SOCI 3401 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Masculinity
Document Summary
Side bets in sociological terms refers to secondary benefits that depend on some course of action. A great amount of side bets depend on one"s job. These secondary benefits are often why people put up with jobs they don"t like. People will put up with a rigged game as long as it pays off well enough to keep important side bets from being lost. Identity stakes keep us involved in the rigged game by allowing us to convince others that we are who and what we claim to be. Identity claims matter because most of what comes to us in life depends on our relationships with others. It is relatively easy to to be deprived of the identity of a student or employee. Identities also shape the feelings we have about ourselves. If people have a lot of side bets riding on continued participation in the game, then even the disadvantaged will stay in line.