The Current State Of South Africa Essay

Whether we are aware of it or not contact zones are prevalent throughout are daily lives. I try to look past it and I feel like we all do but it’s something I can’t escape. I’m constantly reminded of the contact zone that we live in whether by the personal experience, word of mouth, or the media. I see the fight between multiple cultural groups, leading to the oppression of the inferior group and the dominance of the superior group. The social differences of people have been around since man existed. I experience it all the time in my daily life with small issues, as well as larger issues, contact zones always seem to be appearing. I ask myself all the time what really is a contact zone? A contact zone is not only the clash or emergence of contrasting cultural groups, but the thought that one sees himself/herself as better than the other.

Thesis Statement: Apartheid may have been a horrible era in South African history, but only so because the whites were forced to take action against the outrageous and threatening deeds of the blacks in order to sustain their power.

Racial prejudice toward minority groups has been a problem throughout all of history. While overt racism and prejudice may be diminished from the days of our dark past, covert racism is very much alive. Society loves to embellish on how far the country has come in the fight against racial prejudice by highlighting significant events such as having the first black president. Yet there are still too many instances of subtle racism. In 2011, there were almost 700,000 incidents of stop and frisk policing in New York. Nine out of ten of these incidents involved blacks or Hispanics, which is ridiculous because blacks make up less than a quarter of the New York Population (Bobo 2013). Prejudice causes unfair treatment to innocent people. Everyone should be treated the same and given the same amount of respect. Continuing the fight towards an unprejudiced world has so many benefits including making sure everyone feels safe and respected in society and the possibility to learn from other ethnic groups. A world without prejudice would be a much more effective world with more time spent on making life better for all instead of violence and hate. Government officials and psychologists are trying to advertise how being in contact with other ethnic groups has reduced prejudice. Many psychologists are already praising contact theory research for its contribution toward world peace and its efforts against prejudice (Dixon, Tropp, Durrheim, and Tredoux 2010). However, the two empirical

On a daily basis one has the ability of witnessing individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each

Throughout “Arts of the Contact Zone”, Pratt uses many real life situations to exemplify how contact zones create conflict and separate people and cultures; but she also examines ways to use the contact zone to our advantage in order to unify society. Sometimes people are led believe their differences are too great to overcome, so they remain isolated from the rest of society. People shouldn’t be trying to isolate themselves, but rather incorporating their culture into the community around them. This incorporation of cultures can often cause conflict, but Pratt explains that conflict can be avoided if people abandon their biases and pursue knowledge about the cultures around them. This idea “will read very differently” to people on opposing sides of the contact zone

We are taught from a symbolic interactionist perspective racial socialization often give way to a sense of solidarity, a union with one’s ethnic group which can tribute to the hostility demonstrated towards another group. Another familiar term ethnocentrism, a place of superiority which contains the notion one’s ethnic group is superior while the other is inferior which proves the further we are from human values and the promotion of it peace can never be achieved. The Dalai Lama says if we have peace in us we can be at peace with those around us.

Viewing the interactions between races and ethnicities is also important to observe. An ethnic group is a social category of people who share a common culture, such as a common language, a common religion, or common norms, customs, practices, and history. Ethnic groups have a consciousness of their common cultural bond. It is important to look at the role of social interaction and how it reduces racial and ethnic hostility and how race and ethnicity are socially constructed. “In essence, symbolic interactionists ask the question, ‘What happens when two people of different race or ethnicity come in contact with one another and how can such interracial or interethnic contact reduce hostility and conflict?’ Observing different characteristics and how the people interact with one another is important, because even though many differ in their ethnic and racial background, a common goal exists that they all share: to bring about a safe community where everyone feels accepted and wanted.

The erecting of walls (either real or psychological) between communities is a perfect breeding ground for discrimination. It is the responsibility of society to reject a "them and us" mentality wherever it is encountered and to ensure that young people get the opportunity to mix with people who have different backgrounds or characteristics.

Conversely, some participants explained that they have experienced discrimination even in a predominantly Latina/o community. With regard to this finding, perceived discrimination in a predominantly Latina/o community, there may be two possible explanations. First, intergroup contact theory argues that prejudice is reduced when there are positive relations between groups. However it is possible that the intergroup contacts in a homogenous community are not positive interactions that promote decreased prejudice. Second, some of the participants in this study explained that they have perceived discrimination from other Latina/os, This finding consistent with previous research that has noted the existence of within-group discrimination in the

