What is the Social Order in Grenada? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Stratification is among the main problems that plague the small state of Grenada. The population discriminates against each other based on race, gender, and class. Majority of the population is made up of black people, but this does not stop or reduce the politics of color. As a developing country, Grenada still faces some challenges related to human rights issues and discrimination. The situation is so dire to the point that international organizations such as the UN have issued reports and called for action to address the stratification that takes place in the country. Grenada is an independent state in the Caribbean that has a small population of 108,426. Approximately 50.25% of the country's population is male while female account for 49.75% of the total population (Grenada Population 2018, 2018). The majority of the population belong to the lower class, and just like many Caribbean countries, there is a significant income disparity between the rich and the poor (Firebaugh & Goesling, 2004).

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The social order in Grenada is typical of many developing countries. The country still suffers from human rights abuses (Sikkink & Walling, 2007). Over 80% of the country's population are descendants of African slaves which means that a significant portion of the population is made up of people of color. However, the same racial background does not prevent discrimination as the majority of the population still discriminate against others based on their shade (Okazawa-Rey, Robinson & Ward, 1986). Moreover, there is the issue of gender inequality which places women well below their male counterparts. A significant portion of the women in the country is unemployed. The cultural beliefs of the Grenadians hold it that a woman's position is in the kitchen (Charles, 2008). Because of these cultures, women have found themselves lagging behind economically. The racial discrimination is also a hot topic in the country primarily because a majority of the non-black people belong to the middle and the upper echelons of the society.

For a small country like Grenada, people live in small communities that know each other on a personal basis; which makes it easy for a person to understand your background. In a place with so much discrimination, it is only a matter of time before a person experiences discrimination. Stratification is the most dominant type of discrimination in Grenada (Saunders, 2006). The organization of neighborhoods of the urban areas is according to class. The wealthier members of the society occupy affluent neighborhoods while, the more impoverished members occupy the slums. I have been a victim of stratification on more than one occasion. In one instance, I was denied admission to a school because of my family background. The schools in the city admit students based on their origins. Most of the rich people did not want their children schooling with children from a poor background so they came up with their institutions that would only admit children with verified backgrounds. Sadly, enough these schools are the best performing in the country because they have the best resources and amenities for their students to learn. At one instance my parents had tried to get me admitted into one of these schools. Everything was going well. I had even passed my entry exams. However, the problem started when the school's administration asked my father to produce his documents. Along with the papers he was supposed to list his occupation. My father's line of work did not sit well with the school's administration and a few days later when I was supposed to pick up the admission letter; they turned me down because my background does not meet their requirements.

As a child, this is one of those moments where you live to remember. You realize that you were living a fallacy and the world owes you nothing. It was the first time I had experienced stratification directly, but it was not the last time (Anderson et al., 2015). Over the years I have known how to cope up with it and to adapt to it. At times I have even benefited from stratification. My family is not, but we do make enough to fall within the middle-class group. When I was searching for temporary employment; I happened to benefit from stratification. A specific organization was looking for sales agents. The products they were selling were expensive for the poor but cheap for the middle class to afford. There were several of us who had applied for the job. The interviewer happened to be someone who knew my father and our family background. He liked the idea so much he immediately recommended me to his superiors. I got the job without even doing the interview. He later told me he gave me the job because I come from a middle-class family. That places me in the best position to sell their products because I have lived in a middle-class neighborhood and have connections to the middle-class people. It sounded wrong to judge someone by their background.

As a person who has experienced stratification, I know how it feels to undergo discrimination based on your class. The feeling is one that makes one question their background. When it happened to me, I was not sure what to make of it. I could cry, but then it will not change the fact that I was born from a middle-class family. I even took out my frustration on my parents. As a child, there are some things that one should not experience and stratification is among them. I was young when that school principle discriminated against me because of my background. I even threw a tantrum. These days I react to discrimination by shaming the person. If he or she is an employee, I report them to their superiors. Whether their superiors will act on it or not, it does not change a thing because I did my part of reporting them to the authorities. If it is a public institution, I take the matter up to the relevant authorities because discrimination is illegal in almost every part of the world (Stangor et al., 2002)

After taking up this course I know understand that there is no single form of discrimination. All kinds of discrimination are somehow connected. These interconnected forms are what sociologists refer to as intersectionality. The various types of intersectionality such as race, gender, class all belong together to form discrimination. The concept of intersectionality came about when the feminist movements blamed gender for all their problems. According to these movements, the gender determined the fate of most women. However, sociologist Patricia Hill refuted the claims by exploring the concept of intersectionality. In her book, Patricia proposed that the racism, sexism, xenophobia, classism and other forms of oppression all intersect at one point in nature to create a unified system of oppression (Collins, 1990). Using the concept of intersectionality, it means that there can't be a single form of abuse that exists in a society. At one point all these come together to create a uniform system of oppression.

Intersectionality is what is happening in Grenada. I have been victim to classism, racism, xenophobia and even sexism. While making my college applications, people told me that some careers are for women while others are for men. I am expected to behave in a certain way because of my gender. My skin color gives me entry into certain places while it denies me entry in others depending on the neighborhood. All these are different forms of intersectionality that are made to look separate, but in one way they are a single form of oppression.

Conclusion

A place like Grenada still has a long way to go mostly because of its social order. The issue of stratification is just one of the many forms of intersectionality. That means every kind of oppression is terrible and anyone who has experienced any form of abuse is a victim. No form of discrimination is better than the other because they all hurt the same way. I have experienced many types of intersectionality, and the best way to end discrimination is to stop fighting a single form of oppression and fight oppression all together.

References

Anderson, R. E., Hussain, S. B., Wilson, M. N., Shaw, D. S., Dishion, T. J., & Williams, J. L. (2015). Pathways to pain: Racial discrimination and relations between parental functioning and child psychosocial well-being. Journal of Black Psychology, 41(6), 491-512.

Charles, R. N. (2008). Motivation and job satisfaction: The implications of context and national culture in Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and St. Lucia. Nova Southeastern University.

Collins, P. H. (1990). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politic of Empowerment (1st Edition ed.). New York, New York, United States: Routledge. Retrieved September 2018

Firebaugh, G., & Goesling, B. (2004). Accounting for the recent decline in global income inequality. American Journal of Sociology, 110(2), 283-312.

Grenada Population 2018. (2018). Retrieved from World Population Review: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/grenada-population/

Okazawa-Rey, M., Robinson, T., & Ward, J. V. (1986). Black women and the Politics of

Saunders, P. (2006). Social class and stratification. Routledge.

Sikkink, K., & Walling, C. B. (2007). The impact of human rights trials in Latin America. Journal of peace research, 44(4), 427-445.

Skin Color and Hair. Women's Studies Quarterly, 14(1/2), 13-14.

Stangor, C., Swim, J. K., Van Allen, K. L., & Sechrist, G. B. (2002). Reporting discrimination in public and private contexts. Journal of personality and social psychology, 82(1), 69.