Reader and Carmen Notes for Final

Written by Allan M.

Brandt-Shows circular nature of reasoning about race- Belief in physical inferiority (changed a lot with sports, ex. Jesse Owens at Hitler's olympic games)

Written by Michael A. Messner- Organized sports is a gendered institution as well as a gendering institution- Gendered Institution: structured by gender relations, our beliefs about it shape the rules- Gendering Institution: Helps construct gender order-Form of structuration, gender is a very centralizing feature of human life

Written by Mary C. Waters- Generally, white people can "choose" whether or not to represent an ethnicity while in general, African Americans cannot choose- Refers to Durkheim, Social Facts

Written by Barbara Erenreich- Lady goes undercover to live in poverty- Works two jobs, lives in "poor" home, describes those she works with as well as her conditions and more

Written by Herbert J. Gans-The Non-poor groups benefit in society-Poverty persists because some people benefit from the persistence of poverty-The "deserving poor" are the hard-working, sick, widows, disabled, and some single mothers-The "undeserving poor" are the lazy, ex-cons, quitters, addicts, dropouts-The elites benefit from the labeling process, for example, if all the poor are undeserving, so nothing should be done- You can see the functionalism and conflict theory in this piece, as well as symbolic interactionism

Written by Joe R. Feagin and Robert Parker- Corporations found common cause in organizing transportation to suit their interests-Mass transit helped shape cite and showed how urban areas developed -Conflict theory analysis

Written by Stephanie Coontz-Idea of "traditional family" most common in 1950's- But looking back to 1900/1800's there was a huge amount of family disruption for several reasons-Early American families: early and more frequent death, mothers die in childbirth, more affairs, war and migration

Written by Robert N.

Bellah-Building on Tocqueville's Democracy in America- Argument: In the past, individualism and commitment were balanced, but now individualism is gaining control-Individualism: The self is primary. It appears in two ways: 1) Utilitarianism (self-interest) if everyone looks after themselves, the economy will be better and the nation stronger 2) Expressive (self-fulfillment) example is Oprah and being your best self; "I can be religious without going to Church"-Commitment: The idea that we are a part of something bigger, community, biblical and religious tradition, you need church to get closer to God-Since the 1960's, individualism has been gaining ground

Written by Paula England-Why women have become increasingly more significant in different parts of life-Work force, freedom, rights

Written by Andrew J. Cherlin- The main argument is people who are married do better (this is true)- Causal pathways are not the same for everyone, but it is obviously not better to stay married to someone abusive, etc.- Not all marriages are equal; for example, marriage is good for kids but not in every instance-Marriage can cause happiness, but it is not the only cause for happiness- If we are going to support or encourage marriage based on this correlation, we must encourage good marriages and not bad marriages

Written by Jay McLeod- Information on tracking students and why they are placed on certain paths; what the "tracked" think about their placements, saying they don't think they are predisposed to failure; it is their own doing, saying they should have "tried harder"