What is Racial Stratification? Historically, the concept of race has changed across cultures and eras. It has eventually become less connected with ancestral and family ties, and more concerned with superficial physical characteristics. Racial stratification can be defined as systems of inequality in which some fixed groups memberships, such as race, religion, or national origin is a major criterion for ranking social positions and their differential rewards. Social construction of race is also reflected in the way names for racial categories change with changing times. In contrast, reviewing these factors really make you wonder why inequality exist? In our world today discrimination affects the way people interact, think, and behave. …show more content…
Socially and Historically. For example during the year of 2012 when 17 year old Trayvon Martin was gun down and killed for the color his skin. He was visiting his father in Sanford Florida when he left the home on foot to buy a snack. As he was returning, George Zimerrman, a white Hispanic male and community neighborhood watch program coordinator, noticed him. In light of a recent break-in he called the police and reported a person acting suspicious. George Zimmerman followed the young teen and one thing led to another. It’s heart breaking knowing that racial profiling in our society could result in matter of life and death but it happens everyday. Another example is Segregation. Times were very hard for African Americans in the 1950’s. They were treated unfairly, and Jim Crows Laws made segregation legal. African Americans were segregated from society. They had to use restrooms for blacks only, water fountains for blacks only, and even schools for blacks only. Even hospitals had segregations. Picturing my life during this era makes me grateful for the life that I'm blessed to live now. I have the same goals and opportunities that any minority should have. Simultaneously Latin americans experienced almost the same treatment as the Indians did in Mexico. Their social status always seems to fall to the lowest. Latino American, those who are here illegally, are at the center of national debate about …show more content…
Hopefully we can learn from the Indians of Mexico. Because of the colonization, this race is still currently paying the price of something they can not help. I hope we will continue to grow and not have racial barriers. Racial stratification can be very dangerous. Learning from the past can be a good thing. It is time to continue to move forward and avoid these terrible issues that Mexico faces. We should not allow anyone to only come home making thirty dollars when they are really trying to work with their best ability. Ethnicity is what America is known for. Life is what you make it. I believe life would be boring if we were all the same. Thats why we have color, gifts, talents, and different languages because without diversity we wouldn't be able to learn from each
I can think of no better example than the treatment of undocumented families and students. Undocumented students and families are terrified to participate in extra-curricular activities and often fly under the radar to go unnoticed. The dive into the great abyss of marginalization and victimization begins. As does a new phenomena being coined as the “School to Deportation Pipeline.”
Violence and discriminations against Mexican-Americans was experienced as negative affect that was organized in segregating our society in such places as the labor market, residential setting and in the educational system. Although many countries have overcome, name calling various ethnic groups they also struggled for equality and respect. However, people in America have placed a racial connotation in the minorities groups. Mexican Americans and Mexicans are one of the minorities in America that have been categorized and degrade to derogatory names. They have been considered lazy, dirty, unable to speak English and uneducated. Many people have a wrong image of the Mexican race because of the way they act and the way they dress therefore was assumed that all Mexicans are like that. Segregation has always been an obstacle that made an impact in our society and has change history with laws that outlaw any sort of discrimination towards others. Parents had an important role to changes that have been made in the history. The parents were the first ones to arrive to America because they wanted a better future for their children. Parents find the motivation in helping each other by supporting other parents to fight for their children’s right every step of the way. In the research I have done I will be addressing the many issues that the Mexican and Mexican Americans faced to earn the equality here in America in the labor market, residential
The first and most crucial step to solving an issue is to recognize that the issue actually exists. Many people fail to recognize that race has a correlation to the way that a person is treated in their society. In many aspects of American society, a person's race is a major determinant to how they are treated. Race impacts the way a person is treated in the workplace, by police and in the doctor’s office. Race grants privilege to those who it
America is most known for its diversity, with immigrants from almost everywhere on Earth. The American Dream has lured many minorities to the land of the free and home of the brave, in search of opportunity. Though the U.S. is known for its “American Dream,” America does not have equal opportunity for all of its people. Women and Latinos, specifically, have been denied social and legal equality, with both movements starting in the 1960`s. Latinos had the Chicano movement while women had the second wave of a feminist movement, with similarities and differences in their goals, means, and results. Although Latinos focused on reforming education and work conditions and women wanted to reform their image in society, both educated the public through organizations and used protests to gain limited success of better job opportunity though are still viewed as inferior to white men.
