BakerRosenblumTravis

In Karen Rosenblum and Toni Travis’s book “The Meaning of Difference” the authors discuss the social construction of race, gender, inequality and privileges. The fact that all of these are constructed by our values is one of the key points that the authors are trying to convey through there writing. One idea discussed is theoretical framework which is a set of basic ideas we have when trying to understand the world that surrounds us. This is a crucial part of our everyday world and how we understand it, as the building of a house needs strong resilient framing so do our ideas and beliefs. The authors also discuss what a master status is and what the five main master statuses are. A master status is the status which overpowers the others. To understand that however it is crucial to know what a status is. A status is what is cast upon a person either by nature or society such as gender or career position. These statuses can cause privilege or oppression depending on what culture is being looked at and which status a person holds is highest on the list. According to the authors the five main master statuses in social order are race, gender, sexual orientation, ability/disability, and social class. These all are what society in general looks at when determining a persons “worth” if you will. Though we may not like to think of ourselves as such insensitive creatures unfortunately these ideas are very strong and are often seen but unnoticed everyday by just about everyone. The authors also convey the ideas of essentialist versus constructionist. An essentialist believes that the world and everything in it is natural and just simply “there”. Where as a constructionist believes everything is there and requires an interpretation from everyone. Social construction is another idea talked about in this book, which is generally regarded as the rules and boundaries set in place by society to sway our actions into conformity. A few examples of things which socially construct our reality are the law, careers, religion, schools and families. The authors discuss the role in social construction plays in the study of race and ethnicity. Their idea is that the two terms are just a product of social construction because there actually is no true difference between people. Naming, the placing of people into groups by labeling them is also an issued discussed.
1. Why do people continue to believe race is biological?
2. Is there any time in history when statuses did not exist?
I believe in many of the points the authors are trying to make and I can understand what they are talking about. Though I haven't ever really thought about these statuses I can understand how they play a big deal in our lives as individuals and how we see eachother.