The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality

The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality, Eighth Edition, surveys how and why the categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality are constructed, maintained, experienced, and transformed. This popular anthology moves beyond simply discussing various forms of stratification and the impact on members of marginalized groups by providing a thorough discussion of how such systems of stratification are formed, perpetuated, and interconnected. Each reading ends with critical-thinking questions to help students relate content to their own lives and understand how their attitudes, actions, and perspectives may serve to perpetuate a stratified system.

Tracy E. Ore is Professor of Sociology at St. Cloud State University.

** Indicates New Reading

Preface

Part I: Constructing Differences
Examining what categories are constructed, how this is done, and why such categories of difference are constructed.

Race and Ethnicity
1. Racial Formations
Michael Omi and Howard Winant
2. Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?
Mary C. Waters
3. Learning to be Illegal: Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood
Roberto G. Gonzales

Social Class
**4. The Asset Value of Whiteness: Understanding the Racial Wealth Gap
Amy Traub, Laura Sullivan, Tatjana Meschede, & Tom Shapiro
5. Media Magic: Making Class Invisible
Gregory Mantsios
**6. Latinos are Each of Us: Fair and Just Immigration Policies for All
Noreen M. Sugrue & Sylvia Puente

Sex and Gender
7. The Social Construction of Gender
Judith Lorber
**8. Giving sex: Deconstructing Intersex and Trans Medicalization Practices
Georgiann Davis, Jodie M. Dewey, Erin L. Murphy
9. Transgender and intersex student athletes in women's collegiate sports
Pat Griffin

Sexuality
10. naming all the parts
Kate Bornstein
11. "if you don't kiss me, you're dumped": boys, boyfriends and heterosexualised masculinities in the primary school
Emma Renold
12. what's so cultural about hookup culture?
Lisa Wade

Part II: Maintaining Inequalities: Systems of Oppression and Privilege
Examining what elements of social structure work to maintain systems of stratification based on constructions of difference.

Social Institutions: Family
13. why won't african americans get (and stay) married? why should they?
Shirley A. Hill
**14. "Willing to Do Anything for My Kids": Inventive Mothering, Diapers, and the Inequalities of Carework
Jennifer Randles
15. illegality as a source of solidarity and tension in latino families
Leisy J. Abrego
16. marriage and family: lgbt individuals and same-sex couples
Gary J. Gates

Social Institutions: Education
**17 Mind the Gap: COVID-19 and Learning Loss-Disparities Grow and Students Need Help
Emma Dorn, Bryan Hancock, Jimmy Sarakatsannis, and Ellen Viruleg
18. civilize them with a stick
Mary Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes
**19 Black Girls and School Discipline: The Complexities of Being Overrepresented and Understudied
Subini Ancy Annamma, Yolanda Anyon, Nicole M. Joseph, Jordan Farrar, Eldridge Greer, Barbara Downing, and John Simmons

Social Institutions: Work and Economy
20. black men and the struggle for work: social and economic barriers persist
James M. Quane, William Julius Wilson, and Jackelyn Hwang
21 racializing the glass escalator: reconsidering men's experiences with women's work
Adia Harvey Wingfield
**22 The Threat of Poverty Without Misery
Alyosha Goldstein

Social Institutions: The State and Public Policy
23. jezebel at the welfare office: how racialized stereotypes of poor women's reproductive decisions and relationships shape policy implementation
N. Tatiana Masters, Taryn P. Lindhorst, and Marcia K. Meyers
**24. Race, Place, and Effective Policing
Anthony A. Braga, Rod K. Brunson, and Kevin M. Drakulich
25. the treacherous triangle: justice, immigration enforcement, and child welfare
Seth Freed Wessler

Social Institutions: Media
26. the digital reproduction of inequality
Eszter Hargittai
27. winnebagos, cherokees, apaches, and dakotas: the persistence of stereotyping of american indians in american advertising brands
Debra Merskin
**28. Asian American Media Representation: A Film Analysis and Implications for Identity Development
Tiffany Besana, Dalal Katsiaficas, and Aerika Brittian Loyd
Language and Culture
29. how the right made racism sound fair - and changed immigration politics
Gabriel Thompson
**30. "Strong Black Woman": African American Women with Disabilities, Intersecting Identities, and Inequality
Angel Love Miles
31. the florida state seminoles: the champions of racist mascots
Dave Zirin

Violence and Social Control
32. climate of fear
Southern Poverty Law Center
33. ruling out rape
Lisa Wade, Brian Sweeney, Amelia Seraphia Derr, Michael A. Messner, and Carol Burke
34. cyberbullying, school bullying, and psychological distress: a regional census of high school students
Shari Kessel Schneider, Lydia O'Donnell,
Ann Stueve, and Robert W. S. Coulter

Part III: Experiencing Difference and Inequality in Everyday Life
Examining the impact of constructions of difference and maintaining inequalities on members of society.

35. making systems of privilege visible
Stephanie M. Wildman with Adrienne D. Davis
36. you may know me from such roles as terrorist #4
Jon Ronson
**37. Dying to Be Competent
Tressie McMillan Cottom
38. the story of my body
Judith Ortiz Cofer
**39. Two Hate Notes: Deportations, COVID-19, and Xenophobia against Hmong Americans in the Midwest
Kong Pheng Pha
40. "gee, you don't seem like an indian from the reservation"
Barbara Cameron
41. the transgender crucible
Sabrina Rubin Erdely
42. nickel-and-dimed: on (not) getting by in america
Barbara Ehrenreich
43. not poor enough
Susan Sheehan
**44. The Miseducation of the American Boy
Peggy Orenstein

Part IV: Resistance and Social Change
Examining how people working within individual and institutional contexts transform difference from a system of inequality to a system of liberation.

45. Toward a New Vision: race, class, and gender as categories of analysis and connection
Patricia Hill Collins
**46. #FeministAntibodies: Asian American Media in the Time of Coronavirus
Rachel Kuo, Amy Zhang, Vivian Shaw, & Cynthia Wang
47. seeing more than black & white: latinos, racism, and the cultural divides
Elizabeth Martinez
48. reform or transformation?: the pivotal role of food justice in the u.s. food movement
Eric Holt-Giménez and Yi Wang
49. voices of a new movimiento
Roberto Lovato
**50. the next civil rights movement?
Fredrick C. Harris