Socioeconomic status (SES) is often interpreted as the social class of an individual or group. It is often measured and determined as a combination of education, income, and occupation. These three categories often determine a person’s social position in regards to others. Globally, Inequality in wealth and other areas of life are increasing. Research over the years has indicated that individuals that identify as a member of the LGBT community are extremely vulnerable to being placed at a socioeconomic disadvantage. From a citizen’s standpoint control, privilege, and authority highlight socioeconomics. Molly’s journey to discover her gender and sexuality present a direct opposition for her to alter her socioeconomic status. The oppositions that hinder her are her defiance towards heteronormative roles, social discrimination, and discrimination in the workplace.
Heteronormativity advocates that heterosexuality is the norm in terms of romantic relationships and sexual orientation. It has been deemed a cultural bias because society favors and has always favored opposite-sex relationships while opposing same-sex relationships. The fact that opposite-sex relationships are viewed as normal and same-sex relationships are viewed as taboo, homosexual and transgender relationships are subjected to much discrimination thanks to this heteronormative prejudice. Defiance of this norm is the main objective of this novel. Rita Mae Brown uses Molly to indicate various social oppositions during the time period. On one hand, it depicts the affliction of a lesbian coming of age in a savage heteronormative society. On the other end, it is the perceptible idea that lesbians should be treated no different then men in terms of sexual gratification. Lesbi...
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... obtain financial equality anyway. There may not be a dowry involved but during this time period marriage is just as much an economic transaction for women as it was for men in Shakespeare’s time. Marriage offers a substantial opportunity for Molly to elevate her socioeconomic status. Molly’s rejection of this societal norm consequentially ensures that marriage will never be a means to elevate her position in society. Another essential issue the incident with Cheryl uncovers is that Molly has to defy the expectations from not only men but women as well. Einstein stated:
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
The characters of this novel couldn’t be a more powerful representation of that statement. It’s a representation because the most depressing thing about the society
In an effort to legitimize all subcategories of sexuality considered deviant of heterosexual normatively, queer theory acknowledges nontraditional sexual identities by rejecting the rigid notion of stabilized sexuality. It shares the ideals of gender theory, applying to sexuality the idea that gender is a performative adherence to capitalist structures that inform society of what it means to be male, female, gay, and straight. An individual’s conformity to sexual or gendered expectations indicates both perpetration and victimization of the systemic oppression laid down by patriarchal foundations in the interest of maintaining power within a small group of people. Seeking to deconstruct the absolute nature of binary opposition, queer theory highlights and celebrates literary examples of gray areas specifically regarding sexual orientation, and questions those which solidify heterosexuality as the “norm”, and anything outside of it as the “other”.
Those who become marginalized can lose control of their own lives and the available resources they can access; they can become nothing more than stigmas and often negatively treated in public. Because of this, their social contributions are sometimes hampered and this, consequently, causes them to become socially isolated and/or sufferers of low esteem. Approximately, in America, thirty percent of LGBTQ youth were often abused by their parents over their orientation or gender, with an estimated forty percent of homeless youths identifying as LGBTQ themselves. (Chatterjee) These statistics and stigmas can affect those who haven’t fully comprehend their feeling and those who stay closeted (keeping their sexual orientation or gender identity as a secret) because they fear the possible negative reactions from family and
Disparities in cancer are caused by the complex interaction of low economic status, culture, and social injustice, with poverty playing the dominant role (Freeman, 2004). So I ask the question: Does socioeconomics impact a man’s prostate health?
Becoming an adult is signified differently in every culture, in America, reaching middle class status is one way that is used to indicate adulthood. To obtain middle class status one would need to acquire a job, become financially stable, get a house, and have a family. The “Mood Economy”, self-reliance, and distrust in institutions, as stated in Silva’s Coming Up Short, have reshaped what it means to become an adult. Replacing the traditional white picket fence ideals with new neoliberal ones. Although middle class status is still a goal for a lot of individuals, the number of people who reach middle class status has diminished significantly over the years. By examining the new milestones that mark adulthood and evaluating how the state reproduces little social mobility through “Attacking Solidarity” mentioned in Requiem for the American Dream, we can get a better idea of how the middle class disappeared before us.
"There is nothing more dangerous than a large segment of people in society that feel that they have no place or stake in it, who feel they have nothing to lose. People who have stake in the society perpetuate that society, when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it." Unknown
What does it mean for someone to be on the lines of poverty or living in poverty? What is this word that is falsely used and missed analyzed? Poverty is the state of being extremely poor or being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. In 2010, 16.4 million children, or 22.0 percent, were poor in the United States alone. (Tanner, 2014) The poverty rate for children also varies substantially by race and origin. If the rate of poverty continues to rise, will there be any hope left in humanity? The real question is not what is poverty but why is there so many people living in it. The ideal job of the government (federal and state) is to create a better/safer environment for the people. The model the “government” campaign is that everything they do is for the “benefit” of the people. When does the word “benefit” come into play when twenty-two percent of the population cannot supply a place for their children to sleep, put food on the table, and get a job that pays well enough to support their family. Are there any real benefits knowing families living in poverty have only one percent of a chance of getting out? Who is to blame? Where and how did this problem all start? What is this so called “government” doing to help stop the increasing rate of poverty? As you read this essay, it will explain what it means to be truly poor and why the government does so little to help. Include real stories from people living in poverty, what the government is doing to help (and if it’s enough), and is the problem of poverty becoming worst or slowly rising to become better.
