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Race and Gender

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Submitted By anap76
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We know that we are one biologically in terms of being able to share each other’s organs and have children with each other. So, our differences biologically are superficial, hair texture, some ailments which tend to be environmental, and skin color. Those who want to dismiss the notion of the social construction of race normally do so due to their inherent bias to attribute dysfunctional behavior in minority communities due to a racial makeup instead of addressing more systemic problems that plague these communities. Countless studies reveal that lower income people of all groups tend to follow the same negative trajectory.
Racism is the belief that one race or culture is superior to another, regardless of biological evidence that negates this belief. This difference – the perceived inferiority of one race over another – is commonly used and abused as basis for discrimination, whether institutionalized or individualized through social construction. The widespread societal and institutional changes in America since the 1960s have done little to eliminate discrimination faced by racial minorities even after the election of a black president. Race is not just a social construction but a historical construction that has been embedded into each of our lives through social classes and institutions since the day we were born. “Even though race is constructed through historic meanings and social interactions it is as much a part of our national character as themes of patriotism.” (Defending Whiteness, 8)
Minorities historically have had less access to quality education. Less access to education, health care, and general wealth has forced a bigger proportion of minorities into a hole that is tough to dig out of. Perhaps I’m missing a point here, but my interpretation of the term “social construct” is that race only matters to us because we are so conscious of it. No one

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