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i wonder. if we choose to support our family in getting jobs at our company (nepotism) is it because we feel inferior? or if we are ageist toward the elderly, do we do it because we fear their power? i do not doubt that many of the -isms we have serve this purpose to some varying degree, but we cannot remove the realm of things that are done because they can be, or because they have always been done.
many americans are nationalistic because they truly feel that america is great, but many racists act the way they do simply because they were socialized into it, and havent given it the thought necessary to see the idiocy of their actions.
moreover, what of the sex differential in pay? women make 76 cents for every dollar that men make. granted, much of this could be because men are threatened by women in the workplace, but entertain the hypothesis that women are still making less simply because no one has made any significant changes in the way the capitalist world is run (the way the game is played, so to speak). if modeling theory is at all correct we base our behaviors off those that are powerful and rewarded for their actions, and if these powerful leaders are seen as untouchable by the law for discriminatory practices of one form or another, is it any wonder that these practices continue?
Food for thought
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