Stratification
Paper details:
1. Were you surprised to find out how wealth is actually distributed in America and if so, how? Is there a relationship between the actual distribution of wealth in the U.S. and the ideologies of capitalism and individualism?
Or
How does the U.S. assist the poor? What are the effects of this for poor individuals and families, according to research by Kathryn Edin?
3. Answer the following questions:
a. What is the difference between race and ethnicity? Which racial and ethnic groups exist in the United States?
b. Is “race” biologically determined or is it something socially constructed? Why? Give examples .
c. Choose at least two (2) of the factors below and explain how our racial identities affect our life experiences. Give examples for each of the factors .
(1) Health, (2) Education, (3) Socioeconomic Status, (4) Family Structure, (5) Criminality/Deviance.
2. What is social stratification? Explain three major systems of social stratification by giving examples. Is social stratification a problem for the society? Why or why not?
3. Theories of deviance are often treated as being independent of or contradictory to each other, but there is a great deal of overlap. One theory sometimes complements another theory’s propositions. For this question, draw upon at least two of the theories you’ve learned to show how theories of deviance can be integrated to develop our understanding of one of the major forms of crime . More specifically;
a. Choose one of the major forms of crime such as murder, robbery, rape, assault, larceny, arson etc.
b. Choose at least two of the theories of deviance from among those you’ve learned. Explain assumptions of each theory in detail by also giving examples.
c. Now, explain from what aspects these theories are different from each other and how they might complement each other. How would you integrate these theories? Explain your new theoretical model after you integrated these theories (you can draw your model or just explain it).
d. Finally, show how the integration of these theories can explain the crime that you chose (e.g. explaining “arson” by the integration of trait theories and general strain theory). Explain it in detail and give examples.
