Unit 5 Assignment #1: Race and Social Class

In a 600-word essay using MLA format, discuss the relationship between race and social class from a cross-cultural perspective, including the formation of rigid or de-facto caste systems, if applicable. You should use the text readings as your source. You must use one outside academic source to support your analysis. *A cross-cultural perspective means discussing how different cultures treat race and social class.* Use the following lecture as reference as well. After reading this unit's essays, what were your impressions? Were "race, class, and caste" on your mind, or were you thinking about the sheer courage of young Flavio da Silva or the impassioned prayer of Immaculee Ilibagiza? The brutality that young Mary Crow Dog-faced or the "smell of urine, sour milk, and spoiling food" that Jo Goodwin Parker writes about so eloquently? Human drama is powerful; however, upon analysis, we can see that race and social class are factors in this week's protagonists' experiences. According to the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online, social stratification refers to “a set of social positions that are related to the access to the scarce and desired goods in that society.” During this unit we will exam three different types of social stratification: race, caste, and social class, and in your essay for this unit, you will examine the ways in which they intertwine. Let’s start with the definition of social class. According to Blackwell, “Class refers to a stratification system that divides a society into a hierarchy of social positions.” Social classes often mirror individuals’ access to those things that society values most, whether it be money, education, success in a “respected” career, or something else. While also a means of “social stratification,” social class is different from the Indian caste system, which is a hereditary social class system that cannot be changed. While we usually think of this formal caste system as belonging to India, an informal (de facto) class system is present in other countries, including the United States. Think about it---and consider struggles to obtain housing, health care, education, and other social/cultural opportunities. Race, on the other hand, according to Blackwell, “is a system of stratification based on physical differences (“phenotypes”) that are seen as essential and permanent.” We may be somewhat clear about the definition of race and social class. The text editors claim that "conflicts based on inequalities of social class are often intertwined with those of race" in terms of education, career, income and social mobility, and personal locus of control (internal locus of control is equated with personal ability to control your future; external locus of control is equated with your future being controlled by external factors). In the US, Native Americans have been part of this de facto caste system and have suffered as a result of early and mid-twentieth century efforts to bring Christianity, American culture, and its values to a group who were actually living on this land before the US was even founded. Note the epigraph from the Annual Report of the US Department of Interior (1901) at the beginning of Mary Crow Dog's "Civilize Them with a Stick," excerpted from her book, Lakota Woman. The snippet states "...partly by bribery and partly by force, they are induced to leave their kindred to enter these schools and take upon themselves the outward appearance of civilized life." Class warfare also plays a role in Immaculee Ilibagiza 's "Left to Tell." In her narrative, Ilibagiza recounts her time hiding in a pastor's bathroom during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. During this time Hutus decimated thousands of Tutsis. Ilibagiza was herself, a Tutsi, and had it not been for the courage of the Hutu Pastor Muinzi, Immaculee Ilibagiza, and the five other women and girls hiding in his bathroom for 91 days she may not have survived. To read this excerpt from her book, Left to Tell, one can sense the power of a mass movement and the diminution of individual identity and loyalty to others. As Ilibagiza hears the chants of "'Kill them, kill them, kill them all; kill them big and kill them small! Kill the old and kill the young,'" she realizes that they were coming from former acquaintances. "I spotted Kanaga, a young man I'd known since childhood. He was a high school dropout my dad tried to straighten out. I saw Philip, a young man who'd been too shy to look anyone in the eye, but who now seemed completely at home in this group of killers." Ilibagiza survives and gives increasing thanks to God and her faith, which helped her endure. The pastor also survives, at great risk. In the conclusion, he reluctantly moves a wardrobe to block the bathroom, upon threat of a revisit from Hutus who were suspicious of him—a suggestion from Ilibagiza who claims to have found the idea from God. The desolation and sadness from a class system that cannot be easily transcended is evident in photographer Gordon Parks's heartfelt essay, "Flavio's Home," as he and a journalist colleague follow the life of twelve-year-old Flavio da Silva and his family in the slums surrounding Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The disparity between the life of the da Silvas and Parks is striking and haunts Parks. He writes, "The plush lobby of my hotel on the Copacabana waterfront was crammed with people in formal attire. With the stink of the favela in my clothes, I hurried to the elevator hoping no passengers would be aboard...The steak dinner I had would have fed the da Silvas for three days." The essay depicts Flavio's home, a shack with untenable living conditions, and the role that he played as a de facto caretaker to the family. Flavio maintains a sense of humor, responsibility, and compassion. However, he grows weaker physically and as Parks takes him to the doctor he receives a terminal diagnosis. Parks lies and tells him, "Everything's going to be all right Flav. There nothing to worry about." However, young Flavio might know differently and comments on his father's belief that "'El Cristo' has turned his back on the favela." Further north, in America, Jo Goodwin Parker describes the conditions of the rural poor. "Poverty is getting up every morning from a dirt-and illness-stained mattress," she writes. " . . . poverty is being tired . . . poverty is asking for help . . . poverty is looking into a black future." Finally, in “Leaky,” we see how gender, race, and social class intersect and intertwine. "Leaky," chronicles middle-class Brazilian women who modify their bodies to look "white." In a country where 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, many middle-class Brazilians worry about falling into it. According to Don Kulick and Thais, Machado-Borges's this anxiety about social class is related to anxiety about race. When the majority of the upper class is white and the majority of the people living in poverty are individuals of color, many middle-class Brazilians, according to Don Kulick and Thais Machado-Borges, modify their bodies to appropriate whiteness. Race, class, and caste (formal and de facto) can impact life decisions and opportunities. For Mary Crow Dog, education at the mission boarding school gave her the courage to advocate for Native American rights, exceed expectations, and find respect and trust for others, independent of race and class. Trust in self and others, including opposing tribes, helped Immaculee Ilibagiza survive physically, mentally, and spiritually. In some cases, however, as shown in Gordon Parks's effort to help young Flavio, race and class could not be surmounted. Again, culture and values can impede or enhance opportunities to transcend existing situations.