Social Science - Novel

General Education Capstone Course

Event/Experience Details and Guideline Form

Gen. Ed. category event should be listed under:  Social Sciences

SCC competency addressed by event: 

1. Explain social institutions, structure, and processes across a range of historical periods, places, and/or cultures.
2. Develop and communicate hypothetical explanations, predictions, and descriptions of human behavior within an historical, spatial, and /or social context.

Event experience title: Understanding America As A Stratified Society Of Social Inequality

Anticipated learning outcome. The student will be given the following assignment:

Like all of the industrialized countries of the world, America is a stratified society. It is a class-structured society in which the various class levels are arranged in a hierarchical manner. In this stratified, i.e., class-structured, society there is an uneven distribution of valuable resources such as wealth and power. Of course, how wealth and power are defined is of crucial importance for understanding the human relations and quality of life, which emerge within a societal framework of socio-economic inequality.

In a culturally pluralistic society, there will be numerous definitions of reality some of which harmonize and some of which conflict with one another. If Max Weber is correct when he says that in a modern society wealth equals power, then economic dominance confers social and cultural dominance. Or as Karl Marx has observed, those people who control a society’s economy will also control all the other important social institutions, e.g., politics, education, etc., which significantly impact human lives. For the upper classes in a stratified society, socio-economic dominance can be a reign of arrogance; for members of an oppressed minority, it can be a bitter pill to swallow, forcing them to make compromises which threaten the integrity, even the very survival, of their traditional values, collective identity, and sense of belonging and purpose.

Pick a sociologically relevant novel*  you have already read or another you would like to read by, for example, a Native American or African American writer.  A science fiction or detective novel may work as well. In writing your paper you will answer the following questions:

1. What are some examples of how the novel portrays the stratification and inequality of American society?
   
   
2. How would you describe the socio-economic status of the novel’s main and secondary characters?
   
   
3. Does the novel indicate any ways in which the socio-economic status, gender, race, and ethnicity of the characters influence their life chances and location in the American class structure?
   
4. What does the novel say, either explicitly or implicitly, about how social class, race, gender, and ethnicity can affect an individual’s self-image?
   
   
5. How do the characters react to any prejudice and discrimination they may experience because of their social class status, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.?
   
   
6. You should conclude your paper by stating the ways in which the novel has helped you to see more clearly the ways in which the American class structure and the inequality therein can impact social relationships and quality of life.

*Students may wish to choose the novel in consultation with a Sociology or an English faculty member, although this is not required.

Guidelines or rubric for accomplishment of event:  The student is required to write an essay (journal entry) demonstrating an understanding of social and economic inequality as a consequence of social stratification. The essay should also show that the student is aware of how the often taken-for-granted class structure impacts in various, often negative, ways the lives of many people, particularly minorities.

Contact name: A professor of sociology and/or a professor of literature

Event contact phone number:  Bill Kristen  636.922.8332

Event contact e-mail:  bkristen@stchas.edu

SCC event creator: Bill Kristen

Estimated time for full completion: Approximately 4 hours.