Dan Kelly

Krysten Eshelman

Assignment Three

Introduction

The matrix of domination refers to the external and internal characteristics of a society that transcend the overall power structure of individual, intrapersonal, and social institutions. These external and internal factors include, and are not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, nationality, and language. Each of these characteristics share certain marked and unmarked qualities that define an individual’s level of power within society. The goal of this assignment is to dissect the levels of domination on a personal level and define power within our own power structure.

Within the structure of this group project, assignment three has allowed us to observe power within society on two distinct levels, allowing a consciousness of comparative analysis, yielding two different perspectives within the matrix of domination. Without the aid of each other, our assumptions regarding power would be skewed towards our own personal impressions, instead collaboration has allowed a free flow of ideas and emotions, positively contributing to the overall goal of this project. This paper will be divided into three sections, the first section will include the overall analysis of the matrix of domination and the factors that determine power within society. The second section will deal with our individual analysis and how power is determined within our own lives. The third section will compare and contrast the influence of dominate and subordinate social groups within our individual lives.

Section One- Overall Analysis from the Matrix of Domination

Intersectionality refers to the subordinate and dominate social groups that make up an individual’s overall power identity within society. These characteristics include physical and internal characteristics such as race, gender, age, language, nationality, religion, and sexuality. The matrix of domination creates a research space to define an individual’s place within dominant and subordinate groups within society. Throughout history society has defined and restructured the way in which individuals perceive power. Starting with the formation of hunting and gathering societies during the bronze age, society defined gender roles and placed emphasis on male masculine characteristics. Survival was based on the males ability to hunt and provide food for a group of people. The earliest evidence of society deemed the race of males as superior to women, both intellectually and physically. Since 2000BC these assumptions have become engrained into societies throughout time and the world. Antiquity has engrained a system of observation that marks Man as the dominant gender group. History has defined the oppression of woman as a staple within society. It was not until political institutions during the 20^th Century set precedent and demanded equal treatment for woman including every aspect of life. Even with political precedent, societies throughout the world still experience gender inequality.

Gender is only one example from the matrix of domination, we have defined gender in such a away to define the complexity of each level within the matrix. Each dominant and subordinate groups have experienced both a unique and similar social evolution, this paper will not go into such a deep level of interpretation as experienced above with gender. Instead we will discuss the current social standing for each level within the matrix, and contribute how society defines power within it.

Within the matrix of domination race and ethnicity is divided into two groups, marked and unmarked. The unmarked social group includes individuals who are white, racial privilege within society corresponds with individuals who are white. The marked group include any person who is of color. This includes any ethnic group who is not white. Racial prejudice and stereotypes have become distinctive characteristics within society. People of color within society lack the “power” granted to individuals who are white. This power includes opportunity, respect, political participation, and impression. Society has deemed individuals of color as corrupt, lacking certain social characteristics needed to be a powerful and contributing member of society. Oppression on racial lines can currently be viewed on many levels. The marked categories along racial lines are perpetuated by the media, members of the dominant social groups, and political organizations. Individuals of color experience racial discrimination along every level of society. Members of the unmarked social groups have created societal standards and institutions that create a difficult level of entry for individuals of color.

The United States of America “lives” under a standard of separate institutions of religion and state. But under the US dollar we witness the slogan “In God We Trust”, children in public school pledge their allegiance everyday to one God, and political institutions have made rulings in the areas of abortion and gay union based on ethical teaching from the Bible. Everyday we experience societal behavior that enforces the belief of Christian doctrine and dogma, the media also portrays other non-Christian faiths around the world as fanatical and corrupt. War and violence has been portrayed as underlining influences from non-Xtian religions. The Protestant faith has always been the dominate social group in the United States. September 11^th has created a consciousness of religious stereotyping, placing blame on religious doctrine that does not conform to the religious standards of Christianity. Even the Catholic faith which is rooted in Christian ideals, has become blackballed based on instances sexual abuse and religious fanaticism. Those individuals who are non-Xtian experience discrimination and stereotyping, each religion exhibiting its own unique oppression within society, some more than others.