But for many members of poor communities, it is difficult to meet their own needs, because of stressful relationships, the lack of financial security, and the desperate need of acceptance from others. In “ A Question of Class,” Dorothy Allison speaks about being born and raised into a dysfunctional family, which she considers to be the “bad poor” and feels the need to keep her true identity a secret from society. Where one’s identity is meant to represent the values and goals of one, Allison’s is the opposite; she fears that her family’s reputation of having an alcoholic stepfather and a working mother will decrease her chances of being accepted as anything, especially as a member of the LGBT community. “I’ve have never been able to make clear the degree of my fear, the extent to which I feel myself denied: not only that I am queer in a world that hates queers, but that I was born poor into a world that despises the poor” (Allison 1). Just like Allison, many Americans today feel the need to change who they are, because it allows them to alter factors in their lives that hold them back from progressing in life. For Allison, her family and her past represent the despair in her life that has caused her to hate who she has become and the reason why she cannot be accepted by society. This explains why many people today turn to
Wealth is the many fortunes that billions of people have never gotten a glimpse of. In contrast, poverty has drenched the lives of over three billion people; 270 million of these people are Indigenous. The 15 percent of the world’s indigenous poverty resides in Canada. Issues such as land usage, lack of employment, internal conflicts, poor education, and racism are well known factors of poverty. The Indigenous peoples of Canada are predominantly controlled by the issues derived from poverty.
In reading for this assignment, I noticed that one of the first points the author makes deals with the effects of socioeconomic status on use of technology and the media. On pg 424 the author states, “One’s social position, the context of one’s use, and one’s online abilities then all have the potential to influence the types of uses to which one puts the medium.” This means that how tech savvy an individual is can indicate their social background, as well as the knowledge and skills they may have because of it. Prior to this point, the author gives the example of technological equipment and how its quality demonstrates just one of the many results of socioeconomic status. This is important because it shows how those with higher socioeconomic status tend to have more of an advantage than others, specifically in the workplace, which requires individuals to be more familiar with the technology and
In America it is based on the relations of property and power and the division of social classes in the United States, the most basic class distinction is between the powerful and the powerless. Social classes groups are the upper class have a great deal of power which usually are viewed as the elites within their own societies. In general usage, the elite is a hypothetical group of relatively small size that is dominant within a large society, having a privileged status perceived as being envied by others. Various social and political theories propose that social classes with greater power attempt to strengthen their own ranking above the lower classes. The upper class has more power because there are some people who are wealthy and do have
In today 's society, there is 1 in 7 people living in poverty which is costing Canadian citizens’ money as they are paying for taxes. There are many standpoints in which people examine the ways poverty affect society such as Marx’s conflict theory. Marx’s conflict theory goes over how social stratification being inevitable and how there is a class consciousness within people in the working class. Another way that poverty is scrutinized is by feminization. Feminization is the theory that will be explored throughout this essay. Poverty will be analyzed in this essay to determine the significance of poverty on the society and the implications that are produced.
Previous research has shown that there is a connection between Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and socioeconomic status (SES), primarily that those who are living in low socioeconomic status community are disproportionately affected by HIV. There are higher rates of HIV in these less affluent, almost impoverished, communities as compared to other communities. In other words, there are higher rates of HIV in these less affluent, almost impoverished, communities, than compared to other communities. This increased risk for HIV infection, as well as, lack of HIV therapy adherence can be tied to a multitude of reasons that are specific to the low SES community, which listed in the following. These facets include the increased risky sexual behavior
This paper explores the way social inequality affects schooling. In a classroom setting, one student can be treated unequally just because of their race, ethnic background or religion. Taking notes from Purcell- Gates and Boykin, A.W. & Noguera, P., the topics of ethnicity and the achievement gap will be discussed in the event that all students should be treated equal. Also bringing in the topic of the “No Child Left Behind Act” introduced by former president George W. Bush in 2001 and was signed into law in 2002. For a long time, social inequality places a negative effect on schools around the country. The common urban verse suburban educational battle has been going on for way to long and there is a fix that needs to be made.
Throughout Western civilization, culturally hegemonic views on gender and sexuality have upheld a rigid and monolithic societal structure, resulting in the marginalization and dehumanization of millions of individuals who differ from the expected norm. Whether they are ridiculed as freaks, persecuted as blasphemers, or discriminated as sub-human, these individuals have been historically treated as invisible and pushed into vulnerable positions, resulting in cycles of poverty and oppression that remain prevalent even in modern times. Today, while many of these individuals are not publicly displayed as freaks or persecuted under Western law, women, queer, and intersexed persons within our society still nonetheless find themselves under constant
To understand the concept of social inequality, one needs to explore how it occurs or functions. According to Charles Walker, “Social inequality refers to the ways in which socially-defined categories of persons are differentially positioned with regard to access to a variety of social ‘goods”. Social inequality, therefore, is an umbrella term. It is expansive in nature, as social inequality encompasses a variety of different inequalities; for example, gender, race, and structural inequality are all social inequalities, but they can differ widely in manifestation. The definition of social inequality can also change based on the perception of the individual who is defining the term.