by Rebecca Jo Dakota
I trudged up the hill to an old university building, one with no air conditioning, then up the stairs to the classroom. Students settled at desks for the next Sociology 101 lecture, trying to stay awake in the warm room. Perhaps I was a little more interested than the others, as I had recently been fascinated to learn the social research fact that salad dressing choices were a predictor of socioeconomic status. Did you know that bleu cheese dressing is more likely to be chosen by those with higher education levels? I wanted to learn more about patterns in social behaviors.
It was that afternoon in 1971 when a paradigm shift was sparked in me, a radical shift in my beliefs. It set a course of understanding in me that was unexpected and profound. Four words the professor said that day initiated an intellectual radicalization: from a passive, conservative, naive white girl into a lifelong feminist and social justice activist.
That day, I scribbled notes as the professor began her lecture on institutions: organizations founded for a religious, educational, social, or similar purpose; identified as “large important organizations” like a university, church, or bank. Informal institutions direct unwritten norms, procedures, conventions, systems and traditions embedded in a culture or society, like marriage.
The content was as expected. We all knew about banks, schools and churches. We knew about the global Catholic church and the Bank of America. We had been raised in and lived with these institutions. I wondered why it was necessary to spend a whole lecture on the ways in which society is “organized.”
But then the professor drew a huge chart on the board, like a pyramid. She drew several horizontal lines across it, dividing it into sections. Pointing to the tippy top, she asked us, “Who makes the most money?” We answered, “Professional men.” Who makes the next most? “Other men.” Who makes less? “Women.” Who makes the least? “Black men. And Black women make even less.” We reviewed who was at the top, who was in the middle, and who was on the lower end according to income, education, race, where they live, medical access, religious group, physical ability, appearances, age. (No mention of straight/gay.) Finally, she asked, “Who runs these institutions?”
The professor said she had four words for us to consider. Those four words revolutionized me, led me to get a master’s degree in Sociology and work for social justice organizations as my career. The four words? “Who decides? Who benefits?”
And there was the shift. These organizations were run, almost exclusively, by white, straight, educated, Christian, males over 40. They were the boards of directors, the CEOs, the senators, the doctors, the pope. They created the ads that told Americans what to buy, chose the content of magazines and newspapers, owned the TV stations. They delivered the evening news. They defined the world. “Ah,” I thought, “now my eyes are open.”
I still ask those four words.
Rebecca Jo Dakota loves being a badass older woman, still keenly observant of what needs to change and still willing to do her part. She thrives in Albuquerque, NM.