Social Constructions of Difference

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Social Constructions of Difference
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OBJECTIVES

• Begin to understand that everyone does not live
  the same experience.
• Develop sensitivity and perspectivefrom a
  culturally different perspective.
• Take inventory of our own barriers and
  challenges.
• Take an objective look at Asian Americans.
• Continue to practice THINKING

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• School statisticsWhy? And Where do they come
  from?
• One of the main goals of this class is to connect
  you to the world around you and help you develop
  your own sense of responsibility for how our
  world develops. That means looking at a variety
  of issues and facts in order to increase our
  awareness levels.
• The school statistics I used in module 3 were
  taken from the Seattle Post Intelligencer at
• http//seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Scho
  ol_Statistics.html

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• Where is all this going?
• Think of this class as a giant jig-saw puzzle.
  Every day we are able to put a few pieces in
  place. But in order for us to understand our
  World and our place in itwe have to look at a
  variety of facts and informationboth present and
  past. That is how we discover the future!

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• No, all public schools are not funded equally.
• Public schools receive funding based on their tax
  base revenues.
• Schools in wealthy districts or districts with
  large industry connections, receive more money
  and goods.
• Although some monies and supplies are given
  through uniform grant-type systems (Perkins Act),
  supplemental funds from local taxes can make huge
  differences in the quality of the school.

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• Where will I use this information?
• EVERYWHERE!!
• In the grocery store, at the bank, in your office
  or place of business, at your childrens
  schoolwherever there are people, you need to
  have the skill to communicate effectively.
• Understanding the differences in our society,
  means increasing your communication skills.

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Activity 1

• Pick up a pencil and a blank sheet of paper.
• In a moment I will tell you to close your
  eyeskeep them closed.
• With your eyes closed do the following steps
• Draw the past on your white board.
• Now draw the present.
• Last, draw the future.
• Open your eyes.
• What do you see?

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Your Drawing

• As you reviewed your drawing, did you
• See any connections between past, present
  future?
• See what you expected to see?
• Without the past, how can we have the present?
• Without the present, how can have a future?
• All three work togetherremember that!

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Movie Time!

• Watch the Lunch Date
• This is found on D2L under Videos for
  Referenceapproximately 6 minutes

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Discussion

• Go to the Discussion Board!

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The Trouble Were In

• Chapter 3

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The Trouble Were In

• Privilege and Power
• Lopsided distribution of Power
• Pitting groups against each other
• Looking at what goes on
• Tracking

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Difference is not the problem.

• Ignoring privilege
• Unreality
• Myth 1
• People are afraid of the unknown
• BusterPeople are curious
• Busterchildren love the unknown

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What is privilege?

• Privilege exists when one group has something of
  value that is denied to others simple because of
  the groups they belong to, rather than because of
  anything they have done or failed to do.
• --Peggy McIntosh

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Activity 2

• Different Lens
• This activity will require you to have a pair of
  sunglasses and some Vaseline.
• First smear a heavy coat of Vaseline on your
  sunglasses (I know, but bear with meit really
  makes a solid point and you can clean your
  glasses with simple soap water.)

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Next steps

• OK, are your glasses ready?
• Then put them on and read the following four
  slides with them on.
• Dont cheat, really try to read the slides with
  the greased glasses on.

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Who Moved My Cheese?
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Chapter 1
Once,
Once, long ago, in a land far away, there lived
four little characters who ran through a maze
looking for cheese to nourish them and make them
happy. Two were mice, named Sniff and Scurry
and two were little people-beings who were as
small as mice, but who looked and acted a lot
like people today. Their names were Hem and
Haw. Due to their small size, it would be easy
not to notice what the four of them were doing.
But if you looked closely enough, you could
discover the most amazing things!
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Every day the mice and the little people spent
time in the maze looking for their own special
cheese. The mice, Sniff and Scurry, possessing
only simple rodent brains, but good instincts,
searched for the hard nibbling cheese they liked,
as mice often do. The two little people, Hem and
Haw, used their brains, filled with many beliefs,
to search for a very different kind of
Cheesewith a capital Cwhich they believed would
make them feel happy and successful. As different
as the mice and little people were, they shared
something in common Every morning, they each
put on their jogging suits and running shoes,
left their little homes, and raced out into the
maze looking for their favorite cheese.
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The maze was a labyrinth of corridors and
chambers, some containing delicious cheese. But
there were also dark corners and blind alleys
leading nowhere. It was an easy place for anyone
to get lost. However, for those who found their
way, the maze held secrets that let them enjoy a
better life.
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What happened?

• What happened when you tried to read the slides?
• Was it difficult? Did you feel your eyes
  straining trying to make out the words?
• Did you ever think of your vision as being a
  privilege? What if you could NEVER take the
  greased glasses off? Are people with poor
  eyesight, or even blind people, treated
  differently?
• THINK about it.

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There are three keys to Social Construction

• Knowledge
• Attitude
• Skills

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Knowledge

• Knowledge is the systematic, conscious acquiring
  of the essential themes and concepts relating to
  the diversity in the world we live in.

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Attitude

• Attitude can include both cognitive and affective
  layers.
• The cognitive layer refers to the willingness to
  suspend judgment and the readiness to be
  open-minded in learning about cross-cultural
  difference issues.
• The affective layer refers to the emotional
  commitment needed to engage in someone elses
  perspective, and to spend time reflecting on
  those differences.