In the first title, I found the conformity of social norms. And then in the second title, I found the cognitive roots of prejudice, stereotyping. Finally, in the third title, it had both in-group bias and an in-group and an out-group relationship just by observing the title. All in all the titles chosen had bias due to prejudice, which was shown within the wording of the titles. The solutions to conflicts or prejudice would be contact, cooperation, communication, and conciliation. These four ways can reduce prejudice within families, schools, and the communities. In 1966, in summer, 22 Oklahoma City boys were separated into two camps. When there were tasks to accomplish, the boys started to fight and considered a competition. I personally thought this was interesting because that is why we have the Olympics. They were created to “reduce” conflict. But as you can see in the theatrical or even the novels of the Hunger Games series, the games only create more conflict. Surprisingly the conflict that happens, resulting from the hunger games, does not happen in the case of the 22 Oklahoma boys (otherwise known as the Sherif’s experiment of 1966). Later on, when the boys are given a task, the two groups had to cooperate with one another in order to complete the task. And while they cooperated they socialized, communicated. The outcome of the contact was conciliation. Out of the four words, I consider communication the most important. Previously, when I spoke of the IAT, I said I preferred speaking face to face to get a valid result. Though communication can go on with rumors, gadgets like the lying detector can be used for trust purposes. In some cases using the lying detector seems unethical because it can possibly lead to someone thinking that they do not trust one another, causing conflict. But I find it ethical because the lying detector is used for justice, not

Prejudice can be overcome through education, equal status intergroup contact, and working together to achieve a specific goal. For instance, education and learning about people who are different (the out-group) and noticing similarities instead of differences can combat prejudice. Also, equal status contact has been shown to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Equal status contact requires the different groups to all be in the same situation with neither group holding power over the other. In equal status contact, personal involvement with people from another group must be cooperative and occur when all groups are equal in terms of power or status to have a positive effect on reducing prejudice. Also, having people work together to solve a problem because each person has an important key to solving the problem, creating a mutual interdependence, helps reduce prejudice. This technique is called the jigsaw

South Africa has a history of legal segregation (Apartheid) which stems from prejudice, discrimination and anxiety with regards to intergroup contact. However, after 1994, when South Africa was declared a democracy, segregation was declared illegal and the society became racially mixed. Nevertheless, segregation still seems to be a contemporary phenomenon, though not legally enforced. In this essay I will explore Contact Theory as a way of reducing prejudice and intergroup anxiety; I will also discuss segregation and desegregation within the context of South Africa and our history and comment on whether inter-racial co-existence can be considered as the successful desegregation of South Africa. Lastly, I will also look at contact as a viable solution to segregation that is still taking place within our society.

Intergroup processes refers to how people in either the same, or different groups, behave and relate towards one another (Hogg, 2007). Group identity signifies the relationships that individuals form with each other based on descriptive and demographic characteristics such as race, gender, and religion (Weber, Johnson, & Arceneaux, 2011). Forming such links with similar individuals’ can provide a source of self-esteem, provide solutions to problems, and also enforce norms (Weber, Johnson, & Arceneaux, 2011). However, the relationships that are formed through intergroup processes and group identity, may also rationalise showing derogative behaviour, such as prejudice, towards individuals’ who are not part on the group (Weber, Johnson, & Arceneaux, 2011). Prejudice can be defined as the unfavourable attitudes that individuals’ have in regards to a social group or its individual members (Singh, 2015). Prejudice is often directed towards immigrants, which include any person who has left the country that they were born in, and currently reside in another country, where they are frequently rejected from becoming part of society, and are instead faced with demands that they return to where they came from (Singh, 2015). There are various theories and explanations for why group identity and intergroup processes impact peoples’ prejudice towards immigrants. Such theories and explanations include the social identity theory, realistic conflict theory, belief congruence theory, and the

The government of South Africa played a huge role in apartheid. During apartheid the government of South Africa worked to take away the citizenship of the Blacks with the laws (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). “Social rights, political rights, educational opportunities, and economic status were all determined by the group a person belonged to” (History of South Africa in the apartheid era). Black people were denied by the government the option of appealing courts against forced removals (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Since the government had established laws prohibiting social contact between the races separate schools and public places were set up for the different races (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). The government even tried to segregate churches in 1957 but failed (Pascoe, 80)

South Africa endured one of the worst colonialisation any country could have went through, whereby the Apartheid regime objectively disregarded the economic participation of the black over to those of the white population. However, the new democratic government would thereby be challenged with effectively having to deal with the challenges in which the past government had left behind. Therefore, in effectively trying to deal with the issues, alternative approaches have to be implemented in order to deliver on the challenges of the public. On the contrary, this essay will critically compare and discuss the liberal and free market, as well as the state interventionist approach as alternative solutions in dealing with current issues of social security, the health and school systems. Which would be able to transform current developmental challenges facing South Africa. In summary, the essay will thereby state which approach can transform South Africa in effectively dealing with developmental challenges currently facing South Africa.