The Miller reading really made it clear to me how much we are all missing out on by having these systems of domination and subordination. In this system the dominant group misses out on anything the subordinate group could teach them. Anything that the subordinate group does differently, thought they might be doing it better, is considered outside the norm and never accepted. This seems like such a detriment to people, especially in a country like the U.S. that is considered “a melting pot” with such a wide variety of people and cultures to learn from. Miller also mentioned that the subordinate group misses out on learning about themselves because they are always working on learning about the people dominating them in order to please them. This system is doing a disservice to both the subordinated and the dominate.
When Miller was talking about temporary inequality I was thinking a lot about how useful the power that comes along with the abilities of the superior if they are unable to effectively teach this ability to another person. Yes, they might technically have the upper hand in this relationship, but they likely gain little respect from the people that are supposedly inferior to them. The example I was thinking about was if I had a teacher that was just terrible at communicating the material they were supposed to. In my experience they gain little respect from the class and are generally looked down upon because they are unable to do their job, the thing they are supposed to be good at. Though, in this instance students cannot overtly do anything to challenge the teacher there are smaller acts of resistance that undermine their power. In this situation I think the lesser people do have a little more power than they may typically be given credit for because they have the ability to undermine the power of the superior and that can really reduce their effectiveness.
I agree about how it is unfortunate that the dominant group misses out on potential ideas of the subordinates because they try to dissociate themselves from being seen as lower than they may actually be. I think it is very lame that if you are not at the very top (dominant), you are outcast as atypical like Miller explains in his article. I feel like we should be better at working to solve these kinds of problems that create gaps between our groups of people because like you said, we are supposedly a melting pot.
I also agree that if a dominant leader is not very effective then the subordinates have more internal power by doubting and performing small acts of resistance