WOMS201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Compulsory Heterosexuality, Socioeconomic Status, Cisgender

• School: University of Delaware
• Department: Women's Studies
• Course: WOMS201
• Professor: Ellerby

Document Summary

Systems are shaped by broader forces of imperialism (at home and abroad: forces of imperialism provide the global context of our discussion of systems of inequality and privilege in the u. s. Difference, hierarchy, and systems of privilege and inequality. Institutionalized - officially placed into a structured system or set of practices: recognize differences and group people based on differences, micro (@ the individual level) vs. macro (@ the societal level) Identities intersect and are ranked: some have advantages in accessing resources but others have disadvantages, example: unequal access to economic opportunities. Systems of inequality interconnect and work together to enforce inequality and privilege. Discourse, power, and knowledge: discourse - the process of creating knowledge or a culturally constructed representation of reality. Institutions construct and are constructed by truth claims that provide authority about how people should be and live: prejudice, lack of accurate information to destabilize oppressive regimes of truth and stereotypes.