Marginal Groups and Mainstream American Culture

Marginal Groups and Mainstream American Culture

Author: Yolanda Estes

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13:

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They are often portrayed as outsiders: ethnic minorities, the poor, the disabled, and so many others—all living on the margins of mainstream society. Countless previous studies have focused on their pain and powerlessness, but that has done little more than sustain our preconceptions of marginalized groups. Most accounts of marginalization approach the subject from a distance and tend to overemphasize the victimization of outsiders. Taking a more intimate approach, this book reveals the personal, moral, and social implications of marginalization by drawing upon the actual experiences of such individuals. Multidisciplinary and multicultural, Identity on the Margin addresses marginalization at a variety of social levels and within many different social phenomena, going beyond familiar cases dealing with race, ethnicity, and gender to examine such outsiders as renegade children, conservative Christians, and the physically and mentally disabled. And because women are especially subject to the effects of marginalization, feminist concerns and the marginalization of sexual practices provide a common denominator for many of the essays. From problems posed by "complimentary racism" to the status of gays in Tony Blair's England, from the struggle of Native Americans to preserve their identities to the singular problems of single mothers, Identity on the Margin takes in a broad spectrum of cases to provide theoretical analysis and ethical criticism of the mechanisms of identity formation at the edges of society. In all of the cases, the authors demonstrate the need for theory that initiates social change by considering the ethical implications of marginalization and criticizing its harmful effects. Bringing together accounts of marginalization from many different disciplines and perspectives, this collection addresses a broad audience in the humanities and social sciences. It offers a basis for enhancing our understanding of this process—and for working toward meaningful social change.


Worldmaking

Worldmaking

Author: Dorinne Kondo

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2018-12-06

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1478002425

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In this bold, innovative work, Dorinne Kondo theorizes the racialized structures of inequality that pervade theater and the arts. Grounded in twenty years of fieldwork as dramaturg and playwright, Kondo mobilizes critical race studies, affect theory, psychoanalysis, and dramatic writing to trenchantly analyze theater's work of creativity as theory: acting, writing, dramaturgy. Race-making occurs backstage in the creative process and through economic forces, institutional hierarchies, hiring practices, ideologies of artistic transcendence, and aesthetic form. For audiences, the arts produce racial affect--structurally over-determined ways affect can enhance or diminish life. Upending genre through scholarly interpretation, vivid vignettes, and Kondo's original play, Worldmaking journeys from an initial romance with theater that is shattered by encounters with racism, toward what Kondo calls reparative creativity in the work of minoritarian artists Anna Deavere Smith, David Henry Hwang, and the author herself. Worldmaking performs the potential for the arts to remake worlds, from theater worlds to psychic worlds to worldmaking visions for social transformation.


Margins and Mainstreams

Margins and Mainstreams

Author: Gary Y. Okihiro

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0295805366

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In this classic book on the meaning of multiculturalism in larger American society, Gary Okihiro explores the significance of Asian American experiences from the perspectives of historical consciousness, race, gender, class, and culture. While exploring anew the meanings of Asian American social history, Okihiro argues that the core values and ideals of the nation emanate today not from the so-called mainstream but from the margins, from among Asian and African Americans, Latinos and American Indians, women, and the gay and lesbian community. Those groups in their struggles for equality, have helped to preserve and advance the founders’ ideals and have made America a more democratic place for all.


Researching Marginalized Groups

Researching Marginalized Groups

Author: Kalwant Bhopal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-07-16

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1317581210

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This edited collection explores issues that arise when researching "hard-to-reach" groups and those who remain socially excluded and marginalized in society, such as access, the use of gatekeepers, ethical dilemmas, "voice," and how such research contributes to issues of inclusion and social justice. The book uses a wide range of empirical and theoretical approaches to examine the difficulties, dilemmas and complexities surrounding research methodologies with particular groups. It emphasizes the importance of national and international perspectives in such discussions, and suggests innovative methodological procedures.


