Sociology 4035 SECOND EXAM - TAKE HOME

THIS EXAM IS DUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 28

Functionalist views on inequality consider it an important mechanism that contributes to social well being, for it allocates the most talented people to the more important social tasks. Among economists, the conventional wisdom is that what matters for a healthy economy is growth, not income distribution; the higher the rate of growth, the better off everyone will be (trickle down view). In contradiction to the above, a recent article in Business Week, INEQUALITY: How the gap between rich and poor hurts the economy (on reserve at Norlin Library), indicates that growing economic inequality has a number of dysfunctional or negative economic and social effects.

Using the knowledge you have so far acquired about the causes and effects of social inequality, the ways people are affected by it and the kinds of policies different states have established to ameliorate its effects, examine the article carefully and

1. Identify the variety of manifestations of economic and social inequality and their economic and social effects on individuals and on the socio-economic system.
2. Identify the concepts and theories of inequality which, in your view, best account for current trends. You can use, in addition to your texts, the original sources from Marx, Weber, Devis and Moore, and Tumin also on reserve.
3. Examine the reasons why in Japan and Europe the gap between rich and poor is not as great as in the U.S. and place this information in the context of the U. S. balance of power between workers and employers.

THE ESSAY SHOULD BE TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED, AND ONLY FIVE TO EIGHT PAGES LONG