Class Oppression: The Key to Social Control In both the film Metropolis (1927) and Brave New World, Fritz Lang and Aldous Huxley depict utopian societies where upper castes “are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get” (Huxley 2006: 220). Each of these “ideal” societies has established some level of social control. In fact, in Brave New World “people were ready to have even their appetites controlled” (Huxley 2006: 228). These civilizations rely on and thrive because of the lower working class, “Standard men and women; in uniform batches” (Huxley 2006: 7). Through the comparison of these pieces, it is evident that Lang and Huxley are criticizing/commenting on the fact that for a society to maintain social …show more content…
They stand at grueling machines all day, feeding the machines with their life force. Their jobs are imperative, as can be observed in the explosion scene where the man fails to complete his task, resulting in mechanical failure and the maiming of several workers. The city relies on the workers to provide them with power and probably many other vital aspects of the city’s infrastructure. Though these lesser members of each society are easily replaceable, like cogs in a machine, without them, the whole thing comes crashing down. Some may argue whether a lesser class is necessary or if every member of society could exist as equals. Huxley takes time to express his thoughts on this through the voice of the world controller. Mustapha Mond discusses an experimental island comprised entirely of Alphas. Most “lesser jobs” were left unfulfilled. “Low-grade work[ers] were perpetually intriguing for high-grade jobs, and all the people with high-grade jobs were counter-intriguing to stay where they were” (Huxley 2006: 223). Huxley is arguing that with no lower-class workers to do the grunt work, the laborious but necessary jobs will go undone. A class of equals cannot thrive because they will all equally pursue the more prestigious work and neglect the keys to survival. Due to these lower classes being so crucial, the administrators in both Lang’s and Huxley’s pieces have implemented
These are just a few examples of how the population is dehumanized and dominated by the World State through the use of technology. Huxley seems to have passed over the ideas of automation so that even the lowest in the caste system have a purpose, including toiling away in factories or working in elevators.
Throughout the entire world there are issues with our societies brought upon by the lack of clear thinking and/or compassion. Many of these issues may not be problems necessarily but just topics discussed when the word “issue” is brought up. One can clearly compare our society to the society described in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. In this novel the society Huxley has created is meant to be a utopia, made up of a hierarchy known as the caste system. Social classes in both societies create issues due to the fact that everyone has always had different standings in society.
Often individuals choose to conform to society, rather than pursue personal desires because it is often easier to follow the path others have made already, rather than create a new one. In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, this conflict is explored. Huxley starts the story by introducing Bernard Marx, the protagonist of the story, who is unhappy with himself, because of the way he interacts with other members of society. As the story progresses, the author suggests that, like soma, individuals can be kept content with giving them small pleasure over short periods of time. Thus, it is suggested in the book that if individuals would conform to their society’s norms, their lives would become much
After I read the article, I had to sit back and digest the material for an entire day. The article force me to do some soul searching regarding my position on power, privilege, and oppression. Have I been so oblivious to my surroundings? I quickly thought about the six core values of social work: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relationships, integrity, & competence. Will I be able to help others; because like Spencer (2008) I took somethings in life for granted? It was ironic when I was reading the article that Martin Luther King Jr, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandella came to mine. They all fought for the injustice and sacrificed much to change the minds of the one in the position of power.
In the Sci-fi futuristic novel “Brave New World”, published in 1932, Aldous Huxley introduces the idea of the utopian society, achieved through technological advancement in biology and chemistry, such as cloning and the use of controlled substances. In his novel, the government succeeds in attaining stability using extreme forms of control, such as sleep teaching, known as conditioning, antidepressant drugs – soma and a strict social caste system. This paper will analyze the relevance of control of society versus individual freedom and happiness to our society through examining how Huxley uses character development and conflict. In the “Brave New World”, Control of society is used to enforce
The people in the Brave New World society are divided into five castes. The highest most intelligent caste is the Alphas; they are the ones that make the rules and regulations for all other lower castes to follow. Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons follow in order as well as intelligence, level of control, and social stature. Neo-Pavlovian conditioning ensures the order of the castes. For a society to be socially stable every person in the society must feel like they belong. The caste system in Brave New World ensures that every person in the society has a function that they feel is essential to the success of the society as a whole. Since jobs are designed for each caste by the social skills they exhibit and their intelligence level, it makes it possible for very member of the society to do a job specially designed for their level of ability. Gammas and Deltas carry out menial tasks such as operating an elevator, or being a gopher. Alphas are designated jobs such as the manager of a company or a doctor. The caste-system affects the individual by making them feel needed and therefore avoiding social conflicts having to do with an individual feeling like they are left out of society.
