Social Divisions Remain Significant - Essay Example

Social divisions remain just as significant as they were in the 1950's. Discuss this ment in relation to issues of either gender or social Social divisions have always been a hot topic on the discussion desk. Right from the day the system of society was brought into being, the divisions in the society came into power. To check out anything about this particular phenomenon, a little bit of history is inevitable. History of social division: In his book 'Cultural Studies and Cultural values', John Frow depicts the various aspects like class, culture and even the aspect of being 'the popular'. The text as such describes so many of those complicated developments which brought in the present scenario of social division whose seeds were sowed in a past few centuries. Society has always faced people who are dominant because of their superiority in the physical ability or even their leadership qualities. This was seen thorough out the period of the ancient man as he needed to have a leader to take care of the primitive form of society then. It was with the arrival or religions and money that social divisions became prominent. Let us get into a more contemporary state of the phenomenon with relevant examples. Social division in the late 20th and early 21st century: Before we get into any serious discussion under this caption let us confine ourselves to a period between 1950 and 2009 AD. The period can be considered relevant for the studies as it witnessed a whole lot of events which are so dense that any respect of topics can get enough material for their further discussion from this period. Revolutionary developments in the field of science, technology, arts and even human life have occurred in these 59 years. 1950 witnessed the post World war effects while 2009 suffers recession whose reasons are yet a confusing topic to the scholars even. 1950 was believed to be an advanced turn to technology as all the embryonic developments of modern life had taken birth buy then. Communication field had taken birth in a pretty remarkable way by then. Money was flowing around. People had learnt to live well. But there occurred something like a black shade which covered everything. The social divisions which were nothing more than a glued piece of non detachable identity, which served as a bane to some while it was utmost advantage to many who could use it as nothing less than a bonus offer of birth. Social divisions occur due to various reasons like social class and gender. Both of these have their own independent reasons behind the discrimination. By the time we are involved in the proposed question, let us see both gender and social class as reasons for social division and then concentrate into the aspect of social class as the reason for social division. We pass through both the respects of social division as gender based division and class based division are inseparable menaces occurring in the society right from the 20th century and extending even to the 21st century which is seen as the age of technology and educational progress. The dark hands of social division have not yet released the innocent suppressed class from its hurting catch. Let us move on to these two approaches of social divisions and then move forth with the topic. Social division based on gender: Gender based social division is a topic which we listened countless times and has a lot more to discuss still. Gender based bias is a headache to any form of life. Women are seen with a lower status in the society in any part of the world. It happens in the developed, developing and underdeveloped nations. There has been a steep growth in the graph of violence against women in the past few years. It is not only with the case of violence or such extreme factors that women are facing difficulties but they also face difficulties of social division in family, at work and even in the society. Going through each of these levels of social divisions in a short way will give us a rough idea of social division under gender variation. a) Familial gender based division "Ali slapped me to the ground, but I declined to hand over the shiny red apple just given to me by the Pakistani cook. Ali's face began to swell with anger as I hovered over the apple and quickly began to take huge bites and swallow them whole. Refusing to give in to his male prerogative of superiority, I had committed a grave act and knew that I would soon suffer the consequences" (Sasson:33). In the following lines Sasson states that the princess' father was not ready to listen to her but her brother. This is a true story from the Saudi Royal family and it is important to note here that the girl child is not even allowed to open her mouth even during her early childhood. We can see this as the blindness of the strict walls of Saudi tradition. But all over the world, it is the daughter, sister, wife or mother who is ought to suffer. The masculinity is born to be the holder of power. There is a Sanskrit 'sloka' (stanza) which says "Pita rakshathi koumare Bhartharakshathi youvane Puthro rakshathi vardhakye Na sthree swathanthryam arhathi" This is from an ancient epic in India which is called 'Manusmrithi' and is written by a saint named Manu. This simply means 'let the father take care of her in her childhood, her spouse take care of her in her youth, her son take care of her in her old age, she doesn't deserve freedom.' Both the examples which I gave in the previous lines is not confined to the Arabian or Indian contexts. It is applicable to any country which gives value to the familial system. Women was seen a step lower in the 1950s as it is today. During the World War 2, countless women were taken off their chastity by the male section. They, considered the less powered were looted, harassed and even killed for no reason and all this began from family and spread to the society and world. It is sad to realize that still there are a majority of women who are denied their inheritance of property and have to live a very low standard of life to what it actually should be. b) Societal gender based division: The societal gender bias is better to be forgotten than discussed as it is that cruel. Everywhere the woman is seen below men. During the 1950s, the role of women was nothing but housekeeping and raising her family. She had to live on what her husband earned. She was nothing more than a parasite. Her spouse had all the freedom to browse anything he wished, to taste any part of life and to life to his wish. After all it was his money. Later when the woman began to get good education and had the urge to work and earn on her own, she was seen 'over smart' trying to be the dummy of masculinity. She was teased, tortured and troubled at on whatever she wished to achieve and learn. Later when women education was seen seriously, and when educated women began to gain respect, half minded men bitterly tried to accept her. But their frustrations began to eject with the availability of opportunities. If the 1950 women were tortured for her wish for education, the 2009 women get 'bad looks' from her boss and is sexually harassed in the lift by her co-worker. Woman cannot even go to the wash room with a serene mind. Who knows if her bathing video won't get published on the internet the next hour She is mentally, physically and socially tortured and if a frank test is done with the males, there will be very little number of men who truly admire women and see them as yet another individual. In fact, nothing has changed! Attitude and aspects are the same though the situations are different. Social division based on social class: Social division on the basis of social class is a ruling menace in the 1950s and even now. There are various dimensions for this division. This can be mainly