What makes someone aware of segregation? When do we first know and understand the word? Is it from birth or do we learn it along the way somewhere? Since segregation has been and is still an issue today, maybe the first step is to figure out where it came from. Yet, when I delve deeper into the meaning of segregation trying to put my initial views aside, the more confused I become about everything. Anything could be called segregation…having different bathrooms for men and women is segregation, men not being able to wear glittery fingernail polish or watch chick flicks without a girl around is gender segregation, and better wages going to people with a higher education is segregation seemingly of those who are educated and uneducated. Our world is literally defined by many types of segregation yet, the above mentioned are not looked at as bad types of segregation by society. They are rarely even classified as segregation. What does the word segregation mean? Where is the line to draw between the above mentioned segregation and the more pressing types of segregation- for example, ethnic segregation? What bothers me the most about my thought process is this question…
Is it the seemingly inconsequential types of segregation the link which leads toward the perpetuation of the prominent types? A.K.A ethnic segregation, age segregation, disability segregation…
(p.s. I realize that this thought process is biased towards the point that segregation is still an issue today, we will look at the idea of their not being segregation in the next blog. Thank you for pointing out to me my bias, when you saw it! ^_^.…)
3 comments:
I agree completely with your idea of there being many different types of segregation that we don't even stop to think about everyday. Segregation is everywhere, and some of it is fair while some of it is not. You raise a good point as well with the seemingly inconsequential types of segregation possibly leading towards the more problematic and prominent types of segregation. You could look at it the other way around as well since maybe these prominent types of segregation lead to other types of segregation, but we don't notice them because we're too focused on the big, problematic types of segregation. I'm interested in reading what you have to say about this in the next post.
Wow thats deep. I believe that the key difference between prominent segregation and inconsequential segregation is that prominent segregation is offensive to an individual or society. People raise significant objections to segregation only when it imposes a negative externality on them. Thus, segregation is prominent because we hear the cries of those who are effected in a hurtful way.
I think there's a distinction between segregation and social standards. To segregate implies an exclusion or separation. Men are not excluded from watching "chick flicks" alone or from wearing nail polish. These practices are simply what you view as outside the social norm.
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