GU4124 Status and Inequality
Fall 2024 | Thursdays 10:10a - 12p
Room: 509 Knox
Office hours: 1pm-3pm Tuesdays, please sign up here
Instructor Email: jyc2163@columbia.edu
Course Summary
What is this course about?
Who gets respect? On what basis? Differences in respect and esteem are a basic form of inequality. Through this course, you will learn how status matters and how it emerges. We will tackle questions like the following: Why, and how, do status hierarchies emerge in nearly all societies and groups? How do status differences affect material inequalities like access to jobs? Why is it so hard to change inaccurate stereotypes about women or racial minorities?
What is the structure of course sessions?
This is a survey course. Each week we will discuss key readings on a topic. Class will meet once per week and requires participation.
This seminar is designed to generate new research ideas. To do so, the course will push you to understand key ideas in an expansive literature, and you will be asked to submit short papers that meaningfully extend the ideas in the readings.
You may choose to write an empirical or conceptual short paper. For an empirical paper, you should outline an original empirical study somehow informed by or related to the week’s readings. Your summary should be organized in the following four sections: (1) a research question (1-2 sentences), (2) a description of methods (2-3 paragraphs), (3) your prediction(s) (1-2 sentences), and (4) why the study would be interesting and/or important (2-3 sentences).
For a conceptual paper, you should advance one or more of the week’s readings in some way. Examples include: (a) connnecting ideas from two or more papers to develop a more general theory; critiquing ideas in one or more papers and proposing an alternative that you argue is better or more valid; developing a rival theory to challenge the ideas in one or more papers. In your conceptual paper, underline your main thesis statement(s) (1-2 sentences).
What kind of student does this course have in mind?
This is a graduate survey course that is also open to advanced undergraduate students in Sociology and related disciplines. There are no formal pre-requisites.
How will performance be assessed?
There are four requirements for this class.
| Assignment | Description | Deadlines |
|---|---|---|
| Short papers (30%) | Choose any three (3) weeks to submit either an empirical or conceptual short paper. You may submit more than three, and the best three will constitute your final grade | Due throughout the semester via upload to Coursework by 11:59pm the day before class. |
| Final paper (30%) | This class does not have a conventional final paper. Rather, the final paper is an opportunity for you to further develop your research creativity. The final paper will consist of 3 short papers. Let me know if an alternative format would be preferred (e.g. draft research proposal, draft paper). | The final paper(s) are due via upload to Coursework by 11:59pm on Dec 12. You are welcome to submit these in advance. |
| Leading discussion (10%) | On the second week of class, please sign up to be discussion leaders for one of the weeks. As a discussion leader, you will communicate to the class what you see as the most important points raised by the readings and prompt additional discussion about them. | |
| Class participation (30%) | Participation refers to showing up in class, and offering informed contributions to the class. Good contributions include clear links to what others have said or concretely to something in the readings. Select readings will be included on Perusall to help us collectively engage with the readings. Perusall is like Google Docs for the readings: you can highlight, comment, discuss, tag, and otherwise share your questions or observations about each text. Some people will contribute more in class, others will contribute more through online comments. In a spirit of inclusion, I see both as equally valuable forms of participation. |
What are the basic norms in this course?
- If you need disability-related accommodations, let me know as soon as possible. You have the right to have your needs met. If you need accommodations, you should be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS) in 008 Milbank (212-854-2388, disability@columbia.edu).
- Life happens. If you submit your work after the deadlines listed above but before the final class of the semester, you can still receive up to 80% of the original points. Do not expect to receive comments.
- Avoid using cell phones in class, which can prevent you or others from learning. In cases of emergencies, please take your phone outside.
- I try to respond to emails within 24 hours. You are welcome to follow-up if I have not responded by then.
What are expectations regarding academic integrity?
Students are expected to exhibit the highest level of personal and academic honesty as they engage in scholarly discourse and research. In practical terms, you must be responsible for the full and accurate attribution of the ideas of others in all of your research papers and projects.
Where can I access course materials?
The readings for each week of this course are listed below and can be accessed by the links.
The following are books you might want to own, and which we will read substantial portions from. All three books have also been placed on library reserve:
- Tilly, Charles. 1998. Durable Inequality. University of California Press.
- Ridgeway, Cecilia L. 2019. Status: Why Is It Everywhere? Why Does It Matter? New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Available online through library
- Goode, William J. 1978. The Celebration of Heroes: Prestige as a Control System. Berkeley: UC Press.
Readings and Due Dates for Assignments
Part I. What Is Status? How Does It Matter?
Week 1. Course Introduction / What Is Status (Part I) (Sept 5)
- Ridgeway Ch1-Ch3
Week 2: What Is Status? (Part II) (Sept 12)
- Power and Status: Magee, J. C., & Galinsky, A. D. 2008. Social hierarchy: The self‐reinforcing nature of power and status. The Academy of Management Annals 2(1): 351–398.
- Popularity and Status: Cillessen, Antonius H. N., and Amanda J. Rose. 2005. “Understanding Popularity in the Peer System.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 14(2):102–5.
- Dominance v. Prestige: Henrich, Joseph, and Francisco J. Gil-White. 2001. “The Evolution of Prestige: Freely Conferred Deference as a Mechanism for Enhancing the Benefits of Cultural Transmission.” Evolution and Human Behavior 22(3): 165–96.
- Individuals v. Organizations: Sauder, Michael, Freda Lynn, and Joel M. Podolny. “Status: Insights from organizational sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 38, no. 1 (2012): 267-283.
Week 3: How Status Matters for Control & Coordination (Sept 19)
- Goode Ch1, Ch2
- Halevy, Nir, Eileen Y. Chou, and Adam D. Galinsky. 2011. “A Functional Model of Hierarchy.” Organizational Psychology Review 1(1):32–52.
- Corinne Bendersky, Nicholas A. Hays. 2011. “Status Conflict in Groups.” Organization Science 23(2): 323-340.
Week 4: How Status Matters for Discrimination (Sept 26)
- Ridgeway, Cecilia L., and David Diekema. 1992. “Are Gender Differences Status Differences?” Pp. 157–80 in Gender, Interaction, and Inequality, edited by C. L. Ridgeway. New York, NY: Springer.
- Melamed, D., Munn, C. W., Barry, L., Montgomery, B., & Okuwobi, O. F. (2019). “Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality.” American Sociological Review, 84(6), 1013–1036.
- Rivera, Lauren A. 2012. “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms.” American Sociological Review 77(6):999-1022.
- Pedulla, David S. “The positive consequences of negative stereotypes: Race, sexual orientation, and the job application process.” Social Psychology Quarterly 77, no. 1 (2014): 75-94.
Week 5: How Status (Rank) Matters for Aggression (Oct 3)
- Gould, Roger V. 2003. Collision of Wills: How Ambiguity about Social Rank Breeds Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ch1 (available on courseworks)
- Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., Foulsham, T., Kingstone, A., & Henrich, J. 2013. “Two ways to the top: Evidence that dominance and prestige are distinct yet viable avenues to social rank and influence.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 104(1): 103–125.
- Faris, Robert, and Diane Felmlee. 2014. “Casualties of Social Combat: School Networks of Peer Victimization and Their Consequences.” American Sociological Review 79(2):228–57.
- Chu, James. 2023. “Clarity from Violence? Intragroup Aggression and the Structure of Status Hierarchies.” American Sociological Review 88(3): 454-492.
Week 6: How Status Matters for Politics (Oct 10)
- Giridharadas, Anand. 2018. Winners Take All. [ch4]
- Lamont, Michèle. 2000. The Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class, and Immigration. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press. ch1
- Cramer, Katherine J. 2016. The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. (Chapter 1) Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Fiske, Susan T. 2011. Envy Up, Scorn Down: How Status Divides Us. (Chapter 1) Russell Sage Foundation.
