Sociology : White Privilege, Stratification ( Marx + Weber ) And Racial Sterotyping Essay

When we look at the issue of racism from a politically correct, nineties perspective, evidence of the oppression of black people may be obscured by the ways in which our society deals with the inequalities that still exist. There are no apparent laws that prohibit or limit opportunities for blacks in our society today, yet there is a sense that all things are not fair and equal. How can we acknowledge or just simply note how past ideologies are still perpetuated in our society today? We can examine conditions of the present day in consideration of events in the past, and draw correlations between old and modern modes of

Over the years, the face of racism has taken on many forms. In present day America, racism is a very taboo subject. It a common view that racism is not a big issue anymore, given the large strides that we, as a country have made towards equality. However, the inequalities that still exist between races point to a different situation. Instead of the blatantly discriminatory acts that our nation has witnessed in the past, modern racism practices are more covert and seemingly nonracial, making this kind of discrimination seem more acceptable and politically correct. The Civil Rights Movement forced society to implement a new, subtler way to perpetuate racial inequality. In Racism Without Racists, Bonilla-Silva describes the justification

Throughout American history, relationships between racial and ethnic groups have been marked by antagonism, inequality, and violence. In today’s complex and fast-paced society, historians, social theorists and anthropologists have been known to devote significant amounts of time examining and interrogating not only the interior climate of the institutions that shape human behavior and personalities, but also relations between race and culture. It is difficult to tolerate the notion; America has won its victory over racism. Even though many maintain America is a “color blind nation,” racism and racial conflict remain to be prevalent in the social fabric of American institutions. As a result, one may question if issues and challenges

Peddy McIntosh highlighted various unearned white privileges in her autobiographical article “White Privilege, Color and Crime: A Personal Account.” She illustrated the white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that one white person could count on cashing in each day. White people have these privileges given to them by the society in which they live in. The same society taught them to be ignorant and unawareness of these privileges. This system of unearned privileges established by white individuals made people of color feel oppressed. In this system being white is a norm and dominant power. Caucasians, who benefit most from the white privilege system in the United States, are more likely to

Wise’s examination of the inconspicuous character of racism 2.0 dovetails fittingly with our course’s recurring theme of institutionalized racism. In class lectures we have defined institutionalized racism as the discriminatory practices that have become regularized and routinized by state agencies, organizations, industries, or anywhere else in society. Although such practices might not be intentionally racist, they end up being racist nevertheless as consequence of the systematized and unspoken biases that have become increasingly convoluted and entrenched within society over time. It also doesn’t help white people to recognize these discriminatory practices considering they have been unconsciously tailored to be consistent with white perspective and mentality. In her article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh examines not only how white folks often consider themselves to be a normative figure within society, but also how they are carefully taught not to recognize the advantages they gain from the disadvantages that impair people of color. In the article, McIntosh acknowledges the reality of her own white privilege and expresses, “In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth” (McIntosh 4). In fact, even if white folks do not believe themselves to

The idea of racism has evolved and has become less prevalent throughout the last century. Schools and public areas are unsegregated, voting rights, racial slurs being considered as unacceptable behavior etc. American sociologist and race theorist, Howard Winant states that’s “The ensuing approaches increased recognition of racial injustice and inequality, but did not overcome the discriminatory processes” (Winant,2000)Although the United states has come a long way to try to end racism, one cannot ignore the fact that it still exists. It is something that may seem invisible in society, but everybody knows that it still thrives and that it’s racial attitudes affect the way our society functions. One of these invisible forms of

“Racism still occupies the throne of our nation,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pronounced just before his assassination. Almost fifty years later, we are still faced with the same unchanged threat that makes the words of Dr. King true. As individuals, communities, and a proud nation we have made an everlasting fingerprint for the children of our future, yet we lack the strength of acknowledgment to alter the course of racial discrimination and conquer prejudice. Has the formation of structural discrimination rooted itself too deeply into our subconscious that hope for rehabilitation seems unattainable? As a nation, we voted a man with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya as the first multiracial President of the United States. Racism has not been eradicated because of the racial background of President Barrack Obama and we have not accomplished victory because of his African decent because prejudice has been too deeply fixed within our society. Social circumstance and the insinuation of race continue to change over time, precisely because race has become a social construct that serves political ends. The prior and present leaders of our nation organize, generate, and endorse the laws and public policy that ensure racism continues to maintain itself against people of color. Our historically racist foundation, the rising effects of structural discrimination, and the view of modernized racism all actively participate in shaping our structural

The social construction of race allows “whiteness” to be regarded as the default race or the normal race. This normalization is apparent when white people ask people of color the quintessential question of “where are you from”. An attitude of alienation and “otherness” is placed on minority groups because, quite frankly, being American means being white. Throughout Peggy McIntosh’s essay, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, she discusses the unscathed and unacknowledged effects of white privilege that are rampant in America’s society today. A hierarchical structure revolving around meritocracy is practically entrenched into our society, and those who are at the apex of this structure are able to do a myriad of things at the

