Racism: A Social Problem Essay

Racism is a socially constructed concept used by multiple groups of people and creates a hierarchy of sorts based purely on the color of a person’s skin or their cultural origins. It has been an idea that has existed since the beginnings of civilization. A more modern iteration of this concept was made prominent in the 16th century as European settlers began to explore different areas of the world, specifically areas in or around Africa. But slavery can be seen back in the 1500s all the way to 1880 and was most likely a leading example of what helped define racism up to the 20th century. In Ali Rattansi’s book, “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” , the author connects how slavery and race are closely tied together. European explorers would ignore the cultures the invaded in order to see these people as nothing more than native groups that were meant to be seen in a subservient role. Slavery would continue to grow across the Atlantic and seen as an institution that created large amounts of wealth for those who could reap the benefits from it. As long as money was being made, slavery persisted and was justified. Race and racism was conceived the way it was because the slave owning system was controlled by European colonizers.

This essay will focus on the film Racism: a History. I picked the film over the other films offered, because it taught me many things about history of the Black Americans. It illustrates how race continues to justify economic misuse and injustices. It shows how people moved from their maternal land, bound in slavery, and killed. This happens when people view others as though they are not human beings.

The explicit oppression, and societal disadvantages experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are those that are a product of past racism and discriminatory practices based on prejudice towards the collective minority groups. Although many of the explicit discriminatory practices based on race are frowned upon in the U.S. today, that does not suggest that they do not still exist. The racism of contemporary times has only shifted form and is used against minorities in the form of institutionalized and societal racist practices. The maintenance as well as protection of the white supremacy is the key driver behind past and contemporary forms of racism and discrimination. In Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of

Racism, the discriminatory belief that members of a certain race are superior or inferior to another, creates problems that are more intricate than they are skin-deep. Racial stratification emerges not only throughout individual interaction based on personal bias, but rather emerges within cultures and institutions themselves. Some would be naïve to think that racism merely hurts the feelings of the oppressed. The full extent of racism is wide-reaching, and it impacts matters much more complex than a person’s emotional state.

Many people mark racism off as an awkward topic and a problem that cannot be solved, but the reality is that yes, racism is a major problem that can and should be solved. Racism affects many people and has numerous effects on our country, the United States as a whole. Below you’ll find out what is the exact definition of racism and how we see in our culture and society, and of course the effects it causes in our country. Also, how to fight racism for good and achieve equality in our society.

Society today deals with a plethora of controversial problems. Controversial problems we face today include issues that deal with a few of the amendments: freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, etc. Other issues that we deal with today could be medical, social, or the legalization of certain things. One controversial problem that I believe is very important and should be addressed is racism.

Even though racism is one of the world major issues today. Some individuals may say racism come from ignorance the condition of being uneducated, unaware or uniformed. A lot of attitude is shaped when individuals are young, they believe that it is natural to spend time with people that have the same interest and background culture like theirs. They judge people from different racial background, by the way look, act, and the by clothes they wear, also individuals are targeted by the music they listen to, and how smart they are. One main factor is, frustration Individual feel angry or frustrated, and often look for someone else to blame. In many way individual are racist toward each other. When individual feels threatened when thing they cherish such as culture, territory, family and identity is in danger of being harmed they become prejudice toward others forming unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, regarding an ethnic, racial, social, or religious groups. Whether racism is in school, employment, communities or religion, we need to look toward a solution to resolving this issue. In America what are some causes of racism.

Dealing With Modern Day Racism Racism is defined as whichever attitude, inaction, or action, which undermines a person or group owing to differences in ethnicity, color, and race. To most societies, the term "racism” revolves around the numerous attitudes and views of different racial groups. Most racial views are particularly undesirable stereotypes about one or more racial clusters as well as the opinion that one 's own racial group is greater than the rest. To sociologists, this common premise of racism is more accurately termed as "prejudice”. However, outside this agreement, the views of modern racism are debatable. This article is a proposal on racial discrimination with prospect of ending racism and discrimination in the United States.

Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because

Have we reached the post racism era? Many people believe that racism has a stop, which is true up to an extent. Even with many programs set in place such as “Black Lives Matter” and the loads of attention directed towards police cruelty and racial discriminative acts, it is still has an everyday presence. Although this problem has gotten much better than, for example the 1670’s when slavery was an essential tool for life and success, the world is still not completely, which means we still have a major problem.

Racism is a major problem in America. People of color are the largest group affected by racism and arguably the only ones because racism is a “system of advantage based on race” and people of color as a whole group have never been advantaged (Tatum 1997). Now of course there are certain cases where people of color have been in a position of power, such as President Barack Obama, but their power is overshadowed by the only thing people will focus on: their race. The definition of racism as a system of advantages gives a narrower view of racism and makes it exclusive as opposed to the textbook definition of “the belief in the inferiority of certain racial or ethnic groups, often accompanied by discrimination”

n the 1960’s racism was alive and well continuously gaining traction in both Australia and America, people of colour had to fight for their rights and equal education. Lucky times have changed… right?

Racism is prejudice plus power (influence, status and authority). It exists in many different forms and in almost every facade of society; from subtle discrimination in everyday life and scandals in politics, to occurrences like lynching’s in the South and Police Brutality. Racism is complicated, systemic and institutional as described by researchers; (Jones, 1997): personal, which may be considered the same as prejudice (Allport, 1958); institutional, involving a set of environmental conditions, such as housing market conditions, that favors one group over another; and cultural, referring to shared beliefs about the superiority of one group over another. Racism also often involves control by one group over resources that another group

The issue of racism is an ongoing problem and it is something that each of us shares a responsibility to help address. Discrimination against black people is particularly prevalent in American society and it is troubling and unacceptable. “An Associated Press survey in 2012 found that 51 percent of Americans express explicit anti-black attitudes and racist attitudes have actually increased since the U.S. elected its first black President”(Sonya Ross and Jennifer Agiesta, bigstory.ap.org) People need to be taught that when it comes to other human beings, race should never matter. The solution is that people need to have open minds and be accepting of other’s cultures and ways of life so that there are no misunderstandings, misconceptions, or dangerous stereotypes that are detrimental to the positive evolution of our society.

There are significant differences and similarities between sexism and racism. Sexism occurs when a person’s gender or sex is used as the basis for discriminating. Females are more susceptible to sexism although males are also susceptible. Sexual harassment and rape are examples of extreme cases of sexism. Racism occurs when people of a particular race or ethnicity are discriminated against or made to feel inferior. The primary outcome of the paper after comparison is to determine most dehumanizing act between racism and sexism.