Week 7: How Status Matters for Markets (Oct 17)
- Podolny, Joel M. 1993. “A status-based model of market competition.+” American Journal of Sociology 98(4): 829-872.
- Chu, James. 2021. “Cameras of Merit or Engines of Inequality? The Effect of College Rankings on the Enrollment of Disadvantaged Students.” American Journal of Sociology 126(6): 1307-1346.
- Askin, N., & Bothner, M. S. (2016). “Status-Aspirational Pricing: The “Chivas Regal” Strategy in U.S. Higher Education, 2006–2012.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(2): 217–253.
- Phillips, Damon J., and Ezra W. Zuckerman. 2001. “Middle‐Status Conformity: Theoretical Restatement and Empirical Demonstration in Two Markets.” American Journal of Sociology 107(2):379–429. doi: 10.1086/324072.
Week 8: How Status Matters for the Durability of Inequality (Oct 24)
- Ridgeway Ch6
- Tilly Ch1-Ch3+
- Avent-Holt, Dustin, and Donald Tomaskovic-Devey. “A relational theory of earnings inequality.” American Behavioral Scientist 58, no. 3 (2014): 379-399.
Part II. How Do Status Hierarchies Emerge?
Week 9: How Status Differences Form within Groups (Oct 31)
- Goode Ch4
- Anderson, C., & Kilduff, G. J. 2009. The Pursuit of Status in Social Groups.+ Current Directions in Psychological Science 18(5): 295–298.
- Gould, Roger V. 2002. “The Origins of Status Hierarchies: A Formal Theory and Empirical Test.” American Journal of Sociology 107(5):1143-1178.
- Anderson, Cameron, Robb Willer, Gavin J. Kilduff, and Courtney E. Brown. 2012. “The Origins of Deference: When Do People Prefer Lower Status?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 102(5):1077–88.
Week 10: Generalizing to Status Beliefs (Nov 7)
- Ridgeway Ch4+
- Berger, Joseph, Bernard P. Cohen, and Morris Zelditch Jr. 1972. “Status characteristics and social interaction.” American Sociological Review 37(3): 241-255.
- Ridgeway, C. L. and Shelly. J. Correll. 2006. “Consensus and the Creation of Status Beliefs.” Social Forces 85(1):431–53.
- Correll, Shelley J., Cecilia L. Ridgeway, Ezra W. Zuckerman, Sharon Jank, Sara Jordan-Bloch, and Sandra Nakagawa. 2017. “It’s the Conventional Thought That Counts.+” American Sociological Review 82(2):297–327.
Week 11: Does Status Reflect True Worth? By Whose Definition? (Nov 14)
- Lynn, Freda B., Joel M. Podolny, and Lin Tao. “A sociological (de) construction of the relationship between status and quality+.” American Journal of Sociology 115, no. 3 (2009): 755-804.
- van de Rijt, Arnout. 2019. “Self-Correcting Dynamics in Social Influence Processes.” American Journal of Sociology 124(5):1468-1495.
- Stark, David. 2011. The sense of dissonance: Accounts of worth in economic life. Princeton University Press. ( ch1)
- Boltanski and Thevenot. 2006. On Justification: Economies of Worth. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Ch6 - on CW)
Week 12: Resistance and Change (Nov 21)
- Goode Ch9 and Ch10+
- Ridgeway Ch7
- Hahl, O., & Zuckerman, E. W. (2014). “The Denigration of Heroes? How the Status Attainment Process Shapes Attributions of Considerateness and Authenticity.” American Journal of Sociology, 120(2), 504–554.
Week 13 - Thanksgiving Break, No Class (Nov 28)
Week 14: Class Presentations (Dec 5)
❗ Final Papers Due (11:59pm on Dec 12)