SOC 321 Wealth, Power, and Inequality

Univ of Kansas; Sociology; ChangHwan Kim

• KU
• Sociology
• SOC 321 Home
• Blackboard

Instructor

• ChangHwan Kim (chkim@ku.edu) Fraser 748
• Office Hours: W 2:00 - 3:00 (or by appointment)

Spring 2022 Syllabus

• Syllabus [PDF]

Assignments

• Writing Assignment #1 (Due March 9th)
• Writing Assignment #2: Gini Computation (Due March 2nd)
• Writing Assignment #3: Chaning Inequality / Poverty (Due May 2nd)

Important Terms and Concepts

• Exam 1: Important Terms, Concepts, and Ideas
• Exam 2: Important Terms, Concepts, and Ideas

Lecture Slides & Readings

Lecture slides are copyright protected. It is not allowed to distribute them without a written permission. An ID (not the KU-ID) and a password are required to access them. Contact your instructor to acquire ID and password or check the course Blackboard.

Theoretical Foundation of Stratification

Why Inequality Is Rising?

• Topic 5: Kuznets' Curve
  - Aldersen, Beckfield, and Nielsen. 2005. Exactly How Has Income Inequality Changed? Patterns of Distributional Change in Core Societies. Int. J of Comparative Sociology.
  - Nielsen & Alderson (1997) The Kuznets Curve and the Great U-Turn Income Inequality in U.S. Counties, 1970 to 1990.
• Topic 6: Why Inequality Rises? Education and Skill-Biased Technological Changes
  - Autor. 2015.Polanyi's Paradox and the Shape of Employment Growth. Proceedings of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
  - Job Polarization and Shrinking Middle
  - CBS News: Robots hurting job growth?
• Topic 7: Why Inequality Rises? Institutional Changes: Union, Minimum Wages, and Tax
  - Kim and Sakamoto. 2010. Union and Public Sector Work and Occupations. (Slides)
  - Sakamoto & Kim (2010) "Is Rising Earnings Inequality Associated with Increased Exploitation? Evidence for U.S. Manufacturing Industries, 1971-1996."
• Topic 8: Globalization
  - Mills. 2009. Globalization and Inequality. European Sociological Review.
  - Milanovic. 2013. Global Income Inequality in Numbers: in History and Now. Global Policy.

Wealth Inequality, Poverty, and Social Mobility

• Topic 9: Wealth Inequality
  - Piketty & Saez (2014) "Inequality in the long run." Science.
• Topic 10: Poverty
  - Brady. 2003. "Sociological Measurement of Poverty. Social Forces.
• Topic 11: Social Mobility, the Great Gatsby Curve
  - Corak. 2013. "Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility." Journal of Economic Perspectives.
  - Torche. 2015. "Intergenerational Mobility: An Interdisciplinary Review." Annals, AAPSS.
• Topic 12: Status, Classes, and Occupations
  - Hout & DiPrete. 2006. "What We Have Learned: Social Stratification." RSSM.
  - Video: People Like Us.