Ideology Bias Toward Society 's Dominant Groups Ideology

Equality is something we humans crave for when we are in a time of hardship. When we are being discriminated against, we feel the utmost pain and the need for freedom. Discrimination has lingered since the beginning of time, and ending it is impracticable. A French novelist, Honore de Balzac proclaims, “Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.” Here, Balzac is acknowledging that an individual is born a free man and is just as equal as any other man. But, an individual will never be fully equal as they desire. Some parts of society will try to act superior to a certain quality of someone’s life, like their race, religion, culture, etc. This statement proves to be valid in Khaled Hosseini’s novel,

Social inequality stems from many facets of life and mindsets reproduced continuously in America. The main backbone of systematic inequality is formed off of race, gender and class, which all contain crucial aspects that further oppress those subjected to inequality in various aspects of life. The resources-schools, occupations, invested parents- around one fuels the opportunity in their lives, a concept highlighted by Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers. Situations one are brought up in or uncontrollable genetic aspects can very easily restrain their opportunities. Racial discrimination, gender roles and inferiority and the lack of fluidity in the low and working class push inequality, which simultaneously influencing the rich and privileged.

Imagine living in a world that consistently devalues your existence and is heavily populated with individuals who are quick to use and abuse your resources, but are slow to share the wealth that is accumulated from those resources. How would you feel? Unfortunately, certain populations do not have to visualize the disparity that is pictured above. This is because inequity is one of the most demoralizing social issues that plague America today. The worst thing about inequity is the fact that it continues to disproportionately burden individuals who are categorize as being minority in today’s society.

Inequality has been a long standing issue in societies. Though many constitutions and laws are constructed from the belief that all men are created equal, the widely accepted declaration has been proven false numerous times by the arise of social injustices plaguing societies around. With issues such as racism, sexism, ableism, classism, ageism, and religious oppression constantly being the topic of conversation it is almost impossible for one to believe that indeed everyone is equal. In actuality the belief that everyone is created equal is a flawed mentality because equality is defined is where everyone is the same despite the differences such as sex and race that makes them different. Humans as mammals were not made to be nor look the same

ocial inequality is a major issue in today’s world. It is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society (Mahault et al. 6). Racism is not the only form of social inequality, it can also be because of an individual’s background and or wealth. These three forms of social inequality appear numerous times in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel, the argument made by Harper Lee is that social inequality is a ladder that is complex and affects everyone.

As I slowly gained more exposure to different races and began to understand more about discrimination and racism I saw how often times society went against the minorities. One day it was brought to my attention that men were minorities. That is that women made up a slightly higher percentage of the U.S. population. This went against what I thought to be in that women were the majority yet often time it seemed they were the ones treated like a minority. This led me to look at women closer and wonder why do we often times think of women as minorities when they are in fact the majority. This thought process ultimately led me to the question of “Why don’t we think of the 1% as a minority?” So I set off to better understand how we perceive minorities and I settled on power. In order to better understand the role of power among minorities I investigated how the two previously stated aspects of power affect three different demographic areas those being race, gender, and class. The following is what I

By privilege being unearned power, and prejudice and discrimination being negative thoughts and actions towards a group, you can start making connections between the majority and the minority groups. Over history, oppression was a part of society with whites being, mostly or not all the majority. You can see this by examples such as segregation, slavery, and even when we first established America. However, little to change ever happens. The reason we do this is because the people in power likes to keep and stay in power. The dominant groups, if they do make an effort to change, do little to nothing because of the social pull that keeps us where we are. The power to change the nation socially and the power to lower the higher, dominant groups is more difficult than

It is questioned that individuals of distinctive of different groups has the ability to perform at the same level, if they are treated equally and given the same opportunity. In “The Fallacy of Fairness: Part II” Sowell uses a great example to explain the misunderstood concept. Sowell (20100 states “In the language of the politically correct, achievement is equated with privilege. Such verbal sleight of hand evades the question whether individuals ‘own priorities and efforts affect outcomes, whether in education or in other endeavors.” (p 8).

One of notable contributions of social psychology is research on social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010), racism, and prejudice (Ross, Lepper, & Ward, 2010). Within the topic of social justice, themes such as equality, equity, liberty, morality, and others are studied. The surge of academic attention in social justice post World War II partially attributes to the political interest in fighting fascism. Nevertheless, issues that are related social equality are continuing to be relevant today. A challenging aspect of this topic is a lack of consensus among scholars with regards to its definition. Moreover, understandings of social justice require integration of individual, group, and system level insights. Holding a balance between subjective and objective experiences with respect to what construed as just is essential. Understandings gained from research would assist researchers to identify obstacles to fair community including selfishness, laziness, human tendency to dehumanize perceived enemies, and common social misconceptions. Research results can assist the public to encourage dialogues integral to social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010).

When considering British society, there are a considerable number of factors that contribute to developing of prejudice and discrimination. To evaluate prejudice and discrimination it is important to understand their meanings. Shapiro and Neuberg (2007) stated that; “prejudice refers to negative attitudes towards others while discrimination refers to negative behaviours towards others.”

In addition, Weir references that inequality promotes distrust, as well as a higher degree of opposition between classes (2013). Social interactions often involve individuals becoming self-conscious towards their relations with others, and their overall sense of community deteriorates (Weir, 2013). It is the belief of this writer that creating an equal society provides the capability for social classes to thrive and are able to have social interactions without the interference of opposition and opinions of distrust (Weir,

Before we discuss social equality, we must comprehend what “social equality” is. Social equality is “the social state of

Most people would agree it’s important to participate as a full member of society through equal opportunities. The goal to achieve this is far from attainable due to existing social and economic inequalities among ethnic groups. For instance, Hispanics have higher school dropout rates than other racial and ethnic groups (Hauser et al., 2002) the black and white wealth gap remains large (Conley, 1999; Oliver and Shapiro, 1995). And some Asian Americans, among other minority groups, have poorer access to health care services and treatments than whites (Institute of Medicine, 2003). Such racial inequalities are prevalent and may be the result of discrimination, as well as changes in socioeconomic status, the discrepancy in access to opportunities, and influential policies and practices.

social prejudice in the workforce) and social disparity (inequality Poverty). Many have used their voice to shine light on these issues, authors such

Sensoy and DiAngelo’s “Is Everyone Really Equal?” encourages readers to think critically when introduced to new ideas or learning experiences rather than using opinions and personal experiences as a way to shape the way we think. When we cannot let go of our personal opinions, we are only able to gain a surface understanding of social issues rather than a more in depth understanding. The authors also discuss the importance of analyzing social justice based on critical theory. The authors understand the complexity of developing a critical social justice perspective, but challenge readers to go beyond maintaining their opinion.