An often unnoticed category associated with the matrix of domination is the power behind US citizenship and efficiency in English. A US citizenship has the ability to grant access across the globe. A US passport gives an American almost unlimited access around the globe. In some countries it is almost impossible for a citizen to travel out of state, based to on the political stability and worldview of a country. As an American, a US citizen yields a certain political and social power that many in this world will never witness. As an immigrant, this unmarked category virtually holds no individual rights or justice. Without the power of citizenship you can not legitimize your own existence. Even as a citizen without the knowledge of the English language you are almost powerless in American society. But there is always an exception if you qualify in a certain economic class. However, immigrant workers who have international education will find difficulty in applying for jobs in their field of study. A foreign education with a small level of English will be subject to xenophobic reaction for potential employers.

Individual Experience Krysten Eshelman: An Experience with Reverse Racism

It is very interesting when you are presented with certain opportunities in your life to voice your feelings on how you feel you are placed in society, and not only how you are placed, but how your status, whether it be social, racial, economical, or ethical effects situations in your life. It is not until these opportunities to voice yourself do you really think back on certain situations that at the time when they occurred seemed in no way related to any status of power and societal status.

When I was 16 years of age, I took a job at the local 7-11 convenience store not even ten minutes from my home. I felt it would be a good experience in learning how to multitask between tending to customers and performing all the daily tasks associated with an associates’ position. What I did not realize when I had accepted the position was that I was a minority among the staff. Where most people constitute a minority as a person of black, African American, or even Latino background, I was a minority in my setting as a white American. I had been marked in my status of my job.

I began experiencing situations which were extremely offensive, but at the time, I only wanted to do a good job, and perform my duties to 100% or more. Every time I felt I was doing something right, even when not specifically asked by the manager, I always seemed to get in trouble or get written up for something I found to be a good deed. As I said earlier, during this age in my life, I was naïve to many concepts of the world, favoritism and racism for example, so I never looked at the issue of why I was being written up, but only tried to make the manager happy and apologize for what she felt I had done wrong.

My manager was a black female, probably in her early 40’s. She always seemed to have a chip on her shoulder when we spoke, but I would think nothing of it, only thinking this is just her personality and would never take anything personal when she would be rude with me. I began noticing more and more that the other people that worked with me were all black women, no men, black or white, no other white women, or people of any other racial background. Among all of these people I was the only one being picked on, being blamed for things that were just absurd now that I look back on things.

Aside from the issues I was having at work, I also attended high school with her two children; they also carried that same chip on their shoulder that their mother toted around with her all the time. They only associated with other children in their racial group, and had the same rude attitude toward me and other white children that their mother had with me at work. I didn’t understand why they acted this way, but once again just felt it was their personality and tried to not think into it too much.

I started to become very frustrated at work and felt I could do nothing right, though I was still doing everything in my power to do the best job I could possibly do. There was one particular instance that really upsets me now that I think back to those days. It was a Saturday morning about 7:00am. A black woman came in with her young son. While she was doing her shopping her son was trying to get himself a Slurpee, but he was too little and could not reach the machine. I graciously offered to help the little boy and got him his Slurpee while I was working on the coffee bar simultaneously. When I turned back around I saw the mother and my manager leaning over the counter whispering and looking back at me while doing so. Once the mother and her son left the store, I was called to the back office where I was severely reprimanded. My manager had told me she was writing me up for pushing the little boy on the floor, can you believe that? It still sounds crazy to me all these years later. Why in the world would I do that to a customer? Who would even think about doing something like that? Definitely not me, and certainly I wouldn’t help him get a drink then shove the child on the floor. It just didn’t make sense. I asked her is she would rewind the security camera so that I could see how I did that, and she refused. She then wrote me up and told me two more instances and I would be terminated of my employment. I was so distraught. At this point I was wondering if I was going crazy, I had never been accused of something so ridiculous in my life, and couldn’t understand why she was doing this to me.

