Topdog/Underdog: A Sociological Approach to Norms and Inequality Anonymous College

Through the writing and reception of her play Topdog/Underdog, Suzan Lori Parks sheds light on the notion that norms may either challenge the individual to surpass expectation, or they may limit one’s perceived identity to fit what is considered a norm. When Parks won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002, an African American female achieving this recognition was unprecedented (Garrett). She did not stand alone as a black female Pulitzer Prize winner; the first out of all 21 Pulitzer Prize categories was the poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1950). However, out of hundreds of winners in Parks’ category, it took 84 years for a recipient to be both black and female (“Annie Allen, by Gwendolyn Brooks (Harper)"). This is not only the result of biased juries, but of systematic inequalities facing minorities in the United States. Our society claims to be a meritocracy, but in fact those with money and privilege are propelled much farther than those without them.

Inequality is a problem that is seemingly unsolvable; it is a component of every society. Cycles of poverty have grown to produce opposing beliefs: inequality may inspire an individual ambition to thrive or simply discourage any dreams for the future. The former is an essential result of...