Chapter 5: The Social Construction of Deviance and Crime

Deviance: Any behavior that diverges from usual or accepted standards ‘and, in doing so, violates social
rules.

Criminality: Behavior that violates criminal law

Stigmatization: Disgrace and Marginalization because of life circumstances, or physical or social

characteristics of a person that prevent them from being fully socially accepted

Regulation: The process of controlling people through the creation and enforcement of social rules.

Governmentality: The way in which the state exercises control over, or governs, its citizenry.

Sexual Deviance: Any behavior that involves individuals seeking erotic gratification through means a
community considers odd, different, unacceptable, or disgraceful

Social Cohesion: The existence of bonds of trust that bind people together in a community or society,
enabling cooperation and interdependence.

Substance Abuse: Excessive use of, or dependence on, an addictive substance, especially alcohol or
drugs.

Moral Panic: A condition resulting from social concern over an issue that provokes intense feelings and
fears; usually the work of moral entrepreneurs, this is often an overreaction to certain deviant or
unfamiliar behaviors.

Strain Theory: This theory proposes that deviant behavior results from unequal opportunities and is a
function of the gap between norms of success and access to the legitimate means of achieving them.

Intersectionality: A theoretical approach that examines the interconnection of social

categories—especially social disadvantages—related to ethnicity, class, and gender that creates more
complex, interdependent systems of oppression and disadvantage.

Moral Entrepreneurs: Promoters of “morality” who use their resources as rule-makers, campaigners,
and enforcers to shape public policy.

Subculture Theory: The theory that certain groups or subcultures in society have values and attitudes
that are conductive to deviance, crime, or violence

White-Collar Crime: Comprises the illegal acts and misdeeds of middle-class members of the business
world.

Street Crime: Crimes associated with the public and individual offenders working alone or in small
groups rather than large crime structures, such as shoplifting, vandalism, break and enter, car theft,
assault, and homicide.

Cyberspace: The virtual environment in which people communicate with one another over computer
networks
 Cyberbullying: A form of bullying or harassment using social media or electronic forms of contact

Decriminalization: Reflecting a change in social or moral views, the abolition of criminal penalties for a
particular act.

Routine Activity Theory: The theory that victimization results a vulnerable person is regularly in a
dangerous place without the presence of a trusted guardian

Hot Spots: Areas in a city where the risks of crime are incredibly high, usually because the area draws
many vulnerable victims and policing is relatively light

Suitable Target: A person distinguished by particular characteristics that are likely to invite or incite
victimization.

Victim Precipitation Theory: A theory that analyzes how a victim’s characteristics or interactions with
an offender may contribute to the crime being committed

Deterrence: A legal and criminological concept that reflects the view punishment should prevent crime
by imposing significant costs on people who commit crimes

Capital Punishment: Putting people to death as a penalty for criminal behavior

Rehabilitation: The idea that punishment should reform criminals and help them become law-abiding
members of society

Parole: The release of a prisoner before the completion of the sentence, on the promise of good
behavior

Prisonization: The degradation of prisoners, their socialization into prison life, and their subsequent
inability to function effectively outside these prison environments

Recidivism: Refers to prisoners who reoffend, often multiple times

Bodily Discipline: Strategies of regulation that use power to reduce social agents to docile bodies,
through punishment of various kinds

Surveillance: Close observation, especially of a suspected criminal

Panopticon: A design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control

Restorative Justice: A set of approaches to criminal punishment aimed to ensure that the criminal takes
responsibility for his or her actions and that the victim, the criminal, and the community are all
restored to a healthy state

Modern Technology and Surveillance

• Modern technology has enabled global surveillance, including intercepting and monitoring
phone calls, emails, and hacking into organizations' websites and databases.
• It has also enabled the surveillance of people's daily activities using millions of cameras
worldwide.
• This has led to a shift in the understanding of deviance, crime, and control.
• Deviance is defined as any behavior that violates a widely held social norm, including
criminality and milder forms of social disapproval.
• Crime, less common than deviance, is controlled by the state through police, courts, and
prisons.
• Not all deviant acts or crimes are visible to the public, and only a few are reported to the
police.
• The fraction reported to the police depends on the specific crime, with most people reporting
homicides, attempted homicides, and major property losses.
• Police have discretion over what cases they pursue and how they record them, resulting in
changes in crime statistics.
• Sociologists study crime statistics while considering the crime funnel, often conducting their
own research for more representative data.

Understanding Appearance Deviance and its Impact

• Appearance deviations are socially acceptable deviations from conventional appearance

norms.
• Examples include punk culture, tattooing, piercing, obesity, and anorexia.
• These deviations often lead to negative judgments, stigmatization, and exclusion.
• They often result in deviant communities and subcultures.
• Despite the regulation of appearances, appearance deviations are often internalized through
governmentality, making it a personal responsibility.
• There are various ways to deviate in appearance, some intentionally to imitate others, others
involuntary, and some violate deeply held beauty or propriety ideals.
• Mass media influences our perceptions of appearances, but these norms are unrealistic.
• Women are most affected by appearance norms due to their historical value as women.
• Film reinforces social norms of sexual desire and presents women as sexual subjects.
• The "male gaze" in films perpetuates these norms, making women appear as erotic objects to
both the characters and the audience.

Sexual Deviance and Prostitution

Concept of Sexual Deviance

• Prostitution is a form of sexual deviance that is often stigmatized and viewed as immoral.
• Conflict theorists argue that prostitution reflects gender inequality and poverty, with
prostitutes often being children, teenagers, drug addicts, or vulnerable individuals with a history
of abuse.
Childhood Abuse and Prostitution
• Both male and female sex workers are likely to have experienced high rates of physical and
sexual abuse in childhood.
• This leads to the spread of sex work among adolescents, causing problems.

Feminist Views on Prostitution

• Feminists condemn the practice and advocate solutions to help women leave the sex industry.
• However, they also support more social rights and protections for sex workers.

Benefits of Prostitution
• Prostitution fulfills the need for sexual satisfaction without imposing socio-economic ties of
relationships and marriage.
• The use of prostitutes is less dangerous to marriage than extramarital infidelity.

Prostitution in Canada
• In 2013, the Supreme Court declared the laws making it illegal to live off prostitution profits,
operate a brothel, and solicit customers on the street unconstitutional.

Prostitution Strategies in Different Countries

• The United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, and New Zealand have different strategies to deal
with prostitution.
• Making prostitution illegal with little state oversight is likely to cause problems and dangers
for sex workers.

Drug Abuse and Moral Panics

• Drug abuse refers to the alteration of consciousness through substances like alcohol,
marijuana, cocaine, and heroin.
• Legal drugs are more common and potentially more dangerous than illegal drugs, but society
often overlooks their harm.
• Media portrayals of drug addicts often heighten public anxiety about illegal drug use.
• The drug debate is a form of moral panic about drug use, provoking intense feelings and fears
that threaten the social order.
• Historical efforts to approve, disapprove, legalize, or criminalize drugs often reflect prejudices
against drug users and protect the interests of large corporations.
• Drugs and alcohol research emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural politics that
determine laws and enforcement practices.
• Current ideas of what is moral or not vary over time and place, and religious and scientific
claims influence what is labeled as healthy or dangerous, normal or abnormal, legal or illegal.
Conflict Theory

• Laws, while crucial, often promote social inequality.

• Corporate, commercial, and property laws serve the interests of wealthier individuals.
• Criminal laws are often written to benefit those with the most to lose.
• Conflict theorists argue that powerful societal members enforce laws to their advantage.
• Rule-breaking is often seen as rational behavior due to limited opportunities and societal goal
of material success.
• Robert Merton's strain theory suggests criminal behavior may result from a lack of legitimate
opportunities and a desire for material success.
• Merton views criminal behavior as a form of innovation, adapted to limited opportunities for
legitimate success.
• Opportunities and motives are socially structured, resulting in varying levels of innovation in
different societies and periods.

Feminist Theory and Crime

Relations of Inequality and Crime

• Feminist theory focuses on the relations of dominance and subordination between men and
women.
• In Canada, female offenders account for less than 0.25 percent of completed court cases.

Women's Crimes
• Women are less likely to commit every crime but are somewhat more likely to commit fraud,
simple assault, or harassing phone calls than murder, kidnapping, or armed robbery.
• Women who commit property crimes, theft, and fraud seek to abolish their powerless feelings.

Victimization
• Victimization refers to the experience of being made a victim of a crime or unjust treatment,
such as sexism or racism.
• Feminist researchers examine the ways that women are targets of victimizing behavior on
multiple levels.
• Women are more often victims of rape and sexual harassment than men.

Victimization in Different Provinces

• Young women, Indigenous women, and women with physical abilities or disabilities are more
likely to be targeted than others.
• In 2009, sexual assaults accounted for less than 10% of crimes committed against
non-Indigenous women, while they accounted for 33% of violent crimes committed against
Indigenous women.
Victimization and Intersectionality
• Feminists are interested in the experiences of other victimized groups, such as poor people,
racial minorities, disabled people, and people of alternative sexual orientations.
• They are particularly interested in intersectionality—the interaction of gender with other
victimizing social characteristics, such as class and racialized identity.

Functionalist Perspectives on Deviance and Social Control

Durkheim's View on Deviance

• Views deviance as universally beneficial and reinforces obedience to societal rules.
• Suggests that deviants encourage people to adhere to societal moral boundaries.
• Suggests that anomie, a lack of clear social rules, leads to increased social distress and suicide
rates.

Control Theory
• Presents a more contemporary version of functionalist approach, positing that people follow
rules when they believe they will benefit from them.
• Assumes that deviant impulses are not acted upon, leading to most people adhering to rules.
• Stresses the importance of internalizing social norms and learning social control.

Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency

• Highlights the role of a child's relationship with parents in determining their involvement in
delinquent activities.
• Argues that social control operates through a "social bond" developed between an individual
and society, consisting of belief, attachment, commitment, and involvement.

Symbolic Interactionists' Perspective on Deviance

• Symbolic interactionists explore the concept of "becoming deviant" through the lens of the
"self."
• They argue that deviance is a social label used to stigmatize certain groups, leading to
increased deviant behavior.
• They believe that children learn to participate in society through social games, coordinated
roles, and anticipation of others' role-play.
• Edwin Sutherland proposed that people learn deviance through normal socialization
processes, including relationships with others.
• Deviance is learned through communication and rewards from deviant individuals, leading to
the development of patterns of deviant behavior.
• Sutherland's differential association theory suggests that our behaviors reflect the relative
importance of our different associations, both deviant and conforming.
• They also examine how social problems are constructed through social processes, highlighting
how certain activities or events are defined as social problems.

Violent Crimes in Canada: Trends and Factors

• In 2015, 1.9 million Criminal Code incidents were reported, but the rates are lower than a
century ago.
• The Crime Severity Index (CSI) increased by 1% due to an increase in fraud, breaking and
entering, robbery, and homicide.
• The overall volume and severity of violent crime increased by about 6% due to increases in
robbery, homicide, attempted murder, and violent firearms offenses.
• The homicide rate increased from 1.45 homicides per 100,000 people in 2014 to 1.68 in 2015.
• The overall rate of Controlled Drugs and Substances Act violations continued to decline due to
fewer drug offenses involving cannabis and cocaine.
• The youth crime severity rate and the rate of youth accused of crimes continued to decrease
due to the decrease in non-violent crimes such as theft.
• Most crime rates have been decreasing in the past decade and have only recently surged.
• Age and gender are important factors in violent crime; young men are more likely than older
men or women of any age to commit violent acts.
• Subculture theory explains why arguments between young males are the most common
forerunner to homicide.
• Violent crimes most often result from fights between spouses or friends.
• Some people are more likely to commit violent crimes than others, particularly young, poor
men, influenced by economic and social variables.

Non-Violent Crimes

• Non-violent crimes aim to obtain money or property, not to cause harm.

• Professional and amateur crimes are more common than violent crimes, often committed
against strangers.
• Non-violent crimes are learned through observation, apprenticeship, and imitation.

