Race Class Gender Work CMN 396 Race Class Gender Work ERA Why Race Class Gender Still Matter History has an important role in how we view equality hard work effort There are now systems to guard against protection and discrimination Historic social movements have been conscious raising Civil rights movement Feminist Movement Race Class Gender as Systems of Power Need individuals to consider different ways of thinking to Transform rather than reproduce existing social arrangements Requires a shift in thinking about previous groups that have been muted or silenced to now have voice Dominant forms of knowledge are constructed from experiences of power Education Communication Race Class Gender as Concepts Gender race ethnicity and class are essential concepts to be explored independently However it is important to understand their interconnectedness and how that interconnectedness is embedded in the foundation of historical domination and subordination Power Economic exploitation Developing a Race Class Gender Perspective Engagement with global awareness has increased and interest in illuminating the experiences of oppressed groups Race Class Gender as a Matrix of Domination Anderson Collins 2016 1Views social structure as having multiple interlocking levels of domination that stem from the societal configuration of race class and gender relations Anderson Collins 2016 p 4 2 Intersections of RCG within social construction operate and are exhibit differently 3 Matrix of domination approach is derived from history and has historical and institutional context Difference Diversity Multiculturalism Anderson Collins 2016 Matrix of Domination Framework vs Difference Framework Difference Framework views RCG as separate entities and having unique individual experiences Matrix Framework posits that there is an interrelationship among RCG that occurs in addition to their unique experiences Distinction between the two ideologies is that Difference Framework calls us to think comparatively and Matrix allows us to think relationally Language is the vital tool that links the frameworks Gender Race Class Processes Historical Interconnected Gender race ethnicity and class are terms typically used or defined as biological Because they are social constructed they are not permanent or fixed They are constantly changing fluid and transform themselves throughout history Gender Race Class Processes Historical Interconnected Class has the most historical weight of the three because of its role in the social and economic place in society Thus class is still viewed in society as inherited and genetic Internal and hegemony builds workers consciousness of themselves as individuals and as workers Struggle against class oppression transforms capitalist worker relationships that create workers rights and powers The Difficulty in Distinguishing Interdependence vs Interconnectedness It is difficult to decipher whether an economic practice or situation entails class race or gender In addition individuals do not always experience these different processes of domination and subordination independently of one another The is no one universal gender oppression that is experienced by all women regardless of their raceethnicity or class Gender Feminist theories have assisted the development of the concept of gender and its role in understanding women s lives and the oppression within it It is often mistaken that feminist theories have single handedly provided an overarching definition or situated a common experience of gender oppression among women Differences among gender are based on but not the same as sex Gender based on societies beliefs about how sex should be performed which often creates self fulfilling prophecies Race Ethnicity Similar to gender race ethnicity is based on perceived physical difference Gender difference Inequality Race ethnicity difference Skin color phenotypes bias Historical influences have impacted the views and practices of race ethnicity in society into various racist ideologies Intermarriages relationships Colonization religious influence Hierarchy of Race There are various views on how human beings are divided or ranked In most cases racial hierarchy is based on placing individuals in unequal categories Example Whites Asian Black Latinos Latinos Black Native American Indians Race ethnicity is essential in studying women s work because it is used to make crucial decisions on Placement Labor recruitment Why the Intersections In order understand race and gender class divisions are used to characterize early and in some ways current U S economy Sexual division of labor within family household has determined women s class and capital in society All workers are exploited regardless of race and gender however they are not equally exploited Jobs positions are hierarchy based and often race and gender typed