Keeping Close At Home By Bell Hooks

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.

In analyzing both essays, Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance by Bell Hooks and There Is No Unmarked Woman by Deborah Tannen the authors address societal problems that highlight and emphasize the differences that certain groups in society must face and overcome, although the targets in both of the examples of societal dilemma between the two are very different, they both accurately represent how unjust the modern social structure is.

In Bell Hooks’, “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Hooks introduces the reader to the state of poverty of many individuals that have to suffer because they are unable to live a normal life due to them being extremely poor and uneducated. She stresses about comparing the higher class people to the poor and how different their lives are in terms of survival rates and healthiness. The higher class people tend to be way healthier and survive longer due to them having many ways of treating their problems, while the poor have absolutely no way of paying their medical bills due to their low income. She makes many valid points referring back and forth to different stereotypes of people (mainly black people) and how each of those

There is much debate about the issue of social class in the United States. There are arguments about whether social classes are distinctly separate or fluid, dependent upon one’s community or society as a whole, and if they are subjective or objective (Hughes and Jenkins). However, despite the debate surrounding social classes, it is still important to try to define them and analyze their effects, as they are such an important part of our identity and our opportunities in society. Although our society has tried to appear as though we have no classes, and it is becoming harder to tell what class someone is in by material goods, classes do still exist today (Scott and Leonhardt). The trend has been to divide the U.S. into four major

While listening to a story, one can engross his or herself in the action, experiencing the events vicariously. By experiencing the story one can gain an understanding of the purpose that the author is trying to portray. In “A Place Where the Soul Can Rest” by bell hooks and “How to Make a Slave” by Jerald Walker the audience is taken on a journey through the progression of each of the author 's life experiences dealing with racism and sexism. Through use of anecdotes the audience develops a comprehension for both of the authors’ lives, witnessing their hardships of being subordinates in a white, male dominated society. Although both authors bring awareness to the atrocities of racism and sexism, hooks’ story’s purpose stands above

Writer Gregory Mantsios in his article “Class in America”, talks about these things, and how wide the gap is between the rich and the poor and also discusses how the rich continue to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. Mantsios gives his readers the profiles and backgrounds of three hard-working Americans, two of them are white males, whose family background as well as education played a role in their success, while the other person is a black woman who is just above the poverty line despite her work as a nurse’s aide. Through these profiles, Mantsios article shows exactly how sex, race and shows how your parental and educational background of a person can play a role in the things that you achieve. Mantsios also talks about one’s performance in school and the level of school completed can suggest whether or not class that person may belong in.

No matter where you go in the world people are divided. They can be divided by their wealth or state of living these are social classes. In the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton social classes a very apparent the rich and the poor. In The Outsiders, social classes create a divide in the community. The isolation of these two groups lead to the tension and violence that is seen in the book.

In her book "Where We Stand: Class Matters", Bell Hooks address the issues of classism interlocking with racism, white supremacist ideology and sexism in contemporary American culture. Her arguments in this book are greatly tied to her personal experience that she moved up from working class to the upper class as she succeeds in academic life and writing many books.

The axis of inequality that will be focused throughout this paper is the social class. Social class is defined as a group of individuals who are categorized according to class (i.e. poor, middle, and upper) due to their income, wealth, power, and occupation. Social class is socially constructed by the way we view how much income and wealth a person possess (Ore, 20011a, 10). In reality it is much more than that. According to the text, poverty is not only the shortage of income, but it is the rejection of opportunities and choices that leads a person to a standard way of living (Ore, 2011a, 10). Stereotyping also contributes to it being socially constructed. These stereotypes influence us by defining who is who based on their principles in each class category. This can cause some to feel worthless.

No matter where you go in the world, people are divided. They can be divided by their wealth or state of living these are social class. In the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton social classes a very apparent the rich and the poor. In The Outsiders, social classes create a divide in the community. The isolation of these two groups leads to the tension and violence that is seen in the book.

In “Touching the Earth” written by Bell Hooks, she explains her culture and is not only writing to black Americans, but to every ethnicity and future generations. She talks about stories from her past and the importance of nature to her and her family. Hooks wants to convince the readers to cherish and take care of the Earth, to grow produce and gain respect for nature. This essay was successful at explaining the beauty and importance of the Earth by the use of pathos, the history of slaves, and the obtaining of land.

bell hooks, renowned black feminist and cultural critic criticizes the lack of racial awareness in her essay, Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination (1992). ‘bell hooks’ is written in lower case to convey that the substance of her work reigns more important than the writer. From a marginalized perspective, hooks argues that sites of dominance, not otherness is problematic and critiques the lack of attention that white scholars pay to the representation of whiteness in the black imagination. Critical feminist scholars Peggy McIntosh and Ruth Frankenberg identify their own whiteness as a dominant discourse, but share a critical departure from hooks with the notion of whiteness as terror. hooks aim is not to reverse racism, but discuss her position to authentically inform readers about how she experiences racism. Furthermore, systems of oppression are manufactured by human thought and thus the site of the Other is always produced as a site of difference. Gender, race, sex, class, disability, and geography are situated differently in social structure, but dominant groups assume they share the same reality though they cannot experience it. In consequence, the Other cannot hold a singularized identity of their own and the binary structure succeeds in containing racialized bodies in place. What happens to those bodies when they cross boundaries of the binary? hooks recounts being routinely disciplined back into place when crossing the border; however, dominant white

In her article, bell hooks (1990) argues that the home is a site of resistance for black people. She recalls being raised with the mindset that women, particularly black women, took the lead in running the house. According to hooks, the home was a place that provided warmth, comfort, food, and nurturing. It was a place that taught the young about dignity, integrity, and faith. Black

The issue of class is a predominant topic in the world’s social discourse because in every society, there must be the rich and the poor. It is estimated that in this country, there are 38 million people living in absolute poverty. This has created a very huge disparity in the manner in which people live in the society; their lifestyles and general well being. To compound the situation further, the general norm regarding class is that the rich often get richer as days go by while the poor consistently become poorer (Mathews 13). Bell Hooks in her book “Where we stand: Class Matters,” sought to give an insight on the general concept of class as it is today. In this book, the author propagates three main ideas. To start with, Bell argues that the question of class cuts across all other dimensions of life including gender, race, religion and sexuality. Secondly, she posits that religion is has been a very instrumental tool in bridging the gap between classes. Finally, Bell observes that the proclamation that we live in a classless society is flawed in every sense of the world. This paper seeks to make an incisive elucidation of the three observations that Bell makes in her book.

They have their ups and downs, struggling to define who they are, in an often cruel society (Davis, 2009). The two main themes found within the documentary focus on strife in their current lives, and the potential for a better future, both of which relate to our class