Why do affluent, liberal, and design-rich cities like Minneapolis have some of the biggest racial disparities in the country? How can designers help to create more equitable communities? Introduction to Design Equity, an open access book for students and professionals, maps design processes and products against equity research to highlight the pitfalls and potentials of design as a tool for building social justice.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 12.3The content in section 12.3 will clearly state the assumptions of disengagement, activity, and conflict theories of aging and critically assess these three sociologicaly theories as they relate to aging.

OER Text materialTheoretical Perspectives on CultureChapter 3, subsection 3.4. According to functionalists, societies need culture to exist. Cultural norms function to support the fluid operation of society, and cultural values guide people in making choices. In addition, culture exists to meet its members’ basic needs. Conflict theorists view social structure as inherently unequal, based on power differentials related to issues like class, gender, race, and age. For a conflict theorist, culture is seen as reinforcing issues of "privilege" for certain groups based upon race, sex, class, etc. Symbolic interactionism is mostly concerned with the face-to-face interactions between members of society. Interactionists see culture as being created and maintained by the ways people interact and in how individuals interpret each other’s actions.

OER Text materialCrime and the LawChapter 7, subsection 7.3. At this subsection various types of crimes – violent crimes, non-violent crimes, street crimes, corporate crimes, and victimless crimes – are compared and contrasted. In addition, primary and secondary deviance are compared and contrasted.

OER Text materialDeviance and ControlChapter 7. In this chapter, several concepts related to deviance are defined and explained. Such concepts include deviance, social control, sanctions, and social order.General Comments on this Section:Data on hate crime is too old – 2009/10Two typos in the chapter at pages 142 AND 144The concept of “Formal sanctions” is used in the chapter. It should be added that formal sanctions are the same as lawsA Table is needed for Merton’s Mode of Adaptation

OER Text materialCrime and the LawChapter 7, subsection 7.3. The society’s solution to the problems of deviance is through the criminal justice system. This involves the use of the police, the courts, and the corrections system. The police are a civil force in charge of enforcing laws and public order at a federal, state, or community level. A court is a system that has the authority to make decisions based on law. The corrections system, more commonly known as the prison system, is charged with supervising individuals who have been arrested, convicted, and sentenced for a criminal offense.

OER Text materialDeviance and ControlChapter 7, subsection 7.1. In this subsection examples are given of behaviors that were considered deviant some time ago but now considered normal, and vice versa. For example, in some states the use of marijuana which was considered deviants is now considered normal. Throughout the chapter, examples of changes in the definition of deviance are given.

OER Text materialTheoretical Perspectives on DevianceChapter 7, subsection 7.2. In this section, functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism are used to explain deviance. Theories under functionalism are Émile Durkheim’s The Essential Nature of Deviance, Robert Merton’s Strain Theory, Social Disorganization Theory, and Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay’s Cultural Deviance Theory. Under conflict theory are theories like Karl Marx’s An Unequal System, and C. Wright Mills’ The Power Elite. Under symbolic interactionism are Labeling Theory, Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association, and Travis Hirschi’s Control Theory.

OER Text MaterialGlobal ClassificationImmanuel Wellerstein’s World Systems Approach is used to compare and contrast core nations, peripheral nations, and semi-peripheral nations. Core nations are dominant capitalist countries, highly industrialized, technological, and urbanized. Peripheral nations have very little industrialization; what they do have often represents the outdated castoffs of core nations or the factories and means of production owned by core nations. They typically have unstable governments, inadequate social programs, and are economically dependent on core nations for jobs and aid. Semi-peripheral nations are in-between nations, not powerful enough to dictate policy but nevertheless acting as a major source for raw material and an expanding middle-class marketplace for core nations, while also exploiting peripheral nations.

OER Text MaterialGlobal Inequality, Chapter 10This chapter defines global inequality as the concentration of resources in certain nations that negatively affect the opportunities of individuals in poorer and less powerful countries. It uses the functionalist, conflict, and the symbolic interactionist perspectives to explain global inequality. It is an issue of why some countries are wealthy and others are poor.

OER Text MaterialTheoretical Perspectives on Global Stratification, Section 10.3In this section, two theories are used to explain global inequality. The first one, modernization theory, states that low-income countries are affected by their lack of industrialization and can improve their global economic standing through an adjustment of cultural values and attitudes to work, industrialization, and other forms of economic growth. The second theory, dependency theory, states that global inequality is primarily caused by core nations (or high-income nations) exploiting semi-peripheral and peripheral nations (or middle-income and low-income nations). The exploitation creates a cycle of dependence.

OER Text MaterialGlobal Stratification and Classification, Section 10.2 Global Wealth and Poverty, Section 10.2Factors such as gender inequality, prejudice and discrimination, sexism, and economic hierarchy are used to explain global inequality.

