The Importance Of Race And Ethnicities

In order to study ethnicity, one must know what it isn’t. Ethnicity is not race, nationality, locality, or religious denomination. Ethnicity is when people share the same cultural heritage. However, in society individuals are often categorized by race. Many believe that race is genetic, meaning that different races are genetically different. This idea has been in practiced since the early 18th century. With the development of technology, specifically DNA testing, scientists studied whether racial categories were actually genetically different. The scientist found that there were more differences between individuals of the same race, than individuals from two different races. (Adelman 2003). The experiment and other research show that race is not biological and unimportant factor in the human lineage. What make race important is how society defines race. Society uses race to categorize groups of people, which can often lead to social inequality.

I would like to focus my response to the reading in Gabbidon & Greene, Chapter 1, generally around the idea of social construction. Furthermore, I would like to specially provide responses to discussion questions number one and two as posed in the conclusion of chapter one. Discussion question number one asks to “Explain the origin of race and its implications for race and crime.” Discussion question number two asks “Do you believe there are distinct races?” I will also provide perspective on issues surrounding the term “minorities”.

Race is vitally important and completely meaningless. Our society would ideally want to say that racism has decreased, and that we are more diverse and tolerant than we have ever been. Racism is less than it was fifty years ago. Both of these concepts are true, but at the same time race matters more than ever.

Race matters in nearly every facet of human interaction, although it should not. And anyone who believes otherwise is blind to the issues lying in front of them. Race can be used in both healthy and unhealthy ways. It helps to provide a basis for recognition, belonging, and reference. But race is, by its very nature, discriminating. It classifies people into particular groups that others just can not be in. This creates a feeling of both exclusion and superiority, specifically because some races are treated better than many others. The use of race to hinder the progress of people has been used for thousands of years. And although people are much more tolerant today than they have ever been in the past, racism exist more now than ever. Entire

Race and ethnicity are two terms which are crucial in understanding a person’s familial and personal identity. These terms are misunderstood by most Americans, and many do not know the difference. There have been major societal implications to the changing populations of groups of race and ethnicity in the US. Minority groups and immigrants have struggled with discrimination, poverty and other issues partly due to historical impacts such as slavery and segregation. Economical and political oppression has had a strong effect on the structure of Black families in the US, leading many families to an “extended household” structure. Latino families tend to exhibit familism, which may have slowed their integration into American life, but may have also helped their growth in the US.

Very few of us are aware of the difference between race and ethnicity. Many of us assumed that is the same definition. In Sociology this terms have a very specific and different meaning.

When speaking about race a lot of people like to claim that we do not need to talk about it and racism is over. That we all “understand” what race is, yet as stated in “What is Race and Why Does It Matter So Much?” scholars can’t seem to agree what race is. Race should matter as it can help shape who we are and create an identity. A few experiences with stereotypes though most think they are anything wrong as it just shows how each member of the race is similar. Race shouldn’t matter when it comes to anything really, especially through school and applying for jobs as how would that be relevant. Yet race is a concept that surrounds everything and yet is supposedly not taking place in anything.

As the only sociologist that has been chosen on the North American council I would like to address my main concern, which is that having one person voice the social inequalities for approximately 580 million people is not just. In my best attempt to be as fair and voice the major concerns that I feel are prevalent throughout North America, I chose racial inequality, educational inequality, and gender inequality. Before I further discuss these inequalities I would like to define social inequality to give the reader a clearer understanding, “Social inequality is the long term existence of significant differences in access to goods and services among social groups”, as quoted from our textbook.

Every kid in her age is excited to go to school except this little African American girl. She hates going to school and being isolated from others. Everyone does not want to become her friends or even talk to her not because she made any mistakes, but because she was born in a different race. Races by definition are groups of people who have common histories and are genetically and culturally related. America for decades has promoted diversity and welcomed all ethnics around the globe. However, it does not mean that race is not a sensitive issue anymore. By seeing numerous racisms and divisions occur today, race in America still matters.

In the U.S., the term “race” has different connotation compared to other countries like Brazil. As the book Culture defines it- in Chapter 11: Ethnicity and Race- a race is nothing more than a biologically related ethnic group. Often, the tendency of North American society to rely on hypodescent, leads to stress and lack of self-identity. As a matter of fact, the book describes hypodescent as the arbitrary classification of interracial children as a member of the least privileged ethnic group to which either of their parents corresponds. Besides, in today’s world U.S. population has become increasing diversified. Diversity has led to racial tension between different groups. Latinos is one general term given to people who speak a Latin-derived language (this includes South American

Every day in our society, people continue to be discriminