2.9 Going Deeper
Elizabeth B. Pearce
Now that you have been introduced to concepts that will help you learn about all families, this section has some resources for you.
First, there are some resources that the authors used but could not fit into the chapter. If there was something that really piqued your interest and made you want to learn more, it may be listed in this table. This is also a resource for students who may have an assignment to research a particular topic or who need to identify a topic for a final project. Scan through “Want to Learn More?” if you are interested.
Next, you will see a set of reflective questions. You may be assigned these questions as a chapter review, or perhaps you will be using them as discussion questions in class. These questions are designed to help you apply the chapter concepts, develop your sociological imagination, reflect, and use an equity lens. Look over the “Reflective Questions” if you’d like to explore your own thinking more thoroughly.
After that, you will see the same list of key terms that appeared at the start of the chapter. They may help you with your additional exploration or research.
Finally, there are activities that may be used in the classroom or as assignments.
Want to Learn More?
- A guide to cultural humility is offered by Culturally Connected.
- Read more about Nicole Maines challenging her elementary school’s restroom policy here.
- Read more about Rachel Dolezal, the woman born to White parents who identifies as Black, in this article from Time magazine
- To read about the growing and diverse groups of Asian Americans, read this Pew Research Center summary.
- Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? (a seven-part documentary) can help us understand intersectionality by focusing on the connection between social class, racism, and health.
Here are two websites if you would like to learn about how social justice is defined and how to contribute to greater social justice in the United States:
Reflective Questions
- What can you expect to learn from studying families?
- How will studying families impact your family and your work life in the future?
- What are the main methods for researching families? What are their weaknesses and strengths?
- How will cultural humility help you understand other people?
- What is an equity lens?
- What are the major theoretical perspectives? Which ones make the most sense to you?
- What is a social problem? What social problems have you experienced or observed?
- How will having a sociological imagination and understanding equity equip you to learn about families in the United States?
Key Terms
- Age: the developmental changes and transitions that come with being a child, adolescent, or adult.
- Cultural humility: the focus on staying other-centered in order to learn about and understand the experiences and viewpoints of people with social identities different from your own.
- Culture: the shared meanings and shared experiences passed down over time by individuals in a group.
- Disabilities: the visible or hidden and temporary or permanent conditions that create barriers or challenges in one’s life.
- Experiments: a primary form of research in natural and physical sciences that involves comparing and contrasting at least two different interventions.
- First language: the language learned in early childhood.
- Gender: a socially constructed expression of a person’s sexual identity which influences the status, roles, and norms for their behavior.
- Objectivity: the act of staying free from the influence of personal experiences and opinions.
- Observational studies: a type of field research that includes both participant observation and nonparticipant observation.
- Origin: the geographical location where a person was born and spent (at least) their early years in.
- Qualitative research: the descriptive, in-depth study of a topic.
- Quantitative research: the numbers-based, measurable study of a topic.
- Race: the categorization of humans using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc.
- Research: a systematic investigation into a particular topic, examining materials, sources, and/or behaviors.
- Scientific process: the process of formulating hypotheses, making observations, gathering and testing data, drawing conclusions, and modifying hypotheses.
- Secondary data analysis: the study of existing research.
- Sex: a biological descriptor involving chromosomes and internal/external reproductive organs.
- Sexual orientation: a person’s emotional, romantic, erotic, and spiritual attractions toward another in relation to their own sex or gender.
- Socioeconomic class: a person’s income or material wealth, educational status, and/or occupational status.
- Social class: similar to socioeconomic status with a closer focus on income and wealth.
- Sociological perspective: viewpoints that emphasize causes, effects, and actions of groups of individuals, looking for patterns.
- Social mobility: an individual’s or family’s movement through the class hierarchy due to changes in income, occupation, or wealth.
- Social model of ability: a view of diagnoses from a social and environmental perspective that considers multiple ecological levels.
- Social problem: a large issue that affects many people, can threaten the health and well-being of society, is recognized as a problem by many, includes multiple causes and effects, and needs a systemic solution.
- Social stratification: society’s layers, made of people, represent the uneven distribution of society’s resources.
- Structural mobility: societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder.
- Subjective: influenced by personal experiences and opinions.
- Survey: a method by which sociologists gather their data by asking questions.
- Theory: a structural framework, explanation, or tool that has been tested and evaluated over time.
Activity: Social Location Impacts Families
Chapter two more fully spells out the social characteristics that are a part of our social identities (e.g., gender, age, sexuality, etc.), a concept introduced in Chapter One. In Figure 2.19, you will see dozens of examples of the ways our social identities contribute to real consequences for families.
https://youtu.be/gyW8JRLs7Ks?si=-uK45K5GPbHkhe71
Discussion Questions
- This video pulls together the concepts of social identities and the social construction of difference, concepts that were introduced in Chapter one. How are these two ideas related?
- This video introduces the idea of social location. Discuss the definition of social location by explaining how socially constructed differences lead to each of us having a unique social location.
- How does the assigning of value to difference impact individuals and families? Discuss laws, regulations, or practices that lead to real consequences of socially constructed differences.
Licenses and Attributions for Going Deeper
Open Content, Original
“Going Deeper” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 2.19. “Social Construction of Difference” by Elizabeth B. Pearce, Kimberly Puttman, and Colin Stapp and Open Oregon Educational Resources. License: CC BY 4.0.
a systematic investigation into a particular topic, examining materials, sources, and/or behaviors.
ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
the focus on staying other-centered in order to learn about and understand the experiences and viewpoints of people with social identities different from your own.
an approach originally advanced by women of color that finds it critical to look at how identities and characteristics (such as ethnicity, race, and gender) overlap and influence each other to create complex hierarchies of power and oppression.
similar to socioeconomic status with a closer focus on income and wealth.
the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
concerned with equity, equality, fairness and sometimes punishment.
focuses on equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal treatment as well as meaningful actions to correct past discrimination.
a large issue that affects many people, can threaten the health and well-being of society, is recognized as a problem by many, includes multiple causes and effects, and needs a systemic solution.
a socially constructed expression of a person’s sexual identity which influences the status, roles, and norms for their behavior.
the developmental changes and transitions that come with being a child, adolescent, or adult.
the pattern of romantic and/or sexual attraction to others in relation to one’s own gender identity.
meaning assigned to an object or event by mutual agreement (explicit or implicit) of the members of a society; can change over time and/or location.