...of Social Inequality Julie McElwain Park University Abstract Social inequality is how different categories of individuals are prescribed by the society. The society uses basic characteristics such as gender, sex, education, and ethnicity among other factors in order to categorize an individual. The social inequalities determine the access to limited goods such as market labor force, education, health care facilities, and other forms of participation in the society. Different forms of social inequalities are constructs of geographical distribution, and status within the country, however, cultural aspects, mostly integrated with cultural identities, of society are perceived to be the major contributor of social inequality. Discourses have, therefore, been raised on whether the poor deserve to be poor or not and whether the rich deserve to be rich or not. In order to address this question, I examined different dimensions of social inequalities in my life such as social class, educational level, and race among other factors. In this paper, I will also try to bring out understanding of different theories in attempt to explain social stratification. A comparison will be done between different perspectives through interviews and my own perspective of social inequalities. In essence all factors discussed in this paper show a link between social inequalities and different factors such as economic and political system. Trends such as widening inequalities among the...
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...Through all of the readings and class lectures this semester, I have learned that social inequality is an incredibly pervasive and poignant part of American society. The social inequality in America, in part, can be attributed to the relationship between the perceived “superior/normal” and the perceived “inferior/abnormal.” For instance, in race relations, Whites (non-Hispanic) are considered the norm; in gendered issues, the male is dominant. Additionally, many of these issues are interrelated and interdependent. The inequities invade the home, the work place, the school, and the hospital, among other places because they invade all of the interactions humans have with each other. Therefore, it follows that social inequalities would affect...
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...Racial and Ethnic Inequality Amongst Blacks : A Economic Problem of Society Tameekah Myers SOC 1000-Comtemporary Social Issues Thesis Statement In this essay one will come to a better understanding of racial and ethnic inequality and why it exists. It is evident that Inequality amongst certain races is evident however it also linked to a variety of perspectives that account for the continuation of racial, ethnic discrimination and inequality. Inequality amongst Races and Ethnicity ▪ What is race and ethnicity? ▪ Should race exist ▪ Inequality among races Racism against African Americans ▪ Slavery ▪ Racial Profiling ▪ Stereotypes ▪ Causes and Effects of Racism Social status and race inequality ▪ Social/Racial classification ▪ Education inequality ▪ Labor/income Inequality Laws and Policies ▪ Affirmative action policies ▪ Equal Opportunity Policy ▪ Civil Right Act The social stance of American Minorities Now ▪ African Americans Conclusion In this essay one will come to a better understanding of racial and ethnic inequality and why it exists. It is evident that inequality amongst certain races is evident; however, it also linked to a variety of perspectives that account for the continuation of racial, ethnic discrimination and inequality. The story of race is intricate and may challenge how we think about human differences and race as whole entity. Race is a socially...
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...Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices Isabel R. Rodriguez University of Phoenix October 3, 2011 Blanche Cook Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices An important part of the United States workforce is made up of police officers. The number of police officers employed has grown drastically over the past few years. However, although the number of police officers employed has increased, public scrutiny has as well. The police employment practices have affected the publics’ perception of the police because of the factors involved as well as the desire to seek employment in law enforcement. The paper below will describe some of the factors involved with race and ethnicity when seeking police careers. Diversity among the law enforcement was limited until several years ago. A significant positive change has been seen in the perceptions of minorities within the employment of law enforcement. This helps to redress the historic workplace inequity by having police forces better reflect ethnic constituency of society (Perrott, 1999). However, minorities are still more likely to suffer inequalities. These inequalities are shaped by structural constraints that include childhood and adult poverty, unemployment, inadequate health care, and lack of economic and education opportunities (Smith, 2009). Minorities are also placed at the bottom of the social class. Because of these inequalities, employment with the police department has been difficult to achieve as some...
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...Social Inequalities of Sports The world of sports has so many different levels to it. In each separate sport, there are different levels that range from recreational and neighborhood teams all the way up to professional leagues. Getting all the way up to this professional or even the collegiate level is a very impressive feat that not many people can say they have accomplished. However, athleticism and talent are not the only thing that gets you to these levels. There are many other factors that have to do with how far you can take your sport and how far your sport will allow you to go. There are many different inequalities such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender that shape each athlete’s experience in their respective sports. The first is race and ethnicity. The conversation about racial inequality is currently a hot topic in the United States. However, over the last fifty years, the world of sports has made some of the best progress of any institutions. In the National Football League, two thirds of the league players are racial minorities, most of them being African American. Close to 25% of the league management positions are occupied by people of color. There were six African American general managers in 2012, and eight of the last 12 Super Bowl participants have either had a black coach or General Manager. The National Basketball Association also has a very good diverse athlete population. More than three quarters of all NBA players are African-American and people...