OER Text MaterialTheoretical Perspectives on Global StratificationIn this subsection, it is noted that the consequences of poverty are often also the causes. Some of the consequences of global inequality are inadequate healthcare, limited education, and the inaccessibility of birth control. The consequences are divided into three areas. The first, termed “the sedimentation of global inequality,” relates to the fact that once poverty becomes entrenched in an area, it is typically very difficult to reverse. One of the consequences of global inequality is the low level of industrialization in peripheral nations. What they do have often represents the outdated castoffs of core nations or the factories and means of production owned by core nations. The peripheral nations typically have unstable governments, inadequate social programs, and are economically dependent on core nations for jobs and aid. Another consequence of global inequality is that the workers in peripheral countries do not enjoy the same privileges and rights as U.S. workers.

OER Text Material Stages of the Sociological Research Process“Eye on Society: Doing Sociological Research” (Chapter Two) Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social WorldList the major stages of the sociological research processDescribe the different types of units of analysis in sociologyExplain the differene between an independent variable and a dependent variableResearch Design in SociologyThis section lists the major advantages and disadvantages of surveys, experiments and observational studies Good general content – section 2.2 and 2.3 - Missing content covering “defining the problem” within the steps of the social science research process

OER Text MaterialEye on Society: Doing Sociological ResearchEthical Issues in Social Science This section describes two kinds of ethical issues and/or guidelines that characterize sociological research.Sociological Research in the Service of Society Should the primary aim of sociological research be to help improve society, or should its primary aim be to discover social knowledge for its own sake? There is no right or wrong answer to this question. However, following in the spirit of the early American sociologists, this book hopes to show the relevance of sociological knowledge and insights, as derived from sound, objective research, for addressing many of the social issues facing American society and various nations around the world.

OER Text materialExplaining StratificationSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World Section 8.1 discusses differences in how Karl Marx and Max Weber viewed class societies. Section 8.2 provides a great discussion of theoretical perspectives on class. The section on functionalism includes an overview of Davis and Moore’s work. The conflict theory section includes a nice discussion of Marx and of false-consciousness. Instructors may want to supplement material on Weber.  The section on symbolic interactionism includes a discussion of conspicuous consumption. Chapter 8 does not discuss Bourdieu, cultural capital, or social capital. Instructors interested in the social reproduction of class should consider supplemental sources.Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification - OpenStaxYou could supplement with Open Stax section 9.4 as it provides a summary of how each major sociological paradigm (functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism) understands stratification. This includes a brief discussion of the Davis and Moore thesis. The conflict theory section only discusses Marx and not Weber. This section will be need to be supplemented with other sources.

OER Text materialEconomic Inequality and Poverty in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World Chapter 8 Section 4. Section 8.4 provides a good discussion of inequality and poverty, but it does not adequately discuss the consequences of social class. Overall this textbook misses the point that social class is economics plus lifestyle. Concepts such as cultural capital and everyday class consciousness,, although related to economics, impact lifestyle differences between classes; however, these concepts are not included in the textbook. Instructors wishing to make this case would benefit from including one or more of the following supplemental materials.

OER Text MaterialEconomic Inequality and Poverty in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World: Chapter 8 Section 4. This source explains how poverty is measured. Individual and structural level explanations of poverty are provided. Also included is a discussion of the effects of poverty. There is a short section at the end of the chapter that outlines what sociologists suggest for reducing poverty.  Like many introduction to sociology textbooks, there is not a lot on specific interventions. Instructors interested in interventions should supplement this chapter with other material such as that listed below.

OER Text materialSocial Class in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World- Chapter 8 Section 3This section begins by explaining the difference between measuring class objectively or subjectively.  A pie chart with 2008 GSS data is used to illustrate subjective measurement of social class. The section continues with a discussion of the American class structure and an overview of the major class divisions. Finally social mobility is discussed.  The objectives at the start of the section state that a functionalist and conflict theorist view of the American class structure is presented, however, there is only a slight mention of these perspectives in this chapter. This is not the section to use for a theoretical discussion of class. The concepts of status, status inconsistency and status symbol are not discussed in this textbook. Conspicuous consumption is addressed briefly in section 8.2, but many key terms related to social class are missing.What is Social Stratificiation? Open Stax does provide a definition of status consistency, inconsistency and meritocracy.

OER Text materialSocial StratificationSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World Chapter 8 Sections 1 and 3. Section 8.1 discusses different systems of stratification and the difference between closed and open systems. Section 8.3 discusses vertical mobility and inter/intra generational mobility, but not horizontal mobility. Instructors might consider supplementing this chapter with material from Open Stax and several of the supplemental material listed for this objective.Social Stratification and Mobility in the United StatesOpen Stax section 9.2- provides a fine summary social mobility and defines key terms.