Top Banner
Presentation to Sociology for Social Studies Workshop Pittsburgh, PA October 20-21, 2014 Using Food to Teach Social Stratification and Citizenship BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology
36

BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

May 20, 2018

Download

Documents

Dang Thu
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Presentation to Sociology for Social Studies Workshop Pittsburgh, PA

October 20-21, 2014

Using Food to Teach

Social Stratification and Citizenship

BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM

Wynne Wright, Ph,D,

Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology

Page 2: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Todays Presentation

1. Why the study of inequality belongs in the high school classroom?

2. Agriculture and food (agrifood) as avenues toward understanding contemporary issues of inequality.

3. Building Food Citizens: Transforming agrifood & Inequality lessons into opportunities for public sociology.

Page 3: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Inequality & Stratification

Who gets what and how … Inequality: The existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society.

Stratification: a system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.

• the complex of social institutions that generate inequalities. • the institutional processes that define certain goods as valuable • the rules of allocation that distribute these goods across various

occupations or positions in the division of labor (e.g., doctor, farmer, “housewife”) (Grusky, 1994:3)

Page 4: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Inequality and

Personal Development

Rationale

1. Awareness of structural inequality - objects of stratification by schools - stratification agents - “jocks,” “nerds,” “goth”

2. Discovering social class and its consequences - can become disenfranchised or empowered.

Page 5: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Inequality and Citizenship

1. Questions about social stratification and inequality are fundamental to understand society.

Rationale

A. Understand our rapidly changing & globalizing world

B. To engage with key issues in

American policy-making (e.g., educational policy; programs to alleviate poverty & hunger; housing; measures to ensure environmental justice, etc.

Citizenship

Page 6: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Wealth Inequality in America

Source: Norton and Ariely, 2011

Page 7: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Inequality and Leadership

Rationale

Leadership

Understand – and correct - the central institutions & mechanisms that create, reproduce, & alter the structure of inequalities Ex: education, labor markets, families, neighborhoods, the media, religion, governments, criminal justice system, & the food system.

Page 8: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Setting the Context

Resource: Davis, N. 1992. “Teaching about Inequality: Resistance, Paralysis and Rage” Teaching Sociology, 20(3):232-38.

Resistance, Denial & Anger Challenge to worldview & sense of self Responses: Delineate everyday from academic

See, sociological concepts handout Focus on subjects of shared familiarity Use humor and satire

Page 11: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

What can the food system teach us about inequality?

1. Who eats? 2. What’s on our dinner plate? 3. How we eat? 4. What’s the relationship between diet, agriculture & health? 5. How is food policy constructed? 6. What’s the role of the government in shaping ‘fat’ citizens? 7. How is agriculture and food related to climate change? 8. Is a move toward becoming more ‘sustainable’ linked to

social inequality? 9. How are lines drawn to reshape the contemporary food

system?

Page 12: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Food System

Page 13: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Rtl3Y4EuI&list=PLC6D871A2A8C3C8EF&index=2

CONCEPTS: Social Class Stratification

Class Consciousness

Page 14: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Food and Consumption

• Relationship between social class and food is complex – Economic: some groups occupy different market

locations in terms of ability to purchase certain foods – Social: different groups ‘use’ food to ‘mark ,

• Menus: Design, Content, Language, Images & Price reveal class distinctions

CONCEPTS: Social Class

Cultural Capital Food Insecurity

Page 16: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Menu Coding Worksheet

Food and Social Class Content Analysis Worksheet Lower Middle Upper Menu 1 ___ ___ ___ Menu 2 ___ ___ ___ Menu 3 ___ ___ ___ Menu 4 ___ ___ ___

• Economic Accessibility • Specialized Knowledge

• Common food names vs exotic

• Photography vs. art

Coding Criteria:

Page 18: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

The Cultural Revolution in Food

Page 19: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 20: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Current Crisis

• Are heritage foods for all of ‘us’? • Who decides what are ‘valuable’ foods worthy to be

preserved/celebrated? • Who gets to eat good, local, healthy food? • Is the locavore movement inclusive?

– Who is at the Saturday farmers’ market? (race, class and gender)

• What are the barriers for eating good, healthy food for minority groups?

• What are the most important values embedded in the concept of “local food” and how can these be measured?

Concepts: Power, Income, Race

Page 21: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 22: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

What can I do with the Atlas? • Create maps showing the variation in a single indicator across the

U.S. – Example, variation in the prevalence of obesity or access to

grocery stores across PA counties • View all of the county-level indicators for a selected county; • Zoom in to specific areas and export or print maps; • Download the full dataset in Excel format.

USDA, Food Environment Atlas

Concepts: Food Insecurity, Food Deserts, Poverty

Page 23: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 24: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 25: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 26: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 27: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 28: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 29: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 30: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

USDA, ERS: Food Environment Atlas Data Allegheny Montgomery Washington Westmoreland

Population w/ low access

29% 28% 27% 33%

- Seniors w/ low access

5% 5% 5% 6%

- Children w/ low access

6% 7% 6% 7%

- Low income w/ low access

6% 6% 7%

Household Food Insecurity (3 yr avg)

11.8% 11.8% 12.3% 11..8%

Adult Diabetes Rate

9.20 7.50 11.30 11.0

Adult Obesity Rate

29.10 25.30 29.10 28.30

Farmers’ markets

14 7 3 11

- markets that take SNAP

10 29 0 0

CSA’s 8 2 8 12

Warning!!! Be sure to check years

- Some data not consistently available for each year

Page 31: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.
Page 32: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Food & Place: Food Deserts

USDA estimates that 23.5 million people live in food

deserts.

More than half of those people are low-income.

Page 34: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Current Crisis

• USDA, ERS • Food Environment Atlas • State of Hunger Report (2013) • Context’s ‘Food’ issue, Summer 2014 • PASA (PA Association for Sustainable Agriculture);

Dir. Brian Snyder, (see quarterly newsletter) • PCO (PA Certified Organic) • PA Farm Bureau • Pennsylvania Fruit and Vegetable Growers • PSU Extension

– In Allegheny Co., Heather Mikulas, food policy, urban ag,

• Food Policy Councils • Food Banks, Pantries

Teaching Food Systems Inequality Resources

Page 35: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Current Crisis

Clare Hinrichs, Ph.D. Professor of Rural Sociology 111-D Armsby University Park, PA 16802 Email: [email protected]

A Agriculture Economics, Sociology & Education

Page 36: BRINGING INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM - … INEQUALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Wynne Wright, Ph,D, Department of Community Sustainability Department of Sociology Todays Presentation 1.

Contact Information

Wynne Wright, Ph.D.

Michigan State University Dept. of Community Sustainability

Dept. of Sociology 330 B Natural Resources East Lansing, MI 48824

[email protected]