Ass. #3 Analysis of Art and Everday Life

Lolita Jadotte
WMST250
April 22, 2008
Sect# 0101

Analysis of Art and Everyday Life

In our society there are various aspects in which people are categorized. These categories depend on different circumstances, such as race, gender, religion, ethnicity, and class. These different aspects can determine your power in society. Like what we have been learning in class and readings in our assigned books, everyday life can be put into two different categories, marked and unmarked categories. Marked category is defined as the people in life who have the subordinate power and are not able to exercise certain privileges because they do not have the right to do so. In contrast to marked categories, unmarked categories are people who are dominate to the subordinate power. These people are able to exercise certain privileges because they have the right to do so. Everyday life is a perfect way to exemplify the matrix of domination and the type of people who experience either more or less power.
There are different kinds of powers people can exercise in society. There is the power, which is used in order to enforce and promote regulation. There is also the type of power, which is used in order to promote inequality and cause oppression. The unmarked people are the ones who decide how power is to be used and interpreted. Parents and teachers obtain power when their child is first born, or when the child first enters the classroom. They used there power in order to enforce and promote regulation. Leaders are supposed to enforce and promote regulation, but there have been cases where leaders have used their powers to humiliate and dehumanize people subordinate to them. This is the types of power that people of dominant position use for their on personal objectives.
Being the person that I am I am places me in either the marked or unmarked categories. I am an African American female. I was born here in the United States. I have lived majority of my life in Montgomery County, Maryland. Growing up, I attended a Catholic private school until I reach high school, where I then started attending a public school. I have one other sibling, which is twin brother. I am nineteen years old, and currently in college at the University of Maryland. I plan on receiving a good education so that I could become a Physical Therapist. I am a heterosexual female, and plans on one day having a husband and kids.
I am African American. African Americans have not always had the amount of power that they have today. They have had to suffer and endure a lot of pain in order to be in the position that they are in today. Although African Americans have come a long way and are now able to exercise more rights then before, the are still placed in the marked category. African Americans are categorized as being in the marked category compared to Caucasians, who are in the unmarked category. Caucasians have always had the upper hand over African Americans. Being an African American I have had to not only learn but also fully understand what influential African Americans have done in order for me to live the life that I live today. Influential people such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks have helped to pave the life of freedom that African Americans now live, including myself. This aspect of my life puts me in the marked category. I have never really directly felt the way it feels to be discriminated against, or judge based on the color of my skin. I understand that the past will never be forgotten and certain situation may arise. African Americans are also stereotyped as not being smart and not being able to receive a good education and compete in the real world. Being stereotyped put us, African Americans, at a disadvantage because the first thing a person think about when the see you are the misconception the color of your skin may portray, instead of first looking at you for who you really are.
I am a female. Females have also had to endure quite a lot in order to be in the position that we are in today. Women have had to fight for all the rights that they have today. The rights that we have are all thanks to major influential women such as Jane Addams, Rosa Parks and all women who never gave up until their voice was finally heard. Thanks to them I have the right to work, get a good education, and one of the major ones the right to vote, which allows my voice and opinion to be heard and taken into consideration. Now that I am 19 years old, I have the right to vote, and for the first time be able to voice my opinion. I have had the right to vote since birth being an American citizen, but I was restricted from voting because I was not of age. Being a young adult at the age of 19 puts me at an advantage because now I am able to let my voice be heard by voting compared to when I was under the age of 18 and could not vote. This aspect of my life places me in the unmarked category because young adults have the most advantages in society. Being female places me in the marked category because in society (white) males have had the most power and never had to fight for their rights the way that women have had to fight for theirs. Women were not put on this earth to just serve males. Women are capable of just waiting on males hand and foot.
I am heterosexual. Being heterosexual places me in the unmarked category. Society does not frown upon people who are heterosexual because that is the majority and is accepted. How society is determined has a lot to do with weather or not someone is placed in the marked or unmarked. What society sees as normal and most commonly used is what is acceptable and what is then categorized as unmarked. What society sees as different or in contrast to the norm, is what is considered as not acceptable, and the categorized as marked. Being that I am heterosexual, as opposed to homosexual, I don’t have any laws put before me. Homosexuals have laws put before them, such as the major one, which is banning their marriage rights. Homosexuals are place in the marked category because they are at a disadvantage. Laws and protest go on just to prevent homosexual relationships to take place.
I am middle class. Society puts people in social classes based on their socio-economic status. I have the advantage of living and growing up in the suburbs of Montgomery County. I am able to go to a good school and receive a good education, where I do not have to worry too much about violence. Violence is unfortunately a part of our society, which we can not directly prevent but through certain lifestyles and values instilled in kids when young can indirectly prevent crime. Being able to grow up in such environment like the one I did allows me to have more opportunity for a chance at a better life, as opposed to people, especially kids who are at a disadvantage because they live in bad neighborhoods. Kids who grow up in area like the ghetto are at a disadvantage because they are faced to force difficult situation, such as having to drop out of school to get a job, and help pay bills, and being in an environment that promotes violence as a life style. They have to work twice as hard to provide success in their lives. They have to work harder to get the proper training and education to compete in the real world because of lack of resources. Growing up where I live provides me with plenty of resources to receive a good education and provide myself with economic stability. Kids growing up in bad neighborhoods are not able to provide themselves with such things as easily.
