Society shapes racial inequality in the modern United States and Wayne Brekhus (2015) looks at how social marking is an element of culture in American society. When discussing race, people tend to talk about discrimination against marginalized communities (i.e. non-whites, females, homosexuals, etc.). They actively look at the marked category--those marginalized communities-- and the unmarked goes ignored. Berkhus believes that there are two possible reasons why these unmarked categories are avoided. Either the issue is psychological where individuals “deliberate[ly] disciplin[e] the mind to ignore the irrelevant” or it is sociological and is caused by the “deeply ingrained unconscious pattern of cultural or subcultural selective attention …show more content…
The election just happened and there were a lot of emotions in the air, whether it was on campus, the airport, or back home. My mother informed me of who she voted for almost immediately after I walked into the door--Trump. Shocked, but not surprised, I asked what incited her to vote for him. My mother is a part of the white blue-collar working class that is often called racist and ignored by the public. Whether or not the name-calling is warranted, my mother feels ostracized. She questions why affirmative action is in place, giving jobs to minorities, where white people are unemployed and barely scraping by. Rather, she fails to see how being ignored gives her the power to succeed in modern-day America. Brekhus (2015) details a study done by Nancy DiTomaso (2013), where racial inequality compels hiring processes. Although minorities are discriminated against often, the deliberate issue is how white people are discriminated for. Part of the hiring process is social networking--who you know--and a critical component is homogeneity. Since managerial positions are dominated by white people, and white people monopolize other white people 's social networks, a never-ending cycle is created. The cycle’s consequence is that it “reproduc[es] racial bias in hiring practices” and we fail to focus on “situations where whites habitually, but unintentionally, favor members of their own …show more content…
Thankfully, sociologists study what cultural elements dictate society’s influence on racial inequality and Brekhus (2015) enumerates identity authenticity as one. Density, “whether one performs the identity adequately” and duration, “whether one performs the identity enough of the time” (Brekhus 2015:120), comprise how authentic an identity is. Although some individuals fail to find their identity until later in life, they observe the duration component by establishing their identity as innate. Erin Johnston (2013) exemplifies Paganism as a supposedly innate trait, where her participants “described [it] as an essential and permanent element of their being” (Brekhus 2015:121). Subcultures, such as music genres, also have identities, where the hip-hop industry desires a racially black, old school, from the hood artist. Conversely, what is not desired signifies identity authenticity and a white, suburban, mainstream artist is not authentic hip-hop. In American society, race is an identity everyone holds, whether white, black, latino, asian, mixed, etc. There are auxiliary characteristics inclined for and against each race, mostly chalked up as
Both authors have taken the deliberative to uncover the unconscious phenomenon that controls and affects how people interact, make perceptions, assumptions and even decisions in life. Most of these biases that people tend to have against other races are shaped and reinforced by one’s surroundings and experiences. It is therefore important expose these biases so as to grow as a society and extinguish the white privileges. Unless America is ready to face the truth about the existing biases, racial tensions and incidences will continue to
Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race. However, these groups of black people are exceptions to the rule and consist of only a tiny fraction of all black Americans. These black people in turn actually help to reinforce the inequality of black Americans by allowing Americans of other races to focus on their success. A common thought is, "They made it, why can't you do the same?" The direct and truthful answer to that question is Racism.
In American, there is a big problem that is racial discrimination. Because the long-standing institutionalized discrimination results in this problem. So what is institutionalized discrimination? How has discrimination become institutionalized for various ethnic subpopulations in the United States?
It is hard to believe that after electing a minority president, the United States of America can still be seen as a vastly discriminatory society. A question was posed recently after a viewing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech of whether his dream has become a reality. After consideration, a majority of the viewers said no. Although many steps have been taken to improve racial equality in America, there is still no way to legislate tolerance. Dr. King’s message of equality for all has been lost in a black and white struggle over the taken meaning of his context. Until our society can allow all people to live in peace we will never truly achieve King’s dream. Case in point, referring to President Obama as our "our First Black President" should not be considered a statement of pride over how far we have come. Placing this racial qualifier, even in a positive light, only serves to point out his minority status, not the fact that he is the President of the United States. According to Dr. King's dream, a man or woman, black or white, would be viewed as President without qualifying their differences from mainstream America.
The history of the United States is one of duality. In the words of the
The book, Volunteer Slavery, is Jill Nelson’s account of the racial problems she faced as a Black employee in a White company. Working for the Washington Post was a terrible experience for Nelson whose race prevented her from fitting in with co-workers or agreeing with management. Alex Kajtar says, “...Jill Nelson's account of an authentic African-American experience is a disturbing, disappointing and upsetting image of present-day American society...” (Kajtar). Many people would agree with this statement if they read the book, too. However, the problem is that most Americans will never read her book, and will remain ignorant to the plight of the Black American. Thus, the problem is not that Blacks cannot assimilate into White society “properly,” it is that Whites prevent Blacks from developing their identity.
