Who’s Privileged? SB 4

             This week in class we discussed the ideas behind the matrix of domination.  The old model of the matrix suggests that oppressed people and privileged people can be rated based where they fit in the hierarchy of society.  Later, a newer model emerged and declared that oppressed people had some traits while the privileged people had some other social traits.  Today, the matrix of domination looks at understanding how the traits are connected. 

                For example, a person whose race is Latino may feel the effects of oppression.   The Latino person won’t have as many opportunities at receiving a job because of the stereotype that Latinos are illegal aliens and drug traffickers.  They can be considered oppressed because they have different social traits than a white person who is perceived as good and normal.  The white person can be considered privileged because they are higher up on the hierarchal ladder.  Because of their ranking, they are better able to compete for a job against a Latino person. 

                Some strengths of the matrix of domination are that it talks about the hierarchy of people and that oppressed and privileged people posses different traits.  By assuming that there is a hierarchy in society makes it easier to rank and judge people.  There will be people who have more power than others and those people can be thought of as the privileged people.  The privileged people will be able to do more things to keep the power in their court.  The oppressed people however face challenges if they want things done their way.  For instance, normally privileged people are in charge of governments so it’s hard for the oppressed people to vote on key issues occurring in their community because they don’t have the power to be on a government.

                A weakness of the matrix is the harshness of the label “oppressed” that is placed on people.  Just because people are oppressed doesn’t mean they are that way their entire life.  There are numerous opportunities that like privileged people, oppressed people can take advantage of those opportunities and become a privileged person.  The same goes for a privileged person, be losing all their money, those people can become poor and turn into an oppressed person.   

 

http://www.sidewalkbubblegum.com/category/comics-about-capitalism-corporate-culture/

                I chose this comic because it represents the privileged and oppressed classes.  As you can see, the much larger person (privileged) is telling everybody else (oppressed) what to do; however, there is one oppressed person who is standing up and asking why he has to listen to the privilege person.  There is also a clear hierarchical order in this comic as we can see the privileged person is leading the group while the oppressed people are waiting for orders.