Complete 8 pages APA formatted article: Immovable Magic. The author of the article reviews the work of Bourdieu in order to identify how these inequalities are maintained. He for instance looks at how Bourdieu (89) constructs his theory of inequality or symbolic power. To look at this issue, he looks at three elements that make the implementation of inequalities to be possible in any society, whether it is gender inequity or it is social inequality.
He argues that symbolic power is the power to construct reality. In this case, the dominant group is able to construct reality for the dominated group. The dominated group feels that the status quo is the way things are supposed to be and there are no alternatives. This applies to gender inequality where in most cases it has been made possible and maintained through the fact that most females feel that the way things are supposed to be. For instance, for so long, women in many societies were confined in their homes and were also confined to less important roles in the society, they did not question this because according to them, this was the way things were supposed to be and so even though they were being put to disadvantage, they could not complain because this was the reality to them. This kind of reality is constructed by those who are dominant in order for the dominated to feel that this is the way things are supposed to be and so there will be no resistance.
While this theory about inequity is applicable to gender inequality, it can also be applied to almost any other kind of inequality. For instance, inequality between various social classes has also achieved this way where those who are either lower social classes live in the mirage that the way things are in the way they are supposed to be. This can be best seen in earlier social systems such as the feudal systems where the society was classified into three major classes with each class having its own privileges and classes. The clergy and the nobility have privileges that were too much.
