BRITNEY-RAY ESTERHUIZEN- 2017280336EDUB1613 FINAL SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT: CRITICAL ESSAY TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Social identity,multiple identities &intersectionality of identities/ multiple identitiesCycle of socialisation Cycle of socialisation my personal experiences My awareness of societal inequalities Conclusion Reference list Checklist Rubric Becoming an agent of changeIntroductionFirstly, I will critically discuss the following topics in my essay that I have learned from the multiple articles that I have read. For instance, the different types of identities or multiple identities and forms oppression, and the role it plays in the society. Lastly, the cycle of socialisation and how I have experienced it in my personal life.
BiographyI am Britney-Ray Esterhuizen. A coloured female born and raised in South Africa, 25 September 1999. I was born in small town named, Worcester, but I grew up in Upington, Northern Cape. I come from a very diverse family, that consists of white, different black cultures and Muslim. My mothers’ side of the family all come from the Western Cape , however my fathers’ side all come from the Northern Cape. Throughout the years I have went to different primary schools.
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And then, matriculated at Upington High school in my hometown the year 2017.Social identity, multiple identities and the intersectionality of identities/ multiple identitiesSocial identity is everything that concerns our ability or disability status, age, skin colour, religion, gender, economic class, etc. In fact, how we interact with other individuals and how they interact with us.
And our outlook on the rest of the world. CITATION jaz15 l 7177 (Singh, 2015) Multiple identity defines people who have different cultural perspectives in life and totally different values and beliefs in their families. As an illustration, someone who has ancestors that comes from another country. Intersectionality are those individuals that were usually deprived by numerous sources of oppression, i.e.
, religion, skin colour, class group, age, gender etc. In this case, a black female who deals with oppression that is, both sexism and racism in her daily life. CITATION kim89 l 7177 (Crenshaw, 1989) The cycle of socialization by Bobbie HarroThis cycle creates our social identities for us. That can be divided into the following groups: the subordinate group and the dominant groups.
As I have noted, there are different levels of the cycle of socialization. That is, the beginning, the first cycle of socialization, the institutional and cultural socialization, enforcements, results, actions, the core at the center of the cycle and the direction for change. In brief the cycle starts before we are born into this world. We have no choice regarding our skin colour, religion or background and class we fall under. Therefore, we are already born into a world of oppression. CITATION Har15 l 7177 (Harro, 2015) Finally, we are surrounded at birth by those individuals who love and respect us that is, our families and guardians.
They taught you what role you will have to play in the society and set rules and norms for us to follow. And what we can expect in our near future and dreams in our lives. However, we are often, without realising it, besieged by messages about who must and who must not have power by the media, lyrics of music and our schools we go to.
” Most of the messages we receive about how to be, whom to ‘lookup to’ and look down on, what rules to follow, what rules to play, what assumptions to make, what to believe, and what to think will probably reinforce or contradict what we have learned at home. ” (Harro, 2010:18) We live by the rules, because we get rewarded and when we do not obey the rules, we get punished and discriminated against. It will eventually result in the following concepts: anger, silence, crime, violence, guilt, being ignorant, etc.
When it comes to the action process, we do not do anything and advertise the status quo. We neglect the fact that we become those people that just do nothing. Lastly, we have come to the core at the center of the cycle.
We cannot go into action, because of what we have been taught regarding to confusion, fear, ignorance, and insecurity. ” Perhaps strength, encouragement, determination, love, hope, or connection to other people begin to grow in someone’s core, and he decides to take a different direction, and interrupt the cycle.” (Harro, 2010:20) To conclude, in order to create a direction for change, we need to stand up for ourselves, to question the status quo, rethink our understandings and lastly to raise consciousness. We must start to build communities with those like us and the opposite of us.
(Harro, 2010: 20-21)The cycle of socialization in my personal lived experienceWhen I was younger, I was taught how to act like a proper girl and how to dress like one. My mom taught me how to cook and clean at a very young age. So, that I will be able how to look after my own household one day. I was also told that a woman and a man are equal and a woman can do whatever a man can do and visa versa. At school I learned that, girls and boys had certain roles set for them in the society, if they did not play by these rules they were called all sorts of name. For instance, a boy would be called a ”moffie” if he did something like drama and girl a ”tomboy” if she played rugby.