Organized Crime
• Professional crime, such as automobile theft or embezzlement, is well-organized.
• Transnational criminal organizations like the Mafia are at the pinnacle of organized crime.
• Profitable business activities of such organizations include prostitution, gambling, drugs, money
laundering, and pornography.
White-Collar Crime
• Two types of white-collar crime: corporate crime and insider trading.
• Corporate crime victimizes millions and undermines public institutions.
• Insider trading and falsifying account books are common types of white-collar crime.
• White-collar crime has evolved into a global problem, affecting economies, governments, and
societies.
• Bribery is another type of white-collar crime, common in societies where the state has failed
to establish and enforce rights.

Easy Street Crimes

• Street crimes, such as shoplifting, vandalism, break-and-enter, and car theft, are carried out
by amateur or part-time criminals.
• Most street crimes are property crimes, with a decrease in property crimes over the past two
decades.

Future Impact of Cyberspace on Crime and Privacy

• Increased transnational crime due to increased crimes outside national jurisdictions.

• Cyberbullying, particularly among adolescents, leading to violence, substance abuse, and
suicidal behavior.
• The Internet enables easier sales of fraudulent identities and products.
• Older adults are most vulnerable to cyberspace dangers including spam, phishing, scams, and
viruses.
• Differences in education and computer use contribute to higher risk for older adults.
• Lack of knowledge and awareness of computer privacy threats, especially online identity
fraud.
• Internet content control without limiting free speech.
• Voluntary controls and campaigns to censor content.
• Potential for censorship to prevent debate of important ideas.
• Political dangers due to authorities tracking user messages and addresses.

Victimization and Its Theories

Role of Routine Activity Theory

• Crime depends on opportunities created by activity patterns.
• Victimization is a predictable result of how and where people spend their time.
• Individual lifestyles, social affiliations, and gang membership significantly shape our risk of
victimization.

Hot Spots in Routine Activity Theory

• Hot spots are locations where the risks of crime are especially high.
• Young people are more likely to visit hot spots, making them at a higher risk of being victims
of violent crime.
• Workplaces, schools, and prisons are hot spots for victimization.
• Not all hot spots are public places; they can also be private places like family homes.

Suitable Targets in Routine Activity Theory

• Suitable targets are people who are regularly exposed to crime or have heightened
vulnerability.
• The risk of violent victimization is higher among certain demographic groups.
• Three characteristics put people at risk of victimization: the victim’s target vulnerability; target
gratifiability; and target antagonism.

Victim Precipitation Theory

• People create their own risks of being victimized.
• Examples of creating risks include verbal provocation, body language, or certain clothing
types.

The Crime Funnel and the Purpose of Punishment

The Crime Funnel

• The crime funnel is a system where the number of crimes committed is not reflected in the
number of crimes recorded by police.
• Police investigate some crimes but not others, leading to a mix of suspects and charges.
• Some of these charges result in convictions, or punishments, while others do not.

Deterrence and Rehabilitation

• Deterrence punishments can be specific or general, deterring specific criminals from
committing crimes.
• Capital punishment was the earliest known form of deterrence, but most industrial societies,
including Canada, do not use it.
• Rehabilitation efforts focus on support and supervision from others, such as education,
vocational training, housing, probation supervision, and treatment for mental illness and
substance abuse.

The Prisonization Theory

• Prisons do not rehabilitate, according to Donald Clemmer's prisonization theory.
• Prisons degrade people, pressure them, and take away their rights, making them less
competitive.
• Prison subculture and new criminal skills often lead to recidivism, or the revolving door.
• Michel Foucault argues that prisons control people through surveillance and discipline,
molding them into obedient, compliant people.
Restorative Justice
• The third purpose of punishment is to repair the harm done by a crime and restore the victim,
the offender, and the community to a healthy state.
• Restorative justice asks offenders to take responsibility for the harm they have caused and
asks victims to help determine punishments.

Overrepresentation of Indigenous People in Canada's Jails and Prisons

• High incarceration rates for Aboriginal peoples are linked to systemic discrimination, racial or
cultural prejudice, economic and social disadvantage, substance abuse, and intergenerational loss,
violence, and trauma.
• Indigenous offenders are generally younger, less educated, less likely to be employed, and
more likely to reoffend than non-Indigenous offenders.
• Indigenous offenders often have substance abuse problems.
• Indigenous offenders are treated differently in trials, with a Gladue report requested to provide
a detailed account of the offender's life, background, community, and circumstances.
• Indigenous people are more likely to be victims of crime, particularly violent crime, with
on-reserve crime rates three times higher than the rest of Canada.
• Imprisonment remains a form of social inequality, with some people more likely to break the
law, be caught, and receive severe punishment.

Sociological Perspective on Deviance and Crime

• Deviance and crime are universal, natural, and normal, influenced by situational factors.
• Crime is often the behavior of normal people in deviant roles or abnormal situations.
• Crime can result from deviant learning and defective social connections.
• Crime is a social construct defined differently in different cultures, influenced by morality,
religious faith, and scientific claims.
• Crime rates vary over time and with technological advancements.
• Inequality is related to crime, especially in the digital divide.
• The need to close this digital divide and protect all societal members is crucial.
Chapter 6: Economic Equality and Class Exploitation

Proletariat: The social group that exchanges their labor for wages. As they do not own the means of
production, they are at the mercy of the bourgeoisie (or capitalists), who own the means of production
and prescribe work conditions.

Bourgeoise: The social group that possesses capital and thus also owns and commands the means of
production.

Class: The division of people into social groups based on the distribution of material resources and
power.

Class Consciousness: A sense of shared identity and common interests that stem from an awareness of
similar economic position, particularly relative to the economic position of others.

Class System: A hierarchical classification system that places individuals in relation to one another
based
on differences in their command of the means of production, work situations, and life chances.

Socioeconomic Status: A method of ranking people that combines measures of wealth, authority, and
prestige

Social Stratification: A society's categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based
on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power.

Conspicuous Consumption: The purchase of valuable goods for the purpose of expressing class
belonging and status.

Cultural Capital: A body of knowledge, ideas, tastes, preferences, and skills that helps people get ahead
socially. Cultural capital often includes learning about and participating in high culture.

Exchange Mobility: The occurrence of people moving into higher or lower economic statuses.

Structural Mobility: When societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the
social class ladder

Secondary Labor Market: Sectors in the economy that offer low-paying jobs characterized by fewer
opportunities for advancement and insecurity.

Primary Labor Market: Industries that provide jobs with high wages, good opportunities for
advancement, and job security.

Intergenerational Mobility: The movement of people into positions that are higher or lower than the
positions held by their parents.

Intragenerational Mobility: Social mobility into positions that are higher or lower within a person's
lifespan.

Downward Mobility: Vertical social mobility into lower-regarded and paid occupational positions
Underemployment: Employment in a job that requires far less expertise, skill, or ability than the
job-holder has to offer.

Absolute Poverty: Not having enough income to meet basic survival needs such as water, food, shelter,
and access to critical health care

Relative Poverty: Having enough to meet basic survival needs but living well below the general
standard of living of a community, social group, or society.

Low-Income Cut Off: The method used to measure low income in Canada identifies income thresholds
below which a family will likely spend a larger portion of its income on necessities than an average
family of a similar size.

Market Basket Measure: The method used to measure low income in Canada that calculates how much
income a household requires to meet its needs, including subsistence needs and the needs to satisfy
community norms.

Low Income Measure: The method used to measure low income in Canada that calculates the low
income threshold of a household as one- half of the median income of a household of the same size in
a community of a similar size

Gini Coefficient: Measures the extent to which the distribution of income within a country deviates
from a perfectly equal distribution.

Stigma: A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.

Poverty Line: The minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of
living in a given country.

Hidden Homeless: People who do not have stable housing but do not appear in official statistics, often
staying with friends or family temporarily.

Social Determinants: Conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that affect their
health and quality of life.

Social Exclusion: The process by which certain groups are systematically disadvantaged because they
are discriminated against based on various factors like race, income, or education.

Safety Net: Government programs that provide support to individuals and families in need, helping
them avoid poverty and hardship.

Biomedical Model of Health: An approach to health that focuses solely on biological factors and
excludes psychological, environmental, and social influences.

Behavioral Model of Health: An approach to health that emphasizes the impact of individual behavior
and lifestyle choices on overall health and well-being.

Biophysical Model of Health: An approach to health that integrates biological, psychological, and social
factors in understanding health and illness.

Social Assistance: Government-provided financial support to individuals or families in need to ensure a

basic standard of living.
Social Class and the Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century led to significant changes in work and
worker-employer relationships.
• Sociologist Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels predicted class conflict due to these changes.
• Marx argued that society is a sum of interrelations, influenced by class.
• Marx's theory centered on the relationship between proletariat (workers) and bourgeoisie
(capitalists), two classes with opposing interests.
• This opposition led to class consciousness, creating a hierarchy of groups with different
opportunities and life chances.
• Class consciousness enabled workers to recognize their common fate and act to protect
themselves.
• Marx developed a methodology to increase workers' awareness of their exploitative condition
and encourage collective action.
• This consciousness led to workers demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and
more secure employment.
• The traditional definition of class, relating to socioeconomic status, is no longer useful for
sociology due to changes in work and capital flows.
• Other factors like gender, racialization, education, and early life experiences also play
significant roles in determining one's class.

Social Stratification and its Impact on Society

• Social stratification refers to the creation of social groups with different wealth, status, and
opportunities.
• Social classes are often distinguished: upper, middle, working, and lower class.
• The study of social stratification has gained greater relevance due to the growth of social
inequality.
• Social inequality has real consequences for people's lives and those of their children.
• Wilkinson and Pickett's study links the well-being of societies to income inequality.
• Countries with more income equality have fewer health and social problems in all
socioeconomic groups.
• Interventions aimed at reducing inequality will benefit all members of society.
• Health and social problems decrease as income equality increases, especially among countries
in the Global North.
• The United States is an exception, indicating other factors contribute to health and social
problems.

Structural Functionalism and Social Inequality

• Structural functionalism focuses on understanding how social forms contribute to societal
survival.
• It seeks to understand the purpose of social inequality, known as the "functional necessity of
stratification."
• Social stratification recruits and motivates individuals into key roles in the social structure.
• Society has a reward system in place to motivate people to pursue demanding occupations.
• High rewards are given to positions that require specialized knowledge, skills, and credentials.
• Occupations without hard-to-get credentials or a specialized skill set have lower status and
pay.
• Davis and Moore argue that unequal rewards and their distribution become part of the social
order and give rise to stratification.

The Gaming Industry and Reward Systems

• The gaming industry, worth about 96 billion dollars in 2016, requires highly skilled workers.
• Companies in the gaming industry compete to recruit the best workers.
• Big Viking Games, Canada’s leading HTML mobile game development company, provides perks
to attract talent, earning recognition as one of the "Best Workplaces in Canada" in 2015.
• However, this example reveals the weakness of functionalist theory, as it does not prove that
occupational rewards are determined by a competitive market for scarce skills and talents.

Conflict Theory on Poverty and Inequality

• Conflict theory, developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, rejects the structural
functionalist view that all social arrangements are useful for societal survival.
• It argues that social inequality only serves the dominant group, maintaining the status quo
that privileges their interests.
• Marx and Engels believe class inequality promotes revolution and societal change.
• The theory outlines a conflict between the interests of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, with
the bourgeoisie exploiting the labor of the working class.
• Industrial machinery introduced in the 19th and 20th centuries replaced skilled workers with
machines or unskilled workers, leading to increased unemployment and alienation.

Karl Marx's Four Types of Labor Alienation

1. Alienation of the worker: Workers' separation from their "species essence" as integrated
into machines.
2. Alienation between workers: Labor becomes a commodity, not a meaningful social
relationship.
3. Alienation of the worker from the product: Commodification and mass production
reduce worker's control.
4. Alienation from the act of production: Work perceived as meaningless with little intrinsic
satisfaction.
Marx's Prediction of Proletariat Revolt
• Marx predicted a proletariat revolt against bourgeoisie, but this has not happened.
• Many insecure and unemployed workers vote for neo-liberal or conservative governments in
recent elections.
• Workers prefer jobs with low salaries, minimal benefits, and lack of unionization.

