Rosenblum and Travis

Rosenblum and Travis conclude by describing how disheartening is to think of oneself as being a member of a stigmatized group. However, because characteristics of a stigmatized trait are similar across a great variety of master statuses, it is difficult to link individuals to a particular group. Also people who are stigmatized have often formed alliances with those who are not stigmatized to promote awareness and acceptance of indifferences.
Their argument is on the basis of master statuses and the impact they have on today’s society. Master status is described as, a status that has a profound effect on one’s life, which dominates other statuses one occupies; race, sex, sexual orientation, social class, and ability/disability are considered master statuses. The authors argue that a status such as race strongly affects occupation, income and health; which inadvertently creates consequences for an individual linked to a certain master status.
I believe the author’s position has a defining impact on the subject discussed here. The fact that the author is arguing the impact of master statuses from the standpoint of a self proclaimed acceptable status (being white, male, middle class), influences the question, “How can the author relate to the material and how sympathetic are they towards the subject?” Since their knowledge of the subject on opposite races, sexes, social class and ability is restricted to books and interviews, they lack the experience of growing up as an individual linked to a master status. We would get a greater understanding of the subject if alternate authors, who held certain statuses, provided us with their feeling and interpretation of the material.
It was a very interesting article. The authors stated that there would be many parts throughout the article that readers would disagree with and this held true. One thing I found true in which the author stated was that “we assume that statuses such as sexual orientation, skin color, social class and disabilities tell us something meaningful about a person.” After reading the article, I found myself becoming more sympathetic of opposite statuses from my own.