Rankism & The Nobodies

[RedHead1420]

This is from The Week magazine, which I know nothing about, someone else posted this on another forum I read, but I thought it was interesting because it can be related to twentysomethings who are dealing with issues like this at work - how you are looked down on or treated with less respect beause you simply are younger than other people. Or, it could be reversed to apply to those that are older and therefore aren't considered to be on the same page with younger people. Anyway, here it is:


"Rankism": The Last Acceptable Prejudice

The biggest obstacle to equality today isn't racism or sexism, said author and former college president Robert Fuller in Newday. It's "rankism." That's the vast, unspoken rift between the "somebodies" -- people with status and power -- and the "nobodies" -- people low on the social pecking order.

Just look around you. At offices, schools, athletic fields, and hospitals, you'll see somebodies treating nobodies with the kind of hostile contempt with which white men once demeaned blacks. "A boss harasses an employee. A customer demeans a waiter. A coach bullies a player. A teacher humiliates a student." The nobodies swallow their shame and their rage because they fear the consequences of speaking up.

In our society, sadly, the routine abuse of the powerless is considered normal -- the price of having a job, or of being underage. Obviously, the solution is not to abolish rank itself. The solution is to break the taboo on discussing rank -- and to demand that all institutions accept the principle that people "are equal in dignity." A human-dignity movement sounds unlikely now, but remember: Blacks rose up, and so did women and gays. Nobodies -- your turn is next.

[pisces2473]

Isn't that what unions are supposed to do? Create a forum for the nobodies to join together to get equality from the powers that be? Or am I disillusioned? Grrr...

Ageism is also something that needs to be watched...and I mean young people discriminated by older people, not the reverse...

[seren1411]

Oh, but that isn't ageism... that's 'the voice of experience' and us younger types are too naive and inexperienced to know how FORTUNATE we are to have older people available to tell us where we're going wrong.

[pisces2473]

Oh Seren...your post is dripping with sarcasm! LOL That's just like my boss, who thinks she's my mother.

[seren1411]

DRIP! ;)

I hate when people act like that - it's not particularly sweet or kindly - it's just annoying. And patronising. Very, very patronising.

For example - I get on really well with my supervisor but (like Wordsmith's grievance w/ her boss) he does have a habit of calling me 'kiddo'. Which, goes without saying, I hate.

In normal circumstances I'd be attempting to feed someone their teeth for that, but:

i) he's my supervisor

ii) he has this really, really soft-spoken British voice and he simply can't carry off using words like 'guys' and 'kiddo' (think - a wimpier version of Mr Giles from the early seasons of Buffy, when he was all Tweed-Suit Man). So I'm too busy fighting inappropriate laughter.

[coll214]

I'm always complaining about this topic!!

My supervisor constantly tries to give me advice on things; my apartment, how to handle something, dating...but she's generally nice about it even though I don't ask for any. I'm guessing she's that way w/ her kids too.

My business manager likes to treat me like i'm a 5 yr old. It's like she doesn't want to take me seriously just because i'm younger than her...

And why is it that people feel the need to call the younger people in the office kiddo? i get it constantly from other coworkers!! How would they like it if i started calling them old-timers? lol

So has anyone ever had a problem w/ being the supervisor for someone older than them?? There's one where i am who i think resents me for it...:confused:

[pisces2473]

Yes, very patronizing. It's almost humiliating--I was sick on Weds. and had to call out of work. My boss asked if I was taking something for my allergies. No dumbass, I enjoy it when my eyes water, my nose runs and I cannot breathe. Besides, I'm 23 and have gotten this far in life! My mom is a nurse and I am a graduate of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance Training School. I'm betting that when my boss was my age, she was still living at home--she's Italian and her parents emigrated here when she was a little girl. Nothing against Italians--all my best friends are--but it is a cultural thing.

[coll214]

Now Jen, talk about dripping w/ sarcasm :p!!

I work w/ 7 women in my office who are all at least 15 yrs older than me...These 7 ALL like to hover when i get back from being sick and see how i am, what i'm taking for it, and give other remedies to try...I already have one mother and pseudo- stepmother....i don't need anyone else telling me what to try!!

I'd love to know if they had to deal w/ this when they were working too and if they hated being patronized for things....

You may have a point there Jen about your Italian boss; my friends who are still living at home are Italian and one has No plans of ever leaving.

[pisces2473]

Tee hee :p

At least the other women in my office leave me alone. For that, I am thankful :)

My boss is just weird...I don't get her...:confused:

[Benwa]

I'm sure I've said it here before but you can't have civilization without inequality. It requires the elite few to ride on the backs of the masses. Its a requirement, not a nasty side effect. It can't be remedied because we still continue to think civilization is such a fantastic thing. When something goes wrong it isn't the way we live, but chalked up to the infinite flaws in human nature. I say bull! We are perfectly fine. our way of living is to blame, not us. Although we created this way of living and it can be argued if we created this way and its not working for almost everyone, then we are flawed. I think we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Planting some field sounded like a good idea. Who would've thought it would lead to this. A way of life were we go from using spears to dropping atomic bombs.

Wake up to a hope in a different way to live. Forget revolution and go with evolution. Evolve away from civilization. Its the next big hurdle of humanity. We better hurry because its getting awfully crowded here.

[pisces2473]

Benwa, have you ever read the economic philosophy of Thorstein Veblen? I think you'd enjoy it.

[seren1411]

Sarcasm? I thought it was your allergies making your drip, Jen?

[pisces2473]

Seren, I was being serious in my post to Benwa...not sarcastic!

Unless you mean my Emerson post...then yes, I was being sarcastic, LOL.

[seren1411]

no - wasn't refering to that post it hadn't appeared - we must have been posting at about the same time - was Emerson post

[pisces2473]

ahhhh okay then!