In racism, that belief is based on racial or ethnic group membership. The early sociologist w.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963), spent almost a century studying race and racism.

Sexism is the belief that one sex is naturally inferior or superior, thereby justifying unequal treatment. Feminist sociologists focus on sexism.

Ageism takes the form of prejudice against the elderly. Sociologists and others who study aging and ageism are called gerontologists.

Other “isms” include ableism (prejudice against the disabled) and heterosexism (prejudice toward homosexuals).

These “isms” reinforce, and are reinforced by, another common and potentially destructive form of prejudice, stereotypes.

Stereotypes are beliefs that generalize certain exaggerated traits to an entire category of people. These common images can assign either positive or negative traits to various groups.

They may arise out of observations of behaviors or traits that the observer applied to all people in the actor’s category (sex, ethnicity, club membership, hair color, etc.). Like the “isms,” stereotypical beliefs are used to justify unequal treatment of groups. If stereotypes are accepted by the people to which they refer, they can also become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Prejudices may also result in scapegoating, focusing blame on another person or category of people for one’s own problems. Hitler blamed Jews and other “enemies of the state” for Germany’s troubles before World War II (Scheff 1994). Modern-day white-supremacist groups blame other races for economic problems.

Discrimination, unequal treatment of people based on their group membership, also perpetuates stratification.

Discrimination differs from prejudice. Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is a behavior. Although the two may, and often do, occur together, they can also exist separately. When discrimination becomes part of the operation of social institutions, it is known as institutional discrimination. It perpetuates stratification patterns by systematically disadvantaging certain groups.

Glossary

Prejudice	предрассудок	қате түсінік
Stereotypes	Стереотипы	стереотиптер
Discrimination	дискриминация	дискриминация
Racism	расизм	нәсілшілдік
Sexism	Сексизм	жыныстық кемсіту

Topic for Individual Work of Student with Instructor: Explain how the social stratification is maintained. (oral report)

Topic for Individual Work of Student: Personal considerations on status attainment.

(essay)

List of the literature

Main:

• Stolley, Kathy S., The Basis of Sociology, Greenwood Press, 2005

Additional:

• Marx K., Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. 3 vols. 1867. Reprint, New Yourk: Random House. 1977

• Sernau, Scott. Worlds Apart: Social Inequalities in a New Century. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press. 2001