources, and is defined culturally and are matters of perception. The Untied States thankfully now outlaws child labor so adults can no longer see children as workers. I don't agree that what labor is and who is capable of it should be a social judgement. I think there should be one definition of it that all the world has to uphold.
The chapter makes a good point when they say that knowledge, capital, and labor are the three basic factors of production. Each is essential to produce all goods and services in all societies and eras. This reminded me of a company today because every person working at the company has to take part to make the product. The five different resource distribution I found very interesting because I would have never thought of knowledge, capital, and labor being put in different distributions. I would have never thought that all the distributions could be found in history and that each would give rise to its own class structure.
Thanks to logocracy, investing in capital is not needed because people only need to possess knowledge in order to control and profit from economic enterprises and to occupy high seats of government. I think the spirits of witch doctors and the God of the Middle Ages are now ghosts and because of logocracy the ghosts haunt capitalism and socialism.
Spinning Knowledge into Gold: Knowledge as Property
Derber, Schwartz, and Magrass use their article to present knowledge and its role in obtaining, controlling, and retaining class power. Using historical examples knowledge is characterized in forms ranging from magic performed by witch doctors, blessings by clergy, and industrial knowledge retained by management. Derber and his colleagues elaborate on the importance of these knowledge holders efforts in legitimizing their status
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Roskin and Roo begin by talking about women’s progress into positions generally occupied by men. While women did make gains in these fields, this was overstated in the media. Looking back, most gains were made during the 70’s during the women’s movement. Roskin and Roo also explain that occupational segregation happens with race as well as sex. In general, the hierarchy goes like this: (1) white men, (2) white women, (3) black men, and (4) black women.
Minorities and Majorities
In “Minorities and Majorities”, author Rosabeth Knater discusses the roles of the dominant group in society and the reactions of the public to those actions. Knater begins with the argument of the single-sexed nature of the industrial supply industry and the effect that it has on arguments of inequality in the work place.
Occupational Sex Segregation: Persistence and Change
Reskin and Roos talk about how in the 1980s women started doing what was usually considered to be jobs done by men. Women had shown disproportionate gains in some predominantly male positions. But this didn’t really show the whole story. It only showed that women had gains in the jobs that the census looked at while they actually lost ground in some machine-heavy jobs. It is to be expected that the jobs that men tend to over represent the highest paying jobs in white-collar and blue-collar jobs. Women were overrepresented in jobs that are seen as jobs that are caring and administrative-support occupation. So instead of being a doctor they are more likely to be the nurse, who aren’t in charge but still works as hard and know as much as the doctors, who are generally men.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Race at Work
Pager and Western’s article on Race at Work, shows us that discrimination most definitely still exists in today’s society. Since the 1960’s researchers have led us all to believe that our racial discrimination problem has been solved. This is clearly not true when looking at employment rates in America.
Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position
This article really struck me as pretty much putting a slight spin on the way prejudice is looked at through race. Written in the late 1950's, it was probably pretty groundbreaking for its time in that it really looked at race through the eyes of any race and not just talking about how the white man is putting everyone down, although there are some implications of that.
Race at Work by Pager and Western
The article by Pager and Western focuses on America’s racial progress since the 1960s. It was written to show people that even though all races are supposed to have equal rights and opportunities in today’s society they don’t. Pager and Western formed an experiment to prove this. The article goes on to describe how they had groups of white males, latino males and black males all attend job interviews.