Advanced Hydra Theory: Understanding power and social forces [Updated 6 August] Thank you to my learners for asking amazingly insightful questions I am covering the chapter on social stratification with my Rohingya and Bangladeshi learners just now, and I want to thank them as a group and especially our translator/teaching assistant Azizul Hoque from the  Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University for continuously inspiring my teaching and for providing excellent questions. This discussion of stratification cuts to the heart of Hydra theory and its emphasis on privileging forces, and by probing deeply we can advance our understanding. For decades in my intro to sociology classes I have  summarized my longer and more technical definition of social stratification into just three words: structured social inequality. As I grappled with how to explain the phenomena of social stratification I was forced to get to the fundamental nature of social inequality, that is, … Continue reading Advanced Hydra Theory: Understanding power and social forces