Social Construction of Race

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

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.

The race is an indefinite term, which has not been created from science or research, but more so the idea of what it is. Essentially, race is all about perception. One person may separate races based on a certain category of traits while another person uses totally different guidelines to define what races there are. Race has ultimately been created socially, therefor has no biological components until people connect the two terms. This paper examines the connection between society and race while taking you through America 's history, and explains the social construction of race.

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.

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.

Race and ethnicity play a role in every aspect of the criminal justice system, especially when comparing victimization rates. In class, we were placed into groups to discuss race and ethnicity. Most of the class said ethnicity is your cultural background whereas race is your physical appearance. Although the class had similar answers, no one group had exactly the same answer (CCJ345W). According to Barak in his chapter “Understanding Race”, race is socially defined by traits such as “physical characteristics, national origin, language, culture, and religion”(Barak, 2011:46).

Film and television, for example, have been notorious in disseminating images of racial minorities which establish for audiences what people from these groups look like, how they behave, and “who they are.” The power of the

Throughout history and across the different cultures, people socially construct ideas of race. All races of people are not biologically different because there is no genes or gene clusters similar to all people of one race, but because people have similar visual traits humans have categorized people as being different. Due to these differences, societies have been known to show tendencies based on the socially constructed races and people develop personal views about the various races from past experiences. In large cities in the United States there are areas where the African American population is more dense, which shows that people draw imaginary boundaries due to race. An example of how the social construction of race is that in the United

Today, Race remains a controversial topic in the world. Sociologists believe that the significance of race in contemporary affairs originates from the social beliefs which are associated with race, rather than the actual biological differences between groups of people. This notion is commonly referred to as the social construction of race. Studying this topic becomes even more crucial as the communities become more diverse. However, a sociologist might ask, what factors (micro or macro) influence and reinforce such believes? What could be the most significant factor that shapes such beliefs? This paper aims to investigate specific factors, such as the role of state policy, which may reinforce or create the beliefs about race. This paper, initially introduces several sociological terms, and then provides several examples to discuss the role of state policy and media in construction of racial identities. At the end, the paper analyses this question using sociology theories, mainly Symbolic Interactionism, Structural Functionalism and Social Conflict Theory.

Race. No, not that kind of race in which you compete with others. The word used in this context is referring to each major divisions of humankind. However, these divisions are much more complicated than understood. Ironically, “throughout the 20th century, race had no standard definition in medical, epidemiological, or health services research” (Rondini et al. 2007: pg. 1423). Does this mean that the concept of race came with the development of science and is intrinsically connected to it? Or is race entirely a social construction? These are the kind of questions to be asked when studying medicine. On one side, the argument is that racial categories should be eliminated from health care and research. This claim is supported by the following

In his essay, “In Living Color: Race and American Culture,” Michael Omi links television shows to the notable classification of race in America. He argues that media’s depiction of racial stereotypes influences the thoughts as well as attitudes of Americans towards their surrounding racial groups. Similarly, in the articles “Put on a Happy Face,” “Working Class Whites,” and “Being an Other” Benjamin DeMott, Angeline Price, and Melissa Algranati provide examples of television shows to deliver their points of view. DeMott discusses the fictional relationship between Caucasians and African Americans which is often represented in popular culture but does not reflect the reality of everyday life. He criticizes some television shows for depicting

Social construct may be defined as the social mechanism or a category which has been created by the society. It may either be a perception which is created by an individual or an idea which is constructed as a result of the culture. The present society has created a large number of constructs which are not good. In this paper, the discussion will be done on the social construction of race and gender and the problems associated with the same. In addition to this, how can social construct forms to be the basis for discrimination and prejudice will be discussed? Further, racism and sexism will be discussed with examples. Further discussion will be done on patriarchy and its role in racism and sexism will be added.

This article relates to the concept of the complexity of identity formation regarding race and social class. Race is a social construct. Most people's perceptions of race is based on the color of one's skin. During the hiring process of the mathematicians referenced in the article, others assumed differences in these women's intellectual abilities compared with their own. White Americans did not want African Americans to succeed. Their stories were never told and their contributions to society were never uncovered because the dominant culture wanted the credit all for themselves. In Maya Wei-Haas article she says, “Though the pressing needs of war were great, racial discrimination remained strong and few jobs existed for African-Americans,

Films have the power to both influence and reflect society. The stereotypes prevalent throughout American culture are reflected in most films. While the United States is becoming an increasingly diverse country, this diversity is not portrayed within American cinema. Minority figures often occupy