Social Sciences
Childhood memory
Accepting the unacceptable may always seem difficult. The past few weeks have been a time of emotions for the blacks following the brutal murder of George Floyd. The other memories of abduction, murder, rape, and oppression of people always stir up childhood memories. The events that followed the murder of George may fuel hopes for future changes. My childhood experience of racism involved my classmates and other friends of mine at the age of about ten years. I remember hearing the name “Blackie” being referred to as one of my friends. My immediate friend, “Blackie” was an African-American who experienced the most racism during or childhood, though I could not get the idea of racism in it. Every time we went through different phases of our games, “Blackie” could be assigned a servant’s role. The role was never comfortable and unfair.
The people involved in the situation were my four classmates. They were, in fact, my closest friends during my childhood life. I didn’t feel it was the right thing or role for him to perform every time we played. I always question why “Blackie” could be the one to play the part of the servant. I never thought it was a form of racism.
Furthermore, the perpetrators could not be referred to as be racists. I thought it was just a standard system of our games and accepted it as a norm of our playing roles. However, my current thoughts about those childhood memories have changed. Even though I never understood that it was a form of racism, I now know that there was a systematic racist structure rooted deeply in my friends that had shaped all their beliefs. I believe that the name “Blackie” was so unfair to my African-American friend. Furthermore, associating him with a servant’s role every time we played was a symbol of black slavery and black oppression.
Advantage Group
Social constructionism is one of the dominant theories of knowledge that explores the concept of people’s interactions and the basis of understanding for different groups of people. One of the eminent social constructs is classism. As defined in the course, classism is a social construct that holds the unethical belief that wealthy people (upper-class individuals) are always superior to middle and low-income individuals. The latter group’s perception is that they are poor and don’t have jobs to bring enough income. The belief is barbaric, unfair, and creates a system of discrimination and oppression in society.
Classism has privileges and advantages to the dominant groups. Generally, classism enables the distribution of resources and wealth allocation to different social groups. However, classism benefits the upper class more than the lower class. First, it enables the creation of life opportunities because the personal rewards are greatly affected by the social class of an individual. That way, wealth and income have higher tendencies of conferring to the upper-class individuals more than the lower class. Classism also colors the personality development of the dominant groups, assigning social responsibilities and privileges, and shaping life-adjustment patterns of the dominant groups (Markiewicz, 2019). Such services as health care are always top-notch for upper-class individuals.
On the other hand, not only will the dominant group benefit from classism but also the lower and middle-class individuals. I would benefit from classism because it assists me in understanding conventional morality and having the ability to explain various group differences. Understanding conventional morality lets me understand the different modes of people’s behavior, which also influence my judgments and decision-making. These help me in developing my cognitive skills.
Reference
Markiewicz, W. (2019). Change in Social Structure and the Increased Significance of the Working Class. The Polish Dilemma (pp. 71-80). Routledge.