Protests Against Capitalism and Mechanization

• Protests against inequalities produced by capitalism and mechanization have emerged.
• Movements, like the Occupy movement, protest the power of multinational corporations.
• Occupy stands against the domination of large corporations, their unethical practices, and
control over capital flow.

Feminist Sociology in Canada

• Examines intersections of class, gender, racialization, and indigeneity in inequality.

• Recognizes gender's impact on inequality and its unique influence on other social factors.
• Provides insights into employment and income distribution in Canada.
• Women earned $32,000 annually in 2011 vs $48,000 in 2011, a $16,000 gap.
• Average women's wages to men's wages decreased from 62.1% in 2001 to 667.7% in 2011.
• Canada had the seventh highest pay gap among OECD countries in 2014.
• 2015 UN Human Rights report expresses concern over persistent income inequality.

Symbolic Interactionism: Understanding Social Stratification and Class Symbols

• Thorstein Veblen's work on class differences and consumption patterns is a key example of
symbolic interactionism.
• Veblen introduced the concept of conspicuous consumption, a practice that signifies class
belonging and social status.
• Veblen differentiated between consumption patterns of women and men, highlighting
gender-role stereotyping.
• Today, social interactionists study how different social classes use "status symbols" to
distinguish themselves.
• Smart phones, for example, are status symbols, signaling societal status and innovation.
• French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu emphasized the learning of class distinctions as a significant
part of socialization.
• Bourdieu argued that belonging to a specific class involves knowing how to dress, speak, like,
and act in social situations.
• Without culturally understood class distinctions, class symbols would no longer be
meaningful, but they help class members distinguish themselves from others in the social
hierarchy.
Understanding Social Mobility and Its Impact on Society

Understanding Social Mobility

• Social mobility is the process of moving from one class or occupational status to another.
• It is a subfield of sociology that focuses on upward mobility, a key indicator of a society's
"openness" and well-being.

Upward Social Mobility in Canada

• Between 1993 and 2012, nine out of ten individuals in the lowest income group moved up to a
higher income group.
• Education is a critical influence on upward mobility, with good educational credentials
increasing the likelihood of upward mobility.
• However, Canadians have unequal opportunities to obtain an education, with people whose
parents do not have a university degree less likely to go to university.

Mechanisms of Upward Mobility

• Exchange mobility limits upward mobility, occurring when an existing position becomes
vacant.
• Structural mobility results from structural growth through the creation of new jobs or
positions.
• The move toward an information society has created new jobs in the white-collar sector,
providing new opportunities for upward mobility.

Intergenerational and Intragenerational Mobility in Canada

Intergenerational Mobility
• Refers to the movement of people into positions higher or lower than their parents'.
• Many immigrants in Canada aim to provide their children with opportunities for upward
economic and social mobility.
• Education is often the most likely means of achieving mobility.
• Canadian data shows that children of second-generation immigrants are 11% more likely to
complete university than children of parents born in Canada.

Intragenerational or Career Mobility

• Defined as social mobility within a person's lifespan.
• Example: Justin Bieber's career mobility, starting at 13 and reaching a wealth of $250 million
in 2016.
• Sociologists study intragenerational mobility to understand resources required for such
mobility.
• Sociologists also study how people who achieve upward mobility assimilate into a new class.
• Media bias towards success stories contributes to the perception of upward mobility as
attainable.
Downward Mobility and Inequality

• Downward mobility refers to the movement from higher pay and social status to lower pay
and status.
• Economic expansion leads to upward mobility, while contraction or shift results in job loss or
worsening conditions.
• "Scarring" occurs when individuals are underemployed or unemployed for a long period,
creating an impression of unreliability.
• Scarring can lead to long-term unemployment and downward mobility, impacting wages and
career trajectory.
• Recessions can result in downward mobility, especially for precarious employment.
• Women, immigrants, and racialized minorities are particularly disadvantaged due to lack of
access to education and upward mobility opportunities.

Poverty

Understanding Poverty
• Poverty is defined by the United Nations as not just lack of income for basic needs but also
deprivation of choice and access to resources like healthcare, education, and political
representation.
• Two concepts of poverty are absolute poverty and relative poverty.

Methods to Measure Low Income

• The low income cut-off (LICO) identifies income thresholds where a family will likely spend a
larger proportion of its income on necessities than an average family of similar size.
• The market basket measure (MBM) calculates the income a household requires to meet its
needs, including subsistence needs.
• The low income measure (LIM) calculates the low income threshold of a household as
one-half of the median income of a household of the same size in a similar-sized community.

Differences in Measurement Methods

• Each method leads to different conclusions about how widespread poverty is, how it is
distributed, and how to reduce it.
• Depending on the type of measurement used, statistics about low-income Canadians may
vary.

Impact of Different Measures on Poverty Rates

• The 2011 National Household Survey revealed that the three methods of measurement
produced different sets of results.
• The after-tax LICO reported that 9.7% of the total population in Canada 18 to 65 years of age
lived in poverty.
• The MBM reported a poverty rate of 129%, while the after-tax LIM showed an even higher
value of 13.8%.

Gini Coefficient
• The Gini coefficient is the most widely used measure of income inequality for cross-country
comparisons.
• Since the 1980s, income inequality has increased in Canada, even though Canada has a high
average standard of living overall.
• More affluent nations in North America and Europe usually have less income inequality and
fewer people living in poverty.

Poverty in the Digital Age

• People living in poverty today cannot participate in digital culture, making them
disadvantaged in terms of information, job applications, and e-commerce sales.

Indigenous Poverty in Canada

• Indigenous people, comprising around 4% of Canada's population, face significant

socioeconomic challenges in Canada.
• Indigenous populations live on reserves lacking necessary infrastructure and are isolated from
mainstream Canadian culture.
• Food prices in remote areas have skyrocketed, causing a food crisis on reserves.
• Indigenous communities in Canada earn an average of $20,060 annually, compared to
non-Indigenous Canadians' $27,622.
• High unemployment rates among Indigenous people range from 10.1% in Quebec to 21.7% in
New Brunswick.
• Chronic stressors in Indigenous communities lead to drug and alcohol use as self-medication,
creating a barrier against social mobility.
• Remoteness and lack of infrastructure hinder Indigenous access to resources, often due to lack
of broadband, equipment, or high costs.
• The digital divide intensifies existing inequalities and creates unbalanced power relations.
• The First Mile program aims to improve connectivity and increase Indigenous inclusion in the
networked society.
• In 2017, the federal government allocated $3.4 billion in spending for infrastructure, health,
and education in Indigenous communities.

Canadian Housing Crisis and Homelessness

• Canadian cities are experiencing a housing crisis due to rising real estate prices, leading to
increased homelessness.
• Low-income individuals and families are most affected, as they are renters, not homeowners.
• Estimates suggest Canada's homeless population ranges between 200,000 and 300,000
people annually.
• An estimated 50,000 Canadians are 'hidden homeless', temporarily staying with friends or
family.
• Many homeless people stay in emergency shelters or longer-term homes, depending on
availability.
• The homeless population is diverse, including single individuals, young people, families, and
those with serious health conditions.
• The life expectancy of many homeless is around 39 years, half the national average.
• Some homeless people use cellphones for safety and communication.

Food Bank Usage in Canada

• In 2016, an estimated 863,492 people received food from food banks monthly.
• The rise in food bank usage is attributed to the unstable economy, increased unemployment,
and the rise in refugees.
• Food prices have increased by around 4% per year, affecting fresh produce like meat and eggs.
• The gap in purchasing power between average salaries and food bank usage is significant,
particularly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
• Only 2% of food bank users live in shelters or on the street, 66% live in rented homes, 20% live
in social housing, and 8% own their homes.
• Over one-third of the people helped are children and youth under 18, and 40% of households
receiving assistance comprise families with children.
• Many food bank users are highly educated, with over a quarter having completed a
university degree in Toronto.

Understanding Health Disparities and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

Key Factors Influencing Health Disparities

• SDOH are linked to social class differences and have greater effects on health than other
factors.
• A Canadian's chance of surviving to 75 years of age increases by 22.7% for men and 139% for
women from the lowest to the highest income group.

Education as a Significant Determinant of Health

• Education is a significant determinant of health, with the percentage of women with very
good or excellent self-perceived overall health varying from 48.2% on average for women with
less than a highschool diploma to 70.4% on average for women with a bachelor’s degree or
higher.

SDOH Accounts for Up to 4% of Health Outcomes

• SDOH accounts for up to 4% of health outcomes, compared to health behaviors (30%), clinical
care (20%), and environmental factors (10%).

Interrelation of SDOH Factors

• Higher education levels are associated with healthier health due to higher income and access
to health information.
• Income is often considered the single most important social determinant of health, affecting
diet, exercise, alcohol and tobacco use, and other social determinants.
• Employment provides structure, social interaction, and future prospects, while unemployment
leads to financial pressures and mental health issues.

Living Conditions and Access to Social and Institutional Supports

• Poor living conditions and access to social and institutional support are closely related to
SDOH.
• Food insecurity and inadequate shelter are prerequisites for good health.

Effects of SDOH on Marginalized Communities

• Indigenous peoples in Canada experience worse health outcomes due to income inequalities,
inadequate housing, crowded living conditions, lower education levels, higher rates of
unemployment, and other factors.
• Racialized Canadians experience hostile living circumstances that affect their health, including
unemployment, lower-than-average incomes, and difficulty accessing quality healthcare.
• Perceived access to social support is positively associated with physical and mental health
status.

Neo-Liberal Focus on Personal Responsibility in Health and Medicine

• Neo-liberal focus on personal responsibility stems from the practice of medicine.
• Biomedical and behavioral models of health and medicine, which attribute poor health to
physiological and genetic traits, and blame individual choices for poor health, are rooted in this
belief.
• In Canada, where state-funded healthcare is seen as equal, lower income individuals have
worse health outcomes than those with higher incomes.
• A biopsychosocial approach to health, considering emotional, mental, and physical aspects, has
been developed to address these shortcomings.
• This model also considers social factors influencing well-being, including safe housing, social
and economic integration, and a supportive social network.
• Socio-demographic factors like sex, age, and racialization interact to influence stressor
exposure.
• Despite the adoption of the biopsychosocial model, calls for reduced inequality as a health
promotion strategy have been resistant. British Columbia and Ontario have been least likely to
address structural factors contributing to poor health.

Child Care and Early Childhood Education in Canada

• Child care and early childhood education are crucial for a child's development and learning.
• Low-income families often struggle to afford quality child care and early childhood education.
• Child-care access varies by province in Canada, with the Quebec government subsidized and
considering family income.
• Universal child-care services are hesitant due to opposition from high-income earners and
those with no children.

Education as a Path to Equality

• Education is considered the most important equalizer in society.
• High school graduates have a 30% higher likelihood of employment and 50% higher incomes
than those who only graduated from high school.
• The Canadian public education system ranks among the top in the world due to its
high-quality, publicly funded, and free curriculum.
• In 2012, 92% of adults aged 25 to 34 had at least a high school diploma, higher than in many
other nations.
• The percentage of adults aged 25 to 64 who completed their college or university degree
increased from 4% in 2000 to 53% in 2012.
• However, not all Canadians have equal access to education, with reduced access for
Indigenous communities.

Inequality and Safety Nets in Canada

Safety Nets:
• Involves state and non-profit services to prevent poverty.
• Common forms include social assistance, universal healthcare, homeless shelters, and food
banks.
• Healthcare is publicly funded and available to all citizens.

Social Assistance:
• Aims to share income with those unable to work.
• Often fails to cover basic living costs.
• About half of households accessing food banks are recipients of social assistance.
• Programs perpetuate inequality by limiting children's opportunities.

Social Assistance Goals:

• Aims to help people seek stable employment and end dependence on government assistance.
• Some recipients feel unprepared for the workforce and face low wages.
• Governments need to increase minimum wage and provide high-quality, low-cost child care
to help people seek employment.
Chapter 7: Gender Inequality and Gender Domination

Gender: The social construction of what males and females should be like in terms of appearance,
behaviors, preferences, and social roles and expectations

Gender Inequality: The unequal treatment or perception of individuals based on their gender.

Sex: The biological differences between males and females, such as genitalia and chromosomes.