The second instance involved the Frapuccino machine. This was at the time when this machine was new to 7-11 and it still had its quirks. It was Easter Sunday, and that ended up being a normal event for me to have to work all my weekends, late evenings, and even holidays, but I did not complain, at that point mostly out of fear of losing my job. It was me and one other older black woman working along with the manager. I heard a strange noise; it was coming from the Frapaccino machine. The other woman was busy with customers and the manager was stocking the freezers in the back. The machine was grinding the power cord; it had fallen in the machine while it was still churning the product. Without thinking about it, I quickly stuck my hand down in the machine to try and release the cord. I did not know where the kill switch was, so I just went in while it was moving. Inside was a grinder, and while my hand was in there, it cut my knuckles which bled into the product. It took me a few minutes, but I released the cord which was already damaged and shut the machine off. I went into the back to tell the manager what had happened and she reprimanded me for contaminating the product. At this point I was completely devastated; I didn’t understand what I could have possibly done wrong. I felt that I saved the machine from being destroyed, and I hurt my hand in the process. She did not say thank and didn’t care that my hand was bleeding. She told me to clean the machine and make a new batch of mix, then to meet her in her office once that was done. Once again, I was written up for this incident.

There was one last major incident that put me over the edge. It was an evening during the week, it was late, and I was at the register by myself, which was against store policy. The other girl was in the back stocking the freezers. This young man came in that frequented the store. I had always heard he had some mental issues, but he was always cordial to me, so I thought nothing of him having problems. He rode a bike and was not allowed to drive a car. That evening he came in, he was saying hello to a man that was in the aisle next to him. The man did not acknowledge his hello because the young man seemed to be making the other man uncomfortable. The man turned to leave the store and the man on the bike turned and flung the door open, proceeding to break it off the hinges, and began yelling at the other man. He was working to get his door unlocked, while the other man pulled out a knife and began to swipe at the man unlocking his door. The man finally got in the car and sped off, while the man ran after the car with his knife. He disappeared and I pushed our panic button to the police department a countless number of times because I was so scared. The man was gone forever, and in that time, the police showed up and were taking my report. The manager showed up and instead of asking me how I was doing or being concerned for my well-being, she asked me how many times I pushed the panic button to the police department because it charged the store’s phone line $.25 every time it was pushed after the initial time. I told her I didn’t know because I was so nervous I wasn’t really thinking how many times I had pushed it. Even in the midst of the commotion, she had me meet her in the back and told me she was going to deduct the panic button charges from my paycheck, and then said she was going to write me up. That would have been my third and final write-up pending termination. Before she could even get to the point of pulling out the slip, I stepped up and told her I was quitting, I couldn’t take the fact that I felt I was being bullied anymore. I walked out of the store feeling very shaken up from the incident and upset because I was losing my job that I did take so much pride in originally.

A month later I heard that the manager had been terminated for racial discrimination issues with another young white female that became employed once I had left. The whole time I worked there I was so confused as to why she treated me so poorly, and always blamed me for things that were out of my control, and then I found it to be a racial issue and was first surprised, and second disappointed. I never would have thought in a million year that I would be a victim of a racial issue being that I was a white female. When people think about racism in general, they think about it being directed towards minorities. Still to this day there are some people that I tell these stories to that don’t believe me, but I can assure you that these incidents really took place. It brought a new light to my knowledge, and I am much more aware of society and the way people are treated and the way people react toward society when they are directly or even indirectly discriminated against. There are so many people who believe that they are just disliked, but don’t acknowledge the fact that they are being racially discriminated against. Many people choose to see the best in people and look past their bad qualities, but no matter how hard I tried to see the good side of my manager, she continued to disappoint me and tear down my character, not because of my quality of work, but because of my skin color.

If you look at this situation, in the beginning of my paper I identified myself as a marked category. In a non-discriminating situation, being a white middle-class female, I would have been an unmarked category. Unfortunately this situation put me in a marked category, which I don’t feel anyone should have to be a part of, no matter what the color of their skin may be. The matrix of domination left me powerless in this situation as well, where if you could reverse the situation, and I was the one in the manager’s position, I would have had even more power being a white female. Though I would not want any part of being more powerful because of my status, that is the way society would have viewed it, and there would have been more attention directed toward the fact that I had racially discriminated against an employee. If a white person does this, it would have been publicized and possibly even made into a court issue, but her being a black woman, it was kept very quiet, and nothing came of it. She was terminated, but no one really knew the real reason why she had been dismissed. It wasn’t until I spoke to the other white female that was discriminated against and got some inside facts that I knew this was the reason for her dismissal from the store. This is completely wrong. Society has made the people in the marked categories out to be the bad people, when that is not the case. It’s all about who you are and how you conduct yourself. Some people have hatred in their hearts, but it has nothing to do with skin color, it has to do with life and the experiences you endure during your time on this earth. People don’t shape and mold people, experiences they have with people and their surroundings do.

