6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
• Discuss five perceived characteristics of male and female in a typical Nigerian village
• What are the implications of these characteristics on economic development?
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies (CGSPS) (1998) National Baseline Survey of Positive and Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting Women and Girls in Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo University, Lie-Ife, Nigeria, CGSPS, Final Report submitted to the FMWASD, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA & DFID.
Child Psychology: Gender roles and gender differences
Elson, D. (1990). ‗Male Bias in Macroeconomics‘ in Male Bias in the Development Process, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Visual mentor: Gender diversity and nurse-physician relationship: Beth Ulrich, EdD, Rn;
January 2010
UNIT 2 GENDER AND SOCIAL CLASS
Class is an essential object of analysis in sociology, economics and other social science disciplines. This social class is often discussed in terms of social stratefication.
In sociology the basic social class is found as the powerful and the powerless. Social class with a great deal of power are usually viewed as the ‗elites‘. This group of elites usualy make attempt to dominate the other lower classes in any society. This has a lot of negative effects as the people in the lower classes are usually voiceless. Their opinions are not usually sought when decisions are being made in the society. However, this form of dominace cannot be erased in any society as conservative and structural functionalists have presented class differences as an ingredient to the structure of any society which must be present for a society to have a structure.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
discuss the concept of social class enumerate the causes of social class explain the consequence of social class.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Causes of Social Class
In a non-stratified or acephalous society, there is nothing like social class. The society is regarded as a classless society as every individual has roughly equal social standing with equal access to resources among male and female in such a society. However, in a class society, individual belongs to one social status or the others.
Classes have unique system or features that emphasises their class. The most powerful class in any society often uses markers or brands such as costume, grooming, manners and language codes that mark insiders and outsiders; unique political rights such as honourary titles; a concept of social honour or face that are claimed only to available to members of that group. But each class has distintive features, often becoming defining elements of personal identity and uniting factors in group behaviour. Social classes present a perfect picture of social inequality since it separates people to groups that are not equal in many ways.
Causes of social class among people could be summarised as follows:
• Differences in education
• Differences in profession/occupation
• Differences in age
• Differences in sex
• Differences in income
• Racism
3.2 Implications of Social Class Position
Difference consumption of social goods is the most visible effect of class. In modern societies, it manifests as income inequality, though in subsistence societies, it manifest as malnutrition and periodic starvation, although class status is not a casual factor for income, there is consistent data that show those in higher classes have higher income than those in lower classes. This inequality still persists when we talk of occupation. The condition at work vary greatly with class. Those with upper class enjoy grater freedom in their occupation than those in lower class. They are able to exhibit some authority and are more respected. The class position could have direct effects on lifes-tyle of living, the life-style include tastes, preferences, and a general style of living. Moreso, effects of social class in our societies can also be seen as follows:
• Violence against the people in the lower class position and in most societies violence against women
• Lack of good education for poor families
• Increase in crime rate
• Poor quality of health care as a result of poor food with low nutitional composition
• Hopelessness
• Malnutrion and periodic starvation
3.3 Class Structures in Various Societies
Class structure refers to a group of people within a society who possess the same socio-economic status. This could be discerned in any society, some cultures have published specific guidelines to rank people into class. In some cases, the ideologies presented in these rankings may not concur with the mainstream power dialetic of some social class as it is understood in modern English use.
Classes in various societies are structured as follows:
• Pre-capitalist class structures: This type of class structure can be found in countries and cities like Ancient Rome, Renaisance Europe, Mexico city among the aztec, China, Idia, Japan and Korea.
• Capitalist class structure: This type of class structure is found in United Kingdom, Latin America, United States,
Arguments against relevance of class
• Mode of consumption is much more important than the actual earning and the means of income
• Social class has declined giving given rise to different forms of social identification that is largely cultural and religious, and which raises identity conflicts called status incongruence. This can be observed, in particular, in the developing countries, but even in many post-industrial societies.
Arguments for relevance of class
• Those in poverty had the same attitudes on work and family as those classes, this is being backed up with surveys expressing that the poor/working class/lower feel almost shame about their position in society.
• There is still an upper class which seems to isolate itself from other classes. It is almost impossible to get into the upper-class. They (upper-class) kept their activities (marriage, education, peer groups) as a closed system.
• Many manual workers are still aware of many class issues. They believed in a possible conflict of interest, and saw themselves as working class. This counters the post mordern claims that it is consumption which defines an individual.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERICISE
• Explain the two types of class structures that you know?
• Discuss the argument for and against social class.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Social classes are the hierarchical arrangement of people into economic and social groups. Classes in most societies are gender biased. Women are mostly rated low in social class than men. This is also common in rural farming communities where women are regarded as being passive and voiceless especially in decision making. Racism, differences in age, sex, profession and income are the common causes of social classes.
This has resulted into violence and high rate of crime rate the causes are prominent.
5.0
SUMMARY
• Class is an essential object of analysis in sociology and this is often discussed in terms of social stratification
• Social class is often gender biased in most rural communities
• Differences in education, profession and race are the common
cause of social class
• Violence and high rate of crime are the major consequences of social class
• Social class structures are classified as pre-capitalist and capitalist class structures.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
• What are the common causes of social class in Nigerian societies?
• Enumerate some of the consequences of social class that you know?
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Archer, L (2003). Higher education and social class: Issues of exclusion and inclusion (RoutledgeFalmer, 2003).
Bisson, T. N (1995). Cultures of power: Lordship, status, and process in twelfth-Century Europe (University of pennsylvania press)