Binary: A system that classifies sex and gender into two distinct, opposite forms: male and female.

Masculinity: Traits, behaviors, and roles traditionally associated with being male.

Femininity: Traits, behaviors, and roles traditionally associated with being female.

Gender Identity: A person’s internal sense of their own gender, whether male, female, a blend of both,
or neither.

Genderqueer: A gender identity that does not fit within the traditional binary of male and female.

Genderfluid: A gender identity that can change over time or depending on the situation.

Sexual Orientation: A person’s physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to others.

Gender Roles: Societal norms dictating the behaviors that are considered appropriate for individuals
based on their gender.

Performativity: The concept that gender is constructed through one’s own repetitive performance of
gendered acts.

Transgender: Describing a person whose gender identity differs from biological sex

Intersectionality: A framework for understanding how various forms of social stratification, such as
race, gender, and class, intersect and impact individuals.

Second Shift: The phenomenon where women take on household and caregiving responsibilities in
addition to their paid work outside the home.

STEM: An acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields.

Hidden Curriculum: The unwritten, unofficial lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in
school.

Understanding Femininity and Masculine Representations on Social Media

• Social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube often exaggerate notions of femininity
and masculinity.
• These representations are tied to fashion, style, celebrity, and body aesthetics.
• The internet and advanced biomedical science have opened up possibilities for understanding
gender.

Gender Study in Sociology

• Gender studies have evolved from being considered unimportant or private to being open and
polarized.
• The stigma associated with being outside "typical" notions of sex and gender has led to
greater understanding of diversity.

Gender Differences and Inequality

• Gender differences are part of a larger system of inequality.
• They disadvantage some and advantage others, such as women being more likely to be poor
than men.
• Failing to consider gender can lead to unique experiences of disadvantage and discrimination.

Understanding Gender and Sex

Biological and Cultural Definitions of Sex

• Sex is a biological concept, presenting as male or female from conception.
• Gender refers to culturally learned notions of masculinity and femininity.
• Masculinity and femininity are not exclusive to either sex or gender; traits from either may be
evident in either sex or either gender.
• Gender identity is people’s personal experience of their gender, which may or may not align
with their sex.
• Two-spirited individuals, unique to some Indigenous communities, possess mixed gender
characteristics.

Sociocultural Roles of Gender

• Gender roles are learned patterns of behavior existent in all cultures.
• As we grow up and become socialized, we learn to perform or present particular gender roles
that fit with our cultural norms and sense of self.
• Stereotypical men are expected to control their fears and dominant emotions, display only
drive, ambition, and self-confidence, and be rigorously heterosexual.
• Stereotypical women are expected to be demure, submissive, and chaste.
• Gender roles vary from one culture to another and change over time.

Cultural Differences in Gender Roles

• Not all individuals participate in the performance of normative gender roles.
• Social norms continue to exert pressure on young men and women to behave in certain
ways, with consequences for deviating from stereotypical roles ranging from shame and social
stigma to physical assault.
• The degree to which a culture differentiates between males and females and emphasizes the
differences between masculinity and femininity varies from one society to another.

Transgender Identity and Social Consequences

• Science and technology have facilitated the visibility and legitimization of diverse gender
identities.
• New media, particularly YouTube channels, have helped document stories about transgender
people.
• Transgender individuals move beyond cultural norms, either by identifying with the opposite
gender identity or inhabiting a gender space that integrates both traditionally feminine and
masculine traits.
• Transitioning to transgender involves complex procedures, including hormone therapy,
surgical intervention, cosmetic and stylistic changes.
• Social consequences of being transgender include ostracization, ridicule, bullying,
discrimination, and hate crimes.
• A 2015 report found that 56% of transgender individuals had seriously considered suicide, and
29% had attempted suicide.
• Discrimination is prevalent in schools, jobs, and other institutions, with 13% of trans Ontarians
reporting job loss due to their identity.
• Bill C-279, passed in June 2017, adds gender identity to the Canadian Human Rights Act,
providing further rights for transgender individuals.

Conflict Theory and Capitalism

• Capitalism demands low-cost social reproduction, with families being the most convenient
method for raising new workers.
• Mothers provide the cheapest family labor, ensuring the health and welfare of the family
earners.

Marxist Approach and Gender Oppression

• Marxist analysis assumes working-class men and women are equally victims of the capitalist
class.
• The theory of patriarchy, where men are the main cause of women's oppression, aligns with
Marxist views.
• Socialist feminists suggest that a socialist revolution could liberate women economically.
• Gender inequality is inter-sectional, examining how class and gender dimensions explain
inequality.
Functionalist Theorists' View on Social Gendering

• Parsons and Bales argue that social gendering is universal and inevitable, facilitating
reproduction and socialization.
• Mothers, through early attachment to children, are well-suited for raising the family and
caring for the household.
• The functionalist argument emphasizes the survival of society over equality or individual
rights.
• Questions arise about whether benefits of gender differentiation, such as a specialized division
of labor, can be achieved without gendering or through reversed gendering.
• Possible solutions include stay-at-home fathers or grandparents combining with breadwinner
mothers.

Symbolic Interactionists' Perspective on Gender Inequality

• Study how gender differences or roles become gender inequalities.

• Examine how the sexual double standard has been manipulated to favor men over women.
• Study the social construction of gendered concepts like femininity and masculinity.
• Examine the role of families, schools, and mass media in propagating these ideas.
• Require cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons due to differing societal conceptions
and enforcement of masculinity and femininity.
• All three explanations are compatible, but the feminist approach is the most influential.

Feminist Theory and Gender Inequality

Feminist Theory Focus on Gender Differences

• Feminist theory focuses on how gender differences are socially constructed and the
inequalities they elicit for women.
• It emphasizes the importance of everyday life assumptions and practices as a window on
important social facts about power distribution.
• Feminist theory has expanded its focus to include inequality related to other social groups,
such as anti-racist/postmodern feminisms.

Intersectionality Theory
• Intersectionality theory, associated with Kimberle Crenshaw, proposes that inequality doesn't
inevitably cause a particular disadvantage.
• It recognizes that particular social locations will have unique disadvantages and be uniquely
marginalized.
• Gendered disadvantage is conditional, with a woman's experience of inequality depending on
racialization, class, age, sexual orientation, disability, and other features associated with
vulnerability.

Implications of Intersectionality
• Women's lives are "individualized," making universalizing statements about oppression or
"womanhood" as a social status difficult.
• The shared fact of their womanhood may not overcome major differences in life chances
associated with class, ethnicity, age, disability, and other sociologically important factors.

Standpoint Theory
• Standpoint theory proposes that we all view society from different social locations.
• Dominant groups, such as white men with secure, well-paying jobs in academia, will likely
view society differently from subordinate groups.
• This perspective may lead to accounts of reality that differ from most other people's
experiences.

Women's Contribution to Feminist Thought

• Women from all walks of life have contributed to feminist thought and created public
awareness of women's unique struggles.
• However, academic work may lose touch with the diversity of social disadvantage, which is
intellectual death for sociologists.

Gender Division of Labor in Canada

Historical and Contemporary Roles

• Indigenous nations and settlement areas in North America had different gendered divisions of
labor before European colonization.
• The first settlers to Canada were predominantly men, but women took on significant labor and
farming roles.
• The Industrial Revolution led to more cash income from men, reducing dependence on
women's labor.
• By the late 19th century, men had more control over household finances, while housework
was primarily the domain of women.

Impact of 20th Century Changes

• Women have entered the labor force in large numbers, with the proportion of dual-income
families rising from 36% in 1976 to 69% in 2015.
• Despite these changes, women still spend significantly more time on domestic work and caring
for their children and aging relatives than men.
• Same-sex families are more likely to have an equal distribution of domestic labor and report
greater satisfaction with their domestic labor arrangements than heterosexual couples.
• Many women rely increasingly on paid domestic and child-care services to make up the gap
in household work hours they can no longer put in.

Difficulty in Career and Fulfilling Partnership

• Heterosexual women are expected to carry a full load in both activities, making it difficult for
them to have a serious career and a fulfilling partnership.
• Few women quit their work when they have children, though many interrupt it for maternity
leave.
• Employers expect women to carry heavy domestic responsibilities, seeing women as less
valuable employees.
• Persistent gendered workplace norms and policies limit men’s and women’s ability to create
gender egalitarian relationships at home and work.
• The practice of paternity leaves has skyrocketed from 32% in 2005 to 72% in 2011.

The Pay Gap in North America: A Double Standard

• The average wage of women in North America is 72% of what men receive, with women
earning only 0.82 dollars for every dollar earned by men.
• The wage differences are most significant among 25- to 44-year-olds with at least one child
(29% wage difference) and those of the same age with no children (7% wage difference).
• Possible explanations include women working "full-time" taking more time off work to attend
to family business, having less experience and seniority in a particular occupation, and the
wage gap increasing with age.
• Geographic locale also plays a role in determining a woman's economic success, with
economic security varying across different cities in Canada.
• The pay gap is not fully explained by work interruptions linked to maternity leaves, as
evidenced by the 6 to 14 percent wage gap between men and women one year out of
university.
• Racialized women, particularly immigrant women, earn approximately 12 percent less than
their white female peers.
• Indigenous women are paid less than non-Indigenous women in Canada.
• There is a pay scale hierarchy by ethnicity, with straight men at the top, then gay men, then
lesbian women, and then straight women.
• Transgender Canadians' wages decrease by nearly one-third after transition, while
transgender men find their wages to increase slightly.

Gender Stereotypes and Education in Society

• In the European Enlightenment, men were encouraged to pursue trades, apprenticeships, or

formal training, while women's education was limited to domestic labor.
• Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 text, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, challenged gender
stereotypes and advocated for women's formal education.
• Women have become fully integrated into primary and secondary education systems globally,
with women more likely to graduate from high school and obtain a bachelor's or master's
degree than men.
• In Canada, gender differences are observed in high school course enrollment, with men
consistently having a higher representation in STEM subjects.
• The gender gap in STEM courses is attributed to deeper-rooted problems surrounding
socialization, with teachers placing different expectations on girls and boys.
• Efforts are being made to get girls involved in robotics, biology, and technology at younger
ages.
• Women have caught up with men in terms of obtaining a university degree, with women
aged 25 to 34 surpassing men in 2011.
• Despite having the academic background to pursue STEM degrees, women are always less
likely to choose a STEM program.
• Women remain underrepresented in occupations in natural and applied sciences but
overrepresented in elementary and secondary education and healthcare.
• Despite the ratio of men to women in STEM disciplines, there is not much work into what
kinds of approaches need to be developed to encourage more egalitarian gender representation.
• Current interventions like the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology and
Canadian Women in Communications and Technology are excellent programs to help girls and
women, but a sensibility for STEM needs to be formed early.
• Just over half of all STEM degrees in Canada are held by those who immigrate, suggesting that
recruitment to STEM programs may need to be an international and national effort.

Sexual Assault Risks and Reporting Reluctance

• Women are more likely to be victims of violence from familiar sources, with a 20% higher
risk of violent victimization compared to men in Canada.
• Approximately 88% of women who have been sexually assaulted in the past year do not
report their assault to the police.
• Many reported assaults are dropped as "unfounded" before any investigation, making the
likelihood of being believed a lottery based on location.
• The line between consensual and non-consensual sex and violent and non-violent sex is
blurred due to the difficulty in measuring and proving non-physical coercion.
• Researchers are now discussing "unwanted sex," which is the result of coercion, and can have
severe psychological consequences.
• Majority of sexual assaults are Level 1 assaults, involving unwanted sexual touching but no
physical injuries.
• Levels 2 and 3 are rarer and more traumatizing, with only 22% reported to the police.
• Despite the severity of sexual assault, most women's experiences of sexual victimization are
less likely to be violent and mostly go unreported.
Intimate Partner Violence: A Widespread Social Problem

Definition and Impact of Intimate Partner Violence

• Intimate partner violence is a prevalent issue, with every nine seconds in the United States,
and 1.5 to 2 million women in abusive relationships requiring immediate medical attention
annually.
• A battered woman is someone who has been repeatedly assaulted emotionally, physically,
and/or sexually by her intimate partner.
• Emotional abuse and controlling behavior can lead to long-term debilitating effects such as
PTSD, depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

Risks and Prevalence of Abuse

• Women run more serious risks of intimate partner violence than men.
• The National Violence Against Women Survey estimates that 25% of women have experienced
intimate partner violence at some point.
• Women who were sexually and physically abused in childhood are more likely to be abused
in adulthood, resulting in roughly 15% of women experiencing repeated victimization over the
course of their lives.

