Race : A Social Construction Of Race In The United States

Humans define race by how they conceive and categorize different social realities. Thus, race is often referred to as a social construct. The differences in skin color and facial characteristics have led most of society to classify humans into groups instead of individuals. These constructs affect us all, and they often result in situations where majority racial groups cause undue suffering to those that are part of the minority. The understanding of race as a social construct is best illustrated by the examination of racial issues within our own culture, specifically those that have plagued the history of the United States.

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.

Implicit bias plays a significant role in today’s society, whether the members realize it or not. The online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says,” ‘Implicit bias’ is a term of art referring to a relatively unconscious and relatively automatic features of prejudiced judgement and social behavior” (Brownstein 2015). Implicit biases are often based on stereotypes. Stereotypes, as defined by OpenStax, are “oversimplified ideas about groups of people” (OpenStax College 2015:248). Implicit biases can be problematic for many reasons. One way implicit biases are troublesome is due to the fact that it is unconscious, so it is usually out of a person’s control. People are often unaware of their own and how they use it. A very common way implicit biases are seen in society is through discrimination. Discrimination is defined as “prejudiced action against a group of people” (OpenStax College 2015:248). If a man and a woman are considered as potentials for being hired, the employer may have an implicit bias either towards or against men or women influencing them to hire one over the other based on their gender. This exemplifies a modern concern of gender discrimination as well. Implicit biases can come in many forms from gender, race, weight, sexuality, and many more. These factors can influence an individual’s treatment of others if they have significant bias. In society, these implicit biases can negatively influence minority and other groups and lead to inequality.

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.

I believe race is so central to how we organize social life in many societies because it has been the defining factor that breaks humans apart from one another just based off of something as simple as sight. It is the easiest way to classify individuals aside from gender or nationality. Race has also become something that individuals have personally adopted, and I believe many people are more comfortable being around those that share the same characteristics as themselves.

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.

In society, race clearly affects one's life chances. These are the chances of getting opportunities and gaining experience for progression. The social construction of race is based on privileges and availability of resources. Looking at society and the formation of race in a historical context, whites have always held some sort of delusional belief of a "white-skin privilege." This advantage grants whites an advantage in society whether one desires it or not. This notion is often commonly referred to as reality.

When watching a TED talk you automatically know your going to leave with some new profound thought or have your ways of thinking changed slightly. The primes behind TED talks is “Ideas worth spreading” right there in their mission statement is what persuasive speech is. In Ms. Alexander’s TED talk she did just that, she spread the idea to her audience of what the future of race in America will look like if we don’t seek to change the social, economical, and political policies that almost certainly put people in america as legal second class citizens.

What can we say about race in America that has not been said before? In reading the book, one gets more disheartened yet. Though the author's statistics are now dated, I found a calculation made by the National Criminal Justice Commission that by the year 2020, 33.3 percent of African Americans and 25.6% of Hispanics between the ages of 18 and 34 will be incarcerated most frustrating as those numbers would seem to apply to the loss of young people through war or epidemics such as aids. In the harsh environment of prisons, race becomes the all- encompassing issue.

Race has been one of the most outstanding situations in the United States all the way from the 1500s up until now. The concept of race has been socially constructed in a way that is broad and difficult to understand. Social construction can be defined as the set of rules are determined by society’s urges and trends. The rules created by society play a huge role in racialization, as the U.S. creates laws to separate the English or whites from the nonwhites. Europeans, Indigenous People, and Africans were all racialized and victimized due to various reasons. Both the Europeans and Indigenous People were treated differently than African American slaves since they had slightly more freedom and rights, but in many

Race also known as ethnicities is a big topic, not just in the United States, but all over the World with all kinds of humans being that was once created by Adam and Eve. There is multiple race living in the United States that are known as Asian, African American, Hispanics, and others. My personal opinion on Asians are known with small eyes, straight hair, and ninety percent of the population are skinny. Another African Americans are known as tall, fit, and with different style hair, but mostly with puffy hair. Hispanics which is my race is a mix of everything because some of the population are either short or tall. Their body and hair are all kinds of different style especially in the U.S because they follow the trends in the community. When

Money does not last forever. All the money in the world can become the reason why people change their personality and behavior. In the film The Jerk by Carl Reiner, a complete moron struggles to make it through life on his own, until a bizarre invention makes him unbelievably a wealthy man. Navin grew up in Mississippi as an adopted son of a black family, but on his birthday he decides to discover more about the outside world and sets out to St. Louis. There, everyone exploits his simplicity, but then a simple invention brings Navin a big fortune that will become his main downfall as the film continues. Like many

Race is a sociopolitical construct “created and reinforced by social institutional norms and practices, as well as individual attitudes and behavior” (Castañeda & Zúñiga, 2013, p. 58), and unfortunately, race does matter in society (Williams, 2013). Historically, the sociopolitical construct of race was created by the early white settlers of the future United States of America in order to justify their dominance over people defined as racially different, and these racially different people were deemed as inferior (Castañeda & Zúñiga, 2013). Hence, racism is a set of principles and practices established to create advantages for white people, and the introduction of the sociopolitical construct of race in early American society created a systematic

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.

I took the time today to read the article titled “What is Race” by Victor M. Fernandez, RN, BSN and found myself agreeably intrigued and in admiration of his thoughts regarding race. Victor touched on an extremely insightful and significant topic; one that most people have sturdy opinions about. Race – what is it? What does this mean to you? What does it mean to our upcoming careers in the nursing field? I trust that how we characterize and assess our awareness of race is due exclusively to how we were raised. I do not mean merely what we were taught from our family or culture about race, but to a certain extent how we have lived it, and how it has lived around us. “Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide