Factors That Influence The Model Of Reception That Shapes The Meaning Of Cultural Objects Essay

"Battle Royal" gives the reader a frightening look at just how society looks at blacks. In the

The issues of race, gender, and class are all told through the real life stories of Ph.D psychologist, Brent Staples. He uses examples from his life to explain how he has been misjudged based on his looks. Staples uses various rhetorical devices in his essay, “Just Walk on By,” to address his argument. Throughout his story he argues that he is the victim when being discriminated against by specifically white women. The strategies used in his writing appeal to the audience because they expose a compelling argument, that blacks are constantly discriminated against, while still teaching discrimination and different stereotypes. The intended audience varies a wide spectrum. Both minorities and students ranging from high school to college are the audience of his essay. Students may benefit from his writing by learning new techniques of description, while still understanding his perspective on racial tensions. Staples argues that the predisposed stereotypes about blacks are false by using different rhetorical devices such as imagery, analogies, and sequences of threes to help further enhance his point to the readers.

Well-known essayist and writer, James W. Loewen, in his essay, The Land of Opportunity, argues that the common American people aren’t given equal opportunity in this day and age. Loewen effectively convinces his readers, high school teachers and history buffs that, social class and inequality is an important thing for students to learn and understand. Through convincing logical arguments he proves that American history books are giving students across the nation false information. According to Loewen, “social class is probably the single most important variable in society.” (Loewen para. 5) He goes on saying, “From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all social characteristics of people that we can measure.” (Loewen para. 6) In addition, he establishes credibility with his audience by not accusing students or even instructors for this lack of knowledge, but clearly blames the textbooks used in high schools today. Lowen’s logical approach in exposing the lies that we are taught and taught to think leave the reader with the abitlity to empathize with him, ultimately getting the message across far more effectively.

Stereotyping plays a large role in the events of S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders. The two main opposing groups, the Socs and Greasers, constantly face problems because of the stereotypes associated with their social groups. As seen in the novel, stereotypes and prejudice cause extreme and unnecessary conflicts. Both groups have predetermined opinions of the other, but as the story progresses, many of the characters begin to realize how similar the groups can be. The stereotypes observed in the novel can easily be compared to those in real life. Both the Greasers and the Socs share many of their opinions with the other members of their groups, and this leads to many misunderstandings. In fact, most of the conflicts in the novel are caused

“A widely held fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing,” is the definition of a stereotype. More than often people use stereotypes to describe or make fun of other cultures without fully knowing the effects they may have on the other. Jaswinder Bolina an American poet from Chicago,Illinois, whom received many degrees in creative writing had the liberty of not living the difficult life that his parents, who are from Bolina Doaba, Punjab, went through. Expressing what it was like to be an outcast when they came to America to start a new life together, Bolina’s father tries to give him the American dream by putting him in many white schools helping him further his education so he can fit in where they were seen as outcast. Throughout Bolinas article, “Writing Like a White Guy” he expresses his experiences and educates his readers of his many struggles in what is considered a white-based society that is filled with stereotypes telling you what you should look and talk like in order to be a successful American. This often leaves people to reject their native culture, constantly having to prove themselves and give white people an upper hand in many situations.

For this assignment, I will be analyzing the 2004, blockbuster film White Chicks with specific reference to dimensions of social stratification such as gender, class, and race. White Chicks follows the story of two African American FBI agent brothers, Kevin and Marcus Copeland who accidently foil an assiduously executed undercover operation intended to capture a group of notorious Dominican drug smugglers. As a final opportunity to redeem their tarnished reputations, the two agents take on an assignment far below their customary standards when they agree to escort billionaire heiresses Brittany and Tiffany Wilson to the Hamptons in order

The stereotypes in the story, makes it difficult for the readers to conclude the race of each character. People assume that the African American character would be illiterate and uneducated and the white character to be well-educated. During the time period of the story African Americans did not have access to a decent education; making it harder for them to learn just the basics. Whites had access to good education, making it easy to believe the white character is more educated. It is also believed that a person that is well educated will have a better lifestyle when they are older. A well-educated person will have a better job, paying more, and have a better opportunity to afford the means of a luxurious lifestyle. An under educated person will most likely live in poverty, struggle for their basic needs, or live in a declining neighborhood. Behavior is a harder stereo type to use to distinguish a race. Many assume that whites have an entitled attitude toward life. Whites had access to a good education and jobs, they had a “I’m better than you” attitude. On the other hand, many think African Americans were upset because of how easy it was for whites to have better access to the basic necessities such as education and housing.

Steele argues that Staples can show knowledge of white culture by whistling Vivaldi. So, when Staples is walking during dark hours in Chicago he can avoid the stereotype threat of blacks being violent by showing he has knowledge of classical music—by showing acculturation. Acculturation here can be defined as an immigrants or unfamiliar person(s) assimilation to their host culture. According to Steele and “The Potential Roles of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, Stigma Consciousness, and Stereotype Threat in Linking Latina/a Ethnicity and Educational Outcomes”, It is often thought that acculturation and education level as connected. Steele’s argument is that by Staples showing knowledge of white culture, he is showing education. Therefore, people will view him as an educated man and educated people don’t usually attack others. So, Staples must not be dangerous. The association between acculturation and education may be true, but showing acculturation isn’t effectively fighting the cloud. On the contrary, it feeds it.

