BOOK REVIEW

Book Review

Abstract

The author has tried to draw a domineering scene for women, the economically poor and marginal associates of the culture. This book shows race, gender and class which inspects the society and its issues. In this paper, we would analyze the book Race class and gender in the United States by Paula S Rothenberg in a holistic context.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion1

Reflection3

Action5

Conclusion5

Book Review: Race, class and gender in the United States by Paula S Rothenberg

Introduction

The author presents a convincing but unfair research within the perspective of class, race and gender. It is evident that racism has been practiced throughout ages in every form and in every way. In the modern era a lot has been done to counter the immoral and undeniable dissimilarity in race, gender and class status in the United States. The author of the book Race, class and gender in United States has focused that history proves the Americans dominance in intelligence and abilities over dark skinned people. Since early times of United States of America the issue of race and gender has remained in lime light thus constructing a range of classes according to race and gender.

Discussion

Racism is a belief that race is the chief determinant of human character and ability and that ethnic dissimilarity creates an inborn dominance of a particular race” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2010). On the other hand discrimination is the method by which two stimuli conflicting in a number of aspects are responded in a diverse manner” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2010). Discrimination includes larger perimeter than racism.

People v. Hall, 1854, Dred Scott v. Sand ford, 1857, and Brad well v. Illinois, 1873 created a class difference in the ruling of each case between Euro-American males, Indians, Negroes, Chinese and women (Rothenberg, 2010, p. 495).

Skin color differences have been thought to explain intellectual, physical and artistic differences, thus justifying varying treatment between racially different individuals (Rothenberg, 2010). A person of property was considered of superior intelligence and character (Rothenberg, 2010). Michael Omi and Howard Winant maintain that “Race is more a political categorization that a biological or scientific category” (Rothenberg, 2010). Racial distinctions can be correlated with economic and political changes in the society of the United States.

In California, 1854, the state Supreme Court ruled in case, People v. Hall that Chinese Americans should be barred from testifying against whites as Indians and Negroes had previously been barred with a California statue. The judges “marked [Chinese-Americans] as inferior, and ...are incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point” (Rothenberg, 2010). Orientals and Hispanics were regarded to be naturally suited to perform brutal, sometimes crippling, farm labor which whites were physically unsuited to perform. In 1857, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Sand ford stated that “Negroes were never considered a part of the people of the United States (Rothenberg, 2010).

Gender refers to the particular set of socially constructed meanings associated with each sex (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2010). Men and women have been portrayed as polar opposites with different ...