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
Because workplace discrimination is closely tied with underemployment and unemployment, it’s important to know why blacks continue to obtain lower positions and promotions than their white co-workers. In The Social Psychological Costs of Racial Segmentation, Tyrone A. Forman discusses explanations of the separation of middle class African Americans in the workplace. The amount of blacks and whites co-working has grown, but blacks are often given the jobs with the lower prestige and rarely any chance of promotion. Despite increasing numbers of middle-class blacks working the same types of jobs, African Americans are primarily segmented...
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?
Omi and Winant’s concept of racialization is formed around the theory that race is a social concept, while Bonilla-Silva’s is formed around the theory of racialized social systems. We will first look at Omi and Winant, and then we’ll move onto Bonilla-Silva’s concept of racialization. Omi and Winant say “Within the contemporary social science literature, race is assumed to be a variable which is shaped by broader societal forces.” (Omi & Winant 1986, pg. 3) The racial line in the United States has been defined and reinforced over centuries.
Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their adherence to a belief system that does not see or judge individuals by the “color of their skin.” (Gallagher, 98) Many Caucasians in particular are of the opinion that because they listen to hip-hop or cheer for their favorite black, professional sports player that they are not racist. Still others believe that because they have a black president, we see black people in the commercial of products we consume, or enjoy television shows with black people that they are actually acknowledging race. In order to examine and dismantle this series of misconceptions, we will turn to the work of various scholars of social justice and privilege, including Peggy McIntosh, Patricia Hinchey and Johnathon Kozol as well as the story of Patricia J Williams. Through a careful examination of these works with the support of some key statistics, it is the goal of this paper to demonstrate the existence of a privileged and unprivileged America, despite the color-blindness many may profess to have integrated into their p...
Institutions in the businesses sector are swarming in racial discrimination, much of which is covert and difficult to detect and prove. Racial discrimination excludes, marginalizes and exploits those citizens who are discriminated against, ceasing any opportunity for economic progress and development. Under certain regulations some businesses are required to diversify their workplace by hiring certain amounts of people of color, but in reality these small quotas do not do much for the overall condition of the people who are being discriminated against. Businesses that fail to take action on racial discrimination tend to have lower levels of productivity. This stems from employees not being interested in working hard, or because people with exceptional talents and skills choose to shy away from certain places of employment due to the fear of racial discrimination. Employees who feel wronged also tend to switch jobs, forcing the organization to spend more time and resources on hiring and training new employees, besides coping with the low productivity of a new employee. (Nayab)The effects of racial discrimination in the American work force could be identified with funded research on the topic. With ample data employers will be able to better understand the negative affects that racial discrimination have
Blacks are prevented from enjoying life in the American work force because of their race. The problem is that Whites cause Black misery, but do nothing to change this. Jill Nelson’s White supervisors could have been more accommodating to Nelson’s needs. They could have taken measures to make her more comfortable in the work place, possible by hiring more Blacks. Their newspaper could have began to portray Blacks in a more positive, truthful light.
Turner, Billy. 1986. “Race and Peremptory Challenges During Voir Dire: Do Prosecution and Defense Agree?” Journal of Criminal Justice 14: 61-69.
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 includes 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.
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.
By creating labels and applying them to individuals, people are expected to fit into certain life “scripts” based on these forced descriptions. Kwame Anthony Appiah, in “Racial Identities” keenly describes “collective identities” and the issues that they cause. The effects of racial identities
Race as a “…social and historical idea, not biological” (Palaita, Lecture 1/25/18), only works because according to Social Construction Theory, “…these categories work because our complacency allows us to presume that the identities are natural and a group’s social status relies on biology, rather than social/cultural circumstances” (Palaita, Lecture 1/25/18). Our unwillingness to challenge these identities has allowed these categories to be used to determine who will be on the advantageous side of the inequality we face here in the United States. If we no longer accepted these conditions, and change the way social groups are viewed and treated, we may create a new norm and close the inequality gap between social
To understand our existence, we interact with other members of society and develop a set of shared notions, institutions, and structures. Sociology, the systematic study of human society, helps us understand these interactions and developments. In particular, applying the sociological imagination to the social construct of race yields insight into its fallacy and utility. This essay examines the historical origin, functions, and societal implications of race in the United States. I also connect the social construct of race with the writings of Barbara J. Fields, Kingsley Davis, Wilbert E. Moore, Marianne Bertrand, and Sendhil Mullainathan. In a larger context, the social construct of race is a system of schematic classification; race
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.).