It is important to identify parties or interest groups that have “skin” in the game. In other words, who are the stakeholders? As defined in project management doc.com, a stakeholder is a person or group of people who can affect or who can be affected by a given project or implementation of policy (Project Management, n.d.). The stakeholders in this case study include those in political positions, big business, concerned citizens, elite groups and those from the lower economic class. In the essay “The Masses against the Classes”, written by Ed Miliband (2012) contends that in order for a sound society to exist, the affluent and powerful must attend to the struggles of those outside of the elite class in order to maintain and survive (Miliband, 2012). Is it then, the position of Big-Mart as depicted in this case study to appear in an effort to save the struggling (classes) from the powerful elite masses? Is this
This research paper will outline the causes and traits of oppression in America. Dynamics such as the social, historical, and psychological systems that serve as vessels of oppression will be addressed. Using academic research, the goal for this essay will be to discuss the characteristics of oppression and how those characteristics are connected to its origin. The research will develop major themes that will serve to define agents, including classism, discrimination, and the intersectionality of different types of oppression. Discussions on strategies for addressing and ending the current oppression in America and recommendations for the future will be highlighted as well.
“ Do you see, then, what kind of world we are creating?” (Orwell, 1950 p.267)George Orwell, author of 1984 released in 1950, present the idea of a society that proves to be a dystopia as it is completely based on fear and rarely does one see happiness while in the other hand, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World presents the idea of a functional utopia were feelings are destroyed and no one is unhappy because they don’t know happiness but all this could change by the hands of one outcast. These two societies ruled in different ways-one through fear and the other through psychological and physical manipulation- present successful ways to maintain order and power, although they differ greatly and outcasts have different aims and uses. In a
“There are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible - the new normal,” Michel Foucault. This quote by Michel Foucault is the definition of today’s society due to the many incidents that have happened. To start off, oppression is the state of being subject to unjust treatment or control. In recent times, people have been told they were being repressive or ruthless to the minorities. This was the case with slavery, with the Holocaust, and with many other events in the past involving oppression. These events can instill fear in the people to make them realize the past can repeat itself one way or another whether we realize it or not.
Dystopian novels have become more common over the last century; each ranging from one extreme society to the next. A dystopia, “A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control,”[1] through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, criticizes about current trends, societal norms, or political systems. The society in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is divided in a caste system, in which humans are not individuals, do not have the opportunity to be individuals, and never experience true happiness. These characteristics of the reading point towards a well-structured
Oppression suppresses individuals or groups using power to maintain what can be seen as social place within a society. Keeping groups or individuals at a level where their rights are restricted below those of the suppressor due to things such as race or sex. Enforcing inequalities upon those who have none or limited means to fight for equality. Oppression keeps people within a restricted existence where they are unable to improve their situation due to restrictions imposed by the oppressor.
I am stating the Five Faces of Oppression based on my understand after reading Shaw & Lee. The first face is Exploitation. Exploitation is, “A process that transfer the results of labor of one social group to benefit another.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of exploitation is sweat shops. Children in many parts of the world are making clothing items such as Nike for pennies a day. While these children are underpaid people who aren’t sweat shop workers’ pay multiple dollars for the items made. Marginalization is the next face, Margination is described as, “The expulsion of an entire group from useful participation in social life.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) A group that fits this category are the homeless. Homeless people were unable to pay their bills therefore, they’re without a home. Powerlessness comes next and is described as, “lack of respectability.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this would be minority groups. In the media you see many videos of white people disrespecting minorities for being “different.” Cultural Imperialism is the fourth face. Cultural Imperialism is, “Recognizing the dominant group experience and culture as the norm.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this is white culture in America. In America it’s the norm for mothers to be stay at home moms while the husband is the sole bread winner for the family. The last face of oppression is violence. Violence is described as, “Members of a subordinate group who live with the threat of violence.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) Transgender individuals live with a lot of fear and violence. Many people don’t understand or support the trans community and tend to thing in order to solve the “problem” they must hurt and kill trans individuals. Iris Young said described the acts as “Using people’s labors to produce profit while not compensating them fairly.”
The aim of this essay is to address the problem of inequality and oppression through three separate texts, The Second Sex, The Death of the Profane and Killing Rage. The Second Sex focuses on the woman and her role compared to man. The Death of the Profane and Killing Rage are both texts that describe experiences about the constant racism felt by blacks. To thoroughly examine these texts and how they are related to oppression and inequality it is important to first define what each mean. Oppression and inequality each have different definitions but they go hand in hand. Oppression is the state of being subject to prolonged unjust treatment. While inequality is defined as lacking equality, equality is the state of being equal especially in status,
The power elite is able to exert power over society. The power elite’s control over politics demonstrates how inequality is functional. This validates the class-domination theory of power, which is distributed based on economic power. By controlling economic resources, the power elites political influence in government shapes law and those involved in government to the power elites benefit. In today’s American society these laws have impacted both the corporate community and the elite. Furthermore, the author’s portrayal of the elite displayed how the elite have control concerning choices in government policies, elections, and laws.