Classism and Sexism: The Factors Involved - Term Paper Example

ism and Sexism Introduction to ism The study ism and Sexism has many social ramifications. ism is a hierarchical belief systemthat divides people according to the socio-economic status, family ancestry, and other classes related to social divisions. Classism in general sense is a “Systematic, institutionalized mistreatment of one group of people by another for what ever reason” (Yamato, 1995 p.66). This system leads to oppression of the lower classes by the higher classes as well as drastic income and wealth inequality. Classism is the systematic economic exploitation of the subordinate classes by the higher classes. Subordinate groups are not endowed or acquired economic power, social influence, and privilege and are often subjected to prejudices and discrimination. Classism is divided in to individual classism and structural classism. In individual classism, individual often exposes to discrimination and prejudices from other individual people in the form of jokes or stereotyping as of lower class. Structural or institutional classism occurs when institutions or social organizations act in such a way as to exclude people of economically lower class from getting in to the mainstream of the society. It took different manifestations in different places and in different occasions and is omnipresent and divides the people in to two or more classes. Classism: A Social oppression Classism is a social oppression that runs in various social levels that cuddle both social structures and human agency. Socio economic oppression takes place in different levels including institutional, intergroup, and personal level of social interaction. The structures determine the choices and actions of individuals and individual no longer able to exercises choice of action. A recent study by social psychologists explains the concept of classism as a behavior of “middle class” towards the poor. It is the middle class’s attitude towards the working class majority. Classism is rooted in the capitalist class structures and individuals exploitation on lower classes or exclusion of socially economic class from the main streams of the society, lower socio economic conditions developed as an impediment to reach out the modern development that. Individuals who occupy positions or institutions predispose individual’s qualities based on socioeconomic status rather than understanding the potential of the individual. Classism takes shape in “Complex ways in which people meditates and respond to the interface between their own lived experiences and structures of domination and constraint” (Giroux, 1995). Economic exploitation consists of pulling as much labor out of workers as possible and returns back only a disproportionate share of the community’s production. Class economic exploitation includes the exploitation of people on the job, forcing people work long and hard under hazardous conditions, and the denunciation of democratic rights of people to organize their own production and distribution process. Classism is rooted in socio-economic conditions, but it does not limit in economic conditions. It extends to the social, political, and cultural spheres of the life. Classism, a form of oppression, consists of prejudice based negative attitudes toward socially backward class. Classism is a ranking of people according to the socio-economic conditions as in which class of community an individual born and raised in, class is your appreciation of the world where you fit in, it is the outcome of idea, behavior, attitudes, values, and language; it is all about how you think, feel act etc. It is about which community you live and where you educate and the education you attained determine class. It is the very job determines a person’s class in the community, and it is there in every spheres of life. In short, class is the social status of individual or community on the basis of socioeconomic conditions. An individual experiences classism mainly because of lack of money social standards and because of our inherited culture. Classism determines our identity in relation with our work, social status and how we interact in the society where we live. Class oppression eventually rests upon a structure of policy and social customs personified in institutions, unwritten custom, linguistic conventions, and legal practice. Like any other system, classism exists people agree to abide rules and decide not to act against the social injustice in view of the adverse consequences and suppressions that may confronted by a range of social reactions from peer pressures and legal authorities to threats and experience physical violence by the higher socioeconomic class. People are being forced to be in deferent classes because of their socio-economic conditions. Anthropologist Karen Sacks describes Class as “membership in a community that is dependent upon waged-labor, but is unable to subsist or reproduce by such labor alone” (Sacks, 1989). Poverty and classism restricts the choice of poor, so that the higher classes exploits and institutionalize discrimination. A verity of institutions operates in the society with different economic standards individuals or community from low socio-economic standards failed to afford some institutions or organizations because of the cost these institutions demanding for. Classism is also prevalent in the work place, considering any organization for example, where upper class people are always in the managerial positions. Classism is the systematic oppression of poor people and exploiting their potentialities to make the necessary resources by which high class people make their living. Classism is promoted by a system of beliefs, which ranks people on the basis of economic status, community in which individual belong, job, and education. Classism claims upper hand on individual or society from high socio economic standard, and set up institutional system which is purely based on economic status. It affects not only on a social level, but also it affects emotional and have more psychological impact on the society and individual who experiences class discrimination in their life. Classist attitude have caused great agony to the individual by dividing people into different category keeping individuals away from personal fulfillment or the means to survive in the society. Consequently, the feeling of rejection from the mainstream of the life and their accompanying misinformation is an emotional one. This affects the character of the individual and the people experiencing classism, which tend people to hurt each other, since they themselves have been hurt, and the oppression is a result of economic, class overlaps by the socially upper class people. The impact on class discrimination on children is more apparent, as children from poor families are deprived of opportunity to learn, which is equivalent to the children from the highly affluent families. Children form socio-economic backward class are left with no option other than to attend school that do not have basic facilities and conditions to provide them with a quality education which determine their future. Long history of classism had an enormous psychological impact on community and individuals who are subjected