SOC 2390 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Justin Trudeau, Social Inequality, Private School
4 Dec 2018
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SOC 2390: Class and Stratification: Lecture Notes: September 10th, 2018
• How being rich is a super-power
➢ Less stress—no need to worry about home repairs, parking tickets
➢ Power—influence with law enforcement
• Social inequality
➢ Refers to the difference that become socially structured
➢ Structured inequality involves a process in which groups or individuals with attributes
are more able than those without these attributes to control or shape rights and
opportunities = stratification
o Systems of social inequality
o Divisions and relationships that sediment differences
o The strata/distinctions between who gets what, when, and why.
➢ Advantaged groups have greater access to various rewards and privileges in society
o these advantages secure future advantages and patterns of social inequality are
reproduced
➢ the study of social inequality often challenges concepts of meritocracy under democracy
o technically, Canada is a country where any individual can work hard to get
ahead (aka everyone has access to education)
o there are no formal or explicit rules that prevent certain groups from rising to
the top (aka democracy)
o but does this adequately explain the difference in life chances between a teen
living on a reserve and Justin Trudeau?
❖ Justin Trudeau—connection between Leadership and Lineage
❖ What sort of advantages happened:
✓ Family status
✓ Exposed to power and political life
✓ Money—running a political campaign is an expensive thing
✓ Private school education (right opportunities
✓ Access to a political network (right friends)
✓ Alignment with dominant political values and identity
(white/male/Christian/liberal)
✓ Familiarity with customs and rituals of power (knows how to act
the part)
• Social inequality is produced through a combination of:
➢ Class
➢ Power
➢ Economic control
➢ Political control
➢ Ideological control
➢ The combined effects of these types of control give rise to understanding social
inequality as dimensions of disadvantage
• Why is class important?
➢ Class identifies importance of material deprivation or privilege to quality of life
➢ The WAS a key insight to the growth of sociology as a discipline
Document Summary
Soc 2390: class and stratification: lecture notes: september 10th, 2018: how being rich is a super-power. Less stress no need to worry about home repairs, parking tickets. Power influence with law enforcement: social inequality. Refers to the difference that become socially structured. Advantaged groups have greater access to various rewards and privileges in society these advantages secure future advantages and patterns of social inequality are reproduced. Money running a political campaign is an expensive thing. Access to a political network (right friends) Alignment with dominant political values and identity (white/male/christian/liberal) Familiarity with customs and rituals of power (knows how to act: social inequality is produced through a combination of: the part) The combined effects of these types of control give rise to understanding social. Class identifies importance of material deprivation or privilege to quality of life. The was a key insight to the growth of sociology as a discipline.
