The not-so-hidden injuries of class and caste

Thwaites touched on an important point about the class and caste divisions that have evolved to become a psychosocial barrier to the growth, development and common-sense principles of the Jamaican society.

He summed up this view in the following remarks: “One curious feature of our class system is the asymmetry in respect and support between those at the bottom and those of the top. The majority of Jamaicans will vote for and support a person from a privileged background if they believe she’s genuine and means the country well. The privileged, however, are genuinely loath to return the favour.”

Thwaites’ observation of the hidden injuries of class in the Jamaican society is both timely and worthy of debate.

In fact, I would like to propose that any introspection that is being carried out on both sides of the political divide needs to be informed by new ways of challenging our ideas of each other in Jamaican society. Thwaites raised the issue of the humanity and common sense that resides in those who are defined as the lower classes.

According to him, they will vote for women and men of the power classes if they think they are genuine. Of course, we could argue about how genuine such persons are when it comes to any sort of commitment to poor women, especially poor black women.

Social scientists in different disciplines have alerted us to the fact that plastic smiles, fancy words and lovely, exotic attire have been the smokescreens behind which fine ladies try to seduce both men and women on the other side of the railroad tracks.

But, as Daniel Thwaites posits, the women of the self-identified middle, upper and intellectual chattering classes cannot bring themselves to even conceive of supporting a woman who is of humble beginnings.

Volumes have been written on the issue, and at this important transitional point in Jamaican political history, the analysts and opinion makers should begin to rethink their methodology when they try to answer questions about the gendered class divides in contemporary Jamaica. Traditionally, we have couched our arguments in terms of the impact of poverty and marginalisation on poor men, women and children.

Our sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists have had a field day in setting out models of dysfunctional families, the slave mentality and the lack of sound values and attitudes among the poor. And they have consistently passed on these one-sided views to young people who enter the educational system. That is why we are all experts of downtown types, country folks and market women.

It is, therefore, timely for us to reverse our mindset and focus on the dysfunctional mindset of the uptown brigade and the classes of women who are paraded with their drooping underarms in one-shouldered bean bags on the social pages of the daily newspapers. These are the women whose mouths dropped open after the election results of December 29, 2011. Two weeks later, their bottom lips have not yet connected with the top ones.

We now need a new cadre of therapists to help these misguided women, who colluded in the grand design of the patriarchy to defame and disrespect Portia Simpson Miller. We now need to find ways of dealing with the impact of the hidden injuries of class on the power brokers who unrelentingly bashed Simpson Miller during this latest election campaign.

In discussing the hidden injuries of class, authors Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb, in their well-researched and insightful 1972 book titled The Hidden Injuries of Class, remind us that the human condition and historical blueprints predispose us to be in a constant search for dignity. They argued that anthropological literature reinforces the idea that tribal societies believe that their peculiar customs are the standard by which everyone else should live.

It is, therefore, not unusual that some classes of people in a wide cross section of contemporary society treat people of other classes with contempt and with overt hostility. It is as if our class credentials are always at risk by those whom we have defined as the ‘other’, or the underclass.
Racial divisions, skin-shade variations, socio-economic privilege, language usage, and linkages to colonial and religious histories are some of the planks that are used to exclude large numbers of citizens in many societies.

According to Sennett and Cobb, “The strong still oppress the weak, not only because they can, but because they feel entitled to do so.” Here in Jamaica, it is not too far-fetched to argue that the negative ideas about Simpson Miller which were highlighted by the G2K advertisements in the recent election campaign backfired because over the past 200 years, the majority of poor, black women have developed a sense of their worth, their strength and their role in holding on to their inherent human dignity.

They have come to the point where they refuse to allow others to define who they are. These women make up more than 50 per cent of the voting population and they know how to influence their sons and daughters, and the men who might still be a feature of their lives.

Analyses
Sennett and Cobb, in delving into historical and contemporary analyses of the hidden injuries of class, came to the conclusion that “dignity is as compelling a human need as food or sex”.
We can, therefore, argue that no analysis of the 2011 election will be complete without a deep understanding that poor and working-class women of Jamaica know who they are. They always sought to assert their dignity.
Yes, the road had been long and the many detours have seduced many of our sisters and daughters. In spite of these twists and turns, our grandmothers, mothers and daughters agree with Dr Henley Morgan, who in a recent article described Portia Simpson Miller as a phenomenal woman. In other words, through her courage, resilience, intellect and warrior spirit, she has given us the model of the escape route from ‘massa plantation’ mentality to the parlours of the great house.