Reasons why Women choose to stay in abusive relationships

• Many women stay in abusive relationships because they cannot imagine leaving and living
without their partner.
• They may use "techniques of neutralization" to rationalize the actions of their abuser as
normal, acceptable, or at least justifiable.
• Women may also stay out of a realistic fear of the violence that might occur if they were to
leave.
• A lack of sufficient resources, such as social capital, education, and income, may keep some
women from leaving abusive relationships.
• Having children also makes it difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship, as there are
more logistical and resource demands that come from leaving an abusive relationship with one’s
children than from leaving without.
Chapter 8: Racialization and the Construction of Social
Marginality

Multiculturalism: The presence and coexistence of diverse cultural groups within a society, promoting
their retention and appreciation.

Discrimination: Unfair treatment of individuals or groups based on characteristics such as race, gender,
age, or religion.

Racialization: The process by which certain groups are singled out for unequal treatment based on
perceived racial differences.

Ethnicity: Shared cultural traits, such as language, religion, and traditions, that distinguish a group of
people.

Ethnic Group: A community of people who share a common cultural heritage, language, religion, or
ancestry.

Racism: Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on
the belief that one's own race is superior.

Racialized Minority: A group of people who are singled out based on racial characteristics and
subjected to unequal treatment.

Ethnic Enclaves: Geographic areas with a high concentration of people from a particular ethnicity, often
maintaining their cultural practices.

Stereotypes: Oversimplified and generalized beliefs about a particular group of people.

Critical Race Theory: An academic framework that examines the impact of race and racism on society,
emphasizing the importance of social and institutional power structures.

Racialized Socialization: The process by which individuals learn and internalize racial roles and
identities within a society.

Ethnic Solidarity: The sense of unity and mutual support among members of the same ethnic group.

Code-Switch: The practice of alternating between different languages or cultural behaviors depending
on the social context.

Tokenism: The practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to include members of
minority groups.

Orientalism: A way of depicting Eastern cultures as exotic, backward, and uncivilized compared to
Western standards.

Social Distance: The degree of acceptance or rejection individuals feel toward members of other social,
ethnic, or racial groups.
 Tolerance: The willingness to accept and respect differences in people, particularly regarding cultural,
racial, and religious diversity.

Homophily: The tendency of individuals to associate and bond with others who are similar to
themselves.

Diaspora: The dispersion of people from their original homeland to various parts of the world.

Institutionalized Racism: Systemic policies and practices within institutions that result in unequal
opportunities and treatment for different racial groups.

Expressed Racism: Overtly racist attitudes and behaviors that are openly displayed and communicated.

Internalized Racism: The acceptance and internalization of racist beliefs and stereotypes by members of
a marginalized racial group.

Canada's Diversity and Discrimination

• Canada is home to diverse Indigenous groups like First Nations, Inuit, Metis, descendants of
early fur traders, and recent immigrants.
• Immigrants come from 200 different ethnic and racialized groups, speaking over 200 different
languages.
• Canada has the highest foreign-born population of any G8 country at 21%.
• The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a bill of rights in the Constitution, ensures equal rights for
all Canadians.
• Despite the Charter, historical inequalities have been perpetuated and discrimination continues
to exist.
• Canada's perception as a safe haven for immigrants and refugees does not align with reality.
• Global trends and social change influence Canadians' perceptions and opinions.
• The United States, Canada's neighbor and largest trading partner, is prone to the influence of
events like the election of Donald Trump and the 9/11 attacks.
• The 9/11 attacks created increased insecurity and suspicion against racialized people, ethnic
groups, and religions.
• The effects of 9/11 on Muslim and Arab communities in Canada are still evident today, making
Arab Canadians and Muslim Canadians vulnerable to discrimination.

Racialization and Ethnicity: A Social Construct

Racialization and Ethnicity:

• Racialization refers to visible characteristics and features, such as hair color, skin color, and
facial features.
• Processofracialization describes how race is produced and bestowed on people by institutional
social actions.
• Martinot emphasizes that racism is a social construct, not a reflection of oneself.
Ethnicity:
• Refers to people who share a national or cultural background.
• Ethnic groups are characterized by four dimensions: shared homeland or ancestry, shared
history, sense of belonging, and self-consciousness.
• Ethnicity is socially constructed, with boundary lines and histories of nations and cultures
being social constructions.

Globalization and Ethnic Diversity:

• Globalization has created unprecedented diversity in North American cities, particularly in
Canadian metropolitan areas.
• Ethnic diversity can have positive outcomes but can also lead to conflict between social
groups.

Racialization and Its Impact

• Racialization is a social construct based on appearance and categorization.

• Four common "race" options: white, black, Hispanic, and Asian.
• These categories are non-comparable and can have real consequences on job searches, social
connections, and life quality.
• Racialization assumes visible characteristics have a biological basis, but advances in science
show little biological basis for racialized distinctions.
• Racialized features like skin color have no connection to social, intellectual, or moral qualities.
• Racism, the unequal treatment based on these categories, disadvantages segments of the
population and impacts day-to-day life.
• Racism can create shared experiences and self-consciousness around racialization.
• Individuals have agency in shaping their racialization, as seen in the construction of the
category of "black" by second-generation Canadian youth.

Racialization and Ethnicity in Sociological Research

Methodological Approaches and Their Limitations

• Different sociological studies focus on racialization and ethnicity, ranging from examining
concepts to focusing on experiences of different ethnic and racialized groups.
• Qualitative approaches use complex definitions and understandings of racialization and
ethnicity, while large-scale quantitative studies need to reduce the meaning of these concepts to
a limited number of questions.
Survey Research and Ethnicity-Based Categorizations
• Survey research aims to understand trends and changes in societal composition and
structure.
• Census data collection, including demographic data, is crucial for policymaking and resource
allocation.
• Ancestry definitions are complex and can be contested, with nation-states not fully capturing
ancestry.
• Identity-based categorizations are contentious, and no single term can fully and accurately be
designated to an entire social group.

Interracial Marriages and Racialization

• Interracial marriages, such as mixed unions, complicate categorization.
• The 2011 census reported that 4.6% of couples are in mixed unions, a growing segment of
Canada.

Qualitative Inquiry and Indigenous Studies

• Qualitative inquiry rejects simple groupings and predefined categories, aiming to gain
understandings of meaning and experiences.
• The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has made research
with Indigenous groups a priority area of scholarship.
• Qualitative inquiry considers ancestry, racialization, and ethnicity as negotiated knowledge
systems.
• The Tri-Council Policy Statement has developed guidelines to guide research with Indigenous
communities.

Understanding Racialization and Ethnic Inequality in Canada

• The term "visible minority" in Canada refers to non-Caucasian or non-white individuals, but
is losing acceptance due to criticisms of reinforcing the belief that whiteness is not visible and
potentially stigmatizing certain non-white groups.
• Scholars are now using terms like racialized group or racialized minority, which are less
discriminatory.
• Ethnic composition varies in Canadian metropolitan areas, with the top three racialized
minority groups in Montreal being black, Arab, and Latin American, while others are South
Asian or Chinese.
• Debate on racialization, ethnicity, inequality, and conflict surrounds the relationship between
racialized groups and dominant groups.
• Dominant groups often remain unaware of the struggles of racialized minorities in adapting to
new cultures or finding jobs.
• Tension often arises from dominant groups perceiving racialized minorities as threatening
their status, as seen in recent policy debates around the added tax on foreign buyers to control
the housing crisis in large cities.
• Critics often believe ethnic enclaves show a reluctance to integrate into Canadian society,
ignoring the history of aggressively racist policies in Canada.
• Understanding how racialized minorities and dominant groups come together is crucial as
there is an increased movement of people within and across nation-states.

Functionalism and Social Organization

• Functionalism emphasizes the organization of society and the establishment and maintenance
of social order.
• Socially cohesive groups are formed based on shared identities, such as those gained through
ethnic history or racialization.
• Sociologist Georg Simmel emphasized the importance of affiliation in distinct social groups,
based on common interests, shared characteristics, and family ties.
• Ethnic identification provides grounds for affiliation, gaining social relevance and structuring
many aspects of social life.

Immigrant and Refugee Inclusion in Canada

• Ethnic heritage can serve as a link for immigrants and refugees to connect to a cultural past
and develop new connections.
• Connecting with established immigrants or refugees can create migration patterns, as recent
immigrants tend to resettle in larger metropolitan areas.

Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Large Canadian Cities

• Functionalists view ethnic and cultural diversity in large Canadian cities as beneficial,
promoting multiplicity of opinions and exposure to a variety of foods, dress codes, and social
practices.
• Ethnic solidarity in large cities increases social cohesion among people of the same ethnic
group and across ethnic groups.

Conflict Theory and Racialization

• Conflict theory focuses on patterns of inequality based on class, gender, racialization, and
ethnicity.
• It highlights how dominant groups benefit more from differentiation, as differentiation often
provides advantages to dominant groups.
• Economic competition can promote the creation and preservation of ethnic boundaries and
racialized stereotypes.
• Racialization practices, such as hiring and promotion based on "race," can introduce racialized
distinctions into situations that should be managed without them.
• Critical Race Theory (CRT) views racialization as a performance rather than an innate,
biological quality.
• CRT outlines the invisibility of racism in society, the system of "white-over-color"
ascendency, and differential racialization.
• CRT suggests that only disadvantaged people can see and assess the lived reality of inequality.
• There is growing interest in studying whiteness as a privileged category in society, which
keeps those identified and treated as white ignorant of the experiences of everyone else.

Symbolic Interactionism and Racialized Socialization

• Symbolic interactionism explores how interactions shape our sense of self and the learning of
symbols and their meanings.
• It also examines how racialized socialization contributes to the formation of identities and
conflicts between racialized and ethnic groups.
• Racialized socialization exposes individuals to the beliefs, values, history, language, and social
realities of their own and other people’s racialization or ethnic groups.
• There is no one accurate way to depict any particular group and their beliefs, values, etc., as
information is transmitted and learned socially.
• Racialized socialization emphasizes the difference between groups and the sense of belonging
experienced by members of an ethnic group, termed ethnic solidarity.

Third-Culture Kids (TCK) and Code-Switching

• TCK are children who have been socialized in a different culture than their parents were
socialized into.
• They have a great facility to adapt to new cultures due to their ability to code-switch,
adjusting their body language, expressions, and even parts of themselves to fit with the cultural
context.
• Code-switching is most evident when it takes on a racialized or ethnic subtext.
• Code-switching occurs a lot online, where people adjust their forms of interaction to various
social networking sites.

Cultural Symbolism and Ethnic Groups

• Cultural objects that define ethnic groups can have different meanings, providing a basis for
group distinction.
• Indigenous communities' symbols reflect past history, values, and beliefs, but many Canadians
have an ambivalent relationship with the symbolism.
• The use of Indigenous symbols during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games was an
example of tokenism—making a symbolic effort towards equality without enacting real social
change.
Feminist Scholars' Focus on Inequalities and Advocacy for Equal Rights

• Simone de Beauvoir's concept of "the other" highlights societal inequalities, with women often
defined as "other" than men.
• Edward Said's postcolonial theorist analysis of Western perceptions of non-Western peoples
highlights the role of ignorance in shaping Western understanding of the East.
• Orientalism, the practice of assigning undesirable attributes to a population, has practical
implications for politics and policies of interethnic conflict.
• The 9/11 attacks have perpetuated false images of Muslims and Arabs, highlighting the
continuation of Orientalism.
• The concept of intersectionality is developed to understand how different dimensions of
inequality, such as gender, class, racialization, and ethnicity, influence experiences of inequality
and discrimination.
• Disadvantages are conditional, with women suffering different forms of inequality depending
on their racialization, class, age, disability, and other vulnerability features.