While this paper is about marked and unmarked categories, and the matrix of domination, it bothers me that we even have to speak about different categories. People should not have to be put into categories, that is for inanimate objects, like food or cars. People should be judged by their character and what they contribute to this world, not by the color of their skin, the amount of money in their bank account, or the size home they live in. When will it all change? I guess that is a rhetorical question, because things will never change. There will always be those people out there who choose to remain ignorant and believe that color equals difference. It is the way we choose to educate ourselves on these issues that makes the difference in the way we are all treated by society. If people don’t continue to support how marked and unmarked categories differ, eventually there won’t be two separate categories, and everyone can be categorized together as unmarked. Why do we continue to provoke hatred by creating categories? We need to look at everyone through the same glasses, and not wear our ignorant lenses when we feel that just because society has decided that certain people should be put into a category, then we support the category by treating people a certain way, or acting the way society expects us to when approached by something or someone different from us.

Individual Experience Dan Kelly-A Society of Male Dominance and the behavior associated within an unmarked group

Within the matrix of domination I am defined mostly by my unmarked characteristics. As a white male society has defined my physical characteristics as powerful. I am entitled to more opportunity and power than I probably realize. Society has always been defined by white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant, males. These individuals have created social and political institutions that have allowed the social groups I am apart of to flourish within society. Power has been defined within white males and I am subject to “unwritten” societal norms attributed to these social groups.

Along with my race and ethnicity I am also a member of other unmarked social groups. I am characterized by my Catholic faith, heterosexual choice, middle class upbringing, physical attributes, English efficiency, US citizenship, and my current status as a young adult. According to the matrix of domination I am a part of every unmarked group expect my religion, that can sometimes be defined as a marked category. Under these parameters I am entitled to the most power under the matrix of domination. With my personal experiences within American society, my education regarding global phenomena, and personal relationships with members outside the American society I agree with the perspective created by Hooks. I agree that society has created power within these characteristics, but I do not agree in the way power is perceived. As a member of so many unmarked groups I feel marked by the behavior of those who share the same characteristics as mine.

Unmarked social groups have maintained power through oppression, and within unmarked social groups you are told to embrace this behavior. I am not making an assumption that all members of unmarked groups are oppressors, many individuals maintain an open mind set, but underlying the behavior of all white males includes a group understanding of patriarchy and racism. Propaganda of elitism is a characteristic of male behavior, and on a greater level white male. Within my social groups I am pressured to conform to the ideals that I am superior to those who are different from me. When Oprah appears on TV my social group wants me to demean her because she is both a woman and a black woman who embraces femininity.

As a white male I would not share the same level of power and respect if I was a homosexual, bi-sexual, or transgendered. To fully be a part of the male dominant group I must be sexually involved with a female and in some cases a white female. Within this relationship I am expected to exhibit a behavior of dominance within my heterosexual relationship. Limiting the abilities of my significant other so I can divulge in my own selfish behavior. On a level of sexuality that excludes relationships women and men are judged differently. Male society has deemed it a prerequisite to demean the female race and view sexuality based on lust. Males who embrace sex are viewed as studs, and females who exhibit similar behavior are marked as whores.

Males are taught to embrace competition, aggressiveness, violence, and dominance. I was indoctrinated into the world of sports, most of my childhood memories and relationships were built on the athletic playing field. Males are taught to stand up for themselves and if needed to embrace violence to maintain a level of respect and dominance over others.

While I dissect my own assumptions and experience regarding masculine behavior I am truly disgusted with the socialization of males into society. The unmarked category of white male is defined by aggressiveness, violence, racism, privilege, homophobia, and sexual prowess.

Some of my closest friends are also a part of the unmarked group of white male. Some exhibit the awful behaviors that I describe above, some more than others. But these behaviors are never discussed and debated. They come to life through friendly banter, jokes, mocking, and foolish behavior. Behavior that at the time seems harmless eventually finds its way into the heart of society and creates torment for others. Harmless jokes perpetuate into racial hatred, homophobia is not discusses and often excommunicated, women become objects to have rather than respected.

