Social distinctions and meaningful difference

It is inherent that society is primarily bound by culture and traditions. It is therefore an

established fact that racism will exist no matter how much we try to establish an understanding
of humans in terms of language, religion or social settings; this is the driving force behind all
forms of social distinctions. Social distinctions have various categories that may be based on
religion, race, culture or creed or gender; with each one having its own way of differencing itself
from others. Of all the social differences, racism and gender forms the prime source of all
distinctions. Other than that, language forms another social distinction which can be used as a
discourse to a contributing factor of behavior. We therefore behave within these parameters
which may be well ingrained into our social structure; and often we are unaware of how we think
and behave as an individual. Rather most of our behavior is centered on a collectively social
structure. Therefore, we are programmed to act in a certain way unconsciously and perhaps
unintentionally. On the flip side of the coin we also have empathy based on how others are with
respect to how we are. When we are in a position of authority we tend to exhibit both an
authoritarian as well as the feeling of empathy for the other. Hence our social structured has been
established based on these prejudices which we seem to have no power over. We as humans live
as a group with a certain strait of culture and traditions passed on by our forefathers. Therefore,
creating the right mix of culture, religion, caste and creed as well as gender is very difficult.
Society has to be in a constant state of difference, otherwise we would not be able to distinguish
ourselves for the rest of the party. But these distinctions can have very negative effects on
individuals, society and a nation as a whole. When we try to understand one another we try to
understand their language first. This is because language creates the bridge between
communicating with a genre of peoples. But often before we begin to communicate we feel

adversely affected by how they behave with each other that may be based on some kind of
background knowledge of society or a country. We tend to understand the opposite in terms of
the background knowledge we may possess and hence act accordingly. However, there may be
other prejudices that may exist within a social setting itself. Human beings, although being
highly socialized and individualized are strictly bound to culture and traditions as an
individualized group. By individualized group I infer that they feel they have identified that right
social mix and can therefore make meaningful differences to set themselves apart from the lot.
Each society thinks that they are highly individualized as a group and that they have the right
mix to create the utopic society above everyone else. They may include many prejudices such as
superiority in race, language, religion, caste, creed, ethos, gender and even technology. However,
who is right or wrong can be measured on how they interact with other social settings apart from
their own depends on how much we learn about each other and how much we respect each
others social settings and ethos no matter how diverse it may be from ours. There may be very
large differences in culture or very small differences, but it depends on how we accept them and
adopt the best of each. But on the contrary, some differences are too vague and large to create
conflict and social disruption. Our social prejudices are such that what is good for us may not be
good for others and vice versa. Hence when we try to learn about a culture it is important that we
learn its language and social settings to create congenial relationship to bind with one another.
This is how we are then able to exchange ideas and appreciate each other.
But even with then there exist a great diversity of social difference within the framework of a
society within itself. A nation consists of diverse groups of people with diverse social settings but
sometimes there could be a conflict of class, gender or religion within each societys framework
itself. Language then, alone cannot cope up with these differences. The strongest differences

found among peoples is tradition. A particular type of society may be strictly bound to tradition
and may use a mix of other prejudices such as include religious doctrines affixed within the
cultural framework. For instance, the gender difference in a male dominated society. Women in
every society are subject to discrimination whether it be in the East or the West, it is the same
everywhere but we often try to make some kind of meaningful difference to it. Women Islam are
truly given equal rights but its the machismo effect that creates the conflict in a Islamic male
dominated society. Men make laws and women just need to follow is the social underpinning of
an Islamic society. Therefore, Islam is not wrong, the problem of women being given equal
rights and justice is mainly bound by culture and tradition. Other Eastern culture of different
religion have the same type of prejudice and are no different from the religious point of view.
Other culture may use religion, yet others may employ other forms to discriminate women from
men. The West is also no different, although women are given rights but, are those rights
justified. In the West, women may be used as objects of fancy. Why do women need to be used in
advertisements targeted for males? Somewhere and somehow there is discrimination. In the
Eastern culture why are women considered as objects of sale as seen in some pushtun tribes.
Girls are objects of sale and males need to have the money to buy them. Therefore, its not the
religion that is the problem, it is the culture and the traditions that are causing such discourses in
the fabric of what is known as an Islamic culture. Similarly, in other modern cultures women are
differentiated in different ways, such as in the case of women athletes. It is a fact that athletes
want to become famous for the reason that they may be appreciated in society as in other fields
of sport, acting or likewise. Here too, It has been found that women are highly discriminated and
that male are more dominant that females and want to be more recognized than women. We tend
to take an adverse turn when we see a successful woman above men. This is the reason why there

are so little firms where women are not CEOs of large firms. Males think that women are simply
incapable and take this dictum for granted. However, there are other prejudices in society apart
from gender. Color and ethnicity too plays an important role in the social distinction. A white
man may not be friends with a black or likewise. the preference is purely based on social
acceptance and rejection of a particular sect. In addition, racism is one of the most dominant
prejudice of all. We tend to base our existence on the premise of race. And the more superior we
become in terms of knowledge and technology we tend to separate ourselves out of the
framework and create our own space and hence place forward a reasonable meaningful
difference. We act then according the how we view things and therefore stop ourselves from
accepting other cultures and their norms. Infact, as we become a superior race, we tend to
enforce these norms on other races which again brings us to the same point, that the more we
distinguish ourselves the more we tend to create that conflict and hence the cycle of social
distinction becomes even more complex and conflicting in the long run.