The Issues of Race, Class, and Gender
Race, Class and Gender issues are commonly brought up. Throughout history many groups have been stigmatized not just for their race, but for their sex, and class as well. People of lower class incomes get slandered for where they live and for not having the economical means to purchase most common goods. Women have been considered the weaker sex for centuries, and currently, some of the old fashioned and ignorant theories on women being subordinate to men prevail.
In the article " Rethinking Women's Biology" the author position appeared to be that society dictates what a woman means and teaches it from childhood. The old concept of blue for a boy and pink for a girl starts out from birth and is consistent throughout childhood and into adulthood. The clothes we wear, our activity level, what and how much we eat, the type of vocation we are in, all these variables occur due to society. Society has norms that are expected to continue. Even though society has these notions of what is normal and natural it is the concept people have of themselves that is also a primary dictator on their lives. (Hubbard 1990).
" The Social Construction of Gender" touched on how Western society views gender. This article pointed out historically how women and men appear to be separate species entirely. And that even though physiologically we are similar, male and female, we are of an opposite class. The male and female class should not be labeled how our bodies function for we are all individual and unique. If a scientist views a female to be female based on the fact that physiologically she menstruates, than what is a female that ceased menstruation or never began to? Is she only half woman? Is a male not a ...
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...n's academic success. All of these are examples of stereotypes proven wrong with a little education. With time, education, and exposure racism will end. The X generation should make strides to eliminate racism by giving it time to die, teaching children the fundaments of the Bible, and getting involved in a diverse community. Heroes like MLK and his followers were not afraid to stand up for what they thought biblically and morally correct. Their efforts triggered a movement towards a racial free world. Who will stand out from the X generation as heroes in the fight for the abolishment racism? Work Cited "Galatians." The New Student Bible, NIV. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991. MajorLeagueBaseball.com.22Feb.1999 . Maxwell,Joe. Strang Communications. 22Feb.1999 . Smith, Rose. "Interracial dating still brings up questions." Sam Houston Texans 24 Oct. 1997: 6.
To begin, I think it is important to analyze the difference between “sex” and “gender”. Up until researching for this paper, I though that the two terms were interchangeable in meaning, rather, they are separate ideas that are connected. According to Mary K. Whelan, a Doctor of Anthropology focusing on gender studies, sex and gender are different. She states, “Western conflation of sex and gender can lead to the impression that biology, and not culture, is responsible for defining gender roles. This is clearly not the case.”. She continues with, “Gender, like kinship, does have a biological referent, but beyond a universal recognition of male and female "packages," different cultures have chosen to associate very different behaviors, interactions, and statuses with men and women. Gender categories are arbitrary constructions of culture, and consequently, gender-appropriate behaviors vary widely from culture to culture.” (23). Gender roles are completely defined by the culture each person lives in. While some may think that another culture is sexist, or dem...
One social problem that has caught my attention is racial inequality. Racial inequality refers to the racial advantages and disadvantages among different races. These might be shown in the appropriation of riches, influence, and life openings stood with individuals in view of their race or ethnicity, both noteworthy and cutting edge. These can be viewed therefore as noteworthy abuse, imbalance of legacy, or general partiality, particularly against minority bunches. Race inequality is not a new issue, just an issue that has been swept under the rug.
Last semester when I signed up for classes, I thought Sociology 260: Social Problems in the US would be a course where a minimal amount of time would be spent on discussing social problems and a maximum amount of time would be used to discuss public policies to combat such social problems. I wanted to jump the gun. I did not see that in order to implement a public policy, which would be of use, I had to fully understand all facets of the problem. Through these various books and articles, The Condemnation of Little B by Elaine Brown, "The Ghosts of 9-1-1: Reflections on History, Justice and Roosting Chickens," in On the Justice of Roosting Chickens by Ward Churchill, Perversions of Justice: Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law by Ward Churchill, No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Justice System by David Cole, Welcome to the Machine: Science Surveillance, and the Culture of Control by Derrick Jensen and George Draffan, "Mastering the Female Pelvis: Race and the Tools of Reproduction," in Public Privates: Preforming Gynecology From Both Ends of the Spectrum by Terri Kapsalis and "Race and the New Reproduction" in Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts, a better understanding came to light on social issues currently seen as problematic like poverty, health care, race and discrimination, gender inequality and crime.