Shannon Sullivan reveals what white privilege looks like from someone who deals with it on a daily basis, a white woman. Sullivan discusses how white privilege in this day and age can be an invisible and sometimes unquestioned norm in our lives in America. Sullivan speaks up about her own race and the ways it has affected her life. The book discusses the delicate effects white supremacy has had on America. Sullivan also prompts white people to start standing up to the podium and discussing the issues they see when it comes to race. In Sullivan’s writing, she states how white privilege is not discussed much amongst white people and that she wants them to own up to their privilege and to go against the norms of their environments that allow these activities to happen.

Racism and racial stereotypes have existed throughout human history. The radical belief associated by thinking the skin color, language, or a person’s nationality is the reason that someone is one way or another has become extremely detrimental to society. Throughout human existence it has sparked tension between groups of people and ultimately influenced wars and even caused slavery. Racism in America dates back to when Native Americans were often attacked, relocated, and assimilated into European culture. Since then, racism within the states has grown to include various other cultures as well. In the essays by Brent Staples, Bharati Mukherjee, and Manuel Munoz, they discuss the various causes as well as the effects that racial stereotyping can place on a victim and the stigma it leaves behind for the society to witness.

The last hundred years have brought the world many valuable things; computers, better sanitation conditions, understandings of diseases, vaccines, surgery, education, and so much more. But there are so many social constructs that have made little progress such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. In reality vaccines and sexism are manmade, a vaccine is a manmade invention and sexism is a manmade idea. Neither would exist without human beings backing the idea that they are necessary. Racism is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior (Oxford Dictionary).” Racism over the last hundred years has been directed towards Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian’s. Looking at the past in relation to racism in the United States, reveals that racism is still alive and well in 2015 just as it was in 1915.

As crowds listened with bated breath on a warm August day in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pronounced “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Over half a century later, prejudice and discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity still exist in societies around the world; Dr. King’s dream has yet to be realized. The three sociological perspectives provide an understanding for what causes racism in our world.

Racism has been an ongoing social justice issue for decades, and we seem to always fail to make it stop. According to Dummett (as cited in Fernando, 1984), racism is the behaviour and attitude that emerges from our beliefs that certain people are different from us. These differences are mainly based on race, where people come from, physical characteristics, such as colour and hair type or behavioural characteristics, and that people categorized must be treated differently based on their needs, capabilities and rights. Usually there is one dominant and superior group and a few inferior groups (Dummett, as cited in Fernando, 1984). Coates and Morrison (2011) suggests that what we distinguish as real and true may not always be real and that things may not always be as it seems. Coates and Morrison (2011) also states that we live in a racial matrix, where we have this illusion of reality and that differences associated with racial status and hierarchies are perceived as the norm in society and this perception of reality is not easy to get rid of. There are four types of racism; subtle racism, colorism, internalized racism and reverse racism (Nittle, 2016). Racism can be explicit, but it can also be very subtle and covert, which is a huge problem, as most people do not even notice it and they do not realize that it happens on a day-to-day basis (Coates and Morrison, 2011). Racism is not only one problem or concern, as it is brings along a variety of other problems and is compiled

“Racism is alive and well.” That is a saying I have heard inside my household many times. As a child, I never really knew what racism was. I was only taught to not, “judge a book by its cover.” In today’s society, I think it is very hard for children to say the same thing that I can. In a modern - day child’s upbringing, stereotypes have been created, so that every time an African - American man is threatened, injured, or killed by a white police officer, that officer is not doing his job, he is being a racist. If an African - American man is walking down the street in baggy clothing, with his hood up, and his hands in his pockets, he's not on his way home, people think he's up to no good. When a person who is Muslim is in line at an airport, and by chance a metal detector goes off, they didn't forget to take their wedding ring off, people think they have the intent to hurt people. In everyday life, so many horrible assumptions are made based off of the color of someone’s skin, what they are wearing, or their personal beliefs. However, the real question is: have these assumptions become worse over time because people are more aware of racism, or have we progressed, but just not enough?

Throughout Dr. Steven Spencer’s lecture, the main question he addressed was whether racism is changeable or fixed. I learned that the difference between these two concepts refers to the belief in either the entity theory (fixed) or the incremental theory (changeable). Based on the three studies Dr. Steven discussed, I was surprised to learn that both white people and black people view racism as unchangeable. Racism in society can be changed, although most believe prejudice is fixed and that it can only be hidden. The second idea he analyzed was how prevalent prejudice is. White people and black people, unlike their view on how changeable it is, differed in their view of the prevalence of racism. Most white people see bigotry like seeing a