Inequality: Class, Gender and Race

Students in the inequality concentration study the structural sources and individual consequences of racism, sexism and economic exploitation. We begin with the recognition that it is along the dimensions of class, gender and ethnicity that inequalities in life chances are most clearly distributed and contested. This area encourages students to develop a holistic approach to the analysis of inequality, recognizing the complex connections between culture, work, politics and everyday life. Faculty and student research run the gamut of methodological orientations, but tend to share a conceptually rich and social justice oriented approach to the sociological study of inequality. Inequality is currently the largest graduate concentration in the NCSU Ph.D. program. In 1998 U.S. News and World Report ranked the NCSU Sociology Inequality program 16th in the nation. (link to powerpoint slide)

Graduate Courses:

• Social Stratification (SOC 736): This course focuses on the interplay of class, gender and race in the organization and attainment of education, employment, and wealth. Sustained attention is given to processes of human, social, and cultural capital development, discrimination, workplace organization, and spatial inequality.
• Sociology of Gender (SOC 737): This course focuses on the theories which explain the development, maintenance and changes in gender stratification. We address gender as a social structure, its historical roots, contemporary patterns in both personal and public spheres, and the possibilities for change in feminist directions.
• Racial and Ethnic Inequality (SOC 738): This class focuses on the nature of racism, discrimination, prejudice, racial conflict, and racial oppression in American society. Special emphasis will be given to the relationship between race and social class. Race is one of the most important organizing principles in our society. Therefore, it is essential that graduate student in sociology be exposed to theories and perspectives that shed light on race, racial inequality in particular. To this end, this class will explore the diverse theoretical perspectives and sociological research on race.
• Social Psychology of Inequality (SOC 739): This course draws primarily on ethnographic research to examine how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by, and serve to reproduce or challenge, various kinds of inequalities. The premise of the course is that inequalities are created and maintained by the actions of thinking and feeling human beings, and therefore it is impossible to understand the existence or persistence of inequality without taking the actor, interpretation, and interaction into account.

Faculty

Maxine Atkinson

Associate Professor, Washington State University, 1980
320 1911 Bldg, (919) 515-9001, email: maxine_atkinson@ncsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Current research interests: Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, Sociology of the Family and Gender Aging .

• Wright, Mary C., Nandini Assar, Edward Kain, Laura Kramer, Carla Howery, Kathleen McKinney, Becky Glass, and Maxine Atkinson (order of authorship randomly determined ). (2004). “The Importance of Institutional Context for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.” Teaching Sociology 32: 144-159.
• (2004). Sociology 204: “Predictors of Family Structure: A Data Analysis Module for Sociology of the Family.” Pp. 4-6 in Integrating Data Analysis, Susan M. Hilal and Merredith Redlin, (Eds). Washington, DC: American SociologicalAssociation.
• Atkinson, Maxine P., Alton J. Banks, Judy C. Peel and J. Douglas Wellman (order of authorship is alphabetical). (2003). “Peer Review of Teaching: Developing a Program in a Large, Research-Extensive, Land Grant Institution.” Pp. 121-124 in Campus Programs that Work, Barbara Cambridge, (Ed.). Washington, D.C.: The American Association for Higher Education.
• (2003). “The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Revisited.” Emphasis. ( N.C. State teaching commentaries). May.

Martha Crowley

Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University, 2006
330 1911 Bldg, (919) 513-0289, email: martha_crowley@ncsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Current research interests: Social Stratification and Mobility, Work and Organizations, Sociology of Education, Social Demography, Poverty, Spatial Inequality and Rural
Sociology, Gender, and Race and Ethnicity.

Publications:

• Crowley, Martha. 2006. Review of The Politics of Working Life, by Paul Edwards and Judy Wajcman . Work and Occupations 33: 362-364.
• Crowley , Martha, Daniel T. Lichter and Zhenchao Qian. 2006. “Beyond Gateway Cities: Economic Restructuring and Changing Poverty Among Mexican Immigrants.” Family Relations, Special Issue on Latino Families 55: 345-360.
• Roscigno, Vincent J., Donald Tomaskovic-Devey and Martha Crowley. 2006. “Education and the Inequalities of Place.” Social Forces 84: 2121-2145.
• Lichter, Daniel T., Zhenchao Qian and Martha Crowley. 2006. “Poverty and Economic Polarization among Children of Minority and Immigrant Families.” Forthcoming in Handbook of Families and Poverty: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by D. R. Crane and E. S. Marshall. New York : Sage Publications.
• Lichter, Daniel T., Zhenchao Qian and Martha Crowley. 2005. “Child Poverty among Racial Minorities and Immigrants:  Explaining Trends and Differentials.” Social Science Quarterly Special Issue 86 (5) 1037-1059.
• Tope, Daniel, Lindsey Joyce Chamberlain, Martha Crowley and Randy Hodson. 2005. “The Benefits of Being There: Lessons from the Literature on Work.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 34 (4): 470-493.
• Crowley , Martha and Vincent J. Roscigno. 2004. "Farm Concentration, Political-Economic Process, and Stratification: The Case of the North Central U.S. " Journal of Political and Military Sociology, 32 (1): 133-155.
• Lichter, Daniel T. and Martha Crowley. 2004. “Welfare Reform and Child Poverty: Effects of Maternal Employment, Marriage, and Cohabitation.” Social Science Research 33 (3): 385-408.

