Conflict Theories Of Race

First and foremost, I'm deeply disturbed by what transpired at the National Policy Institute conference over the weekend. It's rather apropos that we are covering the topic of race at this moment. I'm furious but inspired (now, more than ever) to continue on this journey of justice studies as part of my personal commitment to be an ally for minorities. I wish that every person had the privilege of taking this class, the knowledge we're gaining is one of the most powerful tools we can use to combat the ignorance of white nationalism.

To begin with, the aim of this paper is to respond to the article written by Ian F. Haney Lopez. The main idea of this article was to discuss the question of belonging of a person to this or that racial group. According to Lopez the construction of race is mostly based on the choice of the society, but not on the genetic or other information. My response to this article will be rather neutral because it is fifty percent agreed with her point of view and half a hundred percent disagreed.

What if we lived in a world where there were no races? What if people were not discriminated against because of the color of their skin or because they are different from what we see as acceptable? This is what Kwame Anthony Appiah tries to examine in his essay “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections.” Appiah tries to point out that “American social distinctions cannot be understood in terms of the concept of race.” (102) That America is made up of so many different races that no race is the more superior or in other cases inferior to one another. America is defined by its cultural diversity; it is what makes America the nation that it is. It is the reason that we as Americans have freedoms other people

People tend to deny, rationalize and avoid discussing their feelings and beliefs about race and ethnicity because they are sensitive topics that people want to avoid. People also deny race and ethnicity because there are uncomfortable feelings, because they are uncomfortable feelings they tend to deny they rationalize because they do not want to hear anything negative about their background, I also think it is part of stigma many people would deny their background. According to out lecture states “Some people by virtue of their ethnic heritage (something they individually had no decision in) believe they are superior or inferior to other simply based on their race or culture”. Therefore, people deny their beliefs, race and ethnicity because

In The Social Construction of Race, Ian F. Haney Lopez defines race as a social construct that is constantly changing its meaning due to the fickle nature of society. Lopez believes that this fickleness stems from a social climate formed by a variety of factors such as human economic interest, current events, and ideology. There are certain racial definitions however, that have remained mostly the same despite efforts to bring attention to the offensiveness and immorality of such discriminatory thinking. These stereotypes are oftentimes negative and apply to members of minority races, which end up perpetuating themselves into various cultural outlets of society including the media and film. Through the use of such popular forms of entertainment, the definitions of a race remain largely unchanged as future generations remain exposed to these racial classifications.

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.

Despite changes in the landscape for treatment of ethnic minorities in the United States over the past 200 years, issues with racism has never stopped being an issue and continues to tarnish and tatter the very fabric of our nation. There has been a history of violence against Black people that dates back 400 years, to a time when the first slave was forcefully brought here to the USA (Rogers, 2015). From that time on, people of African descent have been dehumanized and treated as second-class citizens and this has become an ongoing community issue (Diversi, 2016). Racial classification was created as a way to condone slavery and maintain the primacy of the white race (Tolliver, Hadden, Snowden, & Manning, 2016). Aymer (2016) explains that the Critical Race Theory (CRT) provides a way to understand that the violence that Blacks face in America originates from the societal belief in White superiority and, when trying to understand the Black reality, centuries of racial oppression must be discussed (Aymer, 2016). CRT acknowledges that racism is primarily a problem in America and has contributed to the social disparities in the U.S. In addition, it notes other forms of oppression that are important to discuss and work through. CRT does not believe in the legal rhetoric that there is an impartial, equal way of dealing with individuals in the community that has nothing to do with color and everything to do with achievement and hard work. It also takes on an interdisciplinary

Thanks Candance you gave great insight about what the Critical Race Theory is and the importance of having that theory in place. This theory has uncovered racism, and the power of the dominant race. I work at a shelter for homeless, abused, neglected and exploited children, and I am in the part of my internship, which allows me to type up case studies on the children that are referred to the shelter, I find it difficult to relate to the Hispanic children and their families without the Spanish version of the English translation, because we know that the English language can be a barrier to getting the help that they need. As you stated, much is lost in the Hispanics population if communication is broken in the engagement stage. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics (1999) outline score values and ethical standards for social workers, including the vital importance of multicultural competence, advocacy, empowerment, and social justice. We must have the ability to aid these individuals and groups in finding this voice and can only do so through our own proper education and strategic leadership. Latino subgroups share some

