Racial Smog Sociology

Race and gender are two facets that inherently dominate individuals everyday lives. A person’s social environment, work environment, and educational environment is congruent to their race and gender. From birth, it has been set up that everyone is assigned to a label. A pink or blue blanket is swaddled around a newborn child and a box is checked signifying that child’s place in society. These two actions ultimately define how a child is to be viewed and treated. As children grow into young adults they either decide to stick with their original assignment, while others decide to deviate from it. These individuals deviation results in many of them being viewed harshly and looked down upon because they strayed from their social norms. This constant cycle of being classified and labeled from birth is the social institution of gender and race. These social institutions aid in the inequality that is present in society, and race and gender are shaped by this. However, if these social institutions were removed, race and gender could dissipate. This is due to the fact that race and gender are not real, but are socially constructed concepts used to organize the power, or dominance, within our society to one social group over the other groups.

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.

Racial differences in socioeconomic status (education, income, occupation, health) are well documented. For example, black people have a higher death rate from cardiovascular diseases, breast cancer, and diabetes compared to the rest of the population. In addition, black people are less likely than white people to receive optimal care for their health conditions. Furthermore, black people are three times more likely to live in poverty than white people, and their median household earnings are significantly lower than whites. Slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of discrimination are directly linked to African Americans socioeconomic statuses. Legal racist practices made it harder for African Americans to accumulate wealth (Gaskin, Headen, & White-Means, 2005).

Race is a category or group of people having hereditary traits that set them apart from other groups of people. Based on skin color, hair texture, eye shape, ancestry, name and even identity performance; race is known as a social construct with real consequences and effects. Ethnicity is based on a shared cultural heritage.

Race is a construction of social aspects that refers to individuals and groups that contain certain characteristics (Cornell). Races are identified differently in societies over a given amount of time; an example would be, “that one time racial classifications were based on ethnicity or nationality, religion, or minority language groups. Today, by contrast, society classifies people into different races primarily based on skin color” (Cornell). Ethnic and racial identities are quite important for many children and adolescents, particularly those who are members of minority ethnicity (ACT).

Race contributes to racial differences in health identified multiple ways in which racism initiates and sustains health disparities. Stress, anxiety, and other health issues can affect a migrant person because they might feel overwhelmed to be in a new place. These are some of the basic factors, that can contribute to deteriorating health for many migrant people. These factors can be leading to use tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.  Different races do not have the proper health care, like the whites do and I believe that segregation has a big part and impact on those groups rather than whites because they live under a level of segregation that is higher than them.  As stated in Rethinking the Color Line by Charles A. Gallagher ”Studies

The term race describes groups of people having differences and similarities in biological traits that the society deems socially significant. For example, while similarities and differences in eye color have not been treated as socially significant, similarities and differences in skin color have been considered socially significant. Simply, race can be represented as a constituent of people who think and believe that their group is superior to other groups. More specifically, therefore, race entails a group of people possessing similar but distinct physical characteristics such as hair type and skin color. As such race constitutes a human population that is different and distinct from any other human groups based on their physical differences, whether they are imagined or not.

All humans have different characteristics which allow them to be unique in their own way including race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, and ability status. We are born with these characteristics which we inherit from our parents without consciousness or permission; this is known as the Beginning Step in the Cycle of Socialization. In addition, the location in which you were born and raised has a large impact on how you grow up as a child and also the values and beliefs you have been instilled with. The type of school you attended growing up also has an impact on who you are today. With growing up in various areas, humans are not as open-minded as they perceive about topics such as social justice and inequality. Therefore,

You stated that "middle-income range and fast-urbanizing regions" and "death and disease at a higher rate of low-income people" these statements may possibly be true, but air pollution is not just an issue for this demographic it is a deadly issue for us all. So, when looking through the social and natural science lenses we must see the issue clearly. That air pollution is a world issue, and that we all must consider ways and means to fix it. It's quite possible that at the time the article was written, many people thought as you did, "air pollution was not a topic you were very concerned with" and some may still do, but your view changed after reading the that is the "article while looking through

Fellow Americans of all races. It has come to my attention that we are so focused on hating each other that we are blind to what is happening to the world around us. I don’t know how everyone else feels about this, but we want our children to live in a beautiful world. As we stand here today, I see how far we have come, not only as people, but as a nation. When we first came together, we all had a bad taste about each other. Even as we stand here today, I feel guilty about the race I am, because of what we did to each other back then.

The subject of race, within the field of sociology, can often be viewed as both a fluid concept and a cultural experience. Contrary to popular belief, race is not biological, but is a socially constructed category of people that share the same biological traits. Race can often change over time and is formed primarily by our personal views and the views of others. These can range from ethnicity to self-presentation and feelings of place within society. One example of the fluidity of race can be seen based upon the classification of the White or Caucasian race. In today’s culture, this race has been drastically increased to include a vast array of “white” individuals.

In this sense, personal cultural diversity can be seen through the influences of personal experiences that have been acquired and accumulated by the individual through his or her lifetime. Another factor to consider is the individual’s religious background or influences, as this would determine the values and practice of morality of the individual. This would also define one’s behavior and personality in comparison to other individuals. In addition, the religious influence of an individual, along with his or her personal experiences determines his or her judgments and prejudices regarding a certain issue. Another important factor is one’s social-economic class background, which refers to one’s income levels and lifestyle backgrounds. One’s level of income and lifestyle entitles one to develop different views and perceptions regarding different issues or topics.

In most case, identity is shaped by culture. Since culture is a set of ideals life practices, routines and attitudes set up by a certain community hence culture plays a major role in shaping the identity of an individual. An individual’s character and attributes can be because of their background. This is due to the set up that one has grown up (Dumas 19). People tend to learn more about their culture, and as they grow up it becomes part of them. They embrace the culture’s beliefs and tend to do things following the set routines. The aspect of following the set routine and beliefs play a significant part in shaping the identity of an individual.

All individuals at times in life can find themselves in association with different groups, whether the group being of common interests, same spoken language, same ethnicity or same shared values. Family is the first group to which majority of people ever belong, the culture and values our family instill in us determine our characteristics initially and as we mature through time, other factors such as our peers, circle of friends and work colleagues also contribute to deciding our characters. Groups shape our identity significantly and the fact that we belong to a certain group sometimes defines who we are, although our own identity may need to be compromised in order for us to belong. Our sense of self is usually shaped and influenced by

formed by society, minorities tend to be one of the most affected. This is noticed by the way education remains segregated, the wage inequality