¶ … Harlem Renaissance was a true flourishing of African-American arts, music, and literature, thereby contributing tremendously to the cultural landscape of the nation. Much Harlem Renaissance literature reflects the experience of the "great migration" of blacks from the rural south to the urban north. Those experiences included reflections on the intersections between race, class, gender, and power. Many of the Harlem Renaissance writers penned memoirs that offer insight into the direct experience of racism, such as Richard Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow." Poets worked with classic literary devices like symbolism and imagery to convey the intense emotions linked to experiences of prejudice and violence. Emerging in conjunction with social and political justice movements such as women's rights and labor rights, the movement to empower black communities through the arts also spilled beyond the borders of the African-American community. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels and short stories addressed class conflict and income disparities. Works that comment on social injustice, income disparity, and class conflict comprise the zeitgeist of the time. In the second section of "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow," Wright writes about a shocking scene of violence that was all too common...
A policeman standing at the corner looked on, twirling his nightstick." This one poignant image encapsulates the spirit of Wright's work, as it reveals the way racism became fully entrenched in American society. The police officer simply looks on, "twirling his nightstick" rather than intervening, showing that racism was indeed institutionalized and practically upheld by the law -- hence the Jim Crow "laws" that somehow evaded oversight from Washington. Although Jim Crow violated every single tenet upon which the nation was founded, it was the only political and social institution in the South for generations. By enforcing Jim Crow, the sacred institutions of the nation including its justice system ensured that African-Americans could not have access to social or cultural capital, let alone financial capital. Thus, race and class became inextricably entwined.
Cultural identity formation theories reveal the intersections between race, class, gender, sexuality, status, self-concept, and power. Applying critical race theory and racial identity development models to social work can prove tremendously helpful and promotes the overall goals of the profession. It is not just about becoming more culturally competent and aware of structural racism and other factors that might be affecting clients; the work of increasing cultural competence means becoming
Bright Lights, Bobby Benedicto describes the urban gay subculture in Manila within the context of the "global scene." The points Benedicto makes in Under Bright Lights can be applied to variety of issues related to race, class, gender, and social power. Benedicto provides a sociological analysis of gay Manila primarily through a Marxist lens. The author endeavors to show how the "gay scene" has built itself unconsciously upon a
Race, Class, Gender Journal Word Count (excluding title and works cited page): 1048 Race, Class, and Gender is an anthology of articles that express various interpretation and insights of the relationship between race, class, and gender and how these things shape the lives of people and society. The topics and points-of-view offered in the anthology are vast and interesting. They offer a strong historical and sociological perspective on such issues as prison
The different "isms" such as sexism, heterosexism, and racism are creating very real schisms -- in our minds, and between people. The chasms of communication that are created by hatred and misunderstanding are socially constructed. They can be socially deconstructed too. Such rifts occur between groups of people and between whole cultures. In some pockets of the United States, social conservatism threatens to erase the social progress made since the
Pecola Breedlove's experiences in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye symbolize the internalization of sexism and racism. On the contrary, Anita Hill's willingness to stand up and speak out against a powerful male official represents the externalization of sexism and racism. Anita Hill lacks the self-hatred embodied by the character of Pecola, but in spite of her confidence and poise, lacks the power or wherewithal to undermine institutionalized sexism. Although Hill
American society does view identity and social belonging through intersecting lenses of race, class, and gender. The lenses through which people view society and themselves determine everything from self-concept to worldview and values. According to Lareau, lenses of gender and class are persistent because they are consciously and unconsciously transmitted through generations (747). The persistence of sociological lenses creates the illusion that race, class, and gender are deterministic, that they
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