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How does class affect identity
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The novel “Women Without class” by Julie Bettie, is a society in which the cultural you come from and the identity that was chosen for you defines who you are. How does cultural and identity illustrate who we are or will become? Julie Bettie demonstrates how class is based on color, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. The author describes this by researching her work on high school girls at a Central Valley high school. In Bettie’s novel she reveals different cliques that are associated within the group which are Las Chicas, Skaters, Hicks, Preps, and lastly Cholas and Cholos. The author also explains how race and ethnicity correspondence on how academically well these students do. I will be arguing how Julie Bettie connects her theories of inequality and culture capital to Pierre Bourdieu, Kimberle Crenshaw, Karl Marx and Engels but also how her research explains inequality among students based on cultural capital and identity. Bettie analyzes how cultural capital has it’s advantages …show more content…
Throughout, Bettie research describing how young women experience class differences within their peers and culture depending on living conditions and identity. I think Bettie explained fully how cultural capital can be a privilege but it can also be a reason why their is a huge gap between classes. Not only this but Julie illustrates how women are treated by earning lower wages then men. My favorite part is in the end how women shouldn’t be without class instead to look over how some too are apart of class. Not only that but class shouldn’t be divided upon race, sexuality, and gender but look at the formation evenly among each. Throughout my writing assignment I argued how Bettie’s theories of inequality connect with Pierre Bourdieu, Kimberle Crenshaw, Marx and Engels and the students perspectives towards class difference, race, gender, cultural, and
On a personal level, the author feels as if she is unequal in her society and cites evidences from
Fiske, R., & Cyrus, V. (2005). Experiencing Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: Fourth Edition. Boston: McGrawHill
In America, many people are divided by a class system. Within our society, many people find themselves not interacting much with people outside of their class and can rarely find something in common with people of different financial backgrounds. In Andre Dubus the Third’s writing “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America, he speaks about his experience with his roommate who comes from an affluent background opposed to his less advantaged upbringing. In “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America, Andre Dubus the Third displays that the experiences the people face from different classes can differ entirely and therefore it makes it difficult to identify with someone outside of your class.
This essay will be unpacking and analysing the different elements that create my own intersectionality in my life. This essay will be discussing how class, gender/sex and race have influenced who I am and the experiences I have had throughout my life, and how various structures impact these experiences, with reference to the Crenshaw and Dill and Zambara articles, I will connect their thoughts and ideas to the intersectionality of my own life.
My object of study is Hispanic women experience inequality in education due to the social constructs of subordination of women and Hispanic culture. Historically women have been conditioned with a patriarchal system, which a woman’s domain should be at home, to be a homemaker. The ideology of inferiority can and will justify the deprivation of natural born rights. During the progressive area and women’s rights movement women wanted to be seen as people, they wanted to have rights to own property, negotiate wages, legal documents, access to birth control, and the right to vote, those women who had the voice to deal with these issues were white upper and middle class women. During this time Hispanic women, amongst other minorities, were fighting battles against racism, segregation, exploitation in the work force, access to a good education, and oppression through Hispanic culture. It is not just a struggle to be Hispanic overcoming the inequalities within the education system but to be a Hispanic women within the education system has greater disadvantages. This case study will investigate what forces contribute to the inequality within the education system for Hispanic women in the United States.
According to Anthias (2001), “class approaches have underpinned, however, some of the most influential contributions to the fields of gender and ethnicity/race…Marxist feminist, for example provide a Marxist informed analysis of gendered subordination, often apply Marxist economic categories to what later was acknowledges to be an inappropriate object”(p.372). Anthias (2001) explains the ethnicity and class focus on the correlations of a particular ethnic position and class position. Anthias (2001) notes “ethnicity and class, when twinned together have led problems of reductionism…Marxist approaches may treat it as false consciousness, where the real divisions of class take on symbolic forms. Ethnicity may also be seen as being a way that class organize (not as a disguise but as a vehicle), in order to struggle over economic resources. Anthias (2001) writes that there are three dimension of social stratification the shows class, gender and ethnicity into an approach to social inequality. The first is social stratification is seen as outcomes that relation to life condition, how a person is positioned in a social relations Secondly, there are a set of predisposition that is placed for individual s with different realms of production (class), sexual difference (gender) and collective formations (ethnicity). Lastly, the dimension of collective allegiances that helps
In our current society, it is acceptable to talk about race or gender. However, when it comes to the subject of class, people tend to tense, and are uncertain as to where they stand. At one time in history money afforded prestige and power, however now, money is a large part of our society and tends to rule many peoples lives. In the book Where We Stand: Class Matters, by bell hooks, she describes a life growing up in a family who had nothing, to now becoming one of America’s most admired writers. She wrote this book because she wanted to write about her journey from a working class world to class-consciousness, and how we are challenged everyday with the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In her book, hook’s describes a life dominated by the haunting issues of money, race, and class.
