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What
do age, race and sex have in common when used for creating social mobility
barriers and/or bigotry?
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| What
these three things have in common is that they all interface between biological
and cultural (or social) on the cusp, as it were. We all vary in
our age, sex and physical characteristics. We have no choice in the
circumstances of our birth, eg a choice of parents, date and location of
birth, or what variation of x and y chromosomes are involved in the uniting
of egg and sperm ("luck of the draw"). These variations are not pure enough
to make precise biological categories, but we human beings add meanings
to those physical variations and create social categories (believing them
to be biological). See Race and Biology. |
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| All
three lie on the interface; all three are problematical as biological categories
(yes, even sex). All three are used to socially construct barriers
to social mobility. All three are used to construct bigoted and prejudicial
thinking, and thus the unequal treatment of individuals. Note that
barriers to mobility (actions) and bigotry or prejudice (thoughts) are
different, although similar, and you should distinguish between them. |
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| When
groups are formed by people with similar physical characteristics (often
because of their closeness in birth and residence), they may interact,
and may develop similar learned traits. This may reinforce the prejudices
of people, and appear (falsely) to support the wrong notion that people's
physical characteristics may determine their social attributes. Thus
you get stereotypes about people according to their age, race and gender.
The treatment of individuals because they are so categorized may include
refusing them service in shops or rental housing, this is based on bigotry
(a way of thinking). The refusal of offering jobs or promotions on
such basis is a hindrance to upwards mobility (seldom downwards).
Refusing to issue driver's permits and giving permission to purchase liquor
or tobacco, is institutionalized (legal) discrimination. |
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| The
glass
ceiling refers to barriers upward mobility of women, not to race and
age. Although there are different physical characteristics between
babies, children, youth, adults and seniors, there are no precise biological
boundaries. The choice of a particular precise age
to issue licences or start pensions is physically arbitrary. Not
hiring persons (or forcing them to retire) for being too young or too old,
regardless of their abilities, is a serious barrier to mobility, as well
as action based on bigoted thinking. Differences in dressing, acting,
talking (even the variations in using tones of voice –
males tend to use three while females tend to use five tones) are all learned,
and learned differently by males and females (and changed by transgendered
individuals). What is masculine in one culture might be feminine
in another culture. Race may be based on normal
biological variations but there are no pure categories, many blends in
between (by both intermarriage and by descent), and many exceptions to
common stereotypes. |
| Notes:
These correct some inaccuracies from student exams. Slave owners
did not obtain slave labour for free, but paid for their food, clothing,
shelter and old age security. Many ex slaves suffered immensely after
abolition because disgruntled owners tossed them out. I disagree
with the statement that race, age and sex are not valid topics for sociology.
I disagree that they are only biological or only sociological; they are
on the interface. The mobility we are talking about is social mobility,
not geographic mobility. Profiling at airports is not profiling of
terrorists, but racial profiling of middle eastern muslims. (The founders
of Israel and the USA were terrorists, too). |
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