Assignment Question
Why do members of U.S. society tend to see social inequality as a reflection of individual differences in talent and effort? How does using the sociological imagination provide a more societal and structural understanding of social inequality? Explain social stratification. What are the two mechanisms that maintain stratification? Provide examples for how those two mechanisms work? Describe the distribution of wealth in the U.S. Is this distribution desirable for the society as a whole? Explain. Is your descriiption based on the functionalist or conflict perspective? The conflict perspective emphasizes that education reproduces the social class structure. Show how the concepts of the hidden curriculum, tracking, cultural capital theory, and school funding perpetuate social inequality. Who are the power elite in modern society? What is the source of elite power? How are the actions of the elite coordinated in modern American society? According to Mills, who is the most powerful part of the power elite? What groups comprise the middle level of power? What groups make up the masses? What does it mean to say that race and ethnicity are socially constructed? Pay specific attention to how this occurred historically. Provide examples to support you arguments? 6. Discuss briefly the 5 areas of social problems in American society that C. Wright Mills outlined. Alienation Moral Insensibility Threats to Democracy Threats to Human Freedoms Conflict between bureaucratic rationality and human reason