White males have maintained power through violence and manipulation. History has been rewritten by the victors, masking the cruel behavior of our founding fathers. Political power has always been held by white males, education was a privilege only for white males, continuing an oppressive relationship amongst woman and individuals of color. The dominance of white males can be seen by the current presidential election; Clinton and Obama are both members of marked social groups. Some aspects of the media have attacked both of these candidates based on their marked characteristics. Clinton is being attacked based on her gender, with political correspondents attacking her ability to lead this country and maintain US global dominance, they bring up the military and the idea that a woman could be Commander and Chief. These cruel realities are examples of the male culture, stereotypes and gender inequality will become defining factors of Clinton’s campaign. Obama is also attacked based on this ethnic makeup and religion. His name is not a typical “Christian” name that is given to a majority of US citizens, conservative radio has taken this opportunity to compare the democratic presidential candidate to Osama Bin Laden. These assumptions are not based on any logical evidence except the ability of the media to harness racism and religious fear based on September 11^th against Obama. The current presidential election is a prime example of the thinking and behavior that is sometimes perpetuated by member of the white male social groups.

I have discussed my introductory analysis of how I perceive the dominant social group of a white male. Through my own experience with members of the same group, media visualization, and knowledge of history. I have defined male dominance through aggressive oppression of marked categories, specifically gender and ethnicity. My overall view of male dominance refers to the factors that reinforce certain male behaviors of competition, aggression, and dominance. In my opinion to experience the pinnacle of power that society has granted to white males it is in the best interest of a white male to either embrace the behavior stated during my analysis or ignore and not question the behavior exhibited by others.

My own worldview and behavior in society has become shaped by many factors. The education I have received has turned me into the person I am today. Both of my parents embrace education and teach for a living. They both graduated from college, and my mother dedicated extra years of her life to receive her master’s degree in education. As a child learning was engrained into my head, before I went to bed one or both of my parents would read to me, after school homework was the priority, when I had to memorize spelling words, poems, or Bible verses my parents were there to help my learning process. They sacrificed for my education and were able to support my extracurricular activities and private education to this day. A large part of who I am derives from my positive family experience. Both my parents are in a loving experience and neither of my parents dominated their marriage. I learned about sacrifice from both my mom and dad. My mother was an accountant before she had children; she decided to take a few years off to have my sister and I. At that time during my parent’s relationship she put her career on hold and had children. A few years later she resumed a new career, working most nights of the week, my dad took the responsibility and took care of my sister and I. He helped us with homework, cooked dinner, and took responsibility without complaint. My parents both hold different careers and contribute to the income of my family. Their sacrifice has influenced my view of social structure and the institution of marriage. Typical gender roles between male and female couples were never perpetuated in my family; both of my parents were strong independent people who preached equality and social justice to me. In this day in age a majority of my acquaintances come from outside a nuclear family or from a family where the mother stays at home. Some of these acquaintances have embraced what I would consider as a skewed vision gender role. Friends with mothers who stay at home and take on stereotypical female gender roles typically value male intelligence and dominance over a woman.

I have always enjoyed a level of luxury that places me in the middle class of society. My middle class upbringing along with religious teaching taught me a strong moral code and value of money. Religion never became a fanatical experience for my family; it was always there as a moral compass, but it never held me back as a person. I was brought up catholic, I experienced religious tradition and was confirmed in the church. Religion has taught me moral respect; I can sit here and say that I am a good Catholic even though I believe in contraception, gay marriage, and abortion. But as a Catholic I have experienced oppression based on my religious affiliation. I went to a Baptist school from 5^th grade through middle school. At this school I experienced a strong education, but masked in the math and writing was religious fanaticism. It was during this time my mind was opened up to the many factors that shape your personal view of the world. During school I was always well behaved, I was considered quite and maintained positive friendships with my teachers and fellow students. But during religion class my teacher called my name and asked what religion I was, I told him I was Catholic and he looked at me and told the class that I was going to hell. After that point my parents were never allowed to chaperone any fieldtrips or school events. Other teachers were soon contacted about my religious affiliation and even my basketball coach took me aside and tried to convince me that God would not accept me because of my religious affiliation. This was a changing moment in my life, I did not reject religion or the school I went to, instead I starting to view the rest of the world with a sense of cynicism. I opened my mind to the system around me and that enabled me to later in my life accept things that others wanted to shun me from.

