Learning Objectives

1. Describe how socioeconomic status relates to the distribution of social opportunities and resources.
2. Describe how a low socioeconomic status can impact the health status of individuals.
3. Define mental health and explain why it is regarded as a socially constructed concept.
4. Give examples of effects of social class on marriage, birth rates, and family composition.
5. Discuss three factors contributing to educational inequality.
6. Explain how social class relates to religious affiliation, denomination, and religiosity.
7. Evaluate how social class impacts political participation and political influence.
8. Describe how the administration of punishment has changed throughout history.
9. Describe the fundamental process of social categorization and its influence on thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
10. Define stereotypes and describe the ways that stereotypes are measured.
11. Review the ways that stereotypes influence our behavior.
12. Review the causes and outcomes of ingroup favoritism.
13. Summarize the results of Henri Tajfel’s research on minimal groups.
14. Outline the personality and cultural variables that influence ingroup favoritism.
15. Review the causes of discrimination and the ways that we can reduce it.
16. Summarize the conditions under which intergroup contact does or does not reduce prejudice and discrimination.
17. Define sex and gender and femininity and masculinity.
18. Critically assess the evidence on biology, culture and socialization, and gender.
19. Discuss agents of gender socialization.
20. Explain the causes of cross-cultural miscommunication.
21. Identify fundamental cross-cultural communication strategies.
22. Practice cross-cultural dialogue.