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Recommended: How does our family impact our identities

Classism is related in many ways to racism, sexism, heterosexism and other forms of oppression. Classim often appears individually through attitudes and behaviors, also through policies and practices, and culturally through norms and values. Similar to other forms of oppression and prejudice, it is the tendency to make generalizations or stereotypes about people such as “Black people are thieves.” After reading the articles by Rubin (Ore 18), Coltrane (Ore 19) and Stacey (Ore 20) I’ve come to understand how the institution of a family provides a sense of privilege for some groups while maintaining a system of oppression for others. In Rubin (Ore 18), Rubin looks at the social, cultural, and economic changes of the last two decades and explores their impact on family life. Rubin shows us how much all working-class families white, black, Latino, or Asian have in common and how valiantly they cope with the many challenges in their lives. She also explores how the failing economy has helped to create seemingly unbridgeable divisions among them.

In our daily lives, there usually isn’t enough time or opportunity to consider how the interaction of multiple social categories to which we belong affects beliefs, behaviors, and life chances. For example, in the article “ Gay And Lesbian Families Are Here” a gay man expresses his thoughts on equal civil rights. He goes on to say “ I resent the fact that married people get lower taxes. But as long as there is this institution of marriage and heterosexuals have that privilege, then gay people should be able to do it too” (296). In particular, this quote reflects the idea that we are discouraged from critically examining our culture. People who occupy positions of privilege often do not noti...

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...ob after she gave birth to my younger brother. The reason she was transferred was because her manager thought she had to take care of my younger brother and would not be able to fulfill her travel duties which her job required a lot of. I honestly believe if was a man with an infant, he would’ve kept his position. My mother was discriminated and oppressed due to her family status

Ultimately, individuals typically learn their assigned place in hierarchies of race, gender, and and social class in their families origin. At the same time, they learn to view such hierarchies as naturals social arrangements as compared to socially constructed ones. Hierarchy in this sense becomes “ Naturalized” because it is associated with seemingly “ natural process” of the family. One way that this occurs is when racial and gender inequality becomes explained using family roles.

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