Toward A New Vision Patricia Collins Reflective Statement

Reflection on Toward a New Vision by Patricia Collins We tend to attribute our values and achievements to the personal qualities some of which are believed to be acquired thought the lifetime, while ignoring the inherent dimensions of identity that shape us without our intervention. When I followed Patricia Collins’s advice and pictured myself as a member of different race, class and a gender group, the boundaries between my personal accomplishments and favorable environmental factors became blurred. Even my attitude towards feminism appears to be an aftermath of numerous unearned assets.
Born in a middle class Georgian family, I had access to high-quality education and has never been differentiated from my brother based on intellectual capacities
and responsibilities we had to fulfill. Unlike most of my female friends, I was lucky enough to outperform guys and be perceived as a different, atypical girl. And finally, I had powerful role models of my grandma, mother and aunt who taught me how to reconcile Georgian femininity with decisiveness, strength and self-esteem. A handful of women identify as feminist in Georgia since in order to become a one, you need to be simultaneously privileged.
After realizing that “each of us derives varying amounts of penalty and privilege from the system of oppression”, Collins urges us to develop empathy and understand the experiences of different groups and individuals.
I grew up in a society where the uniformity of “race” prevented a social construction of Whiteness. White is nor perceived as normal since most of the Georgians are white. However, issues related to the class, female oppression and homicide are strongly intertwined. The total number of domestic violence cases in Georgia skyrocketed to 2114 in 2015. 91% of the victims were females, while in 96 % of cases offenders were low class men with poor economic conditions and high rates of alcohol consumption. Considering that population of Georgia approximates to 3.7 million, the statistics are concerning.
A study by the researchers at Harvard university argues that the rise of populism which culminated into Trump’s presidency and Brexit in the UK was largely caused by the counter-revolutionary backlash of lower class, white, less educated men living in the rural areas. After the spread of progressive values related to multiculturalism, environmental protection and feminism, “previously predominant group angrily reacted to the erosion of privilege and
status”.
However, it is critical to analyze the ways different groups are affected by the system of oppression to develop the empathy and prompt a social change. Felice Yeskel nicely summarizes the experience of the poor when along with the bad health outcomes she adds humiliation and disrespect to the struggles of a working class. While we believe in equal opportunity to move on social ladder, being a member of a working class is viewed as a personal failure. The men who lost the fair competition, are exerting their power and preserving masculinity by becoming hostile towards the minorities. According to the psychological principle called frustration-aggression, they transform frustration into the aggression towards women, LGBT communities, immigrants and so on.
Is it plausible to connect the struggles of redistribution and recognition? How can we transcend our differences and mobilize every oppressed group? Although I do not have the answers, I feel individual responsibility to entangle the experiences of people around me while I should also tell my story to be understood.