Tag: Inequality
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Max Weber’s Theory of Class, Status, and Power
Sociologists love to cite and discuss Max Weber. Weber wrote a famous essay called, “Class, Status, and Party.” Weber designed the essay to set him apart from Karl Marx, who had a unidimensional view of classes, inequality, and society. Max Weber had a multidimensional view of classes, inequality, and society. Two main differences between Weber […]
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Sociology and AI Text-to-Image: A Practical Guide
AI text-to-image — where users input textual descriptions into an Artificial Intelligence website or app to generate a unique picture — is a new way for sociologists to understand society and teach sociology. This post provides a practical guide for sociologists to use AI text-to-image for research and classroom instruction. What is AI Text-to-Image? There […]
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Marxist and Neo-Marxist Theories of Social Stratification
Why does social stratification exist? Karl Marx had a Theory Karl Marx, a social and economic thinker in the 19th century, had a theory of how societies are organized and why inequality exists. His powerful theories inspired the Communist revolutions in Russia and China, and eventually in Eastern Europe and Vietnam. Because of the popularity […]
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Classic Theories of Social Stratification
Why is there inequality in society? Social stratification, and inequality, are fundamental concepts in sociology. We defined stratification as the existence of structured inequalities between social groups on the basis of power and resources. But this just defines the term. A crucial question is: Why does inequality exist in society? To answer this question, let’s […]
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Basic Sociology Concepts: Social Stratification and Inequality
What are the basic sociology concepts in social stratification and inequality? To understand basic sociological theories in social stratification and inequality, we must first understand basic concepts in this field. This post presents definitions of basic sociology concepts and concepts related to inequality and social stratification. It is based on classic theorists. You may be […]
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What can we learn about society and sociology from very old textbooks? Not much.
In sociology, the concept of society is fundamental. It is a concept that every sociology student, and simply everyone, should think about. But what is society in sociology? And can we learn it from very old sociology textbooks? In this post, I attempt to answer these questions with the work of Charles A. Ellwood, 14th […]
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How to Write the Introduction to a Research Article in the Social Sciences
What is an introduction? Empirical research articles in the social sciences require a title, an abstract, and an introduction. Introductions in social science articles are short — perhaps three or four paragraphs long. They are at the beginning of empirically-based research articles in sociology, psychology, and political science. In a previous article, we discussed the […]
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What is Power? What is a Power Structure?
What is Power and what are power structures? To define a power structure, we must first define power. Drawing on the work of Scott (2001), we see that power has many definitions: Power as a social relationship has two main “agents:” the principal and the subaltern. In this relationship the principal wields power that affects […]
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COVID-19 Counts of Cases and Deaths Reveal Social Group Biases
Unequal counts of cases and deaths due to Covid-19 reveals the structures of power that impact social group bias A prominent US example of how Covid-19 reveals the structures of power is racial and ethnic bias. In the US, African Americans are much more likely to die from the virus (Jean-Baptiste and Green 2020; Yancey […]
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Racial Discrimination in US Housing: Evidence from the 2000 HUD Study
Racial discrimination is in the real estate market Clearly, there is such discrimination. But how do we know if the discrimination is due to race, or some other factor? The key is to isolate the racial factors from all other possibilities. This can best be done through studies and experiments. The U.S. government periodically commissions […]