1. Within the globalized Caribbean, colour and race are no longer significant bases for social stratification. Discuss this statement.
The Caribbean is termed as being globalized based on the view that many countries’ economies are more open and free to interact with other countries across the world whether by trade, politics, media etc, to facilitate a global economy. Globalization by itself therefore refers to the integration of societies and economies across the world. One could argue that because of the Caribbean, being so globalized, have influenced ways of being or to be socially stratified by race and colour. The General view of social stratification defines how groups in society are organized above the other by some bases; in essence, it is a form of inequality with reference to a sense of power and manipulation over scarce resources and how they are produced. In the Caribbean, stratification is very evident not only in race and colour, but in other ways such as; gender, class ethnicity, education, occupation, religion etc. We learn that in the past, race and colour were the main significant bases of stratification, where one could look at another’s skin colour and instantly classify them to which class they belong in the social strata whether you are white, coloured or black. People continue to raise their contentions of being stratified based on their colour but evidently it is not as dominant as it was in the slavery period.
The Term Paper on Caribbean Studies
“The history of the Caribbean is the history of exploitation of labour.” Discuss with reference to Encomienda, Slavery and Indentureship. According to the Oxford Dictionary, exploitation is defined as being the action or condition of treating someone or a group of people unfairly in order to benefit from their work, also, labour refers to work that is done using bodily strength and ...
We also have to look at the fact that times have changed and the system in which stratification based on race and colour was used, has been restructured in various ways; however stratification of race and colour are still being experienced. I therefore agree that race and colour are no longer significant bases for social stratification in the globalized Caribbean; however, while it may not be significant in this era, it still takes place on a day to day basis and therefore must still be seen as a major form of social stratification. To lay the foundation of my essay, I will first answer the question on whether stratification based on race and colour still exist within the Caribbean and then I will assess the historical sensibility of race and colour being the significant bases of social stratification as this will show where we are coming from.
Today in the Caribbean social stratification on the bases of race and colour still exists. Not only are we being stratified by other people on that basis but it is the case where we are now socially stratifying ourselves in the process called “bleaching”. Some people have the perception that bleaching out rightly shows that we black people in the Caribbean are suffering from mental slavery. We do not want to see ourselves in the colour skin we are because we still ascribe to be and take on the lifestyle of the European nature. We therefore try to change our skin colour in the hope that we might be more socially accepted and probably have an easier and smoother life. Throughout time, descendants of the whites today in contemporary Caribbean from the plantation system or people of high colour are still seen as the elites or socially classed as rich. In the past they were at the top by virtue of race and colour and now even today we still see where that has taken place. Many times we have heard of the social injustice of a high coloured person getting the position in a certain job over the black skinned person even though the black skinned person’s qualification might be of more substance than that of the high coloured person. There is also the case where we tend to treat high coloured people with less animosity because in the back of our minds we see them as superior to us. We therefore try to obtain the things we see the socially elites have in present society, namely wealth, status and prestige.
The Term Paper on Dominant Group People Social Person
Chapter 1 anomie Emile Durkheim's designation for a condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society. conflict perspectives the sociological approach that views groups in society as engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources. functionalist perspectives the sociological approach that views ...
We have to acknowledge that colour and race on the basis of social stratification acquired their genesis dating back from the period of the plantation society. According to (Mohammed, 2007, p. 84) “plantation society in the Caribbean during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was a closed system of stratification based on ascribed criteria of race and colour. This statement expresses how institutionalised the system of stratification was. It would therefore be difficult for a slave to gain any form of social mobility as being black always meant being inferior. The system of stratification was so stringent that (Mohammed, 2007) further expressed that one’s occupation was tied to their race and colour. Even today in contemporary Caribbean we see that there is a tendency of the whites or high coloured people to hold certain dignitary positions and the average black man still in some sense, is struggling to put food on the table because the job he has is not considered as highly payable and is not being fairly compensated under the management of the ruling class.
According to (Reddock and Barrow, 2001, p. 139) “Every society is a product of the particular historical forces that give it shape and form. The thesis of this paper is that modern Caribbean society displays structural forms that are a direct legacy of the slave plantation system. This sheds light in the area of race and colour still being present on the bases of social stratification, whereby the Caribbean society was formed and shaped out of a system where race and colour during slavery, acted as major determinants in shaping Caribbean society and culture today. We as the people of the Caribbean behave in a certain way therefore because of what we experienced during slavery in times gone by. Our actions by stratifying people based on race and colour therefore will always be inevitable because it was already instilled in the mental nature of the people of the Caribbean. In the plantation system, a hierarchy existed which contained the whites at the top, the coloureds and free blacks in the middle and the blacks at the bottom of the hierarchy.
