Sociology Stratification Unit - Social Mobility and Status

Explore topics of social stratification and its connections to race, class, and privilege to strengthen your students' empathy for others with a complete Social Stratification unit.

Students will master key sociological concepts like

• closed and open stratification systems
• hereditary and economic stratification
• achieved and ascribed status, status inconsistency, roles
• social mobility, vertical and horizontal
• US's system of meritocracy
• privilege, empathy, and allyship

Equip your students to develop stronger relationships in their own life with this inquiry- and standards-driven 2-3 week unit that asks, "How do my statuses and privileges shape my identity?"

All student materials come in printable PDF and editable Google files!

Special Note: This unit is proud to be part of the TPT Teach for Justice program which recognizes high-quality teacher resources that promote equality, antiracism, and inclusion. This unit has been thoroughly reviewed by TPT and meets its high standards of excellence.

Greatness is recognizing the layering of society and being empathetic to others' lived experiences.

The strength of an inquiry unit like this is your ability to immediately make abstract concepts into intriguing and relevant lessons: each engaging activity builds towards the unit driving question with its own focused question and is based on issues that are real-world and personal to students.

This unit can be done well in 2-3 weeks and has been crafted to support several states' standards, the American Sociological Association, and Learning for Justice.

Included in this Stratification & Social Mobility unit:

Overview Materials

• Teacher Unit Overview with general notes, links, standards, and a pacing guide
• Daily Lesson Plans with step-by-step instructions and lesson takeaway notes
• Detailed answer keys for each activity
• Student Unit Review and Skills handouts with self-checking questions and "I Can..." statements
• Student Unit Notes sheet for building deep and nuanced mastery of concepts over the course of the unit
• Editable Parent Permission form to inform families about sensitive topics that are covered in this unit
• Editable Case Study template to customize for any news source you want to incorporate

Student Activities

• Ever Notice?: simulate the world from a left-hander's perspective with everyday objects
• Crash Course Guided Notes: provide an overview of concepts with this video and embedded "pause and talk" real-world application tasks (perfect lecture or textbook replacement or for a flipped classroom experience)
• My Statuses: explore the different types of statuses and roles people hold and analyze the struggles and wishes about one's own status set as well as those of others'
• Society Mobility: analyze and conclude on various data charts, survey results, and news articles about perceptions and reality of upward mobility
• Mobility Issues Case Study: investigate and discuss the struggles low-income students face while attending Ivy League colleges
• Our Privileges: collaborate to develop a safe experience in which privileges of all kinds are considered and reflected on
• Empathy Questions / Stages of Allyship: close with 17 reflection questions for developing empathy intelligence and steps for developing the skill set to act more emphatically with others

Lecture Kit (BONUS!)

• 60-Slide Deck: introduce concepts with images and real-life examples; broken into two 30-45-minute lectures to deliver throughout the unit
• Guided Notes & Exit Tickets: support and assess learning with these no-prep tools
• Everything is provided in PowerPoint & Google files and is editable

Assessments:

• Open-Ended Essay: encapsulate understanding of concepts by forming a personalized and supported answer to the not-so-simple question, "How do my statuses and privileges shape my identity?"
• Short Answer Assessment: succinct assess students' mastery of concepts and application to the real world and their own lives
• Sociologist's Journal: builds deep reflection on personal beliefs and experiences about concepts
• Each is EDITABLE for your customization

By the end of this unit, your students will be able to:

• Articulate their personal and nuanced understanding of stratification
• Describe key components of stratification, including status and role, and concepts like social mobility, meritocracy, and privilege
• Analyze and evaluate a variety of news media articles and statistical data to examine current issues with a sociological lens
• Investigate, question, and discuss current social issues
• Collaborate to solve questions
• Apply theoretical concepts to real-life situations
• Reflect on sociological concepts in own life

Explore the rest of this engaging curriculum

• Intro to Sociology
• Culture and Subcultures
• Socialization & Social Development
• Social Groups & Interactions
• Gender Development & Issues
• Race, Ethnicity, & Social Change

Or, get the full Sociology course bundle & save!

Your FAQs Answered

I've never taken a Soc class! Will this help ME learn all this? This unit is built for you with step-by-step daily lesson plans, detailed answer keys, and lecture kits with slide-by-slide scripts.

I don't have any textbooks-- is this tied to one? Nope :) The included lecture kit, Crash Course video guide notes, and links to open-source textbooks give you 3 options for delivering content, depending on your style.

What if my district bans talking about certain sensitive topics? No worries! There are more than enough activities to let you pick and choose. When sensitive issues are touched on, detailed notes are included to assist you. Also, know all student activities are editable.

Can I edit things? Yes! All student materials come in editable Google file format. The printable PDF option is not.

Will this work with my LMS? It should! Your LMS should let you attach Google files or insert forced copy links of them. You can also easily download any Google Doc or Slide file to Microsoft. If you want to create assignments natively in your LMS, you can copy and paste text from the editable Google files. The PDF file is secured and not intended for LMS use.

How is an inquiry unit different from a regular one? An inquiry unit opens with a single wonder-inducing question to focus your whole unit and tie back to each activity. Connecting learning back and forth this way makes learning "stickier" and more relevant for students.

This listing is for one license for regular, non-commercial classroom use by a single teacher only. Commercial use like online teaching (ex. Outschool) or sharing with other teachers (ex. shared drive, in a Facebook group, in a professional development training) is strictly prohibited.

By purchasing a license to this resource, you have access to all future updates at no cost, available under “My Purchases." Multiple and transferable licenses are available for purchase. PDF files are uneditable, other files have editing abilities, unless otherwise stated. All files are protected under federal copyright laws.