Social Super Hero

If you have lived in the United States for the past 30 years of your life then you know that this society is based on how you socialize with other people. A large function of what goes into your ability to socialize is your identity. There is one important thing that you must understand about your identity, even though you shape that does not mean that you have the right to decide what it looks like in the end. That is for the eye of the beholder. This is what is called ascribed identity. I have seen friends who are not homosexual but have been believed to be homosexual based on their actions and I have also had friends that are homosexual but have not been perceived to be.

I recently had a friend that was thought to be a homosexual by what he considered to be a close friend. This process continued for some time before my friend realized that his friend perceived him differently then he thought he saw himself. This did not just put him in the position of ascribed identity but also gave him membership to a group that he may or may not have wanted to be a part of. This group does not have a lot of privileges. In fact this group is a target of oppression. This is when a group has disadvantages or barriers that puts them in a specific place in society. These barriers are called institutions.

A great example of oppression is taking place in Libya today. There are two kinds of people in currently present in Libya. There is the military and there is the average citizen. The thing is that there is no way that the people decide whether or not to be a civilian or part of the military they have an ascribed identity. And then on top of having this ascribed identity they have been oppressed by the government and forced to live miserable lives. Although there is oppression there is also privilege. These are advantages that you are born with unless you believe in Horatio Alger who said that all men were equal, but some just worked harder than others and that is why they were better off. If other people worked as hard, they would be well off too. But If I am born a white straight male then more likely then not I am better off then any other circumstance.

Privilege can also be abused. One such idea is Egypt where the leader abused his power for a very long time. It angered the citizens and eventually caused an uproar, which took his privileges away.

People are oppressed but people with privilege oppress people. It is very important that we do not mix the two ideas together and cause an uproar like what happened in Egypt.