Another factor that many take for granite in American society is their US citizenship and language. For the past three summers I have worked in Ocean City Maryland. Ocean City Maryland has a reputation for hiring many foreign students from many different countries. During these summers I have meet many individuals from different countries including Hungary, Nepal, Russia, Romania, and Ireland. I took great interest in these relationships and made an effort to maintain a true friendship and understanding of their culture. In my opinion, the American public lives in a consciousness of xenophobia. We demean individuals who are not American and value the intellect of Americans over someone from a different country. I meet foreign students who had scholarships from the World Bank who were educated in medicine, business, dentistry, and politics. They took blue collar work in the United States to save up enough money so they could go to school in the States and receive an American education. I was surprised, while I worked in Ocean City I learned to value my US citizenship and ability to speak English. I went into work every day with an open mind and learned a lot from my coworkers about my own assumptions. I also became a witness to the brutal behavior of employers towards non Americans. I saw my boss lower wages, fire workers based on small behavioral differences, and I listened to him demean the same workers that I would spend my evenings with. The first two summers I never had the courage to confront my boss about his oppressive behavior towards my coworkers. That changed during my last summer in Ocean City, my boss was losing money based on the number of hours he scheduled per week. But with most student programs there is a contract that requires the employer to guarantee over a certain amount of hours. The work schedule was changed and my immigrant workers were severely under their allotted hours, causing frustration based on the reality of rent and cost of living. I stood up to my boss and confronted him on the issue, overall the banter between us resulted in a schedule change, but in turn my own hours diminished week by week.

In conclusion the matrix of domination is comprised of different dominant and subordinate groups that come together and determine and individuals power in society. I am apart of mostly unmarked social groups, as a white male society has granted me with the best opportunity to exhibit power. I contribute male dominance to an oppressive history of marked groups. The behavior signified in male dominance is still prevalent in current society. I reject the stereotypical behavior because I view it as morally unacceptable and oppressive. Other levels of intersectionality that I have felt influenced by include, my religious upbringing as a Catholic, the positive personal and financial relationship between my parents, a strong influence of education, my status as a US citizen, and my efficiency in English. All of these factors have given me the opportunity to gain power in society because society has placed worth in all of these areas. These opportunities are granted through flawed institutional discrimination and a history of oppression.

Section Three Group Compare/Contrast

The advantage of working with a partner during assignment three is that it allowed for a congealed final analysis with each of our own experiences outlining the overall structure of domination. The differences of our group almost outweighed the similarities that we shared on most of the levels. A large part of this assignment deal on the issue of gender as both a marked and unmarked category. Since we both have different experiences regarding gender we could view each others experience without a sense of bias, instead we could contrast each others experience and tackle any assumptions we may have encountered. According to the matrix of domination we found a level of fissure based on the categories of gender, age, employment, and religion. It was interesting that Krysten was the same religious affiliation that Dan described during his personal analysis on religion. Dan discussed his experience during middle school when he was publicly criticized by his teachers for being Catholic. The private school that he mentioned was from Baptist affiliation. According to Dan’s experience his incident with religious fanatic Baptist could have shaped his worldview on the whole sect of religion, but during this project Dan was able to get a different perspective that did not publicly debate a faith that closely resembles his own.

On the level of comparison, we found to share many similar unmarked categories. We both were white, middle class, heterosexual, and educated. But even with many of the same characteristics we found that intersectionality inevitably creates different experiences that cannot simply be defined by similar characteristics. Krysten discussed her experience of reverse discrimination where she was tormented based on the color of her skin, gender, and her age. As a member of multiple unmarked and marked categories in an marked work environment Krysten experienced discrimination on a level that she could not comprehend at the time. Dan did not offer an experience that fell on the same lime as the one mentioned by Krysten, but his antidote reaffirms the notion that as a member of multiple dominant and subordinate social groups you are subject to the conceived powerlessness associated with marked categories.

Conclusion

The goal of assignment three was to dissect our individual lives and find where power lies in the dominant and subordinate groups that make up our individual intersectional. After creating an overall framework, we were able to share personal experiences regarding the matrix of domination. With the unique that each one of us brought to this assignment we picked a few unique perspectives that speaks truth to Hooks’ matrix of domination. I believe we achieved the overall purpose and presented a coherent and interesting write-up.