Analysis Of Race The Power Of An Illusion

The race is an indefinite term, which has not been created from science or research, but more so the idea of what it is. Essentially, race is all about perception. One person may separate races based on a certain category of traits while another person uses totally different guidelines to define what races there are. Race has ultimately been created socially, therefor has no biological components until people connect the two terms. This paper examines the connection between society and race while taking you through America 's history, and explains the social construction of race.

When we hear the word "race" we're more than likely inclined to automatically think of the color of someone's skin. Though this isn't entirely inappropriate, there is so much more to race than that. Sociologists say that race is a social construction created in society, meaning it's basically a set of "stories" we tell ourselves and hear overtime to make sense of the world. Since we hear these stories over and over again, we act on them, ultimately making them true. This can be said of many aspects of culture and society, however, it seems to happen with race without our realization.

In a film of “Race the Power of an Illusion, Part I The Difference Between Us”, it talked about the differences of races such as skin, eye, hair color. However, in our genetic, the human is not very different than we think but we had a similar genetic code. In the 1950s, the athlete champions were all black, and they were much better than any other. Maybe because of that some people think there are different structure bodies than other races. In this case, I think it could make sense that black people have better body structure than white. However, it is the wrong stereotype about skin color. The skin tone is continuously changing, and the reason why a human has different physical appearances is that of different genes we have. Depends on the

The PBS series “Race: The Power of an Illusion” effectively works to expose race as a social construct and deconstructs the false notions that race is a biological marker. The series first discusses that all human beings originated from Africa but dispersed about 70,000 years ago to various places in the world. As a result of this migration, people were spread to different locations throughout the world with different environmental conditions that affected their physical traits. It was many years after the migration in which people began to display these new physical traits such as slanted eyes, fair skin, and differing hair textures. While the series notes the physical changes that occurred during the migration it also emphasizes that race while it may seem apparent in skin color and other physical features has no real biological basis.

There are many ways to perceive what it means to say race is socially constructed while some might say race is biological rather a social construct. “Race is socially constructed” basically is what we perceive as race is one of the first things we notice about each other. Let me get this clear, no matter what anyone thinks, race is not biological but instead it is a social construct. There is no way to measure race but instead an average person on the street thinks that race consists of differences in physical appearance. Every single human walking on the face of this Earth is genetically the same. The documentary, In Race: The Power of an Illusion, shows that for 200 years, scientists compared physical attributes to classify race and found

The last chapter of the text varies depending on which edition is read. After buying the second edition I was able to acquire a copy of the first. The last chapters were an interesting correlation to the periods in which they were published, though they are both similar. After the 2008 election, Taylor rewrote the last chapter of the text to reflect the new conversation brought about with the election of our first black president. In the first edition, chapter six undertakes how race affects the increasingly prevalent topic of immigration and globalization in the United States (among various other things). Taylor stresses the importance of defining immigration administration as a racial structure, regardless of the insistence of supporters

1- What did you learn about race from the 2nd episode of Race the Power of an Illusion?

Race is a “human-constructed categories that assume great social importance. Those categories are typically based on observable physical traits (for example, skin shade, hair texture, and eye shape) and geographic origin believed to distinguish one race from another” (Ferrante 2014). Based on the definition, the reading I made, and the video of “A Class Divided”, I believe race is a social construction idea made by society to distinguish between different races, and then passed that view of race from generation to generation because that is what they have been told from an authoritative person to believe since childhood. Once people have knowledge of what is the meaning of race, then society creates racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination against other races.

All through history, the label that is associate with Black people have become a prevailing discourse that explicitly racialized black people, even today. There are specific characteristics that are related with being black and are disseminate to the public and are represented as truth. Williams Rose (2002) argues, “As the color white is associated with everything good … so Blacks has, through the ages, carried associations with all that is bad and low… the Negro is believed to be stupid immoral, diseased, lazy, incompetent, and dangerous to the white man’s virtue and social order “(p.181). Blackness have become objectified in public spaces, they are view as a threat on the street of Toronto, surrounding areas and even in the criminal

The idea of race throughout history and even in today’s society is a misunderstood concept, this is because the word has no actual taxonomic significance because all humans belong to the same species, Homo sapiens. Although two people can look completely different from each other if they are both human they are not actually different. Go back two hundred or three hundred years ago, and the belief that a white person was more dominant or “free” then a colored person is thriving throughout America and creating a very big problem that has to do with race and that is slavery. It was based upon racism and the belief that a white man was free and an African American man was not even though they were being forcibly taken from Africa and other

Race is a Social Construct Although race does not exist from a biological perspective, race does exist as an idea and social construct. Race is ingrained in the history of American culture. Our society is conditioned to think racially. Our views of people automatically put them in racial categories. We make certain value judgments about them based on little more than the color of their skin.

An important dialogue has been created amongst historians. This dialogue is based on whether or not race is a biological factor or a social construct. Both ideas will be explored. Race plays a large role in our society. Certain races have stigmas associated with them that ultimately lead to discrimination.

A relatively recent topic, meaning in the last one hundred year, within society is the concept of race and if it is biologically true, this meaning that evidence suggests a biological reason behind the different categories of race that are independent from social, economical, or personal views. This type of discussion can raise many concerns, questioning the possible social constructs revolving around race and its reason for being used in society today.

I am very impressed by the concept of you and Justin's visual timeline. During undergrad, I was Communications major who used creative visuals for everything so it’s always nice to see what others come up with. In addition, the two events I enjoyed from your timeline were the Model Cities Legislation and the Race Riots, which were opposite chosen events amongst Team Four. I recall from episode three of the documentary Race: The Power of Illusion, the narrator mentioned that prior to the Fair Housing Act of 1968 “urban renewal was supposed to make cities more livable, [yet, conversely] 90% of all housing destroyed by urban renewal was not replaced. Two thirds of those displaced were Black or Latino” (California Newsreel, 2014). One can only

Although race does not exist in the world in an objective way, it still is relevant in today’s society. It is obvious that race is real in society and it affects the way we view others as well as ourselves. Race is a social construct that is produced by the superior race and their power to regulate. “The category of ‘white’ was subject to challenges brought about by the influx of diverse groups who were not of the same Anglo-Saxonstock as the founding immigrants” (Omi and Winant 24). Frankly, ‘white’ was the norm, the others were considered an outcast.