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Skills

• Skills are our operational abilities to integrate
  knowledge and responsive attitude with adaptive
  practice.

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Back to privilege

• Conferred dominance
• Gives one group power over another
• Example Men that dominate conversation with
  women

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What privilege looks like in everyday life

• Race privilegeWhite over Black
• Gender privilegeMen over women
• Sexual Orientation privilegeHeterosexual over
  Homosexual

Try to think of 2 or 3 examples you have seen of
each of these.
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Privilege as a Paradox

• Individuals may experience privilegebut it is
  actually a group or social category that holds
  privilege

• You may experience privilege simply by convincing
  people that you belong to a privileged group.

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Protecting against privilege

• Comparing self to people of lower socio-economic
  status
• Comparing privileged race status
• Comparing privileged gender status
• Comparing privileged sexual orientation status

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Privilege Paradox

• Privilege doesnt always bring happiness
• Things dont always work like expected
• Privilege can exact a cost from those who have it

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Two Types of Privilege

• Unearned entitlements
• All people should have
• Such as feeling safe in public or at work or any
  place they feel they belong

• Unearned advantages
• Things restricted to certain groups
• Sometimes give dominant group an advantage

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OPPRESSION The flip side of Privilege

• Belonging to a privileged category that has an
  oppressive relationship with another isnt the
  same as being an oppressive person who behaves in
  oppressive ways.

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Imagine

• Imagine theres no heaven,
• Its easy if you try,
• No hell below us,
• Above us only sky,
• Imagine all the people
• Living for today.

• Imagine theres no countries,
• It isnt hard to do,
• Nothing to kill or die for,
• No religion too,
• Imagine all the people
• Living life in peace

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• Imagine no possessions,
• I wonder if you can,
• No need for greed or hunger,
• A brotherhood of man,
• Imagine all the people
• Sharing all the world

• You may say Im a dreamer, but Im not the only
  one,
• I hope someday youll join us,
• And the world will as one.

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Privilege as Paradox

• May we know unitywithout conformity.
• --Dwight D. Eisenhower,
• 34th President of the United States

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Asian American Facts

• In 2001, there were nearly 13 million Asian
  Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United
  States, comprising 4.2 percent of the total
  population., projected to reach 22 million by
  2025, and 34 million by 2050
• The top six Asian American populations are
  Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Asian
  Indian, and Vietnamese Consumer Profile
• With approximately 230 billion in spending
  power, Asian Americans are a powerful force in
  the United States consumer market
• In 2000, Asian and Pacific Islanders had the
  highest median household income, at 51,205,
  among all ethnic races in the United States
  Geometric Growth

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More AA facts..

• Asian American-owned companies experienced a
  growth rate of 30 percent from 1992 to 1997, and
  a revenue growth rate of 46 percent during the
  same time period
• At 913,000 firms, Asian American-owned businesses
  generated a total of 306.9 billion in sales with
  each firm averaging 336,200
• Asian American-owned businesses employed more
  than 2.2 million workers in 2000.
• Over 50 percent of all minority-owned businesses
  whose sales exceeded one million dollars were
  Asian American owned

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Asian American Timeline

• 1848 Gold discovered in California. Chinese
  begin to arrive.
• 1860 Japan first sends a diplomatic mission to
  U.S.
• 1885 San Francisco builds segregated Oriental
  School. Anti-Chinese violence at Rock Springs,
  Wyoming Territory. First group of Japanese
  contract laborers arrives in Hawaii under the
  Irwin Convention.
• 1893 Japanese in San Francisco form first trade
  association, the Japanese Shoemakers League.
  Attempts are made to expel Chinese from towns in
  southern California.
• 1897 Nishi Hongwanji includes Hawaii as a
  mission field.
• 1909 Koreans form Korean Nationalist
  Association. Seven thousand Japanese plantation
  workers strike at major plantations on Oahu for
  four months.
• 1925 Warring tongs in North Americas Chinatowns
  declare truce. Hilario Moncado founds Filipino
  Federation of America.
• 1947 Amendment to 1945 War Brides Act allows
  Chinese-American veterans to bring brides into
  the U.S.
• 1952 One clause of the McCarran-Walter Act
  grants the right of naturalization and a small
  immigration quota to Japanese.

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Strengths of Asian American Couples

• Asian American families tend to hold strongly to
  filial piety- respect, honor, and obedience to
  parents and elders in the family. The older
  generation is seen as a valuable resource for
  providing wisdom and support to younger couples.
   
• Asian Americans tend to value the good of the
  family over the good of the individual. Perhaps
  this helps explain the lower divorce rate
  couples are more motivated to work out their
  problems rather than leaving to pursue their own
  interests at the first sign of trouble. 
• Ethics education has been cited as a strength of
  Asian American families values such as loyalty,
  harmony, patience and hard work are typically
  instilled in young Asian Americans- equipping
  them with skills necessary for building a healthy
  marriage. (Olson, D.H., DeFrain, J.  

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Every culture has its own unique set of temporal
fingerprints. To know a people is to know the
time values they live by. --Jeremy Rifkin
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Grocery Store Ethnography

• This exercise will count as a 20 point homework
  and it will be due Monday, June 11.
• Read D2L handout in Module 4 and complete the
  exercise.