Sociology Papers at 6:37 AM

I know it's been a long tine since I last posted. I just got done with my first year of graduate school an have been real busy with papers. All done for the summer though. Wrote three of my best papers this semester. All were done early I'll add.

First one was on feminist theory and rape statistics. A lot of feminist theory proponents theorize that as equality increases, rape rates will increase as well. Think of rape as a product of devaluing women. A backlash feminist perspective predicts the opposite. Rape is a tool to suppress women. So as women gain social status, some men will react to this advancement with sexual violence. This second, backlash theory is supported by the data but isn't as popular amount researchers and pop culture science. It's a hard sell, convincing people that reducing inequality within a society will "cost" women in the short run.

Also did a paper on education and gender inequality. Most of my class mates know that I'm a hard core social constructionist. Boys an girls aren't different at birth, they are made that way. Education is a big part of that process. Education has also been credited for reducing gender inequality and racial prejudice. Again, a popular idea that makes sense, but has no scientific backing. If you look at people's attitudes towards segregation an gender stereotypes, you'll see a change in what people say as they gain education. The more education a person receives the less likely they will support general inequalities. What you would expect right? A better question to ask though is how much support they give to specific policies that would reduce inequality. These policies would change the current power balance, reducing the dominance some groups have (educated white males) and empowering other groups. Education has no affect on these opinions. So in other words, education just makes us better at hiding our prejudices and appearing supportive of change without actually costing us power through actual change.

One study looked at racial segregation of neighborhoods. While those whites with higher education showed very low levels of support for segregation, when compared to their less educated white cohorts, they drew the line at any actual change in power. The less educated and college graduates showed no difference in their lack of support for living in a neighborhood that was 50/50 between Blacks and whites. So while education taught them to be supportive of equality, they were well aware of their social position and did not change their desire to maintain the majority position in their neighborhood.

I'm not saying whites are intentionally racist or even unintentionally racist. Hell, I'm white and educated. I'm just pointing out that whites hold a position of power still and have interest in maintaining that privilege. This is true for anyone in a privileged place. They want to keep that spot. It's foolish to think any group would be willing to concede power. Individuals will definitely be able to act against their self interest, and for a greater good, but on a group level a collection of people can't be expected to exhibit the same level of altruistic behavior. Education just enables the group to conceal their position and maintain it better.

I go into a lot more on both papers, than I did above, but I just typed this all on my iPhone and so I cut a bunch out. I welcome any comments or questions. I think this stuff is so fun, but I'm a dork with Sociology. Excuse any typos by the way. Each paper was roughly 25 pages. And all three were A's. Woot woot. I promise to crank out more posts this summer.

Sent from my iPhone