history

In this nine and a half minute clip, Tim Wise describes the way in which race was invented by elites in early America in order to divide and conquer the working class… and is still used to do so.

Found here via Alas A Blog.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

This figure demonstrates the shift from an economy dominated by manufacturing, to one dominated by information and services. As I understand it, it is this shift that is driving the shrinking of the middle class.

Image borrowed from http://www.whosyourcity.com/.

Then:

Then:

Now:

Thanks to Jason for sending along the first “then”!

The first time I saw this, I was suspicious that it might be a hoax. But it turns out it’s real (at least Snopes says so).

This famous Life Magazine cover from 1971 trumpeted the feminist movement:

Six years later, in 1977, Time Magazine reminded us that gender difference (and inequality?) was genetic and, thus, out of our control:

And don’t miss the famous 1978 Hustler cover that appeared the very next year!

Perhaps related to increasing wealth and income inequality in our society, the gap between the life expectancy of the rich and the poor is also increasing. This image is from a New York Times article on the topic:

Dr. Singh, who was part of the study, explains:

In 1980-82… people in the most affluent group could expect to live 2.8 years longer than people in the most deprived group (75.8 versus 73 years). By 1998-2000, the difference in life expectancy had increased to 4.5 years (79.2 versus 74.7 years), and it continues to grow.

This commentary by Dan Charnas on Obama’s speech and the public reaction (found here) might inspire an interesting class discussion on race, politics, and getting along:

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/808451[/vimeo]

White People, Get Over Yourselves from Dantrification on Vimeo.

Thanks to Lawgeek for sending this our way!

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NEW (Dec. ’09)! Ted K. sent in this contemporaneous commercial for Rice Krinkles:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs-P_u7taMI[/youtube]

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.