Critical reflection essay

SOC103 Introduction to

Class, Race and Inequality

and Social Inequality
Theories on inequality
Global inequality
Race, Class and Inequality
Racisms
Social mobility and reproduction

and social inequality

What kind of questions do sociologists ask about social inequality?
Why are sociologists interested in understanding social inequality?

and social inequality

• What is social inequality?

– Social inequality refers to the unequal distribution of

social, political and economic resources within a social collective (van Krieken et al 2016)

– Not just economic resources

– Social honour

Theories on inequality

Karl Marx and class
Max Weber and status
Durkheim and solidarity

Source: International Movement for Monetary Reforms

Marx and Class

Source: gloomyfaerie

Marx and Class

Historical materialism
‘material’ reality of the human experience
‘The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political, and intellectual life’ (Marx 1859)
Free will constrained by economic arrangements

Class privileges

Did you do these six activities today?

Class consciousness

• Surplus value

– ‘the executive of the modern state is but a committee for

managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie’ (Marx & Engels 1967, p. 82)

False consciousness
Class consciousness – a class in itself to a class for itself

Source: ABC

Criticisms and legacy of Marx’s class theory

Overemphasis on material conditions
No emphasis on other social categories such as race, gender, sexuality, nationality
Overemphasis on ultimate goal of communism
Relevance in the current context

Source: takepart.com

Weber and Status

Class – wealth and income
Status – social honour
Party – political organisation and influence
4 social classes

– Bourgeoisie – petty bourgeoisie – salaried non-manual workers – manual workers

Source: World Wide Weber

Weber and Status

Source: Time Magazine

Durkheim and Solidarity

Solidarity refers to the way a society manages conflict
Tangible and intangible things that enable ‘mutual dependence’ that in turn holds or binds a society together ‘What is needed if social order is to reign is that the mass of men be contented with their lot. But what is needed for them to be content is not that they have more or less, but that they be convinced that they have no right to more.’

(cited in Aron 1977, p. 91)

What is missing in all three DWM’s conceptualisations on class?

Historical context – colonialism
Interconnected link between race and capitalism
Genders and sexualities

Source: Guardian

Source: Oxfam 2020

Global inequality

Sociologists explain with two main theories:

Modernisation theory (Max Weber, Talcott Parsons)
dominant paradigm in 1950s and 1960s
poor societies lack capital to invest in western methods
poor countries are dysfunctional
need to transfer western culture and capital to these dysfunctional countries

Dependency theory (Karl Marx, Immanuel Wallerstein)
modernisation theory is flawed
Industrial revolution and wealth accumulation occurred in the west
neocolonialism
exploitation continues and takes the form of substantial foreign investment
don’t blame the victim, focus on addressing the exploitation

Race, Class and Inequality

Source: The Yorker

Race and racism

Hickey (2016)

Race understood as a socio-political construct using
bservable traits to classify and stratify people (Smedley & Smedley 2005)

Race understood as being racialised for the purpose
f exclusion and discrimination (Meekosha & Pettman 1991)

White as invisible race
Whiteness as dominance

Race and racism

Hickey (2016)

Racialisation – process which others are ‘raced’ (Ibrahim 2004)
Power of dominant group maintained through institutional power and everyday social habits (Bourdieu 1979)
Racism – discrimination and mistreatment of a group
r individual based on ascribed racialised identity (Modood et al 2002)

Racism

Everyday racism

‘systematic, recurrent, familiar practices’ where ‘socialised racist notions are integrated into everyday practices and thereby actualise and reinforce underlying racial and ethnic relations’ (Essed 1991: 145)

white innocence (Wekker 2016)

white fragility (DiAngelo 2019)

two-fold violence (van Diik 1992)

Everyday racism

Source: ABC The Drum’s Twitter page

Institutional racism

‘those patterns, procedures, practices, and policies that operate within social institutions so as to consistently penalise, disadvantage, and exploit individuals who are members of non-white racial/ ethnic groups’ (Better 2008:11)

Institutional racism

When unequal and unjust racial relations manifest at multiple sites such as the politics, public service, law enforcement, healthcare, education and workplace
when there are mechanisms and systems in place to ensure that the majority remains powerful and minority stays subordinate
when there is a lack of political will, deliberate affirmative decisions and meaningful policies to disrupt dominance of majority representation in positions of power
when there is a constant need for the minority to explain themselves, prove they are good enough and display model minority characteristics
when there is the expectation for the minority to adopt majority culture and conceal their own cultures
when there is no anti-racism, anti-discrimination framework to police different forms of racial violence
when there is no avenue for the minority to seek redress when the minority are finally outraged enough to resist, they are expected to be the face of diversity and labour over the fight for a more even playing field

Institutional racism

Institutional Racism

Source:Jan Fran’s Twitter page

Social mobility and reproduction

Bourdieu and capital
Economic capital – material wealth
Social capital – social networks, source of support
Cultural capital – cultural values associated with consumption patterns, lifestyle choices, social attributes and formal qualifications
Symbolic capital – legitimation, respect

Social mobility and reproduction

Social mobility – movement of individuals up or down the hierarchy of inequality
Intragenerational mobility – within a generation
Intergenerational mobility – across two or more generations
Ascribed and achieved social mobility

Race, Class and Inequality in Australian society

Source: SBS The Feed

Next week: Watch recorded lecture on Migration and Forced Displacement

Dr Quah Ee Ling Sharon [email protected]