Diversity and Its Opportunities and Challenges

Concepts of Diversity:
• Social distance: Racial and ethnic differences that separate us socially, culturally, and
economically.
• Conflict: The oppression of one ethnic or social group by other groups holding power and
privilege.
• Tolerance: The idea that people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds can come
together in a single nation-state.

Increasing Tolerance:
• Contact is a positive way to increase tolerance.
• Digital media, governed by algorithms and highly personalized for individual preferences, can
lead to interactions in silos.

Tolerance as a Positive Orientation:

• Côté and Erickson distinguish three core elements: cognitive, evaluative, and political.
• Canada's tolerant attitude towards minority groups and their cultures is questioned.
• A 2016 poll showed 68% of Canadians believe minorities should do more to fit in and 32%
believe Canadians should encourage cultural diversity.
• Fewer than 4.6% of couples are in mixed unions, suggesting a preference for partners in the
same ethnic or racialized group.
Diaspora Formation and Importance in Canada

• Migrants from around the world arrive in Canadian cities to resettle, establishing new identity
linkages.
• The process includes building new ties with racialized and ethnic groups to obtain help and
support.
• Diasporas are ethnic enclaves outside the homeland that provide connections back to one's
roots.
• The term diaspora has evolved from describing the scattering of tribes of Israel to
encompassing any migrant community, including those assimilated to their new homeland.
• Three key dimensions of diasporas are dispersion, homeland orientation, and boundary
maintenance.
• Diasporas are formed in the context of both a colonial past and current global structures.
• The flow of people is closely linked to colonial relations established in the British Empire and
the colonization of the Americas, as well as to the economic interests and forces of globalization.
• Digital media facilitates and reinforces transnational connections, supporting the formation of
communities in digital diasporas.
• Digital technology has transformed how diasporas operate, allowing migrants to connect with
family back home and maintain a sense of belonging to their place of origin.
• Technology also contributes to people's willingness to relocate, allowing them to stay
connected with family and friends and research their new area of residence.

Racial Differences and Racism

• Racial differences are socially constructed, not biologically determined.
• Racism favors one's ethnic viewpoint and considers others' viewpoints as inferior.
• Conflict theorists argue that power, ambition and economic advantage drive unequal racialized
and ethnic relations.
• Racism is used to justify inequality based on perceived superiority related to social
construction of "race."
• The dominant group blames the subordinate group's misfortunes on an inferior genetic
constitution or bad cultural values.

Institutional Racism in Canada: A Historical Perspective

• Institutional racism is a form of discrimination based on ingrained practices and biases, often
invisible unless institutions are analyzed as a whole.
• Canada's history of institutional racism is evident in the implementation of educational
institutions, particularly residential schools.
• These schools were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture,
based on the assumption that indigenous culture was inferior to Europeans.
• The residential schools deeply impacted Indigenous individuals and communities, resulting in
the forced separation of children from their families and communities, physical and sexual
abuse, isolation, and experimentation.
• The Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) has been instrumental in providing a roadmap
for inclusion and reconciliation among Indigenous groups and its colonizers.
• The TRC aims to honor Indigenous communities and individuals' self-determination and voice,
creating opportunities for learning and dialogue.
• Reconciliation involves coming to terms with past events to defeat long-standing conflict and
move towards a respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
• The TRC has offered numerous recommendations pertaining to the rights, education, and
health of Indigenous people, including calls for new education legislation and a Canadian
Indigenous Languages Act.
• The TRC mobilizes governments, institutions, communities, and individuals towards
reconciliation, developing a digital space for community building.
• The TRC argues that lack of knowledge about residential schools has negative consequences
and calls for informed policy decisions by government officials.
• Institutionalized racism has also been documented in Canada’s immigration policies, with
practices of discrimination affecting immigrant selection and challenges immigrants face upon
entering Canada.

Canadian Immigration Policy: A Historical Perspective

• Canadian immigration policy in the 19th and 20th centuries was primarily based on
European immigrants, with the government selecting immigrants based on their perceived
ability to fit into Anglo-Canadian culture.
• Overt racism was prevalent, with interventions and barriers to prevent certain ethnic groups
from migrating to Canada.
• Asian immigrants were particularly vulnerable, with restrictions applied to immigrants from
China in the form of a head tax.
• This policy was also seen in other parts of the world, such as Australia's policies towards
Chinese immigrants.
• Canada's discriminatory immigration policy affected refugee decisions during WWII, with
Jewish immigrants from Europe being denied entry.
• The Immigration Act of 1953 continued to discriminate against specific groups, identifying
"prohibited classes" and allowing government discretion based on immigrant characteristics.
• Despite the implementation of human rights legislation in 1962, discrimination towards
immigrants of different origins did not completely dissipate.
• The "problem of diversity" refers to large numbers of immigrants from non-traditional source
countries, which Anglo-Canadian citizens fear will compromise Canada's "national identity."
• The Conservative Party of Canada proposed screening potential immigrants and refugees for
"anti-Canadian values," but this proposal was dismissed due to the simplistic notion that
Canadian values can be assessed.
• The Conservative leadership candidate argued that the screening strategy would fail to
accurately capture the values of immigrants, violating Canada's pursuit of a multicultural
identity.
• Recent immigrants face "structured inequality" due to language barriers and non-recognition
of foreign qualifications, and encountering expressed racism.
• Biases in hiring practices and stereotyping are examples of institutional racism that
disadvantage racialized minorities.

Internalized Racism
• Refers to the acceptance of racialized individuals' stereotypes of being inferior.
• Exposure to overt racism leads to negative self-perceptions.
• Socialization in a racist society influences identity formation.
• Children develop assumptions about their identity as they grow.
• Internalized racism can lead to health issues like illness, depression, and high stress levels.

Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice:
• A negative, hostile social attitude towards members of a group.
• Prejudice is based on stereotypes, fixed mental images that people associate with a group.
• Stereotypes often justify prejudices against racialized and ethnic minorities.

Discrimination:
• Actions taken against another person due to their group membership.
• It involves denying opportunities that would be granted to equally qualified members of their
own group.
• Discrimination favors some members of society over others based on assumptions about their
racialized or ethnic background.
• The basis of discrimination can be nepotism, ethnic self-protection, or self-advancement.
• Racialized profiling, the practice of racializing people and using their appearance and assumed
background to predict their engagement in criminal activities, is often based on prejudice.

Racism in Canada: Systemic and Invisible Experiences

• Racism in Canada is often systemic and invisible, leading to overlooked opportunities.
• Some experiences of racism are denied or blamed, like Indigenous communities lacking
resources.

Microaggressions of Racism
• Microaggressions are daily interactions with subtle discrimination.
• Examples include asking ethnically diverse people about their origins, touching black women's
hair, or assuming Asian students excel in math.
• These interactions implicitly communicate that individuals are not unique, defined by their
racialization, and their rights to privacy are not respected.
• Microaggressions can cause daily stress for those experiencing them

Understanding Genocide and Ethnic Conflict

Understanding Genocide
• Genocide refers to intentional mass murder, not randomized acts.
• It refers to the systematic, large-scale annihilation of an ethnic group, often with the intention
of eradicating its people.
• The Nazi regime's actions against Jews in Europe, including 6 million murdered, are a prime
example of genocide.

Critique of Humanitarian Discrimination

• Many nations, despite being humanitarians, discriminate against Jewish people.
• Canada rejected Jewish refugees who escaped Nazi persecution, leading to many dying in
death camps.

United Nations' Role in Ethnic Conflict

• In 1948, the UN declared the eradication of ethnic groups a crime against humanity.
• The UN's mission is to increase tolerance, understanding, and reduce conflict between ethnic
groups.

Role of Ethnic Groups in Conflict

• Conflicts between ethnic groups arise from the perception of competition for limited resources.
• Anti-Semitism, particularly against Jewish people, has been prevalent since the Middle Ages.
• Prejudice continues today, with the internet providing a platform for these prejudices to be
expressed.

Case Study: Ernst Christoph Friedrich Zindel

• Ziindel used the internet to deny the Nazi genocide of Jewish people during WWII.
• His website was shut down and he was denied further entry into Canada.

Impact of Refugee Increase and Islamophobia

• The rise in refugees from Muslim countries has led to an increase in Islamophobia in Canada.
Chapter 9: Understanding Global Inequality
Global North: The economically developed, industrialized countries mainly located in North America,
Europe, and parts of East Asia.

Global South: The less economically developed, often poorer countries primarily in Africa, Latin
America, and parts of Asia.

Globalization: The process by which businesses, cultures, and economies around the world become
interconnected and interdependent through trade, communication, and technology.

Innovation: The creation and implementation of new ideas, methods, products, or technologies that bring
improvements or solve problems.

Global Civil Society: A network of organizations, movements, and individuals around the world
working independently of governments to address global issues and advocate for social change.

Neoliberalism: An economic and political philosophy that promotes free markets, deregulation,
privatization, and reduced government intervention in the economy.

The State: An organized political community under a government, recognized as sovereign and having
authority over a specific geographic territory.

Modernity: A historical period characterized by industrialization, rationalization, and a break from

traditional ways of life, often associated with technological advancement and social progress.

Colonialism: The practice of acquiring and controlling territories by a foreign power, exploiting them for
economic benefit and imposing cultural and political structures.

Newly Industrialized Countries: Nations that have recently transitioned from primarily agricultural
economies to industrialized ones, experiencing rapid economic growth.

Global City: A major urban center that is a hub for international trade, finance, culture, and
communication, influencing global affairs (e.g., New York, London, Tokyo).

Core States: Economically and politically dominant countries that benefit from and control the global
economic system (e.g., the United States, Germany).

Peripheral States: Less developed countries that are economically dependent on core states and have
less influence in the global economy.

Semi-Peripheral States: Countries that have characteristics of both core and peripheral states, often
experiencing moderate levels of development and influence (e.g., Brazil, South Africa).

Cosmopolitans: People who view themselves as global citizens, embracing diverse cultures and
advocating for global cooperation and justice.

Communitarians: Individuals who emphasize the importance of community values, local traditions, and
social cohesion over global or individual perspectives.

Human Capital: The skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by individuals, which are valuable for
economic productivity.
 Materialization: The process of making an idea, concept, or plan tangible and concrete, often through
physical manifestation or implementation.

Knowledge Translation: The process of applying research findings and scientific knowledge into
practical applications, policies, or practices.

Neo-Colonialism: The use of economic, political, and cultural pressures by former colonial powers to
control or influence formerly colonized countries, resembling colonialism without direct political
control.

Global Inequality and Its Impact on Life and Well-being

Global Inequality Overview

• Global inequality refers to the disparities in opportunities for a healthy, satisfying life across
different societies.
• The Global North, including the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, have more
favorable life chances.
• The Global South, encompassing countries in the southern hemisphere, are less economically
developed.

Economic Inequality
• The potential for prosperity is measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
• The mean GDP per capita of the world in 2015 (UsDs 10,004) serves as an economic equator
between the Global North and South.
• Economic inequality is evident in GDP per capita in the Global North and South.

Purchasing Power Parity

• Large differences remain even when correcting for purchasing power parity, which measures
the local cost of living.
• In 2016, the GDP per hour worked was USD 62.90 in the United States, USD 48.90 in Canada,
USD 31.80 in South Korea, and USD 23.50 in Russia.

Global Inequality and Millionaires

• Majority of the world’s millionaires live in a few countries, mainly in the Global North.
• A millionaire is 16 times more likely to reside in the United States than in Canada.

Human Development Index (HDI)

• The HDI measures social development in addition to economic development.
• It combines life expectancy, human capital, and standard of living to give a more
contextualized image of people’s conditions.
• Unlike GDP, the HDI captures the experience of the average person, leading some countries to
rank higher on the HDI than on the GDP per capita measure.
Globalization and Global Inequality

Defining Features of Globalization

• Globalization refers to the process of corporations operating internationally and exerting
international influence.
• It is a complex concept with different interpretations by academics and diplomats.

Globalization's Impact on Canadian Consumers

• Globalization benefits Canadian consumers by making a wide selection of consumer goods
available at lower prices.
• However, it negatively impacts unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled Canadian workers by
moving manufacturing jobs overseas to regions with lower wages.

