Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Adeyemi
Module: Week 7 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objective covered: Objective 5 — Analyze social stratification — how societies rank groups into layers — using the major theoretical perspectives and real income, wealth, and mobility data.

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 7 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday session pattern with Week 7 meeting Tue Oct 13 and Thu Oct 15, and end-of-week work due Sunday Oct 18, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 7 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 7: Social Stratification & Class

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

We've spent six weeks learning to see society — the imagination, methods, culture, the self, groups, and deviance. This week we turn to the question that sits under almost every social problem: why are some groups consistently up and others consistently down, and how does a society justify that arrangement? That's stratification — the way a society sorts people into ranked layers and hands out money, power, and status unequally. We'll learn the difference between a caste system (you're born into your rank and you stay there) and a class system (your rank can, in principle, change). We'll separate the two most-confused words in this whole course — income (a flow, what you earn in a year) and wealth (a stock, what you own) — and see why wealth is far more unequally distributed than income. And we'll put two big theories head-to-head: the functionalist Davis-Moore thesis (stratification motivates talented people to fill the hardest jobs) versus the Marxist/conflict view (stratification is exploitation that reproduces advantage).

The week's big question

"Is 'meritocracy' — the idea that you get ahead on talent and effort — a description of how society actually works, or a story that makes inequality feel fair?"

By Friday you'll separate income from wealth, place caste against class, weigh Davis-Moore against the conflict view, and read a real U.S. income or poverty figure correctly — knowing what it shows and what it doesn't.

Heads-up — this is the last week the Midterm (Week 8) covers. The midterm is cumulative over Weeks 1–7 (Objectives 1–5), and stratification & class is its final topic. Treat this week's quiz, workshop, and assignment as midterm prep, and don't fall behind.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all five out loud, you're ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Define social stratification and name the major systems — slavery, caste, estate, and class — and explain the core contrast: caste is closed (rank fixed at birth), class is open (rank can change).
• [ ] Distinguish income from wealth — income is a flow (earnings over a period), wealth is a stock (assets minus debts) — and explain why wealth is far more concentrated than income.
• [ ] Contrast Marx and Weber — Marx's two classes (owners vs. workers) against Weber's multidimensional view (class, status, party); and define life chances.
• [ ] Compare the Davis-Moore thesis (functionalist: stratification is functional, motivating talent into important roles) with the conflict view (stratification is exploitation that reproduces advantage), and treat each fairly.
• [ ] Read an income/poverty statistic (Census data) and explain the difference between absolute and relative poverty, meritocracy as fact vs. ideology, and the limits of social mobility data.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI tools: you'll use a chatbot to draft and explain, and then you judge its work. This week's content is a fabrication minefield — chatbots will confidently quote a made-up "share of wealth held by the top 1%," blur income and wealth as if they were the same number, or claim a mobility study proves America is (or isn't) a meritocracy. Catching the model — and verifying every number at the Census — is the point.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I'd much rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• Burn one distinction into memory: income vs. wealth. Income is a flow (a faucet — money coming in per year); wealth is a stock (the level in the tub — everything you own minus what you owe). Two people with the same income can have wildly different wealth. This is the single most-tested idea of the week.
• Hold the second hook: caste is closed, class is open. In a caste system your rank is fixed at birth; in a class system it can move (at least in principle).
• Keep the two theories in tension, not in a winner-take-all. Davis-Moore says stratification motivates talent into hard jobs; the conflict view says it reproduces advantage and is closer to exploitation. A good sociologist can argue both and weigh the evidence.
• Treat "meritocracy" as a claim to test, not a fact to assume. Ask: how much do origins predict destinations? That's an empirical question about mobility — and the data are mixed, which is exactly why the debate is live.
• Verify every number at the source. A figure about income, wealth, or poverty only counts if you've seen it on the Census (or Fed) page yourself. "A chatbot told me" is not a source.

You don't need any background for this week — just bring an honest opinion about whether hard work alone explains who ends up where. See you Tuesday.

(B) Welcome Announcement — Module 7

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Tue Oct 13, 2026 — not before. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Tue Oct 13."

Subject: Week 7 — income isn't wealth, and "meritocracy" is a claim we can test 📊

Hi everyone,

Quick gut-check before class: if two neighbors both earn $70,000 a year, are they equally well-off? Most people say yes — until you learn that one owns a paid-off house and has $200,000 in savings, and the other rents and carries $40,000 in debt. Same income (the money coming in each year), wildly different wealth (what they own minus what they owe). Telling those two ideas apart is the key that unlocks this entire week — and it's the distinction chatbots get wrong constantly.

This week — Social Stratification & Class — we tackle the big question: Is "meritocracy" a description of how society works, or a story that makes inequality feel fair? By Friday you'll separate income from wealth, place caste (closed) against class (open), weigh the functionalist Davis-Moore thesis against the Marxist/conflict view, and read a real U.S. income or poverty figure from the Census — correctly.

Four things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 7 — work through stratification, income vs. wealth, and the Davis-Moore-vs-conflict contrast with one approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) and submit the share link. Due Sun Oct 18.
2. Quiz 7, Discussion 7, and Assignment 7 also close Sun Oct 18 — the discussion ("Is Meritocracy Real, or a Legitimating Myth?") is a quick AI dialogue you summarize and post, so start early and leave time to reply to classmates.
3. Workshop 7 — "Income Is Not Wealth" — this week's data workshop. You'll read a real Census income or poverty figure (we'll verify the exact number together), then fact-check an AI's reasoning. Due Sun Oct 18.
4. One scheduling note: this is the last week the Midterm (Week 8) covers. Everything you do this week is also midterm review — keep up.

One promise: we present this fairly. The functionalist case for stratification and the conflict case against it are both on the table, with the evidence — but we won't pretend a documented gap in income or wealth doesn't exist. The data are the data; the interpretation is the debate.

Bring an opinion about whether "anyone can make it if they work hard" to class on Tuesday.

See you soon,
Prof. Adeyemi