Running head: DISPARITY AND DISCRIMINATION Disparity and Discrimination Darcel Whittler University of Phoenix Culture and Diversity CJA/423 William Richert April 27, 2011 Disparity and Discrimination Personal characteristics such as behaving with honor, honesty, respect towards others, integrity, and treating every individual with fairness requires commitment and flexibility. Having disparity or discrimination towards others with no authority or little authority can force a person to feel they have power and influence over others. The two factors that have a major impact on America’s society are disparity and discrimination. Disparity is defined as an inequality and is not all that similar to discrimination. According to Webster’s Dictionary (2011) disparity is defined as the lack of similarity or equality and the state of being different or dissimilar.
Minorities use to be slaves, and had very little status in society, but that status was built up to the point where there now suppose to be equals. Although, many feel inferior to these immigrants therefore they discriminate against them through gender, age, religion and race. Despite the promotion of equality there are still many types of discrimination in today’s society. Discrimination visibly occurs in the workplace as well as in the mass media. Why are their still forms of discrimination in today’s society?
Critical Essay II November 14, 2012 All Men Are Created Equal? * Though it’s hard for people in our country to come to terms with inequality, inequality still exists but much is much different than it was fifty years ago. There are many aspects of inequality; from gender to socioeconomic, if some one is different from what is deemed by the American society to “normal”, they will be treated as so and it will not be subtle. What is slowly becoming visible in terms of inequality and injustice, is the fact that it is harder for individuals among different gender groups, social classes and of those with different races to live an easy life in today’s society. And racism is no longer between the typical “white and black” race.
Minority and Dominant Groups Minority and dominant groups do affect the confidence and behaviors of an individual. A minority group consists of individuals who are singled out because of unequal treatment; they consider themselves as objects of shared discrimination. Dominant groups are the groups with more power, privilege, and social status. Unfortunately we only have so much control of which group we belong to. Both minority and dominant groups hold their own characteristics and ways in which they became a part of either group; not surprisingly, depending on which class and individual belongs to, their whole life can change.
Racial Micro-aggressions against Minorities Jose P. Polanco Carlos Albizu University PSYM 523-A Racial Micro-aggressions against Minorities The term micro-aggressions are consider a brief everyday exchanges that send demeaning messages to certain individuals because of their group memberships. The nature of racism has evolve over time from the old fashioned overt expressions of White supremacy and racial hatred to the more subtle, ambiguous, and unintentional expressions called aversive racism. Because most White people associate racism with hate crimes and White supremacist groups, they are unaware how racism has taken on an invisible nature to the extent that they have lost the perception of unintentional racism towards people of color. White Americans believe that discrimination is on the decline, that racism is not a significant issue that has an impact in their behavior and performance. In contrast, Black Americans perceive that racism is a constant reality in their lives, White individuals continue to respond toward them.
In our society it is assumed we are all treated equally, but in fact many times this is not true. Minority individuals have a disadvantage in the criminal justice system because of the lack of money, and effective resources. This is very damaging to society and may be a root cause for so many disparity issues today. Factors of Racial Disparity Society cannot be run for the privileged and allow a substantial proportion of the population to be an allowance beyond what is needed. This impacts the quality of life for all of us if we have to “throw away people.”A justice system that tolerates injustice is doomed to collapse (The Sentencing Project, 2000).
They also come in pursue of giving a better educational opportunities to their young children. Also immigrants are more likely to create jobs and pay taxes when they live in the United States which helps the economy grow stronger. Although there are many negative conceptions about immigrants these individuals should have the opportunity to migrate to the United States for a better life. Many of the immigrants that migrate were left with no other option but to enter illegally through the border because in there countries they suffered from poverty, crime, the lack of education and opportunities. In the article “Rethinking El Salvador’s transnational families” by Leisy J. Abrego writes about a young boy named Daniel and his struggles living in El Salvador while his father is in the United States looking for work.
Prejudice is a feeling of dislike towards a person or a group of people based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and anything else that might set a person or group of people out as being different. Discrimination is the denial of opportunities and equal rights to people and groups of people because of prejudice. Stereotypes are a generalization of a group of people, usually an inaccurate generalization. (Schaefer, 2013) Prejudice and stereotyping are not actions. Discrimination is different because it is an action against a person or a group of people.
Diversity, Inequality, and Immigration The terms diversity, inequality, and immigration are often used in our everyday conversation because they are at the forefront of our government, welfare reform, healthcare reform, immigration reform, diversity in the workplace. Inequality for women and minorities is something that has existed for a long time. However, when discussing these terms from a sociological perspective, it is important to define them: diversity is the presence of different types of people; inequality refers the social disparity between the rich, and the poor, the many different races, male and female, while immigration refers to the movement of those people who are not native to a country or region. The “United States is the most unequal of the economically developed countries, and it is increasing yet many American’s deny the existence of inequality (Glazer 2003)”. We do care about poverty and have developed programs to help the poor.
The terms cannot be defined unless in context, because the definitions have changed over time. Keep in mind; in the 1970’s it was taboo for a relationship to exist between two people of the same sex or different race. Nowadays, they’re tolerated at the very least. The terms race, class, gender, and sexuality are also socially constructed, meaning that the dominant group assigns value to the different definitions of race, class, gender, and sexuality. For example, in the United States in the 1950’s, it was common for middle class white Americans to be considered “good”, whereas non-white Americans living in poverty were to be considered “bad” or even “dangerous”.