ABSTRACT
In all societies individuals are differentiated by biologically and socially defined criteria. Everywhere people are ranked in hierarchical fashion, as superior or inferior, according to those attributes that are considered important. Even in the simplest, most isolated societies, where subsistence is apt to be the primary concern, distinctions are made on the basis of age, gender, and kinship ties and, often, on “character.” When given inferior positions in the social order, individuals often reflect in their attitudes and behavior, the status imposed upon them. “Racism” and sexism”: the two terms, referring, respectively, to categorical discrimination against members of a particular “racial” category or against women based on assumptions of inferiority, frequently resound with a kind of connectedness. “Equality” itself is often connected to the idea of “freedom,” but they are clearly quite different and, in some ways, opposing concepts.