The Essay on Social stratication
... the stratification system was much like to that of the caste system which determined one’s status. Also, again the society is still defined by race ... of the WestIndies. Christine Barrow, Rhodda Reddock, The nature of Social Classes. Caribbean Sociology: Introductory readings. Section 4. Illustrated EditionIan Randle, 2001.
In this system the high or lighter skin coloured persons received lighter work as domestic slaves. There was a preference of the lighter skin coloured persons as they were closer to the skin pigmentation of the whites. The slaves experienced what is call acculturation, where the cultures of the whites were forced on the slaves. This, (Reddock and Barrow, 2001) expressed that in the process of acculturation black people were “emasculated culturally” and were forced to accept and take on the culture of the planter class. We have to acknowledge then that because of these acts and behaviour of the whites against the blacks, we cannot just fade away from a system of socially stratifying each other in the Caribbean by race and colour, because we have adopt or were forced to adapt to the planter class way of life. So if they ascribed to it, we the people of the Caribbean even sometimes unconsciously still stratify people based on their race and colour.
However, it is easy for us to agree that today modern societies are stratified into upper, middle and lower social classes. We take on the “achieved criteria” as we work for what we want of that which society values, for example, wealth, prestige and status. We see getting an education to be important as this will allow social mobility for a black man from the lower class to the middle class and from the middle to the upper. Under social mobility, the functionalist does not place any emphasis on race and colour but they more have a line of argument in support of values and ability and qualities and how one uses them to achieve their status in society. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) expresses that the performance of those who prove successful in society’s eyes will be ranked highly. (Mohammed, 2007) on the other hand expressed the concept of ‘social class by Karl Marx a conflict theorist. He basically has the analysis of two social classes being the bourgeoisie who owned the mean of production and the proletariat which Marx described as workers who sold their labour. He went on further to say that there was also a class in the middle known as the petite bourgeoisie who he expressed as being mainly farmers and small business owners. The capitalists being the bourgeoisie and the proletariats were in constant conflict as they seek to manipulate the working class and make profit from their labour while they pay the workers at a minimum level. Stratification took place on the basis of who owned the means of production.
The Term Paper on Sociology: Class Stratification
Sociology Class Stratification: Marxism Study: Sociologists John Westergaard and Henrietta Resler carried out a study entitled “Class in a Capitalist Society” (1976). They concentrated their analysis in British society, which they claimed was dominated by the ruling class. For them the ruling class consisted of; owners of the means of production, company directors, top managers, higher ...
(Mohammed, 2007) expressed that opposed to the plantation system, modern day societies is based on achieved criteria. In the society today we stratify people not only on their achievements, but as mentioned before, on their occupation, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, class geography etc. Instead of using race and colour as significant bases of stratification, whereby by one’s occupation stratification occurs as the type of job one possesses identifies your position in the social class system. This form of stratification is based on the education stratification system. In the education stratification system, there is the meritocratic view that one fairly advance by earning a higher status in terms of the education one receives which will cause him to later on get a job that is suiting or fits his qualifications. In essence one achieves social mobility through higher education. So therefore, if your education is not on par with that of others in society, the job that society values would not become befitting of your qualifications as that is not meritocracy. According to (Caribbean Studies Notes, 2009, Para 28), on the bases of ethnicity as a social stratification, this refers to a population known and marked by their culture, nationality and language.
We therefore rite away can stratify a Chinese or an Indian based on the fact that they are easily identifiable by their culture and language. There is also the basis of gender which described by (Caribbean studies Notes, 2009), states that “Gender stratification refers to those differences between men and women that have been acquired or learned and hence to the different roles and positions assigned to males and females in a society. This is a touchy topic whereby today in societies, the women always complain of being stratified. (Espeut, 2007) in an article stated that “the education system is one of the main social institutions which reproduces social and economic inequality in Jamaica. School perpetuate stereotyped gender roles in overt ways being boys study carpentry and girls study home economics. This is a well known stratification based on gender whereby the view is that the woman belongs to the household while the male must be the one who belongs in the workforce. Therefore their abilities are constantly being bashed and terribly underestimated.