The connection of race and race relations in the United States was an ongoing issue, and while much progress was made, there are still people who revert back to old and ignorant takes on different races as the white man. This clearly relates to my own history based on the fact that various races are still being discriminated and treated unfairly and looked at as unequal. I can only hope that one day the whole population of the world can do the right thing and look at everyone as equals.
Race, Gender, and Social class are all common interests in our American Society since before the Civil Rights Movement until now and will continue to be. Many theories have been developed with the intent to analyze these concepts of human life, and genetics within the scope of society. Critical Race theory, a modern take on the subtle racism and discrimination in institutional society and our American law, is one of these theories that construct the ideas relating race, gender and social class to American society. All groups of people are affected by racism and discrimination throughout the United States. Arab Americans and the Sioux, Native American Indian group, are two groups I will analyze in relation to Critical Race theory.
Gender differences are best understood as a process of socialization, to organize the roles each individual have to fulfil in society. From parents to teachers, religions, media, and peers; we observe and make sense of the behaviors exhibited by the people around us since young. We imitate and construct our own understanding of how to be of a particular gender, and of how to position ourselves. Parents socialize their children based on their biological sex, and this process starts as soon as the sex of the baby is known. Gender is hence socially constructed.
Gender is not about the biological differences between men and women but rather the behavioral, cultural and psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Gender is socially constructed meaning it 's culturally specific, it 's learned and shared through gender socialization. What it means to be a woman or man is going to differ based on the culture, geographical location, and time. What it meant to be a woman in the US in the 19th century is different than what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. As cultures evolve over time so are the ideals of what it means to be man or woman.
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.
In “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?” Deborah Blum states that “gender roles of our culture reflect an underlying biology” (Blum 679). Maasik and Solomon argue that gender codes and behavior “are not the result of some sort of natural or biological destiny, but are instead politically motivated cultural constructions,” (620) raising the question whether gender behavior begins in culture or genetics. Although one may argue that gender roles begin in either nature or nurture, many believe that both culture and biology have an influence on the behavior.
The word gender refers to a general classification of human beings into male and female with socially and culturally constructed characteristics, behaviors, attributes and roles preconceived and labelled as appropriate for each class. The society and culture today have placed human beings in a box which to a large extent dictates how we act in the world.
Over the last couple of weeks, all of the readings, lectures, discussions and videos have been very informative. A lot of the information in the readings are what people experience daily or witness with their own eyes. The issues going on with class, gender, and race can be upsetting and hard to grasp because the reality of the matter is we live in a very segregated and divided society. Topics in the lecture that stood out were racial inequality and social movement. When it comes to racial inequality, I witnessed a similar situation while in undergraduate school. A professor at my school displayed hidden racial misconduct towards a black female student in a course.
Since the country’s beginning, race, gender, and class have been very important factors in a person’s experience in the United States of America. The meaning of race, gender differences, and the separation of class have changed over United States history. For many Americans, their perceptions of class and race and the degree to which gender affect people’s lives, often depends on what their race, gender, and class are, too. There are differences between the reality of America, what is represented as American reality in media, and the perceived reality of America. Americans as well as those looking at America from an outside perspective may have questions and confusions regarding what the real connections are to race, class, and gender are in America. The paper tries to clarify and explore how these issues connect and play out in real life.
A social inequality that I would say I’m concerned with would be, racial and ethnic inequality. Racial or ethnic inequality is often established based on characteristics such as skin color and other physical characteristics, or a person’s place of origin or culture. Another meaning of racial inequality would be the advantages and disadvantages that affect different races within the Unites States. Race has become a socially constructed category capable of restricting or enabling social status. Racial inequality can lead to diminished opportunities, which can also lead to cycles of poverty and political problems. With this minority members in a society can result in discriminating actions such as; exclusion, oppression, expulsion, and extermination.
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...