The intersection of dominant ideologies of race, class, and gender are important in shaping my social location and experiences. By exercising my sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), I will argue how my social location as an Asian American woman with a working class background has worked separately and together to influence how I behave, how others treat and view me, and how I understand the world. The sociological imagination has allowed me to understand my own “biography”, or life experiences by understanding the “history”, or larger social structures in which I grew up in (Mills, 1959). First, I will describe my family’s demographic characteristics in relation to California and the United States to put my analysis into context. I will then talk about how my perceptions of life opportunities have been shaped by the Asian-American model minority myth. Then, I will argue how my working class location has impacted my interactions in institutional settings and my middle/upper class peers. Third, I will discuss how gender inequalities in the workplace and the ideological intersection of my race and gender as an Asian-American woman have shaped my experiences with men. I will use Takaki’s (1999) concepts of model minority myth and American identity, Race; The Power of an Illusion (2003), Espiritu’s (2001) ideological racism, People Like Us: Social Class in America (1999) and Langston’s (2001) definition of class to support my argument.
Lacking the necessary support, many start to devalue the importance of doing well in school deciding that perhaps school isn’t part of their identity. In Susan’s case she’s eliciting multiple forms of subordination, and within each dimension she’s being subjective to different types of oppression; racial oppression, gender oppression, and class oppression, she’s experiencing cultural alienation and isolation and is not only based on her ethnicity as a Latina but is also influenced by how she is treated as a female, as a member of a certain socioeconomic class, and in relation to her English language proficiency, and even her perceived immigration status. In this sense, students like Susan experience different forms of discrimination or marginalization that stems from
In America, many people are divided by what we comprehend as a class system. Within our society, a multitude of people finds themselves not interacting often with those outside of their class and can rarely find similarities with people with a different financial status. In Andre Dubus’ writing “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America”, he speaks about his experience with his girlfriend who comes from an affluent background opposed to his less advantaged upbringing. Dubus shows that the experiences people face from different classes can differ entirely and therefore it makes it difficult to identify with someone outside of your class. In Andre Dubus’ writing, “The Land of No: A Class-Riven America” he is showing
Burt, Ronald S. "Structural Holes." The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class, and Gender. Ed. David B. Grusky and Szonja Szelenyi. 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2011. 597-601. Print.
Andersen, Margaret L. and Patricia Hill Collins. 2012. Race, Class & Gender: an Anthology, 8th edition. Wadsworth Cengage.
Inequality discrimination is an occurrence issue in the society. In Maya Angelou’s essay “Graduation,” she presents a form of discrimination based on how the African Americans were treated by whites; implying to short descriptions that she extends in her essay of racism and discrimination in her society was based on her school experience. Such as how they were not valued for their educational intelligence but only physically. For example, “Like travelers with exotic destinations on their minds, the graduates were remarkably forgettable…After tests were returned and grades given, the student body, which acted like an extended family, knew who did it well, who excelled, and what piteous ones had failed” ( Maya Angelou 21). This quote reflects on a class social preference. I believe Maya’s describes this as a disappointment and discrimination between those who has money to travel and willing workers. I personally admit that racism affects the society and everyone is equal and this quote signifies the unfairness they affront to in society. Such as American race having preferences for their race is not fair for others. As this quote stated that some professors gave changes to those who were high class by accepting their tardiness and late work just because of their race. This represents crucial unfair act. Same as the central school (white school) been established for “improvements”, a “well-known artist” was going to go to teach them about art, and other supplies in which makes them better because they have everything to be well known as an improvement great school as for Stamps school; Donleavy acknowledge that is possible for African American to learn successfully but they only lie in sports or service worker (Angelou 27). At this point, the man’s words were really offensive to African American race such as a mean discrimination and making them feel all their work is
This theory focuses on using multiple factors to conceptualize systems of oppression. Patricia Collins, in her article, “Towards A New Vision” mentions to the reader it is important that we realize race, class, and gender are interlocking categories of analysis that together cultivate profound differences in our personal biographies (Collins,1989). Meaning, it is important to take into account an individual’s identity is more than just being female/male or black/white. Intersectionality allows for multiple factors to be analyzed at a time rather than just analyze dichotomous factors. For example, within intersectionality individuals are allowed to analyze the life of a Hispanic women, living in a low class neighborhood, who has a means of low education. Collins states, “we must re-conceptualize race, class, and gender in order to create new categories of connection and questions how can we transcend these barriers created by our experience with race, class, and gender oppression.” However, intersectionality brings forth many problems in terms of social
Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, is set in a Victorian England, where social class is a huge factor in life. Brontë is very critical of Victorian England’s strict hierarchy. the main character, Jane, is a governess. Her social position is very complicated in which she has to be sophisticated, educated, intelligent, and soft spoken but she is then talked down to as she is of a lower class. The job of a governess is to teach children, whether it be art, writing or reading english literature. Victorian society is very corrupt and in the novel Brontë truly captures and illustrates the challenges that Jane has to face as a governess. The novel also emphasizes the social gap between individuals and how big it really is. In Victorian society, the rich get the most out of life and life for the poor gets harder. No individual should judge or belittle another due to the very minor factor of social status, but it seems to be very important in Jane’s society. The message that Brontë expresses in the novel is that social class is a meaningless catalyst in the progression of relationships, creating giant gaps between individuals.