CR#4 : America: Home of Inequality?
We live in a world that is not equal. A world that pushes people into boxes and a world that puts people in pyramids of different statuses. Individual humans have individual identities. This includes their race, age, gender, culture, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and much more. However, there are identities that are more seen as accepted, or more powerful than others. Psychologist and educator Beverly Tatum describes the dominant group of people as “systematically advantaged by society because of a group membership” and subordinate identities as “systematically disadvantaged.” While the dominant is seen as the norm, the subordinate is seen as defective or incapable. For example, the dominant gender would be men, but if one person identifies as something other than a man or woman, they would be considered much lesser than the man. This type of thinking creates an unequal power dynamic between two people, especially when they have contrasting identities.
Jose Calderon is a professor who explains how perspective-taking is a large part in changing the power dynamic between a seen “dominant” versus “subordinate.” For example, in a classroom, the teacher is seen to have the power because they are older and the ones “in charge” of the students. Calderon challenges this idea due to a personal experience. When a teacher teaches the student English, and the student teaches the teacher Spanish, it becomes an equal power dynamic because they are learning from each other rather than only being dominant in one situation. He suggests that teachers need to create environments where students can question, because classrooms are microcosms of society. Is it going to be a dominant society or one where we can question each other? The bigger picture is that we need to address questions of power in order to not give into the dominant versus subordinate dynamic.
Furthermore, in discussing subordinate and dominant identities, we must consider the idea of intersectionality. The term intersectionality describe the multiple identities that we have as an individual, and more specifically, how the merging of these identities affect the way that we are seen and interacted with. Lawyer Kimberle Crenshaw explores the idea that because people have multiple identities, such as being a woman and being a woman of color, both parts of those identities are often oppressed together. This overlap is what can cause for greater oppression and discrimination. Her “focus on the intersections of race and gender only highlights the need to account for multiple grounds of indemnity when considering how the social world is constructed.” She claims that the multiple dimensions of a person’s identity, more specifically those who are already marginalized, intertwine with each other and can negatively affect them. For example, if woman of color is raped, her experience of the incident and the response after might be different than that of a white woman. The woman of color’s intersectionality can cause a different outcome of a rape where she may not be offered the same resources as a privileged woman. Furthermore, one of our identities can affect the resources we have to another part of our identity. Crenshaw considers structural intersectionality and political intersectionality and provides several examples. If a woman in poverty does not have access to clothes, food, water, or technology, it is harder for her to get a job and keep her family healthy. This merging of multiple identities also affects if we are considered dominant or subordinate in certain aspects.
Author Robin DiAngelo shares her story about growing up White and poor and what the word intersectionality looks like for her. She understands that “the oppression I experienced growing up poor didn’t protect me from learning my place in the racial hierarchy” (140). Even though she was poor, she knew there was someone on the social chart that was lower than her. To combat this, DiAngelo suggests to work on internalized oppression and to “face the internalized oppression that results form being socialized in a racist society.”
At my community partner, Aprendiendo Juntos playgroup, the community makes up many identities. They are children and parents of varying ages, most of whom natively speak Spanish. At playgroup, the families who come are the dominant culture. The playgroup is said in their native language and they are surrounded by other children and parents that they share a culture with. I consider myself the subordinate because Spanish is not a strong language for me nor am I from Latin America or Mexican heritages. As soon as the families are compared to the rest of Marin county, they are back to being subordinate in race, and often times also in terms of their socioeconomic status. The Parent Services Project’s (PSP), Aprendiendo Juntos playgroup works to serve families to help with child development, as they may not have the resources on their own to do this. Their mission is to “engage and strengthen families to take leadership for the well-being of their families and communities.” PSP encourages mothers and fathers to embrace their culture, so that young children can better adapt to new cultures. For example, Spanish is encouraged at playgroup so that if children can master their native language, they will more easily learn the “dominant” language of English in schools. I think PSP does a good job at recognizing which identifies may be subordinate, and working to strengthen those identities through learning.
