NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Race, Class and Gender (1) In their book Race, Class and Gender Margaret Andersen and Patricia Collins strive to analyze these issues from socio-political prospective. Just like any true liberals, they put an emphasis on the social aspects, as such that help us to understand the real motif behind people associating themselves with particular culture and the social status. In the preface to their book, authors suggest that the social inequality, which is related to race, class and gender, is largely an institutionalized phenomenon. Therefore, such inequality is unnatural. This is a well-known thesis, promoted by the liberals, despite the fact that there are many reasons to doubt that the multicultural utopia can ever function effectively. According to the authors, their original intent was to educate people on the subject of diversity and to help them to get rid of their prejudices, regarding the people of different race or gender.
Andersen and Collins go as far as suggesting that the thousands years of human history, before the advent of multiculturalism, is the example of social evolution taking a wrong course, as people throughout the history were being treated unjustly, because of their race, class and gender. Also, even though authors continually stress out the importance of tolerance, they nevertheless consider their opinion on the matter as only the valid one. This betrays them as pushers of left-wing agenda, despite their claim that the real purpose of their book is educational. The diversity and multiculturalism is understood by authors as some kind of utopian social system, where race does not matter, yet everybody are obliged to celebrate their uniqueness. The authors concept of multicultural society reminds us a some sort of never ending party, where people spared of any social responsibility, while being able to receive social and political dividends, solely on the basis of their skin color or the type of their genitalia.
Such concept couldve been thought of as a bad joke, if it wasnt becoming the part of our everyday reality. According to Andersen and Collins, social inequality is artificially imposed on people. The Marxist undertones of authors understanding of what causes social stratification are clearly visible when they say: The class diversification is caused by the fact that people do not have the equal social opportunities. There is nothing innovative about this idea.
Its origins can be traced back to the bearded prophet of universal brotherhood Karl Marx. The history had long ago proven the cheer absurdity of such statement. The failure of affirmative action policy, which does not contribute to the increase of IQ among the minorities that are entitled to it, proves Andersen and Collins wrong. It is biological factors alone that stratify people and it is the inner inequality that enabled human kind to evolve, because it goes along with the law of nature, which is based on the principle of survival of the fittest.
The gender and sexism is another issue that gives liberals ground for their whining. Anderson and Collins do not represent themselves as feminists or lesbians, but they probably are, because they clearly associate penis with evil. They suggest that women are the subjects of mens sexism, which is true, just as it is true that mens sexism is the necessary precondition that leads to womens impregnation. Without it, there would be no people in the first place. The truth is that the issue of sexism in America is like a rush the more we scratch it, the more it itches. Apparently, for many liberals that oppose male sexism, such itch is pleasant.
It appears that both Anderson and Collins are not the exception. (2) The video series Killing Us Softly, Transformation Interview and Slaying the Dragon deal with popular stereotypes of women from different cultures, which are perpetrated by modern Medias. Producers seem to share the opinion that often such stereotypes have nothing to do with an objective reality. Is it really so? The creators of these series forget that the stereotypes are the result of long term observation of the same behavioral patterns, exercised by particular ethnic group. Therefore, we cannot think of such stereotypes as something that has nothing to do with the reality.
If person continually observes that 90 % of Jerry Springers show participants are Black and Hispanic, he will inevitably come to a certain conclusions. Is it really the medias fault that many minorities women lack taste, intelligence and beauty? As a matter of fact, Medias try hard to create a positive image of underprivileged women. The political observers notice that the popular notion of angry white male will be soon accompanied by the concept of angry white female.
As a rule, Black women are described by the media as the victims of unjust social realities. They are shown as highly spiritual beings that are in touch with expressions of nature. The movie Beloved is a good example Oprah Winfrie plays the role of honest and loving Black woman, while in real life she is greedy and vicious TV host. In movie Maid in Manhattan the White English woman is shown as an embodiment of evil, while Mexican American Jennifer Lopez is a modern days Cinderella.
The same applies to the portrayal of Asian females they are generally represented as more decent and compassionate than the White. Despite this, liberals still continue to come up with groundless accusations of racism and sexism, on the part of the Medias. I think that fighting stereotypes is the waste of time, just as fighting wind mills. Stereotyping is not necessarily negative. For example, Swedish women are perceived as the most beautiful, because of their blond hair and fine facial features, while Russian women are generally thought of as the most faithful. In order for the popular stereotypes of Latino and Black females to become more positive, they simply need to adjust their act a bit, instead of blaming the world.
The main fault of two videos, in my opinion, is the fact that authors have adopted a bipolar approach, while analysing a complex socio-political phenomenon. According to them, negative minority women stereotyping is the result of male chauvinism, doubled by the racial intolerance. Therefore, such stereotyping is viewed as utterly evil. The biological factors that might contribute to this trend are simply brushed aside.
