Capstones (synthesis only, no new doctrine)

This is Unit Eleven of Sociology, Part Two: four capstones, and the end of the course. These entries do not teach anything new. Every concept in them has already been established somewhere in the preceding ten units, and the capstone's whole function is to show those concepts operating together on one case rather than separately in the units that introduced them. That makes the useful preparation different from the usual. What each case needs from you is a map: which units it reaches back into, and what it wants from each. The bridges here supply that map, and then the worked problem does the reasoning itself. The first three cases each combine three strands. A garment supply chain crossing three nations pulls global stratification together with dependency theory and economic policy. An employee returning from parental leave meets role strain, gender stratification and labor-market structure at once. And a defendant's case compounds labeling, bureaucratic process and systemic disadvantage as it moves. One caution attaches to all four and it is stated in every entry. These are constructed cases. They illustrate how subjects interact; they are not data, and no figure inside them is a reported statistic. The last entry closes the course, following one family across three generations and drawing on twenty prior entries to do it. By the end you will be able to do five things. One: trace stratification, dependency and policy together. Two: trace role, gender and labor market on one person. Three: trace labeling, bureaucracy and disadvantage. Four: say what a constructed case can establish. Five: say what the closing capstone assembles.

The first case reaches into Unit 6 for global stratification and the core and periphery, into the same unit for dependency theory, and into Unit 9 for economic policy. What it demonstrates is that those are not three readings of one situation — they are one mechanism, and the case follows it across three national borders in sequence.

A garment supply chain, followed across three nations.

Soc 1931 A Supply Chain Crosses Borders: Global Stratification and Economic Policy

One constructed garment supply chain crossing three nations, showing global stratification, dependency and economic policy interacting as a single mechanism rather than as separate subjects. It draws on the world-systems framework and the core, periphery and semi-periphery positions from Unit Six, and on economic policy from Unit Nine. The case is constructed to illustrate how those subjects interact; it is not a data point, and no figure in it is a reported statistic.

The second case narrows from three nations to one employee. Role strain comes from Unit Four, gender stratification and the wage-gap material from Unit Seven, and labor-market structure from Unit Nine. All three arrive in the same fortnight, which is the point — they are not experienced in sequence.

A return from parental leave.

Soc 1936 A New Parent Returns to Work: Gender, Role, and the Labor Market

One constructed employee's return from parental leave, showing role strain, gender stratification and labor-market structure interacting as one mechanism. It reaches back to role and role strain from Unit Four, to the wage gap, the motherhood penalty and the second shift from Unit Seven, and to labor-market structure from Unit Nine. As with every entry in this strand, the case is constructed to show interaction rather than to report a finding.

The third case follows one defendant and watches three things compound rather than merely coexist. Labeling comes from Unit Five, bureaucracy and its costs from Unit Five as well, systemic racism from Unit Seven, and the hidden curriculum's institutional logic from Unit Eight. Each stage of the system hands the next one a person already altered by the previous stage.

One defendant, through the system.

Soc 1941 A Case Moves Through Court: Labeling, Bureaucracy, and Disadvantage

One constructed defendant's case moving through the justice system, showing labeling, bureaucratic process and systemic disadvantage interacting as one mechanism. It draws on labeling theory and primary and secondary deviance from Unit Five, on bureaucracy and the obedience findings from the same unit, and on systemic racism from Unit Seven. The case illustrates how the three compound; it is not a data point.

The final entry has twenty prerequisites, more than any other in the course, and they run from Unit One's method and theory through stratification, institutions and social change. It follows one family across three generations, and the reason it takes three generations is that institutional change is not visible inside a single life.

One family, three generations, the whole course.

Soc 1946 Three Generations: A Family Across the Whole Course

One constructed family followed across three generations, showing how theory, method, stratification and institutional change combine into a single history rather than sitting as four separate subjects. Its twenty prerequisites reach from the sociological imagination and the research methods of Units One and Two through socialization, stratification, the institutions and social change. It closes the course, and no further numbers follow it.

Five things to carry out of the capstone strand. The supply-chain case shows global stratification, dependency and economic policy as one mechanism rather than three readings. Following it across three national borders is what makes the single mechanism visible; taken one nation at a time, it looks like three unrelated situations. The return-to-work case puts role strain, gender stratification and labor-market structure on one person in one fortnight. None of the three is experienced in sequence, and treating them as separable is what the case exists to prevent. The court case shows labeling, bureaucracy and systemic disadvantage compounding rather than coexisting. Each stage of the system receives a person the previous stage has already altered, which is why the outcome cannot be attributed to any single stage. Every case in this strand is constructed. That is stated in each entry's own warning and it is not a formality: a constructed case can show how subjects interact, and it cannot establish that anything in particular happens with any particular frequency. No figure in any of them is a reported statistic. And the closing capstone assembles method, theory, stratification and institutional change across one family and three generations. It carries twenty prerequisites because the course's subjects only combine at that scale — a single life is too short for institutional change to be visible in it. That closes Unit Eleven and the course.