Jennifer Graham Post #3

This chapter, along with today's discussion was very interesting with me. I've found myself becoming a lot more aware of how gender & ethnicity is prevalent in society. I know it was always there but I guess I always just had other things going on and never paid attention to it. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing either. After reading the chapter this weekend I could immediately find correlations in my immediate surroundings, in the way I grew up being from a Swedish background and how my Father belongs to Swedish clubs where you have to prove your heritage in order to gain membership and how only in Jamestown can you get certain ethnic foods and items.

I really enjoy our discussions in class and finding out what other people have read and what their feelings are regarding what we've discussed. Its only the 3rd week of class and i've learned a great deal already.

Laura Kalinowski Post 3

I thought that the discussion we had in class today was very interesting especially when we talked about how being a minority group isn’t always judged on population size. Many people today believe that being a minority group means that you have a smaller population size than the dominant group. I learned today that that’s not necessarily the case, and that there are other factors that determine which groups are minority and which are dominant. In some cases, the minority groups may have a larger population than the dominant group, but they’re still considered the subordinate group because of their role in society. In actuality, dominant groups are the ones that have the political authority, economic production, and set the cultural standards, not the largest population. These other factors are the reasons for the separation between the dominant and subordinate groups in a society. I feel that many people today still don't understand this concept because I have heard people saying that they can't wait until one of the minority groups has a bigger population than the caucasian Americans group because then they can be treated like the minority groups have been in the past. They have the idea that minority groups are treated based on how big the population is of their group (Hispanics are a minority group because they have a smaller population, but once their population size surpasses the white population in America, they will become the dominant group.)

Staci Becker, Post 3

In Chapter 2, there is a section on how minorities respond to subordination. I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the chapter. I had always been curious to discover just what Minorities thought of their status in some societies as being subordinate to the dominant group. In the chapter, there were different ways to categorize their responses (more categorization!). These were also discussed in class as being pluralistic minorities, who seek to maintain their cultural ways, Assimilationist minorities, who seek integration into the dominant society, Secessionist minorities who desire political independence from the dominant society, and Militant minorities, who seek to be the dominant group. I found these to be just categories. When I read this in the chapter I began to think about South Africa, and Israel as classic cases, but then I thought that maybe Ireland would work as well. I thought that Ireland would be a great case for both Secessionist minorities and Militant. The minorities in Ireland, especially Northern Ireland, are Catholic, and wish to reunite with the Irish Republic, while the protestants wish to remain with the United Kingdom (A simple explanation). This is certainly secessionist. As for being Militant, I think that Ireland fits this category as well. Last year I took a course on Terrorism and Counter terrorism. Ireland was a country that was discussed extensively. The Irish Republican Army is a well known terrorist group (or freedom fighters according to some). This group wished to unite Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic through violence.

Ireland certainly isn't the only example. I am curious to see if anyone else had any examples for these categories of the response to subordination.

I feel that many of the minorities may be tempted to try the militant route, out of anger and desperation. If secessionist does not achieve results, the next route may be to militarize and begin a war. This does achieve some results, mostly in making the dominant groups feel threatened which will lead to more violence. There is not a perfect way for the minorities to respond to the problem of subordination. But I feel that if these problems continue to exist, then violence and conflict will only increase. Can anyone think of a solution?

Millions for Entertainment

Today in class we got to discussing minorities and the dominant race. I brought up professional sports and music because in our society today people like Lebron James, Aaron Rodgers, Derek Jeter, Eminem, and others are people that we "look up" to. It is sad what they are going to do in Los Angeles, and I believe that there is no way of stopping it with the way we run our nation. Professional athletes and musicians are the ones making the most money today. Millions and millions of dollars are going toward them for our entertainment. What happened to the days of going outside and doing something to be entertained instead of sitting on the couch watching television. Now don't get me wrong I obviously listen to music and I am a big sports buff but there comes a point that you need to realize we are handing out money to the wrong people. NO athlete should be making millions of dollars to hit a baseball, shoot a basketball, and etc. The fact of the matter is all of these athletes, doctors, dentist, and the highest paying jobs in our society have to receive some form of EDUCATION, and for the work that teachers put forth on top of time and effort to help students succeed in all these professions, is worth much more money than any athlete. Teachers give back more than any dollar amount is worth and they are the lowest paid in that aspect. I realize its just talk because of how bad it has gotten not much will ever change but I believe we need to TRY and adjust where our money is being spent and focus more on the future of our students and that lies solely on their education.

Pete Ferguson Post #3

Week of 2/7 Post 1

I thought this chapter was particularly interesting because Marger presented the dynamics between minorities and majorities in a way that I have never heard before. In chapter 2, I found the idea that a nation’s ethnic minority does not necessarily mean the group is a minority numerically. I always assumed the dominant group was the group with the larger number. I think it would be interesting to witness a population like, as Marger mentions, South Africa where whites are the minority in number yet are considered the majority in social stratification. I wonder if that would ever happen in the United States. Would white males maintain their social status if they became the minority?
Furthermore, I never considered myself, a women, to be a minority. Maybe it is because I haven’t entered into the professional world yet, but, personally, I have never encountered a situation where I have not been given as many opportunities because I am a woman.
I would like to research more into the “glass ceiling” for minorities, including women. I think it would be interesting to find statistics and academic articles on social stratification as far as employment opportunities. I’ve heard about inequality in the work place through other classes but I would like to get into it a little more. It seems to strange to me that in 2011 we allow these inequalities to continue.

Ashley Miranda Post 2

One of the things that has become very prevalent to me, especially since beginning this class, is the portrayal of race and ethnicity in the media. In "Recitatif" Toni Morrison doesn't come out and tell the reader which character is which race. Today's readers, a generation living in a modern society and are affected by this media more often than not, see portrayals of the descriptions Morrison gives us on T.V. and in other media and automatically assume racial roles to each of the characters without even actually knowing. "The Venus Hottentot" shows an actual portrayal of a stereotype made public. The story of a real woman was revealed to the world in the form of a circus sideshow because of people's beliefs that all women of the Khoi people have different physical features than their own. Because Sarah Baartman didn't fit into Europe's perfect picture of a woman she was put on display, written about in newspapers and even had pictures painted of her to make an example of her. I feel this is an example of the dehumanization of a woman, in this case women of Khoi, through stereotyping them as only sexual beings. The only parts of Sarah that anyone was interested in was her sexual features. They didn't care about her culture or her intelligence, just the artificial physicalities that were put on display for typical white Europeans to ridicule and report about in their newspapers. I believe that the media is the basis for people's beliefs that every single person they encounter must be categorized. I'm not sure if this is because we are trained to feel this way or if it makes us feel more comfortable with out relationships with these people, but in one way or another we all do it.

One thing that we need to remember is that ethnic and racial background are not the only ways to classify people. those who are in power often make the attempt to separate other people from them by pointing out things that are different. This can be most noticed by looking at the differences of religion or sex. What happened with Sarah Bartman was inexplicably cruel but unfortunately not an isolated incident. Would only be so lucky that it was only one, although one is too many. it is only through drawing attention to these sorts of actions that the general population begins to realize that these sorts of things happen. The only stories that the media will tell you are those that they believe they can sell. The simple fact is that acts of everyday discrimination would never make the news.