divided into three. Namely, on the basis of race and on the basis of financial status. Let us consider all the two independently and then later move on to a conclusion as such. a) Social division on the basis of race: This is the worst form of discrimination faced by the people in the period concerned. This was worse in the early time and with passage of time, there has been some change. But the minds of the people haven't changed yet and it is still stained with the dirt of racism. It was not too back that a British actress teased a Bollywood actress regarding her dressing style and table manners in a reality show. We even witnessed the spread of the Black origin of the American president by the opposition party during his election campaign. The 21st century does carry the spores of racism in its blood. While thinking about the same factor of racism in 1950s, the scenario was nothing less than hell to those belonged to lower races. They were not allowed to mingle with the higher class, they had no equal rights and in fact, they didn't have any rights. Let us consider the examples of the social set up in US and India. US witnessed deadly discrimination between the blacks and whites. The blacks though they were the sons and daughters of the slaves had an equal right to live like the whites. There is a play by the Black writer Amiri Baraka which is named 'Dutch man'. In the play a white woman chases blacks, tries to seduce them and stabs them all. This play was written in 1963 as a protestation against the whites' attitude towards the blacks. There are words in the play which is nothing but sheer vulgar used against Clay, the black protagonist by Lula, the white seductress. Though this can be seen as the emotions of a writer and his protestation against the white domination, there have been worse evidences of verbal and physical torture towards the black population. Today, the very same sense of race is planted deep in the hearts of whites and they carry a secondary sort of approach towards the dark side. This may or may not be denied. But, to an extend, it is a fact. Coming to India, the mother of countless social classes, culture and traditions, we have countless examples of racism. Hinduism is the major faith of India and it has four sub-classes. Namely, Shudra, Vaishya, Brahmin and Kshathriya. The first category is seen to be the lowest of all. They occupy themselves in the the cleaning activities and the other low class jobs. Vaishyas are the business men, Brahmins the priests and kshathriyas are the ruling class. Though our concerned period is devoid of Kings and kingdoms and as 1950 witnessed the formation of the Indian republic, the classes still remained. The lowest class was not even allowed to come into the front of the highest class. They were not given the right to property, the right to worship or even the right to education. The lower class was punished if they happen to touch the upper class. Even today, in the northern regions of India, the lower class are not allowed to drink water from the wells belonging to the upper class. The lower class are still seen as lower class and they are not given equal rights in the process of democracy or any other aspect of Indian social life. Though they try to stay as the 'educated and cultured against racism' their hearts are filled with the superiority of their class. The marriages in India won't happen unless their classes match. There have been even recent cases of murders due to marriages that happened inter-caste. Nothing has changed with time! We consider the above two societies as they are the representatives of two entirely different social set ups and they can give two faces of the same phenomenon in two different forms. There is the racist attitude between populations of different countries and even within a country. The examples given above are not the full fledged form of racism but just a sketch of the fact occurring around us. Passage of time can only fade but never erase. b) Social division on the basis of financial class: The rich and poor have always stood on two extreme poles. There is nothing in the world that is above wealth. There may be many eyebrows raised above this statement. But when we analyze the facts, we know that, financial status is one of the most treasured items in the present day world. Most of us would have heard people looking at the poorer part of he society with a sort of distance in their minds. Though it sounds odd, we never deny this fact. Though getting rich or going poor is the decision of destiny, the credit always goes to the individuals. The poor were seen a bit closer in the previous times. But with the passage of time, man went selfish and self-centered and began to see others as inferior. Though it didn't reflect in their conduct much before, today the condition has gone into a 'take it easy' attitude and poor face much discrimination. Social division has all these phases and even more. The people are divided even on the basis of external looks, nationality, faith, complexion and everything that is called difference. When we analyze these facts, we understand that nothing has changed with the passage of time but the change has happened only to the approach towards the difference. 1950s happened to be the birth ground of all social forms that we see today. Gender and social class difference as described before has just evolved as per the movement of time. Women couldn't move freely even in the house hold before sixty years, they can't move freely alone in the external world today provided they are careful about the issues that can arise towards their womanhood. A Black can't stand shoulder to shoulder with a white having a fully convinced attitude towards the same. They are more or less seen unequal as far as the colour of the skin is concerned. An Indian is seen less cultured and complicated by the citizen of a developed country. When a woman begins to talk on an international issue, she is seen to be a tail of an educated man. When a man gives out an utter foolish version of something, he is excused. It is a world of differences and discriminations and nothing but social division survives in the society, In short, the phenomenon of social division has happened through out the period of fifty nine years. So much of effort has been taken against this particular phenomenon but nothing strong enough has happened to rub off the colour of this particular social issue. Many rules and privileges have been brought in for women empowerment but not much of change has occurred with them. Countless measures have been taken to eradicate racist attitude but the fact is that more you try to restrict, the more it emerge out and with a greater force. The social divisions on the base of religion are better not to discuss. Everything including wars, terrorism and innocent slaughters occur due to social division. Nationality is not a person's decision. He is born to some nation and he has to bear his national identity through out his life. Boon or bane, social division on the basis of nationality happened in the past and is still happening. Now talking about financial status, the person born to a poor family or a rich family is supposed to live in his standard of life. But when they mingle, there arise unwanted friction at least in the corner of their minds. Getting educated alone can't solve this problem. Instead, getting cultured will do. Considering the whole scenario of social division, all what we understand is, nothing much has changed and a whole lot has to change to bring in the real effect of social equality of all respects. List of References: Amiri Baraka(1963) The Flying Dutch Man Jean Sasson(1992) Princess John F(1995) Cultural Studies and Cultural Value: Oxford University Press Maharshi Manu. Manusmrithi (Indian epic) Read More