Master status can be achieved or ascribed as defined by Henslin states “ a status that cuts across the other statuses”. Thus, master status can influence others perceptions of us regardless of any other status. If someone were born as a male that would become a master status, they may have been born to very wealthy parents so as they start making friends the master status can change to reflect their wealth, such as a rich kid. Then later in life they are involved in a terrible car accident and become wheelchair bound. Consequently, their master status may change to that of a cripple. Through using this example master status can also change through the environment the individual is in. If the individual were in an environment where everyone
According to Brenda Allen in the chapter “Power Matters,” she mentions that there dominant ideologies of identity that “reflect perspectives and experiences of ruling groups, whose members construct and circulate beliefs that will most benefit them.” We live in a country where there are dominant ideologies of organizational hierarchy, which “arranges job positions in a stratified structure, with power flowing from the top down.” This exemplifies the ideology of domination, which is a belief system in America that the “superior should rule over the inferior” (32). This ideology is so embedded into our system that most people believe it is natural. The American society we live in values patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity, and a specific culture of wealth and poverty; any identity that falls outside of these dominant ideologies is marginalized and placed in the lower strata of social power.
Give an example from your life that exemplifies how intersections of some of your multiple statuses (e.g., gender, race, class, age, etc.) affect your social experience.
The article “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression” by Audre Lorde explains that fact that there are no factors or boundaries that stop oppression. Lorde mentions that she as people in order to tackle a problem we go by one issue first then the next. However, she explains that every issue is interconnected with each other for example, in her situation she is black and a lesbian but both come in to play in all the groups she pertains in. Therefore, in both the communities they see her as vice versa. Lorde tries to emphasize that neither of the aspects that make up her identity are less or more important but equally accepted. In conclusion, Lorde wants society to stop treating just one particular oppression as more important than another because that will not us to come together and fight oppression. Instead, we should treat all oppressions as one in order to achieve change.
What I mean by this is that their privilege is dependent on where they are located and are dominant in that area. The example in the essay “The Unexamined” that Ross gives when he was going to Rome illustrates this very clearly. As he says that the white people have the privilege of being unexamined, it depends on how good they fit in with others in the same area. When he was in his city everyone around him had similar features so he would blend in easy. In this case nobody would examine him, or point a finger on him, hence the being in a privileged group opinion he had about himself. But all this would change as soon as he moved to another place, where people have different features then his. He would stand out from the rest, losing his group’s privileges as unexamined. So in order for Ross to maintain his group’s privilege he has to maintain his geographic location. Another example that shows that privileged groups maintain their privilege by staying in the same location is of that of people who are part of a gang. Being in a gang you have the privilege of having power over other people who are not part of your gang. Everyone is afraid of you and nobody would come against you. I’ve seen this in a lot of different movies that I like to watch during my free time. Members of different gangs taunt everyone that come in their territory. They are the ones that make the rules in that area. They have the privilege to rule other people’s lives. But if they move to a different area that’s not part of their gang they lose their privilege. They are not in control anymore. Nobody cares who they are no one is afraid of them. It’s like they don’t even exist anymore. These two examples show that groups can maintain their privilege by staying in the same geographic area, otherwise they would lose it and be no more than a regular group with no power or even a slight importance
Also gender is an important factor in America social class. Men will be affected differently and women will be affected differently by the class system. In the class system there is inequality between genders and that greatly affects the social mobility of the genders. Men usually hold more important jobs in businesses while women will work under them. For instance in a article by Richard Hogan, it conveys, “How gender relations within the family are reproduced (emulated), at work, in class relations between secretaries and their bosses.” (Hogan 2001: 68). In families the female is usually taking care of the house, children, etc., while the male has a job and earning money. In this example it explains that the boss has a job and is earning money, while the secretary is taking care of the bosses work. This limits the social mobility of females since they always have to work under someone in most cases and they will earn less money than males. Women also take their husband’s social class position when they are married to them. Hogan explains, “Firstly women have been subsumed into class analysis through being identified with the household unit defined by the male partner 's social class position.” (Hogan 2001: 147). This displays that a female has no identity of her own since they take their husband’s social class position it is linked to them. Yet, females still have some kind social class and some social mobility in the class
Gender, roles and status vary and differ throughout the societies and cultures of the world. My own micro, meso and macro world experiences would contrast those of a different societal or cultural background, such as an individual of the Amish culture. The Amish follow a strict set of rules defining their gender roles, their community roles as well as their status within society.
