Gregory

We often assume that social constructs are subconscious social agreements foisted by the community as a whole upon the minority in question. In his article, Steven Gregory not only offers a new perspective of the factors of a social construct (as multi-layered and faceted with various social assumptions) but also on who, in fact, controls the social constructs. Through one case example, he shows that the constructs are not necessarily as rigid as we might believe and that they are even changeable by the individual. In Lefrak City, Edna Baskin lead a small revolution in the perception of the black community by the outsiders and insiders alike. For years the residents of the apartment complexes struggled against black prejudice but through slow, mediated organization, new policies and opportunities and perspectives were born and modified the social construct of the black community in that area. The crucial turning point, though, occurred not through appeal to the larger, white community, but through the cleanup competition, in which the black youth actively rehabilitated their own image, showing that they were not, as they were perceived to be, crime- and drug-ridden youth, but caring, productive citizens. Through this initiative, the black community reached out and affiliated with other neighborhood communities and strengthened their image in the public eye. Baskin also was able to rehabilitate the image of the impoverished, large black family into an image of a homey community with family-values, with mothers and their children, with fathers in leadership positions, and their sons following in their lead. Gender-prejudice and economic distinctions also came into play in the images of this community, but in Lefrak City, they were ultimately able to transcend previous barriers and create new socially-accepted frameworks. To be sure, this could be seen as an isolated incident, and not necessarily the beginning of a movement to redefine social constructs everywhere, but from this, its evident that it can be done, and it was done, by its own members.

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