Wednesday, November 28, 2012

poor us: an animated history of poverty

Please feel free to write a review for post of this new documentary. 

See the entire 50+ minute version at htttp://video.pbs.org/video/2296684944

Thursday, November 22, 2012

poor kids



Please feel free to write a review of this just-released documentary. View entire documentary at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poor-kids/

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

inequality state by state

Much has been recently written about growing economic inequality at a national level, but  a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Pulling Apart, now provides an analysis of income change on a state-by-state basis. Quoting from some of the report's most notable findings: 
  • In the United States as a whole, the poorest fifth of households had an average income of $20,510, while the top fifth had an average income of $164,490 — eight times as much.  In 15 states, this top-to-bottom ratio exceeded 8.0.  In the late 1970s, in contrast, no state had a top-to-bottom ratio exceeding 8.0.
  • The average in come of the top 5 percent of households was 13.3 times the average income of the bottom fifth.  The states with the largest such gaps were Arizona, New Mexico, California, Georgia, and New York, where the ratio exceeded 15.0.
Thanks to NPR's Marketplace for calling attention to this publication. 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

TAL: red state / blue state

evolution of equality

This useful infographic places a variety of events relevant to inequalities of race, sex, and sexual orientation on a historical timeline.

112 years of presidential election maps


The video and discussion are available in this article in The Blaze.

For dynamic visuals comparing the direction of the presidential vote for 2012 and 2008, see this recent interactive graphic in the The New York Times.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Park Avenue: money, power, and the American Dream



Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream aired on PBS Independent Lens last night and is now available on Hulu. If any student or students would like to write a review of it, please do so ASAP and forward to me for posting.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Nov 11: class, war, and dying (updated Nov 11, 2022)





Veterans' Day is a most appropriate time to reflect on the relation between social class and military service. In particular need of reflection is the fact that those from the lower reaches of the stratification order typically bear the brunt of casualties during war. Poor and working-class men are more often killed because they are more likely to serve in harm's way as non-commissioned front-line soldiers, but they also have been less able to avoid conscription by either paying another to serve as in the Civil War or receiving college deferment as in the Vietnam War (see MacLean, 2012). Today's military is exclusively comprised of volunteers who often join because they lack viable employment alternatives, and this has only heightened the class-biased composition of casualties from recent wars in the Middle East. Moreover, poor and working-class men are also more likely to feel the continuing effects of war in terms of psychiatric distress as they transition out of the service and try to adapt to civilian life.

Army and Marine suicide rates increased sharply between 2001-2020 and today are about twice that for the U.S. population (US Dept of Veterans Affairs 2022) . During the heigth of war in the Middle East, more active-duty military personnel took their lives than died on the battlefield (Williams, 2012). However, suicide among veterans is of even far greater magnitude. According to Veterans Affairs, although about 1 percent of adults served in the military over the past decade, veterans represented 20 percent of all U.S. suicides. As discussed in the above Democracy Now! interviews with Aaron Glantz and others knowledgeable about the issue, the extreme suicide problem among military personnel and veterans reflects several key factors, including multiple deployments to the Middle East and an inadequate government treatment response to depression and PTSD.

For an excellent description of how war produces mental disorders and other adjustment problems, view the PBS Frontline documentary, The Wounded Platoon, which follows soldiers in an Army infantry unit from Fort Riley to deployment in Iraq and then back to the U.S.


Thursday, November 8, 2012

why poverty?

 STEPS has created a multimedia initiative to reignite interest in the problem of global poverty. Why Poverty? will feature 8 documentaries and 30 shorter videos that will be released for online and television viewing later this month (trailers and some shorts are already available on its YouTube channel). According to STEPS, the objectives of the initiative are to:
produce narratives that inspire people to think and be part of the solution, 
involve the best filmmakers in the creation of bold and provocative factual films, 
bring together broadcasters worldwide and engage audience through multiple media platforms, 
create a global outreach campaign, supplementing the broadcasts with extra teaching materials, 
and engage with decision-makers and influencers to find solutions for change.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

developing cultural capital amidst poverty

Social stratification perspectives to the left of conservatism assume that innate intelligence is not a resource largely monopolized by the affluent. Rather, raw aptitude is distributed throughout the class structure, and the opportunity for cultivation is all that is needed to realize it. This CNN article and video speak to these assumptions in describing a classical music program extended to children living in some of Brazil's poorest slums. Retired pianist, Joao Carlos Martins, started the program several years ago after searching to find kids with music potential. "I discovered so many naturally talented children that I decided to build a project... In 10 years, I intend to build 1,000 string orchestras in underprivileged areas across our country." Along with providing employable skills, his program has been credited with psychologically empowering participants, while diverting them from drugs and crime.

Update: Dec 12, 2012
The above video similarly examines the development of music talent among the poor in South America. Landfill harmonic describes how a Paraguayan community built on piles of refuse fashions crude, but sweet-sounding instruments, out of trash, and what these instruments and the "recycled" orchestra formed around them means to its children. The larger story about this project will soon appear in a full-length documentary.

Thanks to Jay Villarreal for bringing this inspiring clip to attention.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

race and wealth inequality

This post was written by Paul Dean and originally appeared in The Sociological Cinema

This CBS news report shows dramatic wealth inequalities across race, and how the inequalities have increased dramatically during the Great Recession. Like Oliver and Shapiro's classic book, Black Wealth/White Wealth, the report documents that in 1995, the median white household had a net worth 7 times larger than black and Hispanic households. Citing Census data analyzed by the Pew Center, the video shows that in 2010 white households ($113,000) now have 18 times the net worth of Hispanics ($6,325) and 20 times the net worth of African-Americans ($5,677). It notes that part of this growing difference is that the net worth of most racial minorities is found in their homes, while whites are more likely to also own financial assets. The news team argues that this asset allocation explains why white wealth has rebounded significantly from its recent losses and increased the wealth divide. While this is true, they largely miss other important factors. For example, Melvin Oliver's 2008 report found that African-Americans were the subject of systematic predatory lending during the housing bubble that led to the Great Recession. He noted that "minorities were steered away from safe, conventional loans by brokers who received incentives for jacking up the interest rate" and that their mortgages had "high hidden costs, exploding adjustable rates, and prepayment penalties to preclude refinancing." This not only lead to a drop in the value of minority wealth, but actually stripped much of their assets as borrowers who defaulted on their loans. The video closes by saying "experts say it could be a decade before the wealth gap closes," although they do not cite any experts that say this. Viewers may question the optimism of this prediction and reflect on why it is likely to take much more than a decade for something like wealth (which is passed down from one generation to another) to be more equitably distributed across race. The video is a great accompaniment to the readings linked to above, and perhaps even this comedic video from Chris Rock on race and the differences between being rich and wealthy.