The Meanings of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality
"The Meanings of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality"
The meanings of race, class, gender, and sexuality are definitely complicated and intertwined through intersectionality. To fully understand these meanings, one must first open his or her mind and recognize that social stipulations that society inflicts upon people need to be thrown away. One must ignore conceptions of something being static or natural (Mills 10).
A naïve individual would consider race as simply a biological classification. However, in reality, race is actually a social stratification bestowed on people of color that has been controlling society for the past five hundred years (Mills 20). Unfortunately, race is an extremely unfair social hierarchy that is controlled and manipulated by the White Europeans. It is readily apparent that Caucasians have been the dominant figures in society since the beginning. This is seen through the color and social ideals of political philosophers such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Smith. These philosophers, who are all of White European descent, are the fathers of our modern day political infrastructure. This classification of race is no accident; instead, it is seemingly a "racial contract" which the white race obviously takes advantage of (Mills 9). For example, the advancement of the United States ' economy above all others surely would have never happened without the horrid exploitation of the African Americans through slavery and other social oppressions (Ore 79). Furthermore, the oppression cycles since whites see it fit to exclude nonwhites due to racial stereotypes (Glenn 11). One can plainly see that "race is sociopolitical rather than biological, but it is nonetheless real (Mills 126)."
Class is another classification that is determined by one 's accumulation of power and money. Class is a social struggle of ladder climbing where people find severe disadvantages due to race, current class status, gender, and sexuality. This is
The meanings of race, class, gender, and sexuality are definitely complicated and intertwined through intersectionality. To fully understand these meanings, one must first open his or her mind and recognize that social stipulations that society inflicts upon people need to be thrown away. One must ignore conceptions of something being static or natural (Mills 10).
A naïve individual would consider race as simply a biological classification. However, in reality, race is actually a social stratification bestowed on people of color that has been controlling society for the past five hundred years (Mills 20). Unfortunately, race is an extremely unfair social hierarchy that is controlled and manipulated by the White Europeans. It is readily apparent that Caucasians have been the dominant figures in society since the beginning. This is seen through the color and social ideals of political philosophers such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Smith. These philosophers, who are all of White European descent, are the fathers of our modern day political infrastructure. This classification of race is no accident; instead, it is seemingly a "racial contract" which the white race obviously takes advantage of (Mills 9). For example, the advancement of the United States ' economy above all others surely would have never happened without the horrid exploitation of the African Americans through slavery and other social oppressions (Ore 79). Furthermore, the oppression cycles since whites see it fit to exclude nonwhites due to racial stereotypes (Glenn 11). One can plainly see that "race is sociopolitical rather than biological, but it is nonetheless real (Mills 126)."
Class is another classification that is determined by one 's accumulation of power and money. Class is a social struggle of ladder climbing where people find severe disadvantages due to race, current class status, gender, and sexuality. This is