Comparing texts written during different periods provides an excellent insight into the way that themes have changed and progressed over time. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird and the film Remember the Titans were released 40 years apart, and yet they both explore similar themes and ideas, albeit in varying forms. One of these driving themes is that of discrimination. White members of the community often treat people of colour disrespectfully, adults invalidate younger children’s opinions and women are seen as inferior to men, yet still expected to behave accordingly. These forms of racial, age and gender discrimination are demonstrated in alike and contrasting forms in both texts.

Popular media allow for the general public to be able to properly digest the matters of racial prejudice that are prevalent in our society. There are various ways that racial prejudices are exposed through actions and the structures in society that stems from the perceptions that race is this biological hierarchical supremacy. Additionally, these race classifications that are made by those in power has structured society in a way that puts some in advantage and many at a disadvantage that has continued into modern society. These are disadvantages are revealed through such things as microagressions and socioeconomic structures that favored and continues to favor the “dominant” classes. These matters can be best expressed through personal experiences relating to experienced prejudice, such as Lorraine Hansberry conveying artistically her experience with racial housing issues in Chicago. In her play, The Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry reveals through the Younger family, such issues as community acceptance, lost dreams, and racial discrimination on an economic level. Bruce Norris’s play, Clybourne Park, considers these issues as well as he expands on Hansberry’s world in his personal adaptation of The Raisin in the Sun’s primary plot point. Through experiences shared in the Younger’s future home, Norris explores privilege, systematic racism, white flight, community, and gentrification. Through reference and analysis of Raisin in the Sun and then of Clybourne Park, followed by

Hemingway’s witty response, “Yes, they have more money.” Illustrated to Fitzgerald that there is no difference in the rich, or the poor, except their wallet size; they are still human. Michaels goes on from there to describe how we have come to warship diversity. In Bakke v. Board of Regents, the Supreme Court ruled that it was reasonable for colleges to consider race when accepting applicants, as long as was in the interest of diversity and not to exclude members of certain racial background. Along with racial diversity, diversity became something to describe more than just the color of our skin. It now is used for sexual orientation, medical coding, and religious preferences. Unfortunately, diversity became closely associated with the struggle with racism and ended up with a notion that we should be “a color-blind” society. As Michael states, “Why do we assume black people want to stop being black; why do we assume the deaf want to hear?” He finishes the intro of his book by illustrating how we have come to hate class. While we have become to love our identity, we have become increasingly uninterested in identifying ourselves based on the classification of income. He even accuses the left wing party (or liberals who have prided itself on working for social equality) in diverting focus of

public attitudes about race. But the new representations of blacks are also shaped by the

For that reason, black boys and men are being exposed to a high degree of stereotypes, hate, and controlling images from the media are portraying them as criminals, rapist, violent, lazy, and unintelligible. Which can have led some black youth to believing in these stereotypes that are in our media about them. Which on page 158, the author was explaining “the controlling images of black men as criminals or as deviant beings encapsulates this perception of black men as inherently violent and/or hyper- heterosexual and links this representation to poor and/or working class African-American men. Again, this representation is more often applied to poor and working- class men than for their more affluent counterparts, but all Black men are under suspicion of criminal activity or breaking rules of some sort.” The example above was showing that the author was explaining how the media misrepresents black men; media often depicts black youth as criminals, and rarely as heroes; these impacts of media portrayal of young black as problematic. Given that the media used the method of framing, agenda-setting, and propaganda is easily manipulated through racial differences. Which the media is using the narrative is that black people are violent and lazy, and one must protect themselves from them. We can see this method being used in the

As we discussed in class race is socially constructed because in America the white skinned population have something known as the "white privelage" which allows them to be known as the majority group that dominates America, leaving all other races as a minority. Gender is also socially constructed because many people portray men to be superior to woman in all aspects of life. Race being socially constructed relates a lot to this novel because like in the book it explains Robert's fear of being forced into the army while the white folks around him never had to worry about a thing. An interesting situation in this novel about how gender is socially constructed is how Jones always had a fear of how he was unable to find his drive to simply be a man. Another discussion that we had in class was very interesting was how people in the United States see white as a color that represents good, purity and virginity while on the other hand the color black represents bad, evil, and debasement. This takes part in the novel because one day Bob Jones felt good about himself in his uniform and was ready to work because he felt powerful in it. Then as he arrived to work, he came across a white girl named Madge. This girl had the guts to call him a, "nigger", and rejected to work with him because of his race and skin

In the various works provided to the class many themes are present in all of them, this paper will be focusing on the authors methods of critiquing social norms. The short story, A Telephone Call by Dorothy Parker paints a harsh reality from the perspective of a highly anxious woman forced into a lifestyle that many would relate to in the 1900s. “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning exposes the duke and the terrible social norms he reinforces through a poetic format allowing the reader to interpret his strange behavior on their own. Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel, by Zora Neale Hurston attempts to defy social norms and showcase the positive outcomes of such. Lastly, A Streetcar Named Desire is a play by Tennessee Williams which satirically points out the extremist behaviors that are approved and even rewarded by society. These pieces of literature from different genres still point out the same issues in social norms in regards to the power struggle between men and women and gender roles. Although the perspective changes, as the characters are different or the economy of words is different between the genres the message stays the same.