The Impact Of Difference On Identity, Attitudes, And Behavior Essay

    The practice of ethnic separation and segregation is common on every college and university campus. Since this practice has happened through history, it is remarkable that this has only been recognized recently as a true problem (Jacobs, 2). Segregation has hampered America as long as it has existed. Ethnicity and segregation was nearly the cause of this country splitting apart during the Civil War. Since then reformation and hard work has attempted to bring unity to this country. Though today, college students have regressed, university pupils are "standing by" their own and are not branching out to those who are unlike them in ethnicity. People in general, but more specifically college students

In 1971, William E. Cross, Jr., Ph.D., a Black psychologist and prominent researcher (specializing in Black psychology) developed a framework for assessing how black Americans come to understand what it means to be Black. Dr. Cross introduced his ideologies as the “Nigrescence Model of Racial Identity Development“. He asserts that every black American must undergo a series of identity stages to develop a healthy and balanced understanding of the Black experience and become well-rounded in our global society. This model encompasses five stages of identity development, which Dr. Cross emphasizes, must be performed in order to successfully accomplish this goal.

Growing up in a predominantly white community, I had never thought of the issue of race as a child. My neighbor and I were best friends, and I never thought of myself as different. She had blonde hair; I had black. She had blue eyes; I had dark brown. We loved to play with the same things, thus we were

The first time I realized I was different was in second grade, when I opened my mouth to answer a question and my peers giggled as I struggled to answer. I pronounced my R's like W's, which threw my whole pronunciation of the English language into a twist. My previously "adorable" lapses in speech were now affecting me negatively. I was different than the rest of my classmates; I had been born with a speech disorder.

When addressing self-identification, some multiracial or biracial individuals do identify as being two or more races. Some identity as just one, or that they feel closer to a certain racial group. About 69% of Multiracial adults with a black background considered themselves as black/African American (experiences, social interactions that align them within the black community). While Multiracial Asian adults, with a white and Asian background, feel more connected to the white community than to the Asian community. Another group of multiracial individuals, are those that are white and native American, and around 22% say they have a lot in common with the in the US that is native America. And 61% say they have a lot more in common with the whites.

Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race.

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.

Reflecting and comparing my past and present experiences with what I read in chapter one of Difference Matters by Brenda J. Allen was easy but difficult. I realized very quickly that a lot of the words they were describing I had experienced in my own life. In my reflection essay, I will be speaking on course concepts that caught my attention, social identity categories, and my experience talking about the opposite sex with my friends.

Race is not is biological, race is an idea that we perceive based on physical characteristics. People experience their racial identity at different times in their lives. Describing how I became aware of my own racial identity and how it affected me to be the person I am today and my future is a good eye opener for becoming a future educator. Also my perspective of how my racial identity has changed maybe a slight change but nothing too drastic.

In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than

Throughout my life, I was always looked as if I was different. Elementary school came around and I wondered why people thought of that. I just needed to look down and realize what they were looking at. My skin, the one

No two people are the same. Race, ethnicity, gender, and age are all factors that make individuals different and unique. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing my values, beliefs and traditions, how I identify myself, and my attitude on diversity.

Many circumstances oblige people to move from their native country to a foreign one. From this movement of migration have emerged many ethnic groups. An ethnic group is a restraint number of persons living in a larger society and sharing the same distinct cultural heritage. Some people tend to bury their habits and accommodate to the new way of life. However others hold on to their identity and try to identify their race and maintain it. This enriches societies and makes them multi-racial. Therefore, every ethnic group is essential to complete the mosaic. Although they are sometimes threatened, minorities must fight to preserve their principles. Why must they fight? Because racial identification has many positive impacts on the members.

The United States of America is a strong country with its own general culture. At the same time, it is a country in which many unique and different cultures are represented. Having a general culture with many unique cultures mixed in has helped make America the country that it is. Immigrants should assimilate to American culture, but should be allowed to keep certain aspects of their original culture.

Dervin (1993) takes a purely theoretical view of difference. She views difference as fundamental and postulates that language as symbolic product produced by humans whose lives are at least in part symbolic confounds the differences between humans. Symbolic language also confounds the differences seen in the intuitions produced by humans. It is her contention that language is the key to understanding difference. She utilizes Nouns, Verbs and language structure as metaphors for understanding difference. She posits that when we search for patterns with research tools deviations from the a pattern constitute difference and that we must then locate that difference into a conceptual frameworks the most common being culture or agency.