Steve McDonald

Assistant Professor, Florida State University, 2004
337 1911 Bldg, (919) 515-9028, email: steve_mcdonald@ncsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Current research interests: Social Inequality, Social Networks, Work & Labor Markets, Life Course

Publications:

• Steve McDonald & Glen H. Elder, Jr. (2006). “When Does Social Capital Matter? Non-Searching for Jobs Across the Life Course.” Social Forces. In press.
• Larry W. Isaac, Steve McDonald, & Greg Lukasik. (2006). “Takin’ It From the Streets: How The Sixties Breathed Life into the Labor Movement.” American Journal of Sociology. 112(1):46-96.
• Steve McDonald & Robert E. Crew, Jr. (2006). “Welfare to Web to Work: Internet Job Search Among Former Welfare Clients.” Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. 33(1):239-253.
• Steve McDonald. (2005). “Patterns of Informal Job Matching Across the Work Career: Entry-Level, Reentry-Level, & Elite Non-Searching.” Sociological Inquiry. 75(3):403-428.
• Jill Quadagno & Steve McDonald. (2003). “Racial Segregation in Southern Hospitals: How Medicare Broke the Back of Segregated Health Facilities.” Pp. 119-137 in The New Deal and Beyond: Social Welfare in the South Since 1930, Elna Green (ed.). University of Georgia Press: Athens.
• Debra Street, Jill Quadagno, Lori Parham, & Steve McDonald. (2003). “Reinventing Long Term Care: The Effect of Policy Changes on Florida Nursing Homes, 1989-1997.” The Gerontologist, 43(special issue II):118-131.

Michael D. Schulman

Professor, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975
332 1911 Bldg, (919) 515-9016, email: Michael_Schulman@ncsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Current research focus : globalization and rural restructuring; labor market transformation

Publications:

• Runyan, C.W., J. Dal Santo, M. Schulman, H. Lipscomb, T. Harris. (2006). “Work Hazards and Workplace Safety Violations Experienced by Adolescent Construction Workers.” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Forthcoming
• Runyan, C., Michael D. Schulman, and Myduc Ta. (2006). "Adolescent Employment: Relationships to Injury and Violence.” Chapter (pp. 163-90) in Karen Liller (ed.), Injury Prevention for Children and Adolescents: Integration of Research, Practice, and Advocacy,. Washington : American
• O’Connor, T., D. Loomis, C. Runyan, J. A. dal Santo, and M. D. Schulman. (2005). “Adequacy of Health and Safety Training Among Young Latino Construction Workers.” Journal of Occupational and Industrial Medicine 47: 272-77.
• Runyan. C., J. M. Bowling, M. D. Schulman, and S. S. Gallagher. (2005). “Potential for Violence Against Teenage Retail Workers.” Journal of Adolescent Health 36: 267.e1-67e6.
• Schulman, Michael D., and Doris Slesinger. (2004). “Health Hazards of Rural Extractive Industries and Occupations.” Pp. 49-60 in Glasgow, Morton, and Johnson (eds.), Critical Issues in Rural Health. Ames, IA: Blackwell Iowa State University Press.
• Runyan, C. W., J. Michael Bowling, and Michael D. Schulman. (2004). Safety of Youth Employment: A National Study of Parents and Teens. Final Report to National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. November.
• Costello, Theresa, Michael D. Schulman, and Regina Luginbuhl. (2003). “Understanding the Public Health Impacts of Farm Vehicle Public Road Crashes in North Carolina,” Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health 9 (1):19-32.
• Anderson, Cynthia D., Michael D. Schulman, and Phillip J. Wood. (2003). “Place, Race, and State: Sustaining the Textile Security Zone in a Changing Southern Labor Market.” Pp. 31-54 in Falk, Schulman, and Tickamyer (eds.), Communities of Work. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
• MacMillan, Marybe, and Michael D. Schulman (2003).. “Hogs and Citizens: A Report From the North Carolina Front.” Pp. 219-239 in Falk, Schulman, and Tickamyer (eds.), Communities of Work. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
• Runyan, C. W., Michael D. Schulman, and C. Hoffman.(2003). “Understanding and Preventing Violence Against Adolescent Workers: What Is Known and What is Missing?” Clinics in Occupational and Environment Medicine 3: 711-20.
• Falk, William, Michael D. Schulman, and Ann Tickamyer editors. (2003). Communities of Work: Rural Restructuring in Local and Global Contexts. Athens: Ohio University Press.
• Schulman, Michael D. “Things My Mentor Never Told Me.” (2003). ASA Footnotes 31 (1): 5.
• Schulman, Michael D. (2003). “A Testimonial to the Value of Undergraduate Research Mentoring.” The Rural Sociologist 23 (3): 24-25.
• Schulman, Michael D., Carol Runyan, J. Michael Bowling, Janet Dal Santo, Linda Treiber, and Hester Lipscomb. (2003).“Teenage Construction Workers: Hazards, Experiences, and Work Organization.” Presentation at the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, Pittsburg, PA. October.