Globalization as a Technological Concept

• Globalization is partly an economic concept and partly technological, referring to the role of
new technologies in homogenizing world cultures.
• Technological innovation has improved cooperation around the world, particularly through
information technologies like the Internet.

Globalization's Impact on Global Inequality

• Globalization helps countries in the Global North build on their existing technological
advantages to increase their wealth and power.
• However, it may lead to conflicting values and aspirations, especially between older and
younger generations in lower-income countries.

Economic Globalization
• Global investors, bankers, and multinational corporations benefit from globalization, leading to
growing national inequality.
• Some benefits accrue to workers in lower-income countries, diminishing global inequality.
• Global inequality increases because the benefits are not shared by other members of the
highest-income countries.

Cultural Changes
• The changes to global cultures due to globalization will be complex and varied.

The Relationship Between Technology, Politics, and Global Inequality

• Historical economist Thomas Piketty's work suggests a trend towards increasing economic
inequality and wealth among ruling class members.
• The relationship between technology, politics, and global inequality has been a subject of
debate for decades.
• American economist Paul Krugman argued that technology is not the primary factor
influencing global inequality.
• The Global North's monopoly on patents and copyrights increases global inequality.
• South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and mainland China have shown that the technological
advances of the Global North can diminish, leading to a redistribution of global inequality but
not eradication.
• South Korea's state and corporations must constantly struggle to break the control of new
technology held by interests in the Global North.
• Neo-liberal policies and free trade have been associated with the steepest increase in
inequality, primarily benefiting the rich.
• The role of states in explaining economic and social disparities is crucial. Without state
intervention, globalization increases global inequality, leading to marginalization and political
turbulence.
• The role of communications technology is also significant in the discussion of global
inequality.
• Technological innovation has a more beneficial impact on reducing global inequality than a
neo-liberal model based on open competition.
• Technology transfer is seen as a global benefactor, but it can negatively affect the ecosystems
of lower-income societies, increasing global inequality and jeopardizing local lifestyles.
• Global inequality has produced a digital divide in people's access to and use of new
communication technology, leading to an unequal opportunity to secure employment requiring
familiarity with and skill level using new information and communication technologies.

Functional Theory:

• Functional theorists propose societies evolve and prosper through differentiation and
cooperation, with "market forces" at the center.
• Neoliberalism, a functionalist belief, sees a free, impersonal market as key to modernization,
industrialization, and prosperity.
• Neo-liberalism refers to the freeing up of global markets by reducing the state's intervention
in the economy.
• Markets operate rationally to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people,
creating maximum prosperity for everyone.
• Neoliberalism grew in the Global South in opposition to Keynes' policies, which focused on
government spending to create jobs.
• Nationally, market deregulation was pushed under pro-business governments like Ronald
Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
• For Canada, the beginning of "free trade" with the United States in 1987 marked a turning
point in this process.
• Internationally, countries seeking money from the International Monetary Fund or the World
Bank required "structural adjustment" by following deregulatory reform plans.
Neo-Liberal Globalization and the Rise of Multinational Corporations

• Neo-liberal globalization has been criticized for leading to the decline of the state and the rise
of multinational corporations.
• Large multinational corporations have the assets of small to midsize national economies,
exercising significant political influence worldwide.
• This shift creates a new form of "modernity" that threatens the foundations of the modern
state.
• Some neo-liberals argue that state-oriented approaches to global inequality should be
replaced by focusing on powerful multinational corporations.
• Multinational corporations' actions and interests shape the flow, form, and location of
investment, trade, and technology development.
• The rise of multinational corporations has led to the globalization of social life, with vast flows
of information characterizing social life.
• The only important actors on the world stage are global entities, not traditional nation-states.
• Neo-liberal approach assumes that the market for labor and goods is politically neutral.
• Neo-liberals propose that democracy is an irrational force that threatens the rationality and
effectiveness of the market.
• Functionalists also focus on the global spread of lifestyles and values prevalent in the Global
North, including the desire for democracy and British and American culture.
• This global spread of modernity brings with it local desires for development and
Americanization, which encourage and require the spread of multinational organizations owned
in the Global North.

Conflict Theory: Understanding Global Inequality from a Conflict Perspective

Historical Trends and Dependency Theory

• Dependency theory suggests that developing states have failed to achieve sustainable
development due to their neo-colonial dependence on the advanced capitalist world.
• Colonialism, practiced by countries like Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, led
to the exploitation of local economic resources for colonizers.
• Andre Gunder Frank, a German economist, proposed that colonialism deformed the economies
of the Global South by making these states dependent on the advanced metropolises of the
colonial states.
• Frank argued that nations in the Global South could only achieve growth by cutting ties with
capitalist societies and pursuing independent socialist development strategies.

Flaws in Dependency Theory

• It overemphasizes economic factors, assuming a "surplus drain" flowing to capitalist countries
due to the extraction and appropriation of profits from the Global South.
• A complete analysis of global inequality requires attention to cultural, demographic, political,
and economic factors.
Fragile States and Global Economic Changes
• A "fragile states" index is used to measure state fragility, a state whose political or economic
system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control.
• Political failure often leads to economic failure and higher levels of economic inequality.
• Failed states are found in many parts of the world, but are overrepresented in Africa.

Global Cities and Their Role in the International Economy

• Saskia Sassen's analysis of global cities and their role in the international economy suggests
that many global changes take place within the structure of nation-states.
• Sassen suggests that the 2008 financial crisis and the billion-dollar bailouts that accompanied
it have shown the error of neo-liberal principles.
• Sassen believes that the global city, not the nation-state or corporate entities, will be the
central place of development in the globalized era.
• Cities with the "three "T's"—technology, talent, and tolerance—are particularly successful at
attracting members of the creative class.

Wallerstein's "World System Theory"

• Wallerstein's theory suggests a worldwide social system developed since the sixteenth
century, based on capitalist principles.
• The system is linked by economics and has a global division of labor and stratification system.
• Wallerstein draws on Marx and Weber's ideas, acknowledging the complexity of change from
feudalism to capitalism.
• He notes that world economies existed before the sixteenth century, evident in global empires
like the Greek, Roman, and Spanish empires.
• In the sixteenth century, a new world economy emerged, based on the capitalist mode of
production.
• The capitalist mode of production built and strengthened this emerging world economy, which
persisted as an economic world system.
• Wallerstein's model consists of three categories of world nations: core states, peripheral states,
and semi-peripheral states.
• Core states had the most detailed and "modern" division of labor, while the periphery had the
least.
• The world economy was based on the assumption of these three zones and their different
modes of labor control.
Feminist Analysis of Global Inequality and Globalization

Inequalities and Policies

• Feminist analyses of global inequality link various types of inequality, including gender,
racialization, ethnicity, and class.
• Policies promoting gender equality are crucial for improving national well-being and
addressing macroeconomic development.

Globalization and Gender Equality

• Socio-economic globalization has influenced the property-softening state, impacting gender
equality.
• The rise of the global city, a partly denationalized platform for global capitalism, reconfigures
the balance of authority and influence, requiring the state to share its power.
• Other actors, such as NGOs, minority populations, and international organizations, shape and
reinforce international laws and policies.

Challenges in Global Feminist Strategy

• The wide differences between high-income women in the Global North and women in the
Global South can divide women in societies that ascribe to gender equality principles versus
societies that do not.
• Framing feminism and multiculturalism as oppositional is akin to arguing that minority
women fall victim to their own cultures.
• The claim that cultures from the Global South are universally more subordinating than
cultures from the Global North originates from colonialism, the origins of liberalism, and the use
of binary logic.

The Need for a Feminist Solidarity Model

• Mohanty argues for a feminist solidarity model or comparative feminist studies model,
recognizing that local and global forces exist side-by-side and influence each other.
• This model recognizes that differences and commonalities exist in relation to and in tension
with each other in all contexts.

Misrepresentations and Misconceptions

• Misrepresentations about women in the Global South can lead to policymakers on the wrong
path towards effective solutions to development problems.
• Communication honestly about problems, solutions, and policies is an important aspect of
policymaking.

The Debate Between Cosmopolitans and Communitarians

• Cosmopolitans advocate for universal human rights, such as gender equality, while
communitarians reject the notion that human rights apply universally to all individuals.
• Cosmopolitanism has been criticized for not addressing the complex power imbalances in
which most women lead their lives.
• Success will require focusing on local rights and constraints as part of institutional change,
while keeping in mind the fundamental principles of gender equality.

Symbolic Interactionism and Global Inequality

• Symbolic interactionism studies social interaction and meaning-making, focusing on the social
construction of legitimating ideas or structures.
• Elke Winter's work on North American identity reveals the difficulty in conceptualizing global
inequality due to cultural, economic, and ecological differences.
• The European Union's lack of an "imagined community" can lead to Brexit, a planned
secession of one national unit.
• Various attempts to imagine the EU have been made, including comparing it to medieval
Europe, describing it as a fortress, or imagining it as a virtual entity.
• Symbolic interactionists consider these issues when considering global inequality and
competition of national, regional, and multinational units.

State Role in Globalization and Social Development

• States regulate and control activities within their borders, stimulating and promoting
innovation through taxation and redistribution of national revenues.
• State policy can significantly impact the adoption rate of new technologies, which in turn
increases a nation's economic productivity.
• The tightening of national bonds increases the spread of new ideas, technologies, and products.
• Government intervention is necessary for the adoption of innovations from elsewhere, as seen
in Singapore's electronics industry.
• Global networking strategies can help countries in the Global South build on the knowledge
and skills of the Global North, but this requires government support for training and cooperative
relationships.
• Government subsidies to promote local development and adoption of new technologies can
either help or hinder their spread.
• Policies restricting diffusion can impose substantial costs on society, such as restricting the
open sharing of scientific information.
• Patents on intellectual property can stifle progress, but history shows that an increase in
patents correlates with growth in innovation.
• Globalization is possible only because states have done a relatively good job in
market-securing functions, but it largely undermines these states.
• States that fulfill the needs of rule of law, high-quality human capital, and minimum
guarantees of human survival will never be actively destroyed by those with a vested interest
in globalization.
International Cultural and Ideas Spread through Information and Communication
Technologies

• Information and communication technologies control the flow of information, allowing

powerful entities to shape its meaning.
• The global news agenda is unequal, with the Global North dominating the agenda.
• News from the "core" dominates the periphery, marginalizing the exchange of news among
peripheral countries.
• Cultural practices transmitted across the world are influenced by the nation with the most
influence.
• Cultural diffusion captures hearts and minds through the flow of information, including values,
ideas, images, practices, and artifacts.
• Cultural diffusion redefines how humans live, and it maintains the global power structure, as
cultural styles typically spread from the Global North to the Global South.

Migration and Global Inequality

• Every five years, approximately 0.6% of the world's population moves to another country,
averaging 8.1 million people per year from 2005 to 2010.
• Migration impacts global inequality by transferring ideas, values, and technologies, altering the
productive potential of societies, and allowing individuals to use global inequality to their
advantage.
• The most able, ambitious, and adventurous individuals are the most likely to migrate, unless
forced to flee.
• Geographic distance and job opportunities play a key role in migration, with the risks of
moving to a new destination decreasing when there are known job opportunities and an
existing community of similar recent migrants.
• The ease of migration has increased global diversity and reduced the possibility and extent of
conflict.
• The brain drain from the poorest to the richest countries has increased due to increased ease
of migration.
• States regulate the local social and skill composition of the population by raising or lowering
the human capital and solving or creating problems in health, education, welfare, employment,
and unemployment.
• The global flow of refugees, granted asylum on grounds other than their social or economic
utility, has increased dramatically in the past 20 years.
• The large-scale movement of people within and across national borders will increasingly
occupy foreign policy and national security establishments.
• Population flow has joined trends that challenge national sovereignty and create
global-national institutional tensions, especially in the European Union.
• Policy options available to states to reduce unwanted immigration flows include trade, foreign
investment, development assistance, guest worker policies, refugee return policies, safe havens,
exit control policies, political strategies to reduce refugee flows, and military intervention.

