Race vs. Social Class

Race vs. Social Class

THESIS: Race differences in identity and social position were, and are, more important than class differences in American society.

"Events in the nineteenth century made it abundantly and irrefutably clear that race as a concept sui generis superseded social class as the dominant mechanism of social division and stratification in North America." (Smedley 219) For many decades people have been using race as a way to classify humans into different social categories. Lower, Middle, and Upper classes were created to divide humans into appropriate categories using their individual lifestyles, financial income, residence, and occupation. People decided to ignore this classifying system and classify one another, simply by the color of their skin. People's skin color says nothing as to what a person does, their beliefs, attitudes, or any of the ideas for creating a fair social classification system. Racial barriers were created that divided people into different groups at work and at home. Race differences in identity and social position were, and are, more important than class differences in American society.

The role of work, money, and the effect they have on individuals has changed throughout the past years due to social classes and racism. Social classes being based on by race is just the beginning of the differences. In the work force there are always people who feel the need to dominate in their field or profession solely because they think they are the dominant social class or race. People of any rank at the office will look down upon others, not because of their position, but skin color. People are not only treated differently at the work site based due to these issues, but also in some cases th...

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...at a person's skin color to make their judgement on whether or not they want to take the time to talk and get to know the person. Then, they will classify that person, without knowing any background information on them. Is this fair? It does not matter or not if it is fair, it is the way people work. As Takaki says, 'race is just a concept', an idea created, it should not be used to separate people.

Works Cited

Baer, Hans A. African Americans in the South: issues of race, class and gender. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1992.

Martin, Deutsch. Social Class, race, and psychological development. Winston: Greenwood Press, 1968.

Smedley, Audrey. Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999.

Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1993.