Running head: DOMINATE/SUBORDINATE

Dominate/Subordinate Reflection Deborah Morrison Georgia State University

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INTRODUCTION When I first read over this assignment, I was afraid that I would not identify with any dominate groups. I knew which groups I belonged to in the subordinate area, however I think it is hard for someone who has felt oppressed much of their life to recognize their ability to be a part of a dominate group. In this reflection essay I truly inspected my life in its entirety, so I could bring forth the truthfulness of my dominate place in society. I was surprised by what I discovered about myself and my life. I think it is important that I recognize that I am just as dominate as I am subordinate in society, because I believe this recognition will help me achieve my goal to increase my cultural competence and grow my skill development. DOMINATE GROUPS Homeowner/Renter: I fall into the dominate group with in my personal life because none of my family owns a home, and only a few of my closet friends own their own homes as well. Many of my family and friends have shared with me that I am privileged due to my ability to obtain home ownership, especially my best friend from childhood who is currently renting her home. She has told me that being a renter versus being a home owner is the lack of control as well as the lack of ability to provide stability for your family. Being a renter requires the renter to adhere to the home owners rules, unexpected inspection of the home without prior knowledge, and possibility of no lease renewal. After reflecting on the things she has shared with me about being a renter, I have to admit I am happy that I am not in her situation. I enjoy my privacy, my control over my home, and having stability for myself and my family. Married Mother/Single Mother: I identify as the dominate group over my single mother friends, because I am a married mother. My friends and my sister lack the parental support financially, physically, and emotionally from their childrens fathers. My friends and my sister have to work full time to support their families, while I only work every 6th weekend and go to school fulltime. My children and I have the financial, physical and emotional stability that my single parent friends and sister lack. I never realized how privileged I am or how uncomplicated my life is compared to so many single mothers or just single women over thirty I have in my life. Single Father/Single Mother: I never thought being raised by a single father would be consider a dominate group. However, after much reflection I realized that I am very privileged within the African American community in which I grew up, because a majority of my friends were being raised by a single mother with an absentee father. As a child I felt more subordinate in this area, because I could never relate to my peers regarding how it feels to have a mother/daughter relationship. Now, that I am an adult I take

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such pride in the fact that I was raised by a single father. I have noticed that I find some joy in reminding my peers and family how blessed I was for having my father being a part of my life, because he helped mold me into the woman I am today as well as showing me how a man supposed to treat a woman. I definitely take advantage of my dominance in this area with in my personal life, because I feel I am stronger emotional than my peers.

SUBORDINATE GROUPS Overweight/Skinny: According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (n.d.), lookism is the prejudice or discrimination based on physical discrimination based on physical appearance and especially physical appearance believed to fall short of societal notions of beauty.For the past 6 years I have gained over 100 lbs., which is frown upon in my family. My mother is Korean, and she constantly reminds me that I should do whatever it takes to lose the fat. My extended family ridicules me every time I visit them, because my grandmother always stressed the importance of being thin, but healthy. My sister asks me daily, How did you get so big? She went as far as to let me know that she is embarrassed to be seen with me, to acknowledge that we are sisters, because I look so different than what people remember of me. I am constantly reminded that I am extremely over weight when I watch television, go shopping, go to work, and hang out with my friends. On television there are weight loss commercials, reality shows, and people who often talk about how beautiful all the thin actresses are, but never the ones that are overweight. All of my friends are thin or nicely shaped, and they are always telling me how they refuse to be fat so they do whatever it takes to maintain their bodies. Being an outcast has made me isolate myself from others. Im always worried that someone is viewing me as lazy, nasty, or greedy, because I have been told I am those things from the people around me. Pharmacist/Pharmacy Technician: According to Brenda Turner (2012), pharmacists have more responsibility and more education. Pharmacist is responsible for the technicians and for compliance with laws; the pharmacist position requires more education and training. However, pharmacy technicians have no responsibility in the pharmacy, because technicians have no standardized training or educational requirements (Turner, 2012). I feel I am subordinate in this profession, because I am a pharmacy technician. The dominate group in my profession are the pharmacist, because they obtain a doctorate while I only have two years of college, a certification, and a technician license. Majority of the pharmacy technicians are people of color, and we are treated with very little respect, even though many technicians have college degrees.

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However, due to the fact that most pharmacist consider themselves worthy of their title because of their education, they will remind technicians that we are below them, they are our superiors, and they will remind us that they did not go to school for over 8 years to pull a tablet or mix an IV when thats our job. When a pharmacist speaks to me in such a manner I become very angry, because I feel they are no better than me. I have had pharmacists ask me how I am able to afford a home or feed my children. Most of the pharmacists I have encountered believed that all technicians are poor. I can truly say that I feel the most subordinate in my life is within my professional life. Religious/Nonreligious: The subordinate group I think I identify with is the spiritual but nonreligious group, while the Christians are the dominate group. I do not attend church nor was that a part of my culture growing up. However, I am reminded by church followers especially Christian Baptists that I am a sinner or I do not believe in God because I do not go to church. I do not agree with them, because I feel you can have a spiritual connection with out attending a church, but many of the people of my life and work are Christians who will typically outcast anyone who do not go to church. One of my previous employers told me offline that I was not given a job promotion, because even though I exceeded the job requirements as well as the other candidate, they based the decision on that the other person went to the same church as the director while they were unsure if I believed in God, because I did not go to church. I told my employer that this was discrimination, but I had no proof, because there was no record of this besides their word against mine. I was told they told human resources the tie breaker was based on that the other person had a degree, but the job did not require a college degree. CONCLUSION I can admit I was aware in certain areas that I was dominating as well as subordinate. I am very aware I am dominating over my single parent peers, and even though I can empathize with my peers, I do not wish to trade places with them. However, I am not sure if I have a tendency to oppress my peers with the dominance I have over them, but I will communicate with my friends in the future to make sure I am not oppressing them. Also, Ive realized that in my role as a pharmacy technician I am oppressed, because I lack decision making in my work life, and I am exposed to disrespectful treatment due to my lack of status (Lum, 2011, pp. 69). Powerlessness is a form of oppression, and this why I want to be a social worker so I can be an advocate for the powerless. This reflection has brought to my attention of how I have assimilated to the conditions of being oppressed within these groups. I feel this discovery was the most shocking for me within in this assignment. I am hoping as I continue my journey I will learn the skills and techniques to properly address awareness regarding the dominate groups that are oppressing me.

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References Lookism. (n.d.). In Merriam-Websters collegiate dictionary. Retrieved from http://merriamwebster.com/dictionary/lookism Lum, Doman. (2011). Culturally competent practice: A frame work for understanding diverse groups and justice issues (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 69. Turner, Brenda. (2012, May 2). Career path: pharmacists or pharmacy technician? [May 2, 2012]. Retrieved from http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid= 003458