Global Inequality Reduction Mechanisms

• Foreign aid: Directly funnels funds into another country's national budget, often benefiting
corrupt leaders.
• Debt cancellation: Aid often comes in the form of military spending and equipment, which has
no positive effect on inequality.
• Tariff reduction: Aid often comes in the form of loans, which can exacerbate a country's
economic difficulties.

Global Inequality and Violence

• Global inequality often leads to violence and attempts to correct it.

• The CIA, Soviet Union, and Russian invasions have all been examples of foreign intervention
in politics.
• Political violence, including war crimes, is often used to gain political power.
• Rationalizations around the "greater good" are often used to explain the extent of violence
and its effects.
• Political violence can also lead to environmental destruction, a practice that has been used as
a strategy of war since Roman times.
• Environmental disasters are increasingly causing degradation of people's quality of life,
exacerbating global inequalities.
• This raises concerns about the potential number of environmental refugees if climate change
continues.
Chapter 10: Families, Age Groups, and Social Patterns close
to home

Infidelity: Betrayal of trust in a romantic or sexual relationship by having a romantic or sexual

relationship with someone outside of the agreed relationship.

Family: A group of individuals related by blood, marriage, or adoption, often living together and
providing emotional and economic support to each other

Patriarchy: A social system in which men hold primary power and dominate roles in leadership,
authority, and control of property

Socialization: The process through which individuals learn and adopt the values, norms, behaviors, and
skills appropriate to their society or social group

Social Constructionists: People who believe that societal norms, values, and roles are created and
maintained through social interactions and collective agreement rather than being inherent or
biologically determined

Census Family: A family unit defined by a census as a group of individuals living in the same
household, consisting of a married or common-law couple (with or without children), or a lone parent
with at least one child

Kin Group: A group of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption, who maintain social relationships
and obligations beyond the immediate family unit

Nuclear Family: A family unit consisting of two parents (a mother and a father) and their biological or
adopted children living together in a single household

Industrialization: The process of developing industries in a country or region on a wide scale, leading to
the growth of factories and mass production

Urbanization: The process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities and urban
areas, often due to migration from rural areas

Extended Family: A family unit that extends beyond the nuclear family, including relatives such as
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, often living nearby or in the same household

Telecommuting: Working from a location outside the traditional office, often from home, using
telecommunications technology to communicate and perform work tasks

The Impact of Technology on Family Relationships

• The rise of communication technologies and online dating sites has made cheating easier and
partners more available.
• The temptation of online dating services, despite the threat of hacking and leaked usernames, is
causing concerns about the longevity of relationships.
• The chapter discusses the impact of science and technology on families and relationships.
• Modern society's norms about family are changing rapidly, leading to varying views on
divorce, cohabitation, childbearing, and sex outside of marriage.
• Family units are smaller and frailer, with higher rates of divorce and relationship dissolution.
• The late 1960s saw liberalization of divorce laws, making marital dissolution easier.

Conflict Theory on Family Life

• Focuses on political and economic changes affecting family life, particularly power dynamics.
• Industrialization led to family shifting from a self-sustaining unit of production to a
consumption unit in a consumer capitalism society.
• Working-class men sold their labor power to the bourgeoisie in exchange for income.
• Women took normative responsibility for the home, including child-rearing, food preparation,
and emotional support.
• This new family form was far from democratic, with patriarchy, controlled by a dominant
male, being a central fact.
• Capitalist economic organization has led to free, unregulated markets, leading to economic
crises, prolonged unemployment, and monopoly-driven prices.
• This has led to a need for second- and third-generation earners in families and precarious
employment.
• The conflict theory position on families has been enriched by feminist theorists.

Functionalist View on Family Institutions

• Views the family as a central societal institution, mirroring larger societal changes.
• Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales' functionalist analysis emphasizes the family's division of
labor.
• The husband is instrumental, serving as breadwinner, decision-maker, and authority source.
• The wife is expressive, serving as homemaker, nurturer, and emotional center.
• The family regulates sexual behavior, reproduction, and socializes children.
• The 1950s saw changes in roles, making specialization less useful.
• The internet is replacing the family as a socialization hub, reshaping functionalists'
understanding of family function.
Symbolic Interactionists and Social Constructionists in Family Studies

• Symbolic interactionists study family interactions and conflict resolution within roles.
• Social constructionists focus on the development and use of family ideologies, such as "family
values" promoted by right-wing religious leaders and conservative politicians.
• These entrepreneurs channel popular anxieties into hostility against groups like single mothers,
people of color, interracial couples, gays, lesbians, and divorced people.
• The effect is to channel hostility away from exploitative employers and unresponsive
governments towards those in need of support and understanding.
• Traditional ideologies are used to harm vulnerable families, under the guise of preserving
traditional family life.

Feminist Theorists' Perspective on Family Structure and Social Reproduction

• Feminist theorists highlight the potential of new family structures for women's emancipation,
free choice, and personal development.
• Contemporary feminist works highlight the failure of current families to achieve these goals,
with issues like family violence and the "second shift" and "double ghetto."
• However, they also highlight the greater opportunities for women to personalize their family
and work lives through education, better contraception, and flexible working arrangements.
• Social reproduction, encompassing social, economic, ideological, and political processes, is a
key concept in feminist analyses of families.
• Families promote social reproduction in a capitalist society through biological, ideological, and
legal reproduction of workers.
• Motherhood practices in a patriarchal society allow capitalism to maintain the supply of
exploitable workers.
• Feminist perspectives suggest that capitalism has a vested interest in preserving patriarchy
and gender inequality.
• Wives provide unpaid domestic work, enabling low wages and emotional labor, and make up
the "reserve army of labor," increasing the flexibility and profitability of capitalism.

Family Definition and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Canada

Defining Family Structures

• Family structures vary, making the definition of a family difficult to define.
• Science and technology have complicated the definition of a family by enabling new
variations of family forms.
• Reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVE), artificial insemination, surrogacy,
and fertility drugs have restructured and varied families.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies for Heterosexual Couples
• In vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and fertility drug treatments are options for
heterosexual couples.
• Artificial insemination can help single mothers, gay and lesbian couples, and other families
conceive.

Expansion of the Family

• The family is no longer exclusive to two opposite sexes, married parents with two biological
children.
• The idea of the family has expanded to include single parents, stepfamilies, families with
adoptive children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, foster children, and gay and lesbian families.

Families with same-sex parents

• Gay and lesbian families are sometimes referred to as “families of choice” because they can
choose to be single parents, coupled parents, or co-parents with platonic friends.

Fertility Drugs and Multiple Births

• Fertility drugs can increase the chances of having twins, triplets, and other types of multiple
births.
• Parents of multiple pregnancies face financial burdens, including feeding, clothing, and caring
for the children.

The Census Family Definition by Statistics Canada

• The census family definition defines a family as a married couple, a common-law couple, or a
lone-parent family.
• The definition tolerates diversity but does not include families with larger kin groups or the
feelings or obligations members of these families have towards each other.

The Evolution of Family Structures and Trends

• William Goode's 1963 study, "World Revolution and Family Patterns," posits that family
patterns have shifted towards the nuclear family model.
• The rise in contraception use and a decrease in birth rates have led to a decrease in family
size.
• The impact of science and technology on this trend is significant, with more effective methods
available to the public.
• Role relations within families have also changed, with individual family members having more
freedom.
• Parental authority over children has declined, and husbands' control over wives has dwindled
due to increased women's rights.
• The family unit has been extended to homosexual couples, including marriage and adoption.
• The prevalence of divorce, in vitro fertilization, and surrogate pregnancy has broadened family
definitions.
• Industrialization and urbanization have led to the creation of smaller, flexible nuclear families.
• Small families can migrate more easily than large families and delay marriage or childbearing
due to formal education requirements.
• Despite industrialization, nuclear families have occurred in some instances, while extended
families have persisted despite it.
• Goode's predictions have been correct, with most Canadian families today being small.
• Marriage rates have been declining, with the number of unmarried Canadians aged 15 and
over outnumbering legally married people.
• Same-sex married couples are now recognized, with 0.9% of all couples in Canada being
same-sex.
• These same-sex couples often reside in large, metropolitan areas where untraditional lifestyles
are more widely accepted.

Housework and Gender Inequality: A Historical Perspective

Women's Role in Pre-Industrial Families

• Women were essential to economic production and domestic work in the Western
pre-industrial family.
• In Canada, women played a significant role in settlement history, acting as community
builders and ensuring the survival of the family’s farm.
• Non-farm women also played a significant economic role in household food production.

Industrialization and Modernization of Agriculture

• The 20th century saw a surge towards the industrialization of farming, leading to the influx of
people into urban areas.
• This led to new definitions of women as homemakers and full-time mothers, and a growing
industry catering to home efficiency.

Impact of New Technology on Housework

• New "labor-saving" appliances eased women’s entry into paid work by making traditional
housework less time-consuming.
• As mass-produced clothing became available, fewer women were obliged to sew clothing for
their family members.
• Home sewing moved beyond its purely functional role to become a way of expressing
personal tastes.

The Role of Home Economics

• With the spread of new technology, women were called on to learn and practice home
economics, giving women more status.
• Some home economists worked to raise the status of homemakers by promoting the idea that
new home technologies needed skilled operators.

The Sociology of Housework

• Oakley based her housework research on a small sample of British working- and
middle-class homemakers, finding that women viewed housework as unpleasant but identified
with their homemaker role.
• Despite their dissatisfaction, many housewives felt obliged by their culture to play a basically
alienating and frustrating role.

Today's Housework and Men's Contribution

• Today, women continue to do more housework than men, but men are more likely to see
housework as part of their own duties.
• Men contribute to domestic work, but their contribution is most notably household
maintenance and repairs.

Family Support and Its Impact on Health and Well-being

• Family members provide crucial support, especially during illness or infirmity.

• The care work of family caregivers can have harmful effects on their lives, including time
wastage, costs of care, and the burden of household tasks.
• Primary caregivers, often women, are more likely to experience depression and burnout,
negatively impacting family dynamics.
• Technological advancements like the internet have improved family care work, providing
useful information and facilitating support.
• Online chat groups and multimedia support programs have been found to improve caregivers'
views about caregiving and reduce stress and caregiver strain.
• However, the internet and communication technologies also present dangers, including
cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and exploitation. Misinformation about health information can also
pose a threat.

Generational Divide and Internet Use in Children

• Social media has created a generational divide due to its impact on young people's
development.
• The technical skill gap between parents and youth leads to a disconnect in online
communication, affecting children's socialization and development.
• Parents may be excluded from their children's socialization due to their lack of web navigation
skills.
• Strategies for parents to control their children's internet usage include time-limiting, filtering
and blocking, outgoing content blocking, and monitoring tools.
• Despite these strategies, not all parents use them due to the generation gap.
• Social media offers opportunities for community engagement, individual creativity, idea
growth, and identity fostering.
• The internet provides enhanced learning opportunities, allowing children to connect with peers
outside of class and access information anonymously.
• Technological boom is created more by societal demands than inherent aspects of the
technologies themselves.
• Sociological research shows that technologies and social changes, such as gender, are
mutually reinforcing.

Communication Technologies and Family Relationships

• Communication technologies are seen as necessary for family survival and well-being due to
changes in family dynamics.
• Traditional social theories assume face-to-face interactions are the primary means of forming
and preserving relationships.
• The internet age has revolutionized how people signal their characteristics, preferences, and
qualities.
• The internet allows real-time interaction between families and friends, enabling a closer bond
between millennials and parents.
• The use of these technologies has led to a closer relationship between millennials and their
parents during adolescence.
• The discussion of family relations now includes virtual communities, particularly close
internet-based relationships.
• Canada's long-distance communication technologies are a significant factor in this network,
with high usage rates of basic telephone, internet, and cable services.

Telecommuting and Its Impact on Family Life

• Information technologies like smartphones, social media, tablets, and email have significantly
altered family lives.
• Workers can now work from anywhere, enhancing their productivity.
• Telecommuting offers a sense of control and autonomy, but also presents challenges in
managing family care and work.
• Teleworkers use cues and rituals to segment work and home roles, balancing flexibility with
structure.
• This tension can lead to increased stress and conflict in some individuals.