to class discrimination. They have been conditioned as children to be submissive, to devalue them, to think they are incompetent compared to other people, to feel incapable, compliant with very little, and to accept lower social status as an unavoidable fact of life. Introduction to Sexism Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination or prejudice towards individuals based on their sex, rather than their individual merits. Sexism argues that one gender is superior or more valuable than other. The extreme form of sexism is known as misogyny. The word sexism now commonly attributes to the discrimination and prejudices against females, and they are considered as weaker sex and often experience discrimination in different aspect of the personal life. In the present society the distribution of power is still dominated by men; they are paid more and own more property, and enjoy command over women in every walks of life in the pretext that women are weaker sex. The history of sexism began thousand of years ago when the system of patriarchy was born. Women were withdrawn to back ground, fated to doing domestic cares and household activities, and denied of active involvement in the society. The sexist male is called reverse sexism and its extreme form is known as misandry. Recently sexism is a word usually used for misogyny discrimination against female in different spheres of the life. Men and woman are the two side of the coin without one the humanity would perish, every one knows this fact but not ready to treat women as equal to men. "Women -- you cant live with them, and you cant live without them." (The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, 2007). This expresses the ambivalent nature of sexism in which women are sometimes treated with hatred and sometimes with respect. Sexism and women Sexism is prevalent in everyday life, usually at work place and even in the homes, and often women are subjected to discrimination because of the deep-rooted belief that women are less strong or less productive than men. Sexism is treating individual with discrimination because of the gender. History of sexism dates back to more than 3,000 years where men has been holding positions of powers and developed men dominated social structure. Women were always held behind in the mainstream of society, despite the fact that “All people whatever their gender were created by God and so all people are equal in the sight of God and should be treated as equal” (Sexism – Notes). Millions of women throughout the world experience discrimination, prejudices, and deprivations of their fundamental human rights for only one reason that they are women. Discrimination even exists in Education, at the work place, and also a wide gap in wages. Sexist assume that the other gender is weaker, less successful, and not good for certain jobs, and are less intelligent. Sexist solely develops a false assumption on an individual mainly based on gender, without evaluating the individual merits and achievements, and denying them rightful opportunities. Women are usually paid less than men, even if they work better than men. Further more, some employers are reluctant to hire a woman for high office, because of the pregnancy related absence. Even there are hundreds of examples when women are not welcome in their office after pregnancy related leave. In addition, sexist discrimination come in a number of ways including the use of unpleasant terms and language, making prejudiced statements of members of opposite gender, showing discrimination solely based on someone’s gender. There is a male chauvinistic thinking that women are weaker compared to men and they are meant to work in the household and meant for laboring. Sexism has become a scourge of modern society, and unfortunately the movement against sexism is still inadequate to overcome the social problems it produces. Violence and discrimination against women has been global social epidemics, despite the advancement of the global women’s human rights movement in identifying, raising awareness, and challenging impunity for women’s human right violation. In today’s world women have no basic control over what happens to them in the society? “Millions of women and girls are forced to marry and have sex with men they do not desire.”(Women’s rights, 2007) Women have no protective cover from government on physical violence at home, which leads to some fatal consequences such as injury and even HIV/AIDS infections. There are instances where women in custody are subjected to assault by the custodians themselves. Women are not permitted to choose their partner by their family or even punished for having sex outside of marriage with a person of their choice. At times, human right violations are committed under the guise of cultural norms or religious strictures, and western imperialism. Conditioning plays a remarkable role in classism as well as in sexism, one conditioned into one’s respective social role and form identity with actions and behavior that related back to the experiences as young children. Socially disadvantaged children conditioned with their experiences in the life as they grow in the society. The social discrimination one experiences force them to form some negative psychological allusions that they are not competent, intelligent, or powerful compared to other individuals and complacent with what they gets from the society. Socialization and conditioning of female into socially constructed gender roles creates dilemma in women. For instance they are being conditioned as sexual objects, to be attractive, but not seductive, be noticeably feminine, but not provocative .The idea that women are of weaker sex and men are stronger have a solid psychological impact in women’s character, which influence their character thought, and their life style. From a rational view it derives that Classism and Sexism are real social scourge which require concerted effort to control them and eradicate from the society. It is essential to transform social outlook to bring equality among humans, whether is in class society or sexist domain. Reference Giroux, Henry. (1995). Theory and Resistance as quoted in Macleod) Macleod, Jay. Ain’t No Makin’ It. Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood. Expanded Edition. Boulder, Co: Westview Press. Women’s Right. (2006). Human Rights Watch. Defending Human Rights Worldwide. Hrw.org. New York, USA. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://www.hrw.org/women/ Sacks, Karen. (1989). Academics from the Working class. Boston: South End Press. “Toward a Unified Theory of Class, Race, and Gender.” American Ethnologist. P.16 (3). Sexism – Notes. Key ideas. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/gcsere/revision/xtianpers/chper3/page3.html The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. (2007). Social Psychology Network. Understanding Prejudice. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://www.understandingprejudice.org/asi/ Yamato, Gloria. (1995). “Something about the Subject Makes it Hard to Name.” Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology. Margaret Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins (eds). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. P.66. Read More