Race and ethnicity have always been two words with great importance to people, but these terms and the topics they represent have been talked about by mass media much more frequently as of late due to the election. Personally, I am a white female who grew up in a predominately white area and went to elementary and middle school where there was not one person of color in my graduating class of about 80. In high school, I was exposed to more diversity but significantly and the percentage of whites in my graduating class was likely near ninety. Even with such little diversity growing up, I believe I was raised in a way to see human beings as human beings, and not for the color of their skin, where they are from, or what culture one may …show more content…
Most often it is the “white race” that has privilege and races with darker skin face different degrees of oppression. As mentioned before, I have done my best to maintain an understanding of basic human ethics and was raised with the belief that we are all equal. Even so, my background of not being exposed to a significant amount of diversity caused me to be nervous to take the IAT test on race. The test started by asking me to answer a few questions about myself including my gender, birthday and race. There were seven sections to the IAT testing and each had me associate something with either the “E” key or “I” key. Part one specified using “E” for light skinned people and “I” for dark skinned people and in part two, “E” was meant to associate with bad words and “I” with good words. Parts three and four were the same, including both light skinned and bad words for “E”, dark skinned and good words for “I”, but part five wanted me to click “E” for dark skinned people, “I” for light skinned. Finally, for parts six and seven the “E” key was for dark skinned people and for bad words and the “I” key was to be selected for light skinned people and good words. Images of cartoon like faces would appear and I would have to associate them with the proper key. Good and bad words were basic vocabulary such as happy and disgust. When an answer was wrong, a red
It is evident that no matter how hard we try to avoid it race plays a major role in today’s society. Your race and/or nationality and skin color plays a lot in how you are seen and perceived by the world. The first thing you see when you look at a person is their skin color, which just
As an American born and raised, I have surprisingly, never given much thought on how my race impacts my life and the people around me. It seems as if society today is obsessed with knowing what we are racially and where we come from, rather than our character and how we think or how we carry ourselves culturally.
Upon entering the class I was anxious, curious, and also oblivious to the ideas I would be encountering. Like other students who had not previously spent time discussing topics of race and ethnicity, I myself had nervous tendencies in assuming that such a class may not strengthen my understanding of ethnic and race relations. I realized I knew little about race or ethnicity, and even the possible similarities or differences. However, I welcomed the opportunity to further discover the possibilities of the class. My understanding of race was concentrated in a definition that could be understood as different skin colors. My limited conception of ethnicity applied to people’s origin or where they lived. It seemed as though my lack of
Also race, as a social construct, is a group of people who share similar and distinct physical characteristics. Such as bigger/smaller noses, head, lips or other varies body parts. The social construction of human beings can be made out on a human taxonomy that define essential types of individuals based on certain traits that they have in that region.
of life. However, a major issue which arises with this increasing diversity is race, a topic which
Race is a social-constructed terminology where it categorizes people into groups that share certain distinctive physical characteristics such as skin color. However, race and racial identity is unstable, unfixed and constantly shifting, as race, typically, is a signifier of prevalent social conflict and interest. Although, many, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, argue in the aforementioned point of view, some – mainly white population -- believe that racial characteristics are biologically inherited.
I would like to discuss the issue of race and ethnicity in sports. We will also explore the bigger questions. How much does race and ethnicity matter in the sports world? Are certain races dominant in certain sports? Is there a difference in how we treat players based on race and ethnicity? Does it matter? I would like to answer some of these questions and gain a better understanding of how much of a part they play.
Time period covered in report: First session – January 7, 2015 (2 hours). Next session: Follow Up in 3 weeks
Due to the complexity related to both individual and group racial identity, the subject is inherently interesting. Even more complex is the subject of race relations, which are the interaction and relationships between different racial groups. This interaction can be examined from infinite angles and on many levels. For instance, on an economic level, do members of different races have equal access to jobs? Do members of different races control a vastly different percentage of the country’s wealth? On a political level, do different races exert greater control over the political process? Does this control result in legislative and/or legal bias? Is this bias racism?
Ethnic patterns are changing every year. It seems that the minority groups are rising and are getting stronger as every new school year starts. There are many minority groups in the school setting now. " Nearly half (46 percent) of school-age youths in the United States will be people of color by 2020 (Pallas, Natriello, and McDill 1989)". A minority group is "a group typically numerically inferior to the rest of the population state... (A.J. Jongman and A.P. Schmid)". There used to be two major groups in the school setting, the blacks and the whites. Now there are whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, etc. And even to go along with that (they are not truly minority groups), there are the "freaks",
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.
Racial injustices are what have made America the powerful nation it is today. America was founded on the genocide of Native Americans and built on the backs of African slaves. In modern day America, strides have been made to provide all Americans equal opportunities to ensure assimilation and success in society however there is still significant work to be to ensure equality. In this paper I have researched the anthropological perspectives on race and ethnicity globally. I have also compared and contrasted varying researcher’s works to ensure I have a thorough understanding of this topic
Race and ethnicity are commonly used as synonyms for each other as we encounter many diverse individuals throughout the world. Sociologist on the other hand, find very distinct understandings to how these terms, while different, hold correlation to one another. Max Weber, a founding figure of sociology, was one of the first to define race and ethnicity. He stood with the idea of essentialism which presumes "that and individual 's identity depends on fundamental and innate characteristics that are deep-seated, inherited, and unchangeable." (Pearson, pg 241) As for ethnicity, Weber described it as subjective belief in relations to a groups common descent. While sociologist today may disagree with Weber 's theory, they do apply this idea of subjectivity and have correlated it to that of not only group definitions but of our own perceptions of biological similarity.
Understanding race and racism can be very difficult for American citizens. This also leads to confusion when discussing current events around racial disparities and inequalities. Mainstream American general society views racism and race differently than sociologist who study these disparities and inequalities. The idea of double consciousness and ethnicity directly relate to the different ways in which different individuals understand and experience race and racism. In our current society where media is widely used, individual’s understandings of these topics becomes confusing and difficult to understand and/or comprehend. Discussing the blurry ideas of race and racism is so
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