The Research paper on Activity Based Systems
When we think of a Just In Time scenario, we usually relate it to some sense of urgency like being on time for a wedding ceremony, accessing front-row viewing to a much-awaited concert or arriving at the bus stop in time for that critical ride to work. This is also applicable in the business scene, with a systematic approach to doing it. Just in Time Manufacturing is a philosophy that focuses on ...
We also stratify base on age. (Caribbean Studies Notes, 2009) expresses that we treat persons differently according to their age and we tend to give them roles and statuses based on how old they are. We therefore acknowledge that besides race and colour, we stratify people in the Caribbean in various ways. Now that we are not dominant in using race and colour as the main form of social stratification we see how the value system supported by the functionalist, in a sense aid the people of the Caribbean to not pressure the stratification of race and colour as we more pressure what society values. Being that the society and by large, majority of the society ascribe to the popular culture, everyone is going to work off the value system and what they see everyone around them work towards and so creates alternative ways to socially stratify other people.
Within the Barbadian society (Reddock and Barrow, 2001, p. 202) stated that “73 persons gave wealth and possessions as the main criterion and 38 also mentioned it opposed to “3 persons gave colour as the main criterion and 24 also mentioned it. In this society we see that persons put more emphasis on possessions and wealth as mentioned before, what people value causes persons to be stratified in that manner. Although Barbados is much more reserved in their lifestyle a good percentage of the country stratify one another based on what they have and how powerful one is. .In comparison with Jamaica, it can be said that majority could be found within the main criterion of wealth and possession as stratification whereby we also work based on a value system and what we see as most important. In Jamaica, instead of mostly looking at race and colour, persons are stratified by the type of car they drive or the type of house they live in and by the type of food they eat. Persons in Jamaica and for a good while now tend to classify people based on what they see. It is no doubt that this feature of mental thinking stems from that of the plantation society whereby the taking one look at a person and what he had or how he looked could non-verbally tell you that he or she is in a lower class opposed to me.
The Essay on Society’s Attitude towards Young People
Why doesn’t society give people of young age a chance? Everyone is different. Not all are violent, wear hoodies, and are ignorant. Some of us are mature, do well in school and are on the right path in life; so to be stereotyped into one category by older adults is unfair. Young people in our society today are viewed in a negative way. They are often frowned upon by society based on a few of their ...
In conclusion, race and colour as social stratification within the globalised Caribbean is still present, but not on that dominant or as the question phrased it as being significant. It is acknowledged that race and colour had its origin in the plantation society and therefore in a sense formed the backbone for other forms of social stratification to occur out of it such as social class. The theorists had different views of their perception of stratification and we had said that the system of what is achieved is the most prevalent form of stratification bases present in the Caribbean societies today. Because we refer to the Caribbean as being globalized it could be said that we were still being socialized by the European ways as we seek to adopt what we see and hear through the media. So our value system in a sense is based off their value system. We as a people emulate their sense of style and in turn stratify ourselves accordingly. It is seen in Jamaica often times that even a poor person of the bottom class wears the most expensive clothes and have the most expensive phones, not because we genuinely want to but because that is what the majority of the society ascribe to. The boots that are worn in America to break the cold are worn out here even though our climate is of the tropical climate.
I would therefore have to side with functionalist and his view not taking away the fact that i do not agree with the conflict theorist also, because we are still under a system classified according to difference in class. But on examining the lifestyle of fellow Jamaicans and other countries, we more aspire to socially stratify one another based on our possessions, wealth, status, prestige and class more so than race and colour although we did say that it is still present and still experienced but not on a broad scale anymore, simply because movements have been made by black people to show that we are more than just oppressed people by colour but that we have a voice and also intelligence.
References
Caribbean Studies Notes (2009).
Retrieved March 27, 2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/egfred/caribbenstudiesnotes-3373945
Espeut, P. (2007, October 31).
Gender Politics. Retrieved March 27, 2011 from
Haralambos, M., Holborn, M. (2004).
Haralambos and Holborn Sociology themes and perspectives (sixth ed).
Hammersmith, London: HarperCollins publishers limited.
Mohammed, J. (2007).
Cape Caribbean Studies: An interdisciplinary Approach. Towns Road, Oxford: Macmillan publishers limited
Reddock, R., Barrow, C. (2001).
Caribbean sociology Introductory Readings. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers Limited