Michael Schwalbe

Professor, Washington State University, 1984
329 1911 Bldg, (919) 515-9017, email: michael_schwalbe@ncsu.edu  
Curriculum Vitae

Current research interests: Inequality, Identity, Life History.

Publications:

• Schwalbe, M.L. (2005). Identity stakes, manhood acts, and the dynamics of accountability. Pp. 65-81 in N. Denzin (ed.), Studies in Symbolic Interaction: A Research Annual. NY: Elsevier. (Originally presented as Peter H. Hall Lecture, annual meetings of the Midwest Sociological Society, Kansas City, Missouri, April, 2004).
• Schwalbe, M.L. (2005). The self and self-concept. Pp. 684-687 in G. Ritzer (ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Theory, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Schwalbe, M.L. (2004). Remembering Reet and Shine: Two Black Men, One Struggle. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.
• Schwalbe, M.L. (2004). Robert Bly. Pp. 89-91 M. Kimmel and A. Aronson (eds.), Encyclopedia on Men and Masculinities, New York: ABC-Clio.

Melvin Thomas

Associate Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg (1986)
334 1911 Bldg, (919) 515-9019, email: melvin_thomas@ncsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Current research interests: Racial inequality, social stratification, social psychology.

Publications:

Maxine Thompson

Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1982
316 1911 Bldg, (919) 515-9020, email: maxine_thompson@ncsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Current research interests: Medical sociology, Social Psychology, Family.

Publications:

Recent Graduates and Job Placements:

• Cynthia Anderson, Assistant Professor, Iowa State University. Research on inequality resulting from textile industry restructuring.
• Marino Bruce, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Madison. Research on masculinity, locality, and crime.
• Michael Calloway, Assistant Research Professor and Associate Director of the Shepps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Research on interorganizational networks.
• William Danaher, Assistant Professor, College of Charleston. Research on poverty and migration and the role of folk songs in worker rebellions.
• Jeff Davis, Assistant Professor, California State University -Long Beach. Research on race and the social psychology of workplace inequality.
• Beth Davison, Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University. Research on crime, neighborhoods and inequality.
• Sandra Harding, Dean, School of Management, Queensland (Australia) University of Technology. Research on organizational utopias.
• Shu Hui Huang, Associate Professor, World College of Journalism and Communication, Taipei, Taiwan. Research on political and social change in Taiwan.
• Matthew Johnsen, Research Director, R.O.W. Sciences. Research on disabilties and inequality.
• Jacqueline Johnson, Assistant Professor, Syracuse University. Research on gender and ethnic inequality in job search and job matching.
• Kristen Myers, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University. Research on a biracial, women's social movement organization.
• Karen Parker, Assistant Professor, University of Florida. Research on inequality and homicide.
• Jammie Price, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina - Wilmington. Research on straight-gay male friendships.
• Rosemary Ritzman, Social Research Associate II, North Carolina Dept. of Corrections. Institutional research on gender and ethnic discrimination in the corrections system.
• Vincent Roscigno, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University. Research on racial Inequality in education and the role of folk songs in workers rebellions.
• Robert Wendt, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Millikin University. Research on ethnicty, unemployment and displaced workers and the history of slavery in Illinois.

Other Links

• The North Carolina State University, Department of Sociology & Anthropology Graduate Program offers both doctoral and masters degrees in sociology.
• The Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section, American Sociological Association participates actively in the annual national sociology meeting, publishes an informative and lively newsletter, and includes many additional links on its webpage.
• RC28, the Social Stratification Research Committee of the International Sociological Association holds conferences twice a year.
• The Triangle Area Organizations and Stratification Seminar (TAOS) meets frequently to discuss participants' research.
• The local chapter of Sociologists for Women in society provides a professional group to discuss feminist ideas and social action. While the local chapter does not have a web page, the national and southern regional SWS organizations do.
• The Society for the Study of Social Problems provides a focus for change-oriented social scientists through its annual meeting and its journal, Social Problems.