Summary Of Defining Contested Concepts By Lynn Weber

The book “Defining Contested Concepts” does a swell job of explaining that race, class, gender, and sexuality are systems of oppression and are often contested within our society. The author, Lynn Weber (2010) argues that oppression through these titles exist within our every day interactions and that bigger powers in our political, economic and ideological make it possible for greater divisions between groups of people. These powers make the rules that give some people more privilege than others. Weber describes that there are four patterns of social relationships that are advocates oppression. These segregations are all controlled by the bigger powers, being characteristics that give affected individuals an unfair disadvantage to various interrelated aspects in their lives. Weber (2010) stresses that the system of power relations called heterosexism demonstrates establishment of

Women have been oppressed solely due to their sex. This is noticeable in the education system where females are treated differently than males. Although we have improved drastically in the last few years in recognizing that women deserve the same privileges as men do, there are still many obstacles to overcome. Weber (2010) gives an example of this through a person experience of hers. She had noticed that even though more girls enroll in school, quality in education is still compromised. Women alike are disadvantaged by being taught less than boys do in the same school system as her. She discovered that the differences can be seen through the funding practices where the boy’s school had a permanent external source donating towards them, the girl’s school relied solely on their tuition. It is also apparent in the courses provided, where the girls were to take home economics and typing labs where the boys were provided with more intelligent subjects such as