Is the problem Race, Culture or Class?

Question

Is what divides and separates people due to:

Race: "They are not like me."
Culture: " I cant speak or relate to them."
Class: " The have bad manners / They behave poorly.

Answer 1

The problem is culture, culture encompasses everything, every race and every class is subject to the culture of the society in which they live, if society says poor people are bad people then people of that society will believe that until the culture evolves and changes.

Answer 2

I think that it is culture that makes us feel that others have bad manners or behave poorly. In many places, those of different classes have entirely different cultures.

I worked in a clinic years ago when I was young and pregnant. We had a contract to do physicals for a lot of Saudi young men who were coming to the States to study.

Every single one of them was rude to me! And they looked at me in a way that made me very uncomfortable. Now, these were rich young men, and I was pretty poor. They were also from the aristocracy. So was it class? They had much darker skin than my family, so was it "race"?

I believe it was culture. Not only was I very obviously near my due date, I also wore very short skirts and no wedding ring. (It was the seventies, so I had no problem with it, but even some older people in my town were offended.) To them I looked like a whore! Besides which, in their culture, perhaps speaking too much with a woman was considered overly friendly.

When I thought about it a while, and watched their behavior, I realized that they really did nothing rude, but that their behavior was very different from what I expected.

I really believe that cultural differences, which include things like how much to speak, where and when to look at other people, how close to stand--culture encompasses so much more than we realize--cause the problems between us.

In spite of believing that, I still tense up when I meet young men who look like them. Silly, but true.

Answer 3

I personally believe it's all three.

People tend to gravitate towards their own kind. All three of these things are dividing factors in everyday life.

However, I believe that not all are equal. It really depends on the person. Some people are more racist. Some are more elitists. But I think that all are all three.....in varying degrees.

Answer 4

Racial politics. You are not like them, its their fault you are an under achiever.