Sociology 441: Stratification

Trends in social stratification

One of the most important tools we have to evaluate how and why stratification systems change is to measure changes over time. For example, we will look at trends in:

• Poverty rates,
• Unionization rates,
• Women's labor force participation rates, and
• Minority elected officials.

We want to know not merely what those trends are, but why they are happening.

• Why did poverty stop declining in the 1970s?
• Why have workers deserted unions since the 1980s?
• Why are so many more women in the labor force now than in previous generations?
• Why has racial inequality declined more in politics than in economics?