Module Code - Title:
SO6062
-
LIFE CHANCES: STRATIFICATION, INEQUALITY, AND MOBILITY IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
Life chances, be they knowledge, money, power, or health and well-being, are highly variable across people and social groups. How and why this is has been the subject of decades of sociological research. This module focuses on stratification - the system of positions and grouping that give people different access to social resources - and how this reflects changing patterns of inequality within and across societies. It pays particular attention to the social mechanisms that shape stratification and how resources are differentially available depending upon social group and social location. It also focuses on processes of social mobility and how social origins and destinations are connected in complicated ways that produce both stability and change in social positions across generations and over the life span.
Syllabus:
This module will cover a range of topics related to stratification, inequality, and social mobility. These include:
* Contemporary perspectives on social class and socioeconomic stratification
* Family inequality: How social origins shape the production of life chances
* Schooling: The great equalizer or reproducer of inequality
* Occupation and work: How jobs and job dynamics both reflect and reproduce stratification and inequality
* Social mobility and the implications of stability and change in socioeconomic positions within and across generations for personal and social well-being
* Personal and social implications of stratification, inequality, and mobility
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of what stratification is and how it relates to social inequality
Demonstrate an understanding of the different theoretical and conceptual frameworks used by contemporary researchers to understand stratification and inequality
Demonstrate an understanding of how families, schools, and jobs are the fundamental determinants of stratification and inequality
Demonstrate an understanding of the basic processes of social mobility and how these reflect complex interactions of status characteristics (e.g., social class, race, gender), social psychological orientations, and life course transitions involving school, family, and work
Demonstrate an understanding of the consequences of stratification for social psychological affect and orientations, political beliefs and activities, exposure to crime, and violence, and variation in health and well-being
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate an appreciation of how stratification and inequality reflects real world processes and the lived experiences of people
Demonstrate an appreciation of stratification and social position both reflects and produces power and can serve to enrich or undermine people's lives
Demonstrate an appreciation of the need for empathy and reflexivity when thinking about stratification and inequality and how it shapes the experience of society for individuals
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
NA
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
The module will be taught through a combination of in-class lectures and tutorials. It specifically exposes students to the most current research in the field as indexed by original research in the core journals in the discipline
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Various ()
Selections from the American Sociological Review
,
Various ()
Selections from the British Journal of Sociology
,
Varioius ()
Selections from the European Sociological Review
,
Various ()
Selections from the American Journal of Sociology
,
Various ()
Selections from Social Forces
,
Various ()
Selection from other journals in Sociology, stratification, and the social sciences
,
Other Relevant Texts:
David Grusky (2014)
Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective
, Routledge
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
MASOCITFA - SOCIOLOGY (APPLIED SOCIAL RESEARCH)
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Spring
Module Leader:
Generic PRS