Interplay Of Race, Class And Gender In The Caribbean

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Throughout history an even today, Caribbean scholars contend that Caribbean relations are characterized by an interplay of race, class and gender. Clarke agree with this statement and said that, “The social structure of the Caribbean region is based on differences associated with class, race or colour, ethnicity and culture (Clarke, 2013). These three (3) components of race, class and gender affect each other in one way or the other. In other word, one’s class position may be dependent on his or her race or gender or one’s gender may determine his or her class position in society. It is important to note that the interplay of race, class and gender in the Caribbean differs from island to island. This essay will discuss the extent to which …show more content…

The three concepts of race, class and gender are socially constructed. According to Reddock (2007), the concept of race is socially constructed and is used to group individuals based on phenotype, physical features and area of origin. Moreover, Hall noted that race is not a pure category in the Caribbean it is not legally defined; however, it is socially define via visible registration such as physical characteristics, pigmentation and culture (as cited in Green, 1995). Class is also socially constructed and it involves the grouping of people into a hierarchy of social stratification based on socioeconomic position (Taylor, Richardson, Yeo, Marsh, Trobe, Pilkington, 1999). Classed in the Caribbean are bounded groups whose social position in the social hierarchy derived from past and present division of labour (Clarke, 2013). Class can be classified as into three categories-upper class, middle class and lower class (Taylor et al.). Taylor et al went on to say that class can be defined more broadly as a group of people with certain common traits such as descent, education, accent, similarity in occupation and wealth among others. Gender, as stated by World Health organization (WHO, 2016), refers to “the socially constructed characteristics of women and men such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be

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