Question 1:
a) A brief explanation of the criticisms of Oscar Lewis’ controversial “”culture of poverty.””I agree with the criticisms against Lewis controversial “”culture of poverty.”” There are a number of flaws in both the theory and its interpretation and application in the society. One notable flow, in theory, is how the theory assumes that the culture is a constant factor, that it’s fixed. According to the theory, once a population adopts a certain culture, there is no intervention whatsoever with regards to alleviation from the poverty state that will affect the cultural behavior and attitude whatsoever within the population. In other terms, the theory seems to say that despite all forms of public assistance regarding direct assistance or welfare improvement will ever eradicate poverty from the poor population in a certain culture (Lewis). The theory seems to say that poverty is inherent. That is not true as with proper support and motivation a population can unhook itself from the poverty culture.
b) A brief explain Pierre Bourdieu’s “”cultural capital.”” Bourdieu theorized that capital forms a key part of any social life. He continues to say that capital does dictate the position of a particular person within the social order. That is the more capital possessed by a particular person, the greater his position will be in the set social standard. Bourdieu stated that culture capital manifests itself in three forms” institutionalized, objectified and embodied capital.I have experienced objectified cultural capital where I felt out of my friend’s birthday party when all the invited friends drove in a luxurious car while I had none. I have also experience Institutionalized cultural capital where all my friends have a degree academic, and I didn’t and felt out of class.
c) How Marx and Weber differ in their arguments about what determines social class? According to Marx class stratification is primarily brought about by property ownership. However, Weber disagrees with that statement and says that class stratification is brought about by the labor value. This brings in the conflict of opinion such that as Marx appreciates the effort made by the capitalist government to protect bourgeoisie property, Weber has a different view and sees it as an attempt of introducing bureaucracy that creates a ridge between the bourgeoisie and workers exploitation.
Question 2:
a) A minority group is a group of individuals characterized by their different race, culture or ethnicity that resides in the same region as those of the dominant group who have the upper hand in control and power over them.
b) Discrimination is defined as any action taken towards another that is considered an unfair treatment. Prejudice, on the other hand, means a negative attitude from a person to another due to their presence in a particular social group.
c) Individual discrimination refers to the discriminatory and unjust treatment from one individual to the other. Institutional discrimination refers to the unjust and discriminatory behavior directed to a person by a group of individuals or a particular institution.
d) In certain circumstances, being a particular race, say white, will improve your success rate while being black diminishes your opportunities even to secure a job. Conflict theory emphasizes that the most powerful will tend to use their power to remain in position and thus the concept of race favourism doesn’t solve the real problem since the power of conflict should be the determining factor in securing opportunities in life.
e) Assimilation is a situation where the culture of a particular people resembles those of another. In the US assimilation has taken root since we no longer have distinctive cultures anymore.
Question 3:
How functionalists and conflict theorists differ in their understanding of gender inequality? Functionalists explain that the disparity in gender inequality is a product of traditional division in the society where men tend to be more attracted to instruments while women tend to be attracted to expressive jobs. Conflict theory explains that the disparity was brought about by the division of labor where men attended to more energy demanding tasks while women attended to less energy demanding ones. The family teaches the different roles of gender by allocating the heavy duties to the boy child and lighter ones to girls. The female gender role is introduced when moms teach their daughters to take care of babies. The male role is also introduced when dads take their sons to fix things in the house say electricity lines, car engines.
Question 4:
a) Queering the binary refers to gender identity where’s boundaries of activities is not limited to feminine or masculinity, they express both of them.
b) The Kinsey scale is important as it is used to describe all the spectrum of human sexuality.
c) The understanding of queering the binary, the Kinsey scale and goals of LGBTQ movements enables us to appreciate who we are, appreciate others of the opposite sex and help bridge the gap between females and male genders for a peaceful coexistence.
Works Cited
Lewis, Oscar. The culture facade: Art, science, and politics in the work of Oscar Lewis. University of Illinois Press, 1988.`