Interview

In our readings for this module, we were exposed to the intersection of race (ascribed status) and poverty. We learned that poor health is directly linked to both minority status and lower social class. Minorities and the poor are more likely to face discrimination and other negative social influences as well.

Furthermore, our life choices are all affected by some ascribed conditions, but we rarely stop to understand how. For this assignment, you will write an article on the role of race and gender in determining social status. Your article will include interviews of two people.

Using the module readings, Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet, research the role of race in general with regard to social status in American society. Then, write an essay including the following:

• Provide an overview of the role of race and gender in determining social status in American society.
• Explain the difference between individual discrimination, institutionalized discrimination, and reverse discrimination.
• Interview the two people you identified in Working Ahead for M2A2—Identify Two People. Do they differ in their race, gender, and class? Focus on the following in your interviews:

  Using a sociological perspective, that is thinking critically, determine how the two people you interviewed have been affected by their ascribed traits. In other words, be objective and ask questions about race, class, gender, and age.
  Ask probing questions about each person’s educational opportunities and career choices.
  Inquire about their inherited social status, and how their own personal social status differs (or not) from their parents’ social status.
  Ask if they see themselves as having experienced any form of discrimination.
  Ask what they see as solutions to discrimination and social disparities based on race, gender, or discrimination.
  Compare each person’s responses to your own observations; do you observe anything that he or she does not?
  What differences do you observe between the ascribed traits versus achieved (or earned) traits?

• Summarize your findings by explaining whether race, gender, and any form of discrimination have played a role in the social status of your interviewees.
• Include in your summary ideas for reducing any form of discrimination in determining someone’s social status.

Write a 2–3-page paper in Word format. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M2_A2 . For example, if your name is John Smith, your document will be named SmithJ_M2_A2 .