Regarding to race, I was taught that I should treat everybody with the same respect and integrity. No matter their race, class, religion or sexual orientation. However, at school teachers and students were in certain positions just because of their race and class in the society. Concerning sexuality, I learned that it was not okay to date a person from the same sex and I believed it. But when I came to university, I learned that it was okay and people started to accept it. I learned that I had the right to practice my religion and to know God in everything that I do.
Lastly, I learned a lot of interesting facts about my culture that I did not know beforehand. And I was taught that I have the right to speak my mother tongue and be proud of where I come from. However, in the society I was labelled as a coloured, middle class, Christian, homophobic, South African female. To conclude, since I came to university my perspectives on most of the messages I have received as a child changed, because people has changed as the time went by. My awareness of existing societal inequalitiesAs a child, I grew up in a normal middle class family. Where my parents are still happily married.
My parents are both teachers and do not earn as much. So, we also sometimes struggle just like any other household struggles. But we have seen better days. We do not have a domestic worker and a gardener that does chores .
My mother does most of the household chores and the rest of us help her with. She would even sometimes do garden work as well. Since I read the article of the five faces of oppression, I did not realise that I was living in a society of oppression and dealing with it on a daily basis. This did not bother me however, until I realised how unfairly some of us are treated in our modern day lives. Whether it was at school or at the workplace.
The cause of this all was because of the Apartheid era. These sources of oppression usually regard to religion, age, gender and culture. Which brings me to the ”Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris Marion Young. Firstly, oppression defines the disadvantage and unfairness some individuals suffer from not because of oppressive power forces them, however owing to the daily practices of well-meant liberal society. (Young, 2010:36) Secondly, oppression is divided into five different groupings: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. The injustice of exploitation consists in social processes that achieve a transfer of energies from one cluster to a different to provide unequal distributions, and within the method within which social establishments alter some to accumulate whereas they constrain more, i.
e., child labour. (Young, 2010:38) Marginalisation regards the act of limiting individuals to a lower-level social understanding. To sum it up, it basically means to exclude others.
This type of oppression can be worse in some cases than exploitation, because people of the society has made up their minds to not even make use of individuals when it comes to a thing as labour. When it comes to powerlessness, some individuals do not even speak about their oppression, according to Freire. If they reach this point, they do not even speak up about the injustices they are dealing with. Cultural imperialism defines when cultures dominate one another. The subordinate group are categorized by the dominant group as ”Other”, without the dominant group realising it. Individuals are basically seen as invisible as well as they are seen as different. For example, male from female, Jews from Christians, homosexuals from heterosexuals and Africans from Europeans.
Lastly, violence is one of the most noticeable forms when it comes to oppression. The person does not think or need motivation to destroy another individuals’ life. For instance, women being raped. However, violence includes both individuals and properties that are being damaged for no reason.
Therefore, we need to embody diversity and not try to decline it.ConclusionBecoming an agent of changeIn order, for me to become an agent of change, I first need to create change myself and how I interact with other individuals. Firstly, I need to have a clear vision on how I will create change and come up with a few strategies on how to do it. Secondly, I need to be committed to what I am doing, in order, for me to succeed at the end of the day. Lastly, I must start to form strong bonds with individuals and create awareness of the issues we are dealing with in our society. Therefore, I will have more helping hands to help me to create change. After all of that, I can start with my action process on becoming a agent of change.
My whole life I have imagined a world without oppression, because it would be so much peaceful for everyone. The first I would one to stop is violence, because individuals are being killed and raped for no reason. And not to forget about properties that are being damaged and destroyed by individuals. This makes me sick and it needs to stop immediately. The second thing is exploitation, because I believe that kids at such a young age should not be working. Their rights and innocence are being take away from them, which is not right.
Children deserve to play and enjoy their childhood just like any other child. As a result, I will start a campaign to make people aware of what we are dealing with in the society. For instance, having motivational speakers talk, make banners and start a protest against rape of young women and children. So, that individuals will start to speak up and take action to create change in the society. And let other individuals know that they are not the only ones and they have people that are willing to support them. When it comes to liberation, I need to reach out to others so that I can start to understand their outlook on the society.
That is why I must learn to work with those individuals who are like me and different than I am to work towards building a community. If I want to succeed in this process, I will just start to build strong bonds with those individuals near to me. For instance, my peers and community members.
Thus, I believe if we can just create positive change in our communities, we can do it as well in the society. (2000 words)