American Cultural History: A Very Short Introduction

American Cultural History: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Eric Avila

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-17

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0190200596

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The iconic images of Uncle Sam and Marilyn Monroe, or the "fireside chats" of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the oratory of Martin Luther King, Jr.: these are the words, images, and sounds that populate American cultural history. From the Boston Tea Party to the Dodgers, from the blues to Andy Warhol, dime novels to Disneyland, the history of American culture tells us how previous generations of Americans have imagined themselves, their nation, and their relationship to the world and its peoples. This Very Short Introduction recounts the history of American culture and its creation by diverse social and ethnic groups. In doing so, it emphasizes the historic role of culture in relation to broader social, political, and economic developments. Across the lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as language, region, and religion, diverse Americans have forged a national culture with a global reach, inventing stories that have shaped a national identity and an American way of life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.


Societies, Social Inequalities and Marginalization

Societies, Social Inequalities and Marginalization

Author: Raghubir Chand

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-04-04

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 3319509985

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This book provides an overview of marginality or marginalization, as a concept, characterizing a situation of impediments – social, political, economic, physical, and environmental – that impact the abilities of many people and societies to improve their human condition. It examines a wide range of examples and viewpoints of societies struggling with poverty, social inequality and marginalization. Though the book will be especially interesting for those looking for insights into the situation and position of ethnic groups living in harsh mountainous conditions in the Himalayan region, examples from other parts of the world such as Kyrgyzstan, Israel, Switzerland and Finland provide an opportunity for comparison of marginality and marginalization from around the world. Also addressed are issues such as livelihood, outmigration and environmental threats, taking into account the conditions, scale and perspective of observation. Throughout the text, particular attention is given to the context and concept of ‘marginalization’, which sadly remains a persistent reality of human life. It is in this context that this book seeks to advance our global understanding of what marginalization is, how it is manifested and what causes it, while also proposing remedial strategies.


Marginalization Processes across Different Settings

Marginalization Processes across Different Settings

Author: Sangeeta Bagga-Gupta

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2018-06-11

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 1527511928

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While issues of marginalization and participation have engaged scholars across various disciplines and domains, and a range of theoretical perspectives and methodological framings have been deployed in this enterprise, the research presented in this volume aligns itself to alternative traditions by focusing on people’s membership and participation across settings and institutional contexts. The work here, thus, focuses on the constitution of marginalization inside, outside and across a range of settings. It centre-stages marginalization and participation as action in the human world. Going beyond a focus on the marginalized or explanations of marginalization or comparing groups of the marginalized with the non-marginalized, a number of contributions focus on mundane processes inside, outside and across institutional settings in different geopolitical spaces. Other chapters in the book demonstrate the marginalization of specific analytical foci in the research process or hegemonies of national high-stake testing protocols and specific dialects in different geopolitical regions or in domains such as the sporting arena. In contrast to other studies on marginalization and participation, this book takes its point of departure in the complexities that characterize and shape both individuals and societies, past and present. Its chapters challenge demarcated fields of study and conceptions of identity framed marginalization and participation. Drawing attention to the fact that the centre (continues to) define the margins, the work presented here joins research efforts that highlight the need to focus on the constitution of marginalization and participation in a wide range of settings with the explicit aim of going beyond static boundaries that define the human state at different scales of becoming and beyond an understanding of development and progress in terms of a linear trajectory.


David Riesman’s Unpublished Writings and Continuing Legacy

David Riesman’s Unpublished Writings and Continuing Legacy

Author: Dr B Garrick Harden

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2015-08-28

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1472428501

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It has been over 60 years since David Riesman’s most famous work The Lonely Crowd brought him international acclaim. While this remains a best-selling sociology book, Riesman’s expertise and publications spanned far beyond the treatment of the American social character type offered there. This volume recasts and reintroduces Riesman by presenting newly discovered and unpublished manuscripts of his work, including excerpts from a previously unpublished critical biography of Freud that Riesman began with this assistant at the time, Philip Rieff, an interview in which Riesman describes in detail his early biography and his route into the social sciences, and other research notes and memoranda. With additional chapters analyzing the unpublished works, as well as discussions of Riesman as a public intellectual, his multi-disciplinary method of understanding society and his connections with figures such as Goffman and Fromm, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory and the history of American social science.


Subcultures, Bodies and Spaces

Subcultures, Bodies and Spaces

Author: Samantha Holland

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2018-09-28

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1787565114

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This edited collection provides sociological and cultural research that expands our understanding of the alternative, liminal or transgressive; theorizing the status of the alternative in contemporary culture and society.