Throughout the history of the United States, whites dominated society by making laws that limited the power of minorities such as Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans. For hundreds of years, whites controlled minorities using laws and mind games to make sure these minorities never rose to threaten their control. In the 1950s and 60s, Congress passed laws to protect the civil rights of minorities such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on “race, color, or religion” in the work force. Even though many people would say that racism ended decades ago, in “Piercing the Brilliant Veil: Two Stories of American Racism” from the Indiana Law Journal, Deborah Jones Merritt argues that two stories of racism exist in our society.
White privilege is institutionalized when the practices and policies of an institution systematically benefit whites at the expense of other racial groups. Peggy McIntosh published an article entitled “White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack”, which names in very clear ways, how everyday, having white skin confers privileges that white people don’t often realize they receive. By illuminating the many forms that white privilege takes, Peggy McIntosh urges readers to exercise a sociological imagination. She asks us to consider how our individual life experiences are connected to and situated within large-scale patterns and trends in society. She includes a “white privileges” checklist which include answering yes or no to statements. For example, can Chad Aiken confidently say “I can be pulled over by a police cruiser and not have to worry about it being about my race”, or “I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the “person in charge”, I will be facing a person of my race”. White people are generally free from this systemic bias, suspicion and low expectations that racialized people must endure everyday because it is built into our culture. When a criminal has white skin, his actions are never connected to his race, while a criminal perceived as a brown-skinned Muslim might inspire hatred and suspicion of other
Racial discrimination is a pertinent issue in the United States. Although race relations may seem to have improved over the decades in actuality, it has evolved into a subtler form and now lurks in institutions. Sixty years ago racial discrimination was more overt, but now it has adapted to be more covert. Some argue that these events are isolated and that racism is a thing of the past (Mullainathan). Racial discrimination is negatively affecting the United States by creating a permanent underclass of citizens through institutional racism in business and politics, and creating a cancerous society by rewriting the racist history of America. Funding research into racial discrimination will help society clearly see the negative effects that racism
Racial Inequality is a topic in America that many people believe still exists, and many believe it’s simply an over-dramatized topic. Tim Wise, a notable person in the political world, gave a speech on his thoughts on racial inequality at Bloomsburg University (Wise, 2016). I strongly disagreed with the ideas he tried presenting to us students at Bloomsburg University. However, I kept an open mind despite feeling disturbed by his thoughts, and came out with new knowledge on the topic of racial inequality.
“Today, U.S. society remains imbedded in a racist system.” (Feagin, 267). America allows racism to take priority over social class, education, occupation, gender, age, religion and culture. Even in the smallest parts of society, like music or literature, racism is still present. Certain types of music and poetry are classified as black or white (Audrey and Brian Smedley, 19). However, people are more discriminatory towards certain races than others. Because of this, certain races have more job opportunities than others. Studies show that there are more black and Hispanic people in poverty than there are white or Asian American (Anderson and Collins, 65). This goes to show that some people are remarkably narrow-minded, and they won’t even let people of a different race work at their company, so these foreigners or people of different skin color lose the opportunity of finding a job that can support them. Blacks or Latinos then end up at the bottom of the class system which means they have less money than white people, who would be at the top of the class system. Racism isn’t only towards adults, but
The statement “having a black president demonstrates that minorities have the same opportunities as white people” is an inaccurate view (McIntyre, 2015). This is an incorrect view because it is a reductionist fallacy. To elaborate, the millennial has concluded that because we have a black president, all minorities have the same opportunities as white people. This fallacy does not take into account the basis that black people or minorities are still discriminated against and have fewer opportunities than white people despite having a black president. The American society is not always obvious when acting in discriminatory behavior. In the article, “Racism,” Feagin explains that it is possible for white people to hold less consciously prejudice thoughts that stem from prior socialization (Feagin, 2015). Thus, racist attitudes can be conscious, half-conscious, or subconscious (Feagin, 2015). Examples of this half or subconscious racist attitude is found in employment settings. For example, Feagin highlights how a white person in authority may select another white person over an equally or better qualified black...
Historically, in the United States, racial categories have been based on a white or non-white binary, where being classified as “white” gives that individual more power and more opportunities in their lifetime, often termed “white privilege”. This idea is examined in works such as Cornell and Hartmann’s book, Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World and Barrett and Roedinger’s “How White People
The color line is prevalent today as it was during slavery times in America. The color line was noted in the founding of American when the Indians are called Red Men, and the Pilgrims were called White men. The Color Line defined again with the Africans who are called The Black man and slave owners called Master who is the white man. So what is the color line-“it is the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men” (Newman, 2005, para 10). Dubois spoke of the color line in the 20th century. However we are in the 21st century, and it is still prevalent in today's society (Dubois, 2006, para 1.).
In some countries, racial discrimination is acute, violence and so on that are some ways to solve different problems, it is not even questioned. In today 's society often happen racial discrimination problems, such behavior destroy the people to go abroad. Even harm to other people 's life safety. This is making a lot of foreigners to protect their own security, and give up their studies and works, they want not to go outside. 'Attacks on Chinese student at Paris metro stirs concerns ' French women attacked Chinese students, event alerted the important leaders of the two countries. Because of their behavior were represent a country in the eyes of foreigners. I visited New York in first time, I suffered some American to abused me. I was very angry. Racial discrimination, this is making a person life uncomfortable. I think people are equal, we should correct treat the problem. We should get on well