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...Elements of Writing Race and ethnicity have played a major role in the events of time in and around the world, from the past to present day. Race ethnicity is what is considered to be a group that is classified by their ethnic traits, backround, and association and in turn causes an inequality among races and while these are still very clear issues within the African American, Asian, and other ethnicities, over time progress has been made in the stop to inequality among these races and different ethnicities. In this paper I will show through the comparing and contrasting of two literary works within our text how race and ethnicity have played a role in society for decades. Country Lovers tells of a forbidden love on a South African farm between a black girl named Thebedi and a white boy named paulus Eysendyck. What’s it Like to be a Black Girl tells of what and how it was to be a black girl and when comparing the two they are both great examples of the difficulty of life between different ethnic backrounds. The poems were written during different time frames What’s it like to be a black girl the more recent and are also both unique stories within their time frame and discuss love or that which is the feeling of love. In both the story and short poem the main characters are black women dealing with racism in some form of way and though many of us hate to admit it, we to have dealt with discrimination just like this in some point in our lives and in Country...
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...Sociology Of Race And Ethnicity Bottom of Form Race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Sociologists look at many questions related to race and ethnicity, including: * What is race? * What is ethnicity? * Why does society treat racial and ethnic groups differently, and why is there social inequality between these groups? * How are these divisions and inequalities able to persist so stubbornly, and how extensive are they? What is the difference between race and ethnicity? Within sociology, the terms race, ethnicity, minority, and dominant group all have very specific and different meanings. To understand the sociological perspective on race and ethnicity, it is important to understand the meanings of these concepts. An ethnic group is a social category of people who share a common culture, such as a common language, a common religion, or common norms, customs, practices, and history. Ethnic groups have a consciousness of their common cultural bond. An ethnic group does not exist simply because of the common national or cultural origins of the group, however. They develop because of their unique historical and social experiences, which become the basis for the group’s ethnic identity. For example, prior to immigration to the United States...
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...writing, he first explains the role of race throughout societies. His statements are quite to the point when getting his first argument across, insinuating that race is always a role that is in play with how different societies govern. These initial statements make up the foundation for his claims pertaining to the “invisibility” of whiteness. He continues to mention that when one studies race theory, majority of the people remain uninterested in white imagery. People more often than take an interest in non-white imagery. In turn, there seems to be a separation between white imagery and the term “race”, it is almost as though race does not included white heritages. White people are simply that, just people in normal social...
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...Kristy Nguyen JOUR453 Spring 2014 The Meaning of Race in a 21st-Century America As far as America has come in the battle for equality and improving civil rights, the topic of race still looms over our nation and sparks many different debates. The division of the 21st-century isn’t as obvious as it used to be in the past, there are no “Whites Only” sign to direct us and the simplistic black-white concept of race no longer exists. The issue lies much deeper than we could ever imagine and its fast-paced change is making it difficult to comprehend. The increase in the multiracial population further adds to the complexity of this topic and our ideas on race. That is why Center for American Progress located in Washington, D.C. decided to tackle this matter head-on by opening an in-depth panel discussion entitled “The Meaning of Race in a 21st-Century America” to dig into America’s history to find the origins of race, address race and ethnicity today as the nation’s demographics are shifting, and emphasize the importance of the U.S. Census to accurately represent the people of this. Featured panelists included Rinku Sen, President and Executive Director of Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation; Julie Dowling, Associate Professor, Department of Latina/Latino Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Roderick Harrison, Senior Research Fellow, Civic Engagement and Governance Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and Hilary O. Shelton,...
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...Social stratification- is systematic inequalities among groups of people 1. Wealth and income (social class) 2. Racial inequality 3. Gender inequality. Equality/inequality -Ontological equality -Equality of opportunity -Equality of condition -Equality of outcome Why inequality exists? Inequality in wealth and access to resources is generated by three processes: 1.) Unequal division of labor and/or low mobility across occupations. 2.) Surplus or abundance of resources 3.) The desire to accumulate wealth and assets Types of social mobility: mobility refers to movement between different position within a system of social stratification 1. Horizontal 2. Vertical 3. Structural 4. Exchange Why the class structure is changing -Massive growth in inequality between the rich and the poor. Called the “Great U-Turn” -Shrinking of the working class, with some growth in middle class and working poor. -Growth of poverty and the “underclass” -Rate of poverty is increasing twice as fast as population growth Why income inequality is increasing -Largely due to the increasing concentration of wealth at the very top of the income distribution. consequences of income inequality -High levels of income inequality reduces social cohesion, overall health, overall wealth, and education -Increases crime, debt, and political polarization Social construction of race -Instead, social scientists argue that “race” is socially constructed. Racial categories...
