There are misconceptions about the use of race because all humans fall in the category of homosapiens. The general public most often use race in a naïve or simplistic way to categorize or differentiate people from one another. Many scholars and anthropologists have taken the position that the concept of race is a socially constructed ideologyu . In other words, society and all its people created this term to make practical distinctions among people of different traits, characteristics, and geographic ancestry. This is where racial stereotyping may occur as a result of this practice.
5. Main Points: a. What makes us stereotype? b. The way a certain race is “supposed” to act in society c. Issues with the Police and security Attention Getter: Whether we admit it or not, we have all judged somebody by looking at their skin color.
Lea Cherbaka February 17, 2010 Reaction Paper – The Social Construction of Gender “I am arguing that bodies differ in many ways physiologically, but they are completely transformed by social practices to fit into the salient categories of a society, the most pervasive of which are “female” and “male” and “women” and “men (Lorber 1990, 10).” The first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of “the social construction of gender” is the characteristic that is normally associated with men and women. For example, men are strong and women are sensitive. In her article, Judith Lorber discusses the inequality between the genders and how society is the factor that has created such a divide between males and females. When reading this article I thought that Lorber provided a lot of examples for her argument, which allowed me to relate to many of them. For example, one of the main points she touched upon was the male dominance in sports.
Concrete Responses The essays included present a compelling but biased study within the context of class, race and gender. History shows racism has been clearly practiced in the past; however much has been done to correct the unbridgeable and immutable differences in race, gender and class status in the United States. Rothenberg emphasizes, in the collection of essays, past views of Euro-Americans’ superiority in intelligence and abilities over darker skinned races. Throughout the history of the United States, discrimination against race and gender has been documented thus creating various classes according to race and gender. Racism has been defined as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2010).
The Conflict Between Symbolic Ethnic Identity and Socially Enforced Racial Identity Racism and discrimination in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era. Heavy burdens of racism in the country have fallen upon African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Italian Americans, and a host of other ethnicities of color and their descendants. Discrimination against African Americans, Italian Americans, and people of color has been widely acknowledged. Members of every major American ethnic minority have perceived racism in their dealings with people in the majority group. Throughout the history of the United States Italians and other ethnic groups of color did not have the opportunity to celebrate their symbolic identity, but rather had a socially imposed racial identity.
Gender Influence on the Experience of Colorism in the United States The United States has a long history of racial bias and segregation. It has always been an issue but now there is a new form of racial bias, occurring within groups of the same color. Colorism is the favoring of one skin color over another, generally in communities of African descent, and is known to be a form of black-on-black racism. Depending upon the situation, someone will be judged by the color of their skin, or, more specifically, the shade of their skin. This stems from an idea that lighter-skinned people are more favorable than darker-skinned people.
The Social Hierarchy of Race “Race” is not a viable biological concept. Although the ideas of race have been seen throughout history as far back as ancient civilizations, it wasn’t until the 19th century that anthropologists made attempts to systematize racial divisions, according to the Oxford American Dictionary. The American Anthropological Statement on Race as well as Jonathan Marks article “Science and Race,” both stress that race although treated as a biological variation between people, is actually a way to classify the human race into various subspecies according to the cultural rules of society rather than the laws of biology. Race may have begun as an innocent way of describing one’s lineage but over time stemmed into a pyramid of
It is believed that modern society is built on democracy and respect to human rights. Life in America is built upon a foundation of connections; it is an intricate web of relationships that molds each person. Racism and prejudice has been present in almost every civilization and society throughout history. Even though the world has progressed greatly in the last couple of decades, both socially and technologically, racism, hatred and bigotry still exists today, deeply embedded in old-fashioned, narrow-minded traditions and values. What is racism?
Abstract The struggle to find a balance between rights of employees and what companies want, has been sought after by minority groups for decades. When dealing with discrimination on the grounds of race, sex and age, there major factors that come into play; but they are not always in line with society’s preferred results. Analysis of Article: Some Issues in Employment Discrimination on Grounds of Race, Sex, and Age. The Author Richard Posner in the article, Some Issues in Employment Discrimination on Grounds of Race, Sex, and Age, intends to demonstrate three issues, that effect employers, employees and unions, in the ethical questions considering; why unions have long refused to admit black workers, comparable worth between men and women and mandatory retirement. Discrimination in unions and in the workplace is an issue that did not arise solely due to prejudice and, more specifically inequity; the issue has been around for many years.
The professor stated that the development of different racial groups was due to the theory of genetic drift; we all originally started in the same location and spread outward. This theory got me thinking about how we form racial groups on a smaller scale and how complex it truly is. Race and ethnic group labels in America are not clearly based on criteria that everyone understand, agree with, and can easily see. As a result, someone else may label you in a way that you consider wrong and very offensive. This can instantly create an obstacle when trying to communicate even if the slur was unintended.