In American there are three different levels of hierarchy which people are placed into. These categories are based on a person’s income. The three different levels are the lower class, the middle class, and the upper class. The lower classes are people who do not make a sufficient amount of money and are living from paycheck-to-paycheck. These people are place in the marked category because are at a disadvantage. The middle classes are people are the most common class because they make the sufficient amount for a stable and comfortable life. These people are place in the unmarked category because they are at an advantage of not haven to live paycheck-to-paycheck, and still having extra money to take part in a little luxurious spending. Being part of the middle class places me in the unmarked category. My family does not necessarily have to worry about living paycheck-to-paycheck.
I was born in the United States, which makes me a U.S Citizen. I get to exercise and experience the benefits of living in a country, which promotes freedom and equality. Being an American citizen and knowing the language, and the culture of our country, which is English, puts me at an advantage over people who were not born in American and have to learn the language and even have an accent. People who immigrated to the United States are unfortunately placed in the marked category because of the fact that they are not U.S citizens and can’t exercise fully the right of living in America. They also have to learn the language and the new culture. When immigrants first come to America they can immediately be picked out in a crowd because they are not accustomed to what the culture of America is, whether it be they way they talk, dresses or react to certain situation.
I am Catholic. Although there is no one set dominant religion, it can still put you at a disadvantaged or advantage. With religion in your life you can not only have the support of your family but also have the support of your religious community. Having that extra support can put you at an advantage. People look as certain religion as being weird and different, which outs them at a disadvantage because they either don’t have a lot of friends who they can relate to on the religious level. Since I have been young I have had the catholic religion in my life. I went to a Catholic school so I have had the church from a young age. It was easy for me to connect with friends at my school on a religious level because we all practiced and followed the same religion of Catholic. Although the dominant religion is Protestant, which would place me in the marked category because I am not Protestant; I feel like I still have an advantage because I have a religious community to turn to.
I am 19 years old. Age can cause barriers to certain thing that you can and can not do. Depending on your age restriction may forced upon you. When growing, me along with most kids have parents telling them what to wear, how to act and so on. Parent have the dominate power over their child. My parents enforce their power on me, in order to make sure I make right decisions. My parents held the power because they held the responsibility of taking care of me, because as a baby I am not able to take care if myself. While I was under the age18 there was a lot of things I had little or no control. I was not able to watch TV on school until my homework was done. I had curfew. My age determined how late my curfew was. As I got older less restriction were put on me by my parents. They became more lenient because they realized I was growing up and needed to obtain more responsibility of taking care of myself. Being older gives you more responsibility and allows you to hold more power over life. When I turned 16 years old, I received my driver’s license and was able to drive myself wherever I needed to go as opposed to having to ask my parents. Having to ask my parents to take me places put me on their time. Having the ability to drive myself place put me on my time. I was able to come and go as I pleased. Although, I was 16 years old and had a driver’s license, I still had certain restriction put before me because of my age. I still had to home by certain time or not being allowed to go anywhere until my chores were done.
I am a student. Being a student I have to listen and follow the rules put before me by teachers and school officials. Teacher set rules which have to be followed in order to ensure success in their class. As you move up in your educational journey less and less rules are put before, because age is supposed to mean that you are more responsible. I have experienced the difference between the regulation in elementary school, middle school and college. In middle school I had to ask to get out of my seat or ask to go to the bathroom. In high school and college teachers and professors have fewer rules because they realize now that you are old enough to make your own decisions.
These are some of the major factors that contribute to role and power in society. There are also everyday factors that we tend to overlook that determines are power. Your place in the family, school, your community also shows you where power stands within your everyday life. I have one other sibling, which is my twin brother. Although we both are the same age we get treated a lot different. In school, I always had the better grades, which put me at an advantage because I would get rewarded for my good grades. Although my brother is a male and I am a female, in this situation I had the dominant power over the male, because my grades were better. My family treats my brother and me different when it comes to us going out. They would allow my brother to have my freeway, while they were stricter on me just because I was a female and he was a male. This aspect put me at a disadvantage. Although we are both the same age we were treated differently based of sex and portrayals of both men and women. Men are thought of as being tough, muscular, and intelligent. Women were known as being not tough enough to defend themselves and in some instance not being able to go out in public with out have a male companion.
The definition and right to certain powers could also be portrayed through art. Art is a person representation of how the artist sees the world around them. Art comes in many different forms such as music, paintings, and dance. Art connects with everyday life because art is a representation of how everyday life is interpreted. Feminism artist base their arts on various things, which allows them to expresses how they feel about life and how life feels about them. Life sees women as second in comparison to men, who are the dominant figure in society. Feminist artist such as Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro have been influential feminist artist. They were not afraid to express the oppression women have had to endure through their painting. African American also uses art to display their feelings of oppression.
All of these different aspects of my life add to the person who I am today. They also allow me to put myself in perspective about the certain powers I am allowed to exercise. There are many areas in our everyday life were power is demonstrated, and we do not even realize it. These powers could be very noticeable divisions such as male and females, or African American and Caucasians. We often don’t look at or tend not to even recognize the smaller matrix of domination, such as the restriction being a certain age puts on us. Matrix of domination come in all types of different forms as you can clearly tell from my everyday.