That's why I think that both videos are absolutely legitimate, for as long as they are referred to as the expressions of one's political opinion. Nevertheless, when authors claim that their creations have universal value, it gives us a reason to become a bit sceptical. (3) In many cases, multiculturalism, as social concept in Western countries, comes as a result of these countries abandoning colonial practices. The best example is France, which used to be a great colonial power right up until sixties. After it withdrew its troops from Algeria, a great number of Algerians went to France to contribute to the creation of multicultural society in this country. Also, many people from Africa and Asia followed the example. Because of that, now France is able to fully enjoy the fruits of diversity on its territory, when thousands of cars are set on fire overnight, by those who cannot even speak French, while being French citizens.
There is no link between multiculturalism and gender issues, except for the fact that the proponents of multiculturalism and gender equality appear to be the same people. Oddly enough, the majority of them happen to be representatives of chosen people, who take an aggressive stance against racism, while promoting it in their own state of Israel. Andersen and Collins consider matriarchal practices as something very positive. Many times they refer to berdichev tradition as a progressive social custom. Yet, the tradition of elevating feminine men to the status of shamans in some American Native tribes does not undermine the manliness of these tribes, which are known to be warlike. What escaped authors attention is the fact that the berdichev tradition had never affected the Natives' existential mode.
In the same way, castrating boys, so that they could maintain a high pitched voices, only served one very limited purpose it enabled these boys to excel in singing church hymns. Yet, they were always being considered as freaks, just as Native American she-male shamans. The reason why women exercised significantly less political power throughout the ages is purely biological. Men can mentally detach themselves from their penises. Women cant do the same, as their genitalia are the essential part of their being. Therefore, men are only sexual from time to time, which allows them to engage in other activities and gain excellence in them, while women are always sexual, they look at the world through lenses of sex.
This is why many abstract concepts have no meaning to them - women simply cannot associate such concepts with reality. It is doubtful that the Media's coverage might result in substantial narrowing of gap between genders. This is because there is no such gap, in the first place. Men and women are playing their unique socio-biological functions and if there some misunderstanding occurs, smart men are fully capable of solving it with planting a kiss on women's lips or gently slapping them on the buttocks. (4) In my opinion, the main gender issue in America have nothing to do with bringing more equality in relations between men and women.
It is simply the result of men becoming more feminine and women becoming more masculine. One doesn't have to be a scientist to find the most visible common feature about the appearance of all famous feminists of 20 th century they all have a short hair cuts and prefer to wear pants. At the same time, many contemporary males think of dying hair and wearing an ear ring as something absolutely normal. In my opinion, those who come up with racism accusations need to be held accountable for what they say. Im sure that it will greatly reduce the number of reported crimes.
There are a lot of people who just like to whine and it doesnt matter to them what they whine about, for as long as there is a good excuse for doing that. The solution of this problem can be largely accomplished by using psychological methods, rather then bringing the matter to the court. Statistic shows that close to 60 % of all racism reports come from the people who pursue their own personal agenda, rather than being seriously concerned about their discrimination claims. Students and professors need to be protected from irresponsible people, who instigate racism paranoia in the places of learning.
As practice shows, racial paranoia is closely related to the public outcry about race related inequality. In time when the value of U. S. Dollar is being diminished by Bush's policy in Iraq, when many East European countries are about to ally themselves with Russia, thus posing a threat to our security, there are people in America, who never get tired of pushing liberal agenda, at the expense of undermining the American way of life. The same social tendencies were being observed in Roman empire, before its downfall - feminism, gender egalitarianism, human rights and political-correctness are nothing but a social symptoms of our society being seriously ill. But, just like any ill individual, our society indulges in denial.
When it faces a certain injustice, in the field of gender relations, it tries to put a blame for this on male conspiracy or redneck militia, instead of admitting the fact that it is a society's biological degradation, which causes such situation. To conclude this, we need to recall an old Roman saying quo bono? , (who is interested? ). It is an undeniable fact that a certain political forces in this country strive to divert citizens' attention from issues that really matter to an artificially created problems. These forces want to secularize America, along racial and gender lines.
But as citizens, we need to find an inner courage to name things for what they are. There are no gender issues- only the issue of men becoming overly womanlike. Bibliography: Anderson, M. Collins, P. Race, Class and Gender. New York: Black feminist Thought.
Routledge, 1991. Brains, P. Realism and Naturalism. (1998). Philosophy. com. Retrieved December 1, 2005 from web Gaunlett, D.
Media, Gender and Identity. (July, 2002). Media Gender and Identity Web Site. Retrieved December 1, 2005 from web Sugar, D. Separatism and Women's Community. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1995. Landing, H.
Bringing Cultural Diversity to Feminist Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice. Wash. , D. C. : American Psychological Association. 1995.
Free research essays on topics related to: men and women, race class and gender, socio political, media gender and identity, biological factors
Research essay sample on Race Class And Gender