Another part of my research included looking at other factors that relate to social stratification there are huge gaps in this area in regard to income, wealth, power, and prestige. Social stratification is defined in our book as the ranking of people and the rewards they receive based
“Oppression, you seek population control, Oppression, to divide and conquer is your goal, Oppression, I swear hatred is your home, Oppression, you mean me only harm.” (Harper). Oppression is a serious issue in our society today. Although it may be less serious than the past it is still a matter of importance, having to deal with sexism, religion and most importantly racial issues. Throughout the decades we have seen various ethnicities deal with racial oppressions. Many of the problems of the past still exist, and they may push the victims of the oppression beyond the emotional point of no return. A Hispanic male such as myself, can be the victim of several types of oppressions, including racial oppression.
“We use the term racial formation to refer to the process by which social, economic and political forces determine the content and importance of racial categories, and by which they are in turn shaped by racial meanings.” (Omi and Winant 14) Through observing certain events in the economy, politics, and society, we can understand the unwanted ascribing of racial identities to the minorities that led to their unfair treatment and discrimination. The underlying factors that led to this utilization of racial formation were a scarcity of jobs, political policies to maintain power, and racial division through class differences.
To my family we always saw the inequality, it was a part of our daily lives and we had to deal with it as best as we could. The inequality was always an inconvenience, a part of my daily life that had less resources, stricter rules, less to no privileges, which made no sense to me where in the country we live in is supposedly free and equal for everyone. Growing up we always had to be careful around cops and made sure that we come fully prepared with papers to any meeting foe healthcare, or government benefits because weren’t given the benefit of the doubt. A prime example for the inequalities my family went through was extra processes for car insurance, dental care, and medical care. We always had to make sure to dot our I’s and cross our T’s or else it could be taken away in an instant. It just didn’t affect my family but my community as well. Having a community of Hispanics and African Americans we had to make sure not to make too much noise during parties or in an instant we would have cops on our blocks. These kinds of small things snowball into such a massive effect and influence our tremendously to the point where we think it’s “just another day” and not an attack against our
Social Stratification in the African American community has changed over the years. Social stratification is defined as a rigid subdivision of a society into a hierarchy of layers, differentiated on the basis of power, prestige, and wealth according to Webster’s dictionary. David Newman in Sociology Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life describes stratification as a ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society. From slavery to the present, the African American community has been seen to have lower status compared to white people. Today, the stratification or hierarchy difference between whites and black are not really noticeable, but it is still present. However, during
"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,
The history of the African Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans contains an infinite variety of experiences. To the Native Americans who founded these lands, slavery, and the waves of migration. What all minority groups have experienced is the
The impact on minorities due to inequality Introduction During the course of this class I have learned about social problems within the society in which we live and around the world. It is disturbing to learn that poverty, social inequality, race and cultural discrimination, gender stratification, environmental damage, population growth, and urbanization are among the social problems and controversial issues that still exist in the United States.
In the United States today discrimination is still an issue in society. As a society progress has definitely been made, but it has never fully gone away. Some of the most discriminatory action takes place in the American justice system. Young minority males between the ages of 25-29 are subject to being treated the most unfairly while whites of the same age are still being treated better than any race in this country. African American and Hispanic males are being incarcerated at higher rates than white males in America. Not only are minorities being incarcerated more, but also they are subject to harsher sentencing terms, fall victim to police racial profiling, and have disparities in the war on drugs. Also whites are still the dominant
Social stratification involves various inequalities within a gender, race, class. When considering the role of gender, race, and class in the social stratification system, it affects the organization system which is known for disparity based on the families’ income statutes, lack of resources, organization activity, and systematic inadequate government law. In the following essay I will focus how social stratification inequality effect families and individuals in the United States based on a gender, race, and class. Society has lived over decades experiencing different types of inequality. For example, gender inequality has been around since our ancestors. Informing society and continuous advocating about inequality is vital for positives changes
For many years now the people in power or “whites” have passed laws so that other racial groups are kept at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These racial group that are kept at the bottom become racialized and oppressed therefore they become unequal to the people that are at the top of this hierarchy. The racial groups that are kept at the bottom vary from the Native-Americans to the Mexican-Americans and obviously the African-Americans. In this essay I will be comparing how the racialization process has been similar and different between these racial groups. I will also define race and racialization. Furthermore, I will explain how class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship has impacted the racialization process within these groups.