Week 7 · Readings & resources

Week 7 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Sociology Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 7 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 73–91 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more practice, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (20–20 min total)

① Is the ladder real, and who is on which rung? Systems, classes, and life chances

Chapter 7, Section “Name what a class is: Marx, Weber, and life chances” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Layers, systems, and what a class is” · Remember: Marx draws one line between owners and workers, while Weber builds three ladders of class, status, and party.

Social Stratification: Crash Course Sociology #21 — CrashCourse — an overview of why every society ranks its people, with closed caste systems set against open class systems and a look at the idea of meritocracy. Use it while working through the Week-7 module overview. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)
What's Max Weber's Definition of Social Class? — Sociology Vibes — a short explainer on how Weber's view of class differs from Marx's, and why prestige and power can sit apart from money. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
Social Class & Poverty in the US: Crash Course Sociology #24 — CrashCourse — Marx's and Weber's ideas of class applied to the United States, with a pass through income, wealth, and poverty; its figures come from an earlier year, so use the chapter's 2024 figures for this course. (video, 9 min) (captions: creator)

② What is the difference between a paycheck and a bank balance? Income and wealth

Chapter 7, Section “Tell a paycheck from a balance: income and wealth” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Income, wealth, and the median” · Remember: income flows in over a period, while wealth is what a household owns minus what it owes at one moment.

The difference between INCOME and WEALTH — Alex Symonds — a quick explainer built on the same flow-versus-stock idea the chapter uses for its two coworkers. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S. since 1989 — Federal Reserve Board — the Distributional Financial Accounts chart; choose the wealth percentile grouping and the shares view to see how much of all household wealth each group holds. This course pins no wealth share, so read the figure here with its quarter and never from memory. (reading, 8–12 min)
6 facts about economic inequality in the U.S. — Pew Research Center — a short survey-research summary; read the facts on the top fifth's share of income, the widening wealth gap, and middle-class incomes, and notice that each figure carries its own year and source. This builds on Week 2's work on reading a statistic for what it measures and over whom. (reading, 8–12 min)

③ Where is the poverty line, and who drew it? Absolute and relative poverty

Chapter 7, Section “Draw the poverty line: absolute and relative poverty” · Session 2, Segment 3, “Two ideas of poverty and two measures” · Remember: a poverty line is a definition, so a poverty rate always names its measure, its year, and its report.

What are Absolute and Relative Poverty — Exploring Sociology — a plain walk through the two ideas of poverty, the missing basics versus the gap from everyone around you. (video, 6 min) (captions: automatic)
How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty — U.S. Census Bureau — the agency's own explanation of the official measure: what counts as income, how the thresholds work, and a worked family example at the bottom of the page. (reading, 10–15 min)

④ Why do the layers exist at all? Three competing explanations

Chapter 7, Section “Explain the ladder: Davis–Moore, Tumin, and the conflict view” · Session 2, Segment 4, “Explaining the ladder and reading the 2024 figures” · Remember: the functionalist and conflict accounts answer different questions, and this course weighs them without declaring a winner.

What is the Davis-Moore Thesis? — Sociology Vibes — the functionalist argument that unequal rewards fill important positions, followed by the common criticisms; compare them with Tumin's critique in the chapter. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Poverty in the United States: 2024 (P60-287) — U.S. Census Bureau — the government report behind this week's poverty figures; read the Highlights for the official rate, the Supplemental Poverty Measure, and the differences between them, and skip the detailed tables unless you want them. (reading, 5–10 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com