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...Why is the study of race and ethnic relations important in multi-cultural societies? Many people use the terms race and ethnicity interchangeably, however the distinction must be made. Wilkinson (1993) defines the term, race as “a category of persons who are related by a common heredity or ancestry and who are perceived and responded to in terms of external features or traits,” whereas ethnicity often refers to “a shared culture and lifestyle.” It must be noted that race is social construct rather than biological concept. The fact remains that different societies construct different systems of race classifications and these systems change over time. Ethnic group maybe distinguished on the basis of language, form of family, structure and role of the family members, religious beliefs and customs, forms of artistic expression such as music and dance and national origin. Two individuals with the same racial identity may have different ethnicity for example a black American and a black Jamaican have different culture or ethnic backgrounds. Equally, two individuals with the same ethnic background may identify with different race example Hispanic maybe black or white. In a multicultural society, when society is studied it may be discovered how races and ethnic groups are treated or how they should be treated. The disparity between the ideal and the normal occurrence will allow us to see how the society functions. It would then be impossible to study the society without emphasizing...
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...Race vs. Class From the time of slavery until the twenty-first century, race has been the driving element regarding opportunities for people of African descent. The question of whether this has changed presently is ambiguous. America has certainly evolved from a place of slavery and segregation to the self-proclaimed “Land of Opportunities” offering equal rights and prospects to all, yet there are still signs of inequality within the social construct of the nation. If one were to take a look at the American work field, they would notice the differences in positions acquired by African-Americans and Caucasians. African-Americans typically work minimum-wage jobs, living paycheck to paycheck and if they are fortunate enough to acquire an adequate paying job; their employers are Caucasians who usually own the major businesses and corporations. This inevitable conflict has emerged from America’s past history of unfair and unequal treatment of people of color. The American society has not completely eradicated the problem with racial discrimination and inequality within the workforce which has created the growing wealth gap. In the United States, issues of race and class are tied to together like a chain of DNA; one cannot address the issue of class without referring to the demographics of race. The methodology of determining the variations in social class was established in the mid-1960s and has not changed in the most latter years. Within the time span, there have been many studies...
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...Roichelle Marble Sociology 134 Bryton Fredrick May 3, 2015 The criminal justice system has caused a lot of heartache and pain due to its unfair, racist, biased opinion. Resulting in killings, shootings, and protests. There are a variety of races that make the headline stories of these events, but there is a specific race that repeatedly makes headlines of newspapers. The shootings and killing of African-Americans teenage boys have been the trending topic lately. It is hard to distinguish why these events happen. Certainly, there is no one, or race, to blame for this happening, however, understanding the root cause may help. The high incarceration rates of minorities is an examples and the killings proves how the criminal justice system is extremely flawed to this day and has always been built off of the privilege whites inherited and that blacks do not have. It has been proven time and time again that black and whites are not equal within the criminal justice system. History even says that the early conception of the criminal justice system and punishments were formed under conditions of colonialism and slavery. An example is white police offers repeatedly killing African American Males and being found not guilty; from Emmitt Till to the Ferguson case. Which is history repeating itself, the more things change, and the more they remain the same. In each generation, new tactics have been used for achieving the same goals—goals shared by the Founding Fathers (Alexander)...
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...Race is a group of people defined by genotype (genetics and inheritance) and geographic. Often race is based on appearance such as skin colour, features and other distinguishing characteristics. Ethnicity has many factors and is dependent on the individual identifying or defining themselves. Ethnicity is hard to describe as everyone has their own perspective. Because of race and ethnicity this has resulted in racism against these people and as a result of racism has meant they have suffered much discrimination.” Racism is the belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the...
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...I define race as an alignment of individuals with similar beliefs, culture or skin tone into certain groups with fellow individuals who share a same set of ideals. Furthermore, my classifications are based off where the individual is from, what his/her heritage is and what I personally know about my experiences with his/her culture. However, with the overpowering and over stimulating media that is present today in our culture many people end up having their opinions diluted by the stereotypes that news outlets create. Furthermore, I agree with Omni and Winant when they say that “social identities…are both imposed from above by dominant social groups and/or state institutions. (Omni and Winant pg.107)” based off of my current and past experiences...
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