Inequality

QUESTION ONE:
In his article, “The Importance of Being Beautiful”, Sidney Katz defines person perception as, the many ways in which physical attractiveness-or the lack of it-affects all aspects of one’s life. This definition parallels another well known saying, “perception is reality”.  In other words, if someone sees an individual as beautiful, then they must be just that.  I agree with Katz that the halo and horns effect does indeed come into play beginning at one’s birth and continues throughout various stages of life.  Those graced with the halo effect are assumed to be more generous, trustworthy, sociable, modest, sensitive, interesting, and sexually responsive, simply on the basis of their physical appearance. While those doomed with the horns effect are assumed to be mean, sneaky, dishonest, anti-social, and a poor sport.  Just because someone looks beautiful on the outside does not mean they are beautiful on the inside, but that is indeed the general perception.

We are a very superficial society and the halo and horns effect demonstrates that clearly. While life may not be a breeze for every single beautiful person, by and large those of physical appeal have a distinct advantage over those who are not beautiful.  It is rare to come across an individual in a power position of a company who does not fit into society’s image of attractiveness.  While I agree with Katz that the horns and halo effect does come into play throughout an individual’s life, I don’t necessarily agree that every person would assign beautiful people characteristics of the halo effect.  For instance, personally I believe I tend to reverse the roles of the horn and halo effects.  Instead of assuming a beautiful person has the characteristics of the halo effect; my first instinct is to the contrary, I assign them the characteristics of the horns effect. Perhaps due to personal life experience of dealing with beautiful people who turned out to be ugly on the inside, or perhaps it is jealousy, I’m not quite certain, maybe a combination of the both.  But overall, yes, I believe physically attractive people are shown preference in pretty much every area of American life.


QUESTION TWO:
In his article “The Use of Poverty: The Poor Pay All” Herbert Gans suggests alternatives to fill the functions currently held by the poor.  All of which seem quite logical and practical, but unlikely to be implemented in the current capitalist economy of America.  Each alternative provided by Gans would end up causing problems for those of affluence. And since those of affluence also hold the power of the nation, it is unlikely for any alternatives like Gans’ to be put in place.  I am hard pressed to provide any other specific alternatives of my own.  As I related above, those in power make the decisions on how our country operates, so the only way to make change is to change who holds the reins of power. I believe by electing Barack Obama, our nation has made a step in the right direction. It is up to President Obama to follow through on implementing the “Change” we hoped for, the “Change” we still need. 

QUESTION THREE:
This assignment, to describe what differences I imagine I would experience in my life, if my race (and my family’s race) changed to black while I was sleeping last night, is the hardest writing prompt I’ve ever received.  This assignment has made me look at my life from the perspective of race, which is not something I’m accustomed to doing at this point in my life.  As a teenager, I was forced to look at it because of my preference for dating black guys. There were very few black girls in my school or in my boyfriend’s neighborhoods that were accepting of my relationships (not that it was any of their business). The majority were disapproving and very vocal about it, and this was the cause of some altercations. 

But looking at my life now, as a 34 year old Caucasian woman married to a Caucasian man race doesn’t often come to mind. My husband and I own a construction business together and upon reflection I realized almost exclusively our customers have been very wealthy Caucasians. Is that because of our race? If we were black would we have been awarded the same jobs? I would like to think so, but I can’t say for sure.  Looking at my social circle, the majority is made up of Caucasians also, with some Hispanic and a few Black people as well.  Would I still fit in with the same group? I certainly do not believe any of my friends are racist in any way, but it is odd that there isn’t more diversity among our cultures and ethnicities. Would we still live in our predominately Caucasian neighborhood in Jupiter Farms? Would we be accepted by the community? I don’t know. Would my religious beliefs be different? No. Would my parenting style be different? No. Would my ethical and moral beliefs be different? No. There would be no difference in the schools my children currently attend. Would they still have the same friends there? I would like to think so.  Would my commitment to my marriage be any different? No. 

A physical difference I can imagine would be the amount of time given to hair care.  Growing up my best friend was black, and the amount of time and effort that was required to maintain her hair vastly outweighed mine. She often wouldn’t go swimming at the beach because she had just gotten her hair done, and the salt water would damage the effects of the straightening process.  I remember her remarking occasionally to me how I should appreciate how easy my hair was.  

Thinking through the aspects of my life it seems that the only major difference I can imagine would be the decisions of others to accept or not accept us into their lives as friends or hire us to handle their construction renovations, and anyone that wouldn’t accept us because of our race is obviously not anyone we would want to associate with anyway.