As a black girl, I have thought about race a lot. I have personally seen how race has affected my education, opportunities, dealings with police, employment, and everyday interactions with people. Of course, I know that race does not exist as a scientific category. The theory of race is not a biological reality, and has been proven as illegitimate.There is after all only one race - the human race. We all have the same basic characteristics and genetically are all homo sapien sapiens. Our physical differences can be explained by means of Charles Darwin’s concept of human variation. Thus, our various physical characteristics such as skin colour and hair texture are a result of our ancestors geographical origins. In contrast to its biological

Critical Race Theory and Conflict Theory Society contains groups with diverse interests, where competing interests encourage conflict (Hutchison, 2013). The racial ideology in the United States is the belief in a hierarchy of races with whites at the top and other races grouped underneath (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011). One way minorities are depicted as different from whites is through imagery that creates detachment and seclusion between groups (Ortiz & Jani, 2010). Critical Race Theory Critical race theory (CRT) assumes this society was created to empower White people; CRT is focused on transforming the relationships between race and racial power assembled by law and culture (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). This theory suggests that racism is embedded in American society (Helms, 2006), looking at how racial pride in being White can be exhibited in tolerable ways or as White superiority (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012).

In assessing interpersonal relationships, the concept of race is a powerful factor. The United States upholds a problematic legacy in regard to the power discrepancies between racial minorities and white individuals. The race issues that currently exist in the U.S. are of unacceptable quantities but are also progressing through a path towards larger conflict that can be analyzed through theories of race and ethnicity, specifically critical race theory. After an overview of critical race theory, there will be an analysis of the historical context of the U.S., looking at slavery and segregation. A discussion of the existing systemic issues that reinforce power imbalances will follow. Subsequently, there will be an examination of “white privilege” and the violence that can emerge out of this notion. The stance that is being taken here is not merely that there is severe racism in U.S., but that in using critical race theory, one can see that race issues are so deeply rooted in society to the extent that it reinforces future inequality and violence.

Throughout history and across the different cultures, people socially construct ideas of race. All races of people are not biologically different because there is no genes or gene clusters similar to all people of one race, but because people have similar visual traits humans have categorized people as being different. Due to these differences, societies have been known to show tendencies based on the socially constructed races and people develop personal views about the various races from past experiences. In large cities in the United States there are areas where the African American population is more dense, which shows that people draw imaginary boundaries due to race. An example of how the social construction of race is that in the United

The critical race theory gives a better explanation than the conflict theory because the critical race theory directly focuses on race while the conflict theory focuses more on the individual's social status and other factors unrelated to the individual’s race. Generally speaking, both theories emphasize that racial discrimination is part of society and is also a permanent social issue. However, the conflict theory is flawed because it merely focuses on social class, gender, education, and age more than it does on the actual race itself, therefore it doesn’t successfully explain why racism is such a major issue in our society today. Whereas, the critical race theory analyzes the presence of racism itself across the dominant cultures. Various

1. Critical Race Theory sprang up in the mid 1970’s with the work of Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman who were deeply distressed over the slow pace of racial reform in the United States in the midst of civil rights legislation. Critical race theory evolved in the mid-1970’s as a response to Critical legal studies. Law must focus on how it is applied to specific groups in particular circumstances. Exposes contradictions in law and illustrates the ways that laws create and maintain the hierarchical society in which we live.

Omi and Winant’s discussion from “Racial Formations” are generally about race being a social construct and is also demonstrated in the viewing of Race - The power of an illusion. Omi and Winant have both agreed that race is socially constructed in society. Ultimately this means that race is seen differently in different societies and different cultures. Media, politics, school, economy and family helps alter society’s structure of race. In the viewing , also media as well as history seemed to create race by showing how social norms have evolved in different racial groups.