...T/Th4-6pm Racism is something we've all witnessed. Many people fail to believe that race isn’t a category, but a classification of people with no variable facts. In other words, the difference we make between races has nothing to do with genes. Race was created socially, primarily by how people think ideas and faces we are not quite used to. The definition of race all depends on where and when the word is being used. In U.S. history, the meaning of the label “white” has changed over time, eventually adding groups like the Italians, Irish and Jews. Other groups, mainly African, Latino, American Indian, Pacific Islander, and Asian descendants, have found the path for worldwide social acceptance much more difficult. The irregular border of ethnicities touches educational and economic opportunity, political representation, as well as income, health and social mobility of people of color. So where did this type of behavior begin? There are many ideas thrown around as to how racism began, though the truth lies in the history of mankind. Before people were able to travel and experience difference groups of people, we stayed in the same kind of area with the same kind of people. We feared things that were different, and were lacked the power to face those kinds of things. All this changed once we did but the fear never left. The truth is racism began as soon as people faced those of different races. We’ve always the fear of change or the unknown. It seems that is racism has been...
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...marginalized group (such as a racial minority)” (Merriam- Webster) Microaggression have become in recent years part of the conversation on race in America. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric sheds light on microaggression towards people of color in American society. She uses poetry and pictures to weave a story about race in America today. Yet race problems are not something new in human history, in Shakespeare’s Othello named after the main character who is a black man, in an all white society. Othello married Desdemona, a white venetian women and around them the plot circles. Microaggression have been part of our society for awhile. These two text show race is two different societies and time periods. Yet the similarities between race relation in each text, begs the question how far we really come in race relations. Citizen and Othello shed light on...
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...DEFINATION OF RACE Name of Student Institution affiliation DEFINATION OF RACE Social constructionism relates to the socially create nature of social life. Social constructionism is therefore created by a group within a society by happens due to the fact that the society encourages and supports it. Social constructionism can therefore be considered as a social norm and it continues to be relevant as long as people put timeinto practising it and talk about it.A race can best be described as a group of people who are perceived to some physical characteristics which are quite distinctive; which mainly include skin colour and facial structure. These two distinctive racial characteristics are perceived to be inherited biologically.This paper, therefore, aims to highlight on the view of race as a social construction. The human race is not only dependent on the distinct physical attributes and skin colour but alsoreligion, language and nationality play a significant role in distinguishing race in human beings. In most cases race is used as an ethnic intensifier where it often try to justify or exploit one one group over the other.In the American society, the idea of race seems to be so fixed that it seems impossible for the society to take up an open-minded approach when challenging this idea.In the American society, race is perceived as a discrete scheme of classification. Therefore, it is mostly considered as a social construction. On the other hand in these society race is also...
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...Race is the major division of human kind. The classification an individual. Yet we are all human, all from the same species, does that not make us equal? Is the inequality amongst the human race biologically or sociologically constructed? Race has become the fundamental thing, telling you who someone is and where they belong. Race defines you as an individual. Brian Jones stated; “Race is a social fiction imposed by the powerful on those they wish to control.” Jane Elliot, conducted an exercise where she divides her class based upon the color of their eyes and bestows upon one group privileges and on the other group impediments. She is famous for her experiment (Elliot, 1970). Jane is trying to portray to young children how discrimination feels, by classifying students according to eye color and not skin color. She causes major conflict between the students who have been classified in a lower class than what they feel they are. Jane is emphasizing how easily it is to judge someone according to physical appearance and that people fail to see what lies behind the human eye before judging them. Jane shows how superficial and society based race actually is. Jane’s experiment shows how different races became more friendly towards each other, due to the emotional development from this exercise. This exercise increased the motivation of young children to socialize with people who were socially defined as a different race. It also portrays how racial identities are...
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...Running head: Social Inequalities: Race, Gender, and Age Discrimination Social Inequalities: Race, Gender, and Age Discrimination Austin M. Quick Grand Canyon University SOC 220 May 9, 2010 Social Inequalities: Race, Gender, and Age Discrimination In exploring the reasons that race, gender, and age discrimination occur in American society, this writer came upon an article entitled “Race, Gender, and Workplace Power” written by James R. Elliot and Ryan A. Smith, that helped formulate the reasons these social inequality issues happen in modern American society. The article helps clarify how many stumbling blocks we face as an American society in rectifying these issues as a whole. In reading this article, we all realize that race, gender, and workplace power has played a key role in society for decades and will always play a part in today’s world, whether we admit it or not. This article state how people struggle in life or rise to the top easily. A race, gender, and workplace power effect limits the rise of good, stable jobs, housing, and income. The rules are sometimes hidden to help people that are not educated enough to hold the positions (James R. Elliot and Ryan A. Smith, Race, Gender, and Workplace Power, 2004). For example, a company has an employee who has worked in the same position for five or more years. This employee has proved that they possess leadership skills and happen to the family member of someone in upper management. A...
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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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...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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...Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Empowerment: How are gender and race socially constructed? From a social construction point of view, gender and race don’t mean anything. They have meaning because the society defines a meaning for them (Judith, 1998). By social construction, we mean how the society group people and how it gives certain groups an advantage over others. For instance, somebody believes that he is a man only because the society says he is a man, not because he wants to be a man. One has no choice to become what he or she wish, but must follow the classification the society has defined. According to Ruth (1993) our daily lives are influenced by race and gender, whether we are aware of it or not. Everyone sees life through a racial lens that colors our society. This view leads to the racial formation. Judith (1998) defines racial formation as a socio-historical process whereby categories are formed, inhibited, changed, and destroyed. By socio-historical, Judith (1998) meant that race was created and given meaning by society due to the many historical events that happened over time. The society classifies people as white, black, Asian or any other minority group (Ruth, 1993). Therefore, the way are seen and how we see other people affects different aspects of our lives. These elements can include the type of friends we have, the kind of job we have, and the amount of money we make. They may also include the type of school we attend and many other things that make us...
