Does society totally determine our beliefs, behavior, life choices, and opportunities? No—individual differences still matter, and disciplines such as psychology are needed in tandem with sociology to gain the most complete understanding of human action and beliefs. But if individual differences matter, so do our identities and our social locations, even if they are socially constructed. Even the most individual attitudes and behaviors, such as voting decisions, are influenced to some degree by our identities and social locations and, more generally, by the society to which we belong.

Our social locations also affect the life choices available to us, which are important decisions one makes about our lives according to our interests, opinions, and actions. They determine whether we have a good chance or little chance of being healthy, wealthy, and well educated and, more generally, of living a good, happy life. Our intersecting identities compound our privilege and life restrictions. Because U.S. society is stratified, white supremacy, normalization, and power all contribute to systems of oppression and inequity. Sociology makes sense of these dynamics through the lens of differing classical perspectives as well as newer and constantly emerging perspectives.

Review of Learning Outcomes

This chapter has offered you the opportunity to:

1. Explain how social location is studied, how it is constructed, and its consequences.
2. Discuss how systems of oppression exist in society and impact people across multiple categories of social identity.
3. Illustrate how structural inequity is experienced by individuals and groups.
4. Apply classical theory to explain how the structure of institutions shape patterns of social inequity.
5. Apply newer theory to explain how the structure of institutions shape patterns of social inequity.

Key Terms

agency: The capacity to actively and independently choose and to affect change.

decolonization: “the mechanism that will allow for restoration and conciliation of colonized groups who have had their power stolen” (Korchak 2022).

digital divide: uneven access to technology due to inequalities between different social, cultural, and economic groups; often separated by social and physical location.

inequity: differences in access to resources or opportunity between groups that are the result of treatment by a more powerful group; this creates circumstances that are unnecessary, avoidable, and unfair.

intersectionality: the idea that inequalities produced by multiple social characteristics influence the life of individuals and groups. This suggests we view race, ethnicity, class, gender or sexuality not as individual characteristics but as interconnected social situations.

norms: the informal rules that govern behavior in groups and societies.

normalization: a process that constructs specific behaviors, presentations, and ideas as the idealized norm through correction.

oppression: the systemic and extensive nature of social inequity and harm woven throughout social institutions as well as embedded within individual consciousness.

patriarchy: a society, system, or group in which men dominate women and have the power and authority.

redlining: the discriminatory practice of refusing loans to creditworthy applicants in neighborhoods that banks deem undesirable.

segregation: the physical separation of two groups in residence, the workplace, and social functions

social class, the set of people who share similar social circumstances based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, and occupation.

social identity: the set of characteristics by which a person is recognizable or known by the society in which they live.

social location: the social position an individual holds within their society based upon social class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion, and other characteristics that society deems important.

social mobility: an individual’s or group’s (e.g., family) movement through the class hierarchy due to changes in income, occupation, or wealth.

social stratification: the categorization of its people into rankings based on factors of power, access and resources, (such as wealth, income, education, or occupation) as well as social identities (like, race, ethnicity, or gender).

socioeconomic status: a combination of a person’s or family’s economic and social position in comparison to others.

social status: the rank, honor, or prestige attached to one’s position in society or a group.

stigmatization: the labeling or spoiling of an identity, which leads to ostracism, marginalization, discrimination, and abuse.

structural racism: the system of racial bias that exists across institutions and society.

subaltern groups: groups that are made subordinate by powerful groups because of their class, caste, gender, nationality, or any other dimension of difference.

white supremacy: the belief, theory, or doctrine that white people are inherently superior to people from all other racial and ethnic groups.

Comprehension Check

Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion

Open Content, Original

“Comprehension Check” was created by Veronica Vold and Michelle Culley for Open Oregon Educational Resources and is licensed CC BY 4.0.

Open Content, Shared Previously

“Conclusion” is adapted and expanded from “1.1 The Sociological Perspective” in Exploring Our Social World: The Story of Us, by Jean M. Ramirez; Suzanne Latham; Rudy G. Hernandez; and Alicia E. Juskewycz, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modifications by Aimee Samara Krouskop are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Key word, intersectionality, is adapted from “2.6 Social Theory Today” by Gougherty and Puentes in Sociology in Everyday Life, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Key word, patriarchy, is adapted from Open Education Sociology Dictionary, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Key word, social mobility, is adapted from Open Education Sociology Dictionary, licensed under CC BY 4.0.