Sociology 101: Study Circle Review - Reading Analysis & Reflection

This Sociology 101 Study Circle Review assignment requires a student to analyze assigned readings, specifically focusing on an article discussing workplace inequality and discrimination. The student identifies three main ideas from the author, which include sex discrimination, management by intimidation, and companies using unfair means to make profits. The student then provides reactions to five significant ideas, reflecting on their personal thoughts and feelings regarding the issues raised in the article. Furthermore, the assignment prompts the student to connect the article's themes to their own life experiences, particularly those related to job employment and encountering inequality. Finally, the student relates the article to concepts from the 'Practical Skeptic' textbook, highlighting the connection to stratification, inequality, and cultural aspects within a company. The assignment demonstrates an understanding of the readings and the ability to connect them to real-world experiences and sociological concepts.

STUDY CIRCLE REVIEW FORM
Sociology 101
Name: ___________________________ Week#_________ Assigned Readings: __________________________________________
* Fill out and bring form with you to class.
1. Briefly describe three main ideas the author wants you to know (“What is the author trying to convince me to believe?)
a. Ellen Rosen has several ideas which include; the aspect of sex discrimination in job areas. For instance, she wants the reader to know
this when she writes that ‘in Wal-Mart, a full 85% of the store managers are men, most often some in their early thirties’.
Additionally, ‘Wal-Mart promotes fewer women to top salaried positions’ which many consider as sexual discrimination.
b. Rosen also has the idea of ‘management by intimidation’ strategy as applied by employers like Wal-Mart. According to jimmy, a store
manager, ‘store managers are responsible for increasing sales in the company and if not they have their heads on the chopping block’.
They should work as a responsibility and not for incentives. This involves the aspect of mistreatment of workers.
c. The other idea is that companies make profits using unfair means which include, overworking employees, undercutting labor costs,
replacing old and highly paid workers for new less paid workers, unpaid overtimes and threatening them. For instance, according to
Carolyn Naster, ‘at Wal-Mart, everyone is held responsible for everything, as mangers make people responsible to do jobs they are not
trained for and which they were not hired to do’.
2. Write your reactions to 5 ideas that you think are significant from the reading (“What are my thoughts about the author’s ideas?”)
What I read (quote, pg.#,
paragraph)
My reaction to the passage is…
‘In Wal-Mart, a full 85%
of the store managers are
men, most often some in
their early thirties’. Pg.
220
Par, 7
I feel that, companies need to be sued for the practice of sexual any other form of discrimination.
‘At Wal-Mart, everyone is
held responsible for
everything, as mangers
All workers need to have their responsibilities made clear at the time of hiring to avoid being overworked later in their course of
employment

make people responsible
to do jobs they are not
trained for and which they
were not hired to do’
pg, 222, par. 5
‘Store managers are
responsible for increasing
sales in the company and
if not they have their heads
on the chopping block’.
Pg. 221, par. 6
I feel that this should not be the case since the company puts the lives of workers at stake without minding their welfare but focusing
on sales and profits
‘Three months later, harry
passed on out of heart
attack’ pg. 223, par. 4
Companies are responsible for the poor health of workers including the loss of life and need to be held accountable and compensate
them
“Workers got locked in the
stores and no one was
expected to leave even for
emergency case including
a sick child” pg. 218, par.
3
Companies should not deny workers of their rights as human beings and such behavior should have them arraigned in court
3. Discuss how this article connects to something you have experienced in your own life (What does this article have to do with me?)
The article is very much relevant to my own life experiences, which is simply experiences related to job employment. I have experienced the
issue of inequality severally since I started my career. The article reminds me of the sexual discrimination that is highly rampant in the beauty
pageant competitions. When I was joining the college I experienced this form of discrimination after taking part in the one of the beauty
contest. The judges sought sexual offers from the contestants with promises of one qualifying to the next level. During one of my
attachments, I also experienced the same problem when I got attached in a company that has more than 70% males most of which occupied
the top positions. There was also the aspect of workers being overworked for less pay as the company made a lot of profits as was evident in

the yearly reports. For instance, Jimmy calls it ‘management by intimidation’ that tends to focus much on increasing sales at the expense of
the workers welfare.
4. How does this article relate to what you read in the Practical Skeptic Textbook this week? (Include at least one Soc. Concept)
The article is very much related to the practical skeptic book in various ways. First the article covers much about the aspect of stratification
and inequality in social life. The article tackles this aspect in the area of promotion and staffing at Wal-Mart. According to Mary Roland
‘there seems to be no other means of getting promoted except the idea that you are a man and your department does well in terms of sales’.
This is a form of inequality and discrimination based on gender. As is the case, the article covers much about how people especially the
workers cannot be equal or receive equal treatment in the company. This can be related to what the book covers about inequality and
stratification in the job. As this has been considered to be the culture of the company, always promoting the men employees to high
managerial positions through training and not the women, the book also covers much about culture and its different forms. The culture in the
company is not a positive social culture but negative since it discriminates among the workers.