Answer to Collin’s Claim(s) of Resistance to Ideological and Fundamental Family Structure

In the paper “It’s All In the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation” by Patricia Collins, one of her arguments is to reform the power ‘family values’ hold in areas of gender, race, and nation social politics. One means listed by Collins is asking to reform the aspects of family that support hierarchical thinking and reject them. Resistance of this sort could look like small adjustments to the social organization of local communities. These changes could be seen in more cross-culture community engagement, social events hosted by religious organizations, or city/town hosted seminars. These suggestions would only find success if all parties were eager in sharing their cultures and experiences with one another. Learning about new cultures and ideas is the first step in introducing change. The next step would be seeing those ideas ‘in real life’ to actualize and normalize them.     

    In terms of effectiveness in relation to other strategies political movements use, rejecting hierarchical thinking would need to be introduced over time. I’m not sure there would be a lot of political support from senior office-holders since most rely on religious, national, or literal family values for reelection and public perception. If there was a politician that had a ‘sound’ reason for supporting a reconfiguration of ‘family values’ that would receive a lot of public support, it’d need to be subliminally introduced over time. I wouldn’t think its effectiveness would be bolstered by outright removal and subsequent introduction of a new system.

In conclusion, Collin’s paper was really insightful with its analysis of society’s intersectionality in relation to gender, race, and national social politics.