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...Teresita Dowd RACE The meanings and expectations a society creates and attaches to groups based on perceived “Important differences” is defined as Race. Race is a thing that society has created as an identifying characteristic that is important in classifying people in negative or positive ways. Race is a concept that people have created which began as an idea, became a thing, and was deemed as important and accordingly impacted our beliefs and actions in enormous ways; thus, it is constructed socially. Race although it is made up by society is still important in the way that we attach meanings and expectations to the different members of society. Race, while made up, is still important in the way that we attach meanings and expectations to the members of different race groups in society. Every society constructs race differently and as time moves forward ideas about race change and evolve. In today’s world, racial stratification is based on the physical characteristic of skin color. This racial stratification helps decide your access to resources for certain racial groups, and raises a person’s risk of having or not having things solely based on the color of the skin that they are born into.(Student Work 75) These differences are only as important as society elects them to be, and there are no deep rooted advantages or disadvantages to having any of these characteristics except those that society has created. In American society, being White is conceived as being “better”...
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...the documentary assigned they go into great detail about how race is perceived by people in todays modern society. The documentary honestly did not change any of the assumptions that I already had about race. It is kind of just part of society today that people often get stereotyped by the race that they are. For example I feel like most people in todays society think that people of African decent have more athletic ability that than people of all other races. Another example from the movie is that white people are more privileged than other races and once again I feel that is a very common issue in todays society that is assumed by a lot of people. The one thing from the movie that did surprise me though was that people of two different races some times have very little genetic diversity. They said that people of two different races sometimes have less diversity than people of the same race. I found that to be very odd because I though genes were what determined ones race and people of the same race would have very similar genes....
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...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 constructed group of people...
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...isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans. a group of tribes or peoples forming an ethnic stock: the Slavic race. any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race. the human race or family; humankind: Nuclear weapons pose a threat to the race. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/race?s=t) This is the definition given by the online dictionary I found, while the definition given by the sociological board for race is that although the essential characteristics of race are biological in origin, it is their transformation into a social variable by society that gives it its explanatory power during social situations. In this essay I shall be showing how these two different definitions of race contrast with one another in many different ways. First of all the dictionary definition of race and ethnicity defines them more on physical characteristics that certain groups of people would have in common when compared to others or are also of common descent. A prime example of this would be the physical differences between white and black people. While on the other hand, the sociological definition describes race and ethnicity as more of a thing we come...
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...When examining the concept of race, it can be said that it is constantly fluctuating because of different factors. Race can be defined as a variable that is shaped by broader societal forces, whether it is political, social or economic forces. It is also important that views on race differ from country to country because of different agendas, whether it be to exert dominance or power over other groups. Race can be considered as a social construction because it is used to maintain hierarchies, as seen through it’s lack of biological support and shifting societal views on race. Race is a social construction because it is constantly changing due to shifting societal views on race. First, it is important to note that a socially constructed concept is an idea that is defined as “a perception of a group, individual or idea that is constructed through cultural or social practice” (Dictionary.com). In other words, society creates an idea of what race is, and how races should be distinguished from one another. Race does not have a consistent definition, and can change based on the society that is being examined. In “Racial Formations”, Omi and Winant discuss the use of race as a social concept and conclude that the definition is not rigid, but is used to maintain domination. Omi and Winant believe that this domination is a result of racial formation”, or the “process in which race operates as a central axis of social relations, which then determine social, economic and political institutions...
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...racelessness- whites don’t have a race, we’re “normal’ and race means other than white white privilege- system of advantages based on race- more trusted, empowered, rewarded-unearned advantages of being white- no shame blame guilt or anger for being white- privileges- school promotes success, dr’s treat you, nobody thinks you’re stealing system is unjust such relief in trust we didn’t create the systems but we can change the way we view race base how you feel about race and other systems of your life- taught not to see systems blame shame guilt or anger if you feel about race rather than use your own life to allow you to make your own mind up Peggy McIntosh is the associate director for the Wellesley Centers for Women and a very passionate anti-racism activist. McIntosh has a lot of knowledge and wisdom in the fields of race and gender, and does a great job of exemplifying this in the video. McIntosh speaks of several myths about race, unearned advantages that the white race has, and also speaks on the different thoughts and emotions felt by society in regards to race. The first myth, meritocracy, states that everybody simply gets what they deserve. The second is manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is the myth stating God wants white people to take all the land in the United States away from those of other races who once controlled it. The third is white moral superiority. This states that white people are “better” than those of other races and in turn deserve and...
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...Los Angeles, California when she was ten years old. I am also a first generation on my paternal side as well because my father was born in Honduras and moved to this country later on in life. After reading the article by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, I learned how race was determined in the New World and how with time, the meaning of race changed by many factors such as science, social factors, and “common sense” qualities that people have when meeting people of a different race other than their own. In the New World, Europeans did not know what to call people that looked different than them and decided to outcast these people as “natives”, whom they believed may have not been human beings at all. This idea eventually led to slavery of non-whites. I agree with the authors about the idea of “racial etiquette” because race has become a part of who we are and what we go through every day. I know that being Hispanic has many stereotypes such as knowing how to cook well, speaking fluent Spanish, and most likely having Mexican ethnicity. In reality, none of these things define me but I already expect people to believe these ideas and perceptions about me. I also agree that these stereotypes and myths about race can change but the system does seem to be permanent in American culture. I believe white privilege is based on the history of what white people have accomplished and what they are known for. In history, slavery established a “color line” between whites and blacks that...
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