...y. While understanding that Master Morality and Slave Morality are just the basis of what makes up all Morals and just as though our values where made of interchangeable parts we mix and match what feels right and what works for us as individuals. These basic morals that we tend to identify with will dictate how we align ourselves politically, socially, and religiously; because there is not a true ruling class or ruled class it is difficult to see the blurred lines that separate us morally. This is a product of our Democratic government that ensures our freedoms to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but in turn does allow there to be such a dramatic difference between the wealthiest and the poorest of people. The system is not perfect but what makes it wonderful is the ability to adapt and change with the times and to improve itself for the benefit of all.
People are only trapped in a "master-servant" relationship because they choose to play the game. One could, in theory, play by the rules for a few years to earn enough to cash out, head out west where land is cheap, and build an earthship, grow crops, harness the sun's energy & recycle grey water, living quite comfortably off of the grid. Few people would choose this path, though, because it would require a lot of hard work, and they'd get their hands dirty. Instead, they'd rather work in soul-deadening jobs to buy their half-million dollar plastic houses, and gas-guzzling SUVs, because after all they're entitled, and they "need" these things to be fulfilled. However, when they say they "need" something we must ask the question, why you feel as though you need it. If their idea of needing something is based on the prediction that they will be happy, than we can say that their preconceived notion is nothing more than what Gilbert and Tim Wilson describe as "the gap between what [we] people predict and what we ultimately experience" (Gertner 168). People fail to realize there is always something bigger and better out there, and because of this their predictions will continue to be inaccurate and over exaggerated. For example, a person who has a
The “matrix of domination” theory seeks to prove that someone is not limited to one type of oppression and that all oppressions for various reasons are not the same. For example, if one is a black, lesbian woman, she may be oppressed in several different factors throughout the day, but she is can be advantage if she went to an all black company and applied for a job there, but that doesn’t subtract from her other disadvantages. (Glasberg, pg.
Caste System is a social system based on ascribed statuses, which are traits or characteristics of people at birth. The ascribed status includes race, gender, nationality, body type and age. The caste system ranks people so rigidly. A person cannot just change his caste any time he wants.
In this paper I will be focusing on Erikson’s Theory mainly about identity versus role confusion. Finding one’s identity is not always an easy task. Everyone at some point in his or her life has had, as Erikson puts it, an identity crisis. Everyone experiences different struggles that can have either a positive or negative impact on their identity. On my path to identity, I have reached identity achievement, which means I have explored and made commitments. I will also be focusing on two articles highlighting a fifth possible outcome regarding identity and looking at identity statuses as developmental trajectories.
A sociologist will also find this topic interesting because of how the individual believes he is of a higher status than others. Status is defined as a prestige a person or group feels that could be formed through education, money, background, popularity etc. When someone who feels that their better background ...
The purpose of this paper is to identify James Marcia’s identity status theory and how it pertains to the author 's life during adolescence and early adulthood. The author will reflect as well as address the four statuses of development. Noting that Marcia’s theory has proven to be an effective and dependable tool in helping to determine the status of the identity development in adolescents.
Role as defined is set of connected behaviours, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualised by people in a social situation. ( Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia ). These roles may come as it is because it is an expected changing behaviour and may have a given individual social status due to his position or order in his family for others look at it as one factor of qualification in some fields and aspects, like applying for a job and in marrying. It is believed that the roles of each child in his family and to the society is affected by his birth order. It may be through how an individual is shaped or affected by the expectations of the society according to his order in the family, in this case it may also be called as stereotypes. These stereotypes may sometime had good and bad effects to children for if they are able to compromise with they are supposed to be in people’s eyes and if not they may come up of having psychological effect in their behaviour and deeds for they can’t be what is expected.
The master numbers, also referred to as dual numbers reflect person's spirituality and give further insight in addition to the single digit number. The three master numbers discussed in this post are 11, 22 and 33.