Watch and learn! Carefully selected videos will help bring key concepts and theories to life, preparing you for your studies and exams.

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1. Income Mobility

Table 4.9 shows family income mobility. For an interactive look at income mobility, visit the New York Times' website. Move the cursor over income brackets to see where people started and where they ended up. Explore the other graphics on income mobility. From 1988 to 1998, what percentage of the top income quintile (or top 20%) moves to the middle and bottom income quintiles? What percentage of the bottom income quintiles move to the middle and top income quintiles? How does the US compare to other countries?

Note: The New York Times website has an interactive section on the “Components of Class.” Note that these differ from how the authors define class. For example, the New York Times’ website says that occupational prestige is one way of looking at class, but, in general, sociologists see class and prestige as two different (although related) phenomena. Refer to the web exercises for Chapter 2.

2. Wealth, Income, and Power

There are many dimensions to wealth and income inequality. You can view many dimensions at William Domhoff's website for Who Rules America? (which we will discuss in Chapter 8). He presents many charts and tables here: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html. Consider these questions: What counts as wealth? How does wealth vary across race and ethnicity? How does wealth concentration in the U.S. compare to wealth concentration in other countries? What is the relationship between wealth and power? Describe the changing relationship between CEO incomes and the incomes of average workers.

3. America’s Tax System

If you have an interest in the American tax system, visit the Unites States Treasury website. It provides you with a history of this system. How have taxes changed over the course of American history?

4. Income Disparity in America

This website provides insight into government’s role in American income disparity. It also gives you the chance to compare different states. The map at the bottom of the window looks at 1989 through 2011. Between which two decades do you find the greatest change? Why do you think it happened then? http://www.reuters.com/subjects/income-inequality