GWS 10 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Patricia Hill Collins, Heredity

• School: Berkeley
• Department: Gender And Women's Studies
• Course: GWS 10
• Professor: Barbara Barnes

Document Summary

Motherhood is a constellation of social practices, which means that not all mothers are equal. Certain groups of women of the right social class, race, and citizenship status are seen as real mothers fit for the job. Societies that embrace eugenic philosophies typically aim to transform social problems (unemployment, crime rates, etc. ) into technical problems amenable to biological solutions. They see race and heredity as the forces that shape political and social developments. The nation gains meaning via family metaphors, which is articulated with structures of institutionalized racism and the labor needs of capitalism. Family metaphors rely on distinctive notions of place, space, and territory. The notion of homeland/national territory that must be defended against foreigners operates in a similar fashion both need protection from outsiders. Citizens are expected to fulfill certain obligations to one another. There is a naturalized hierarchy within biological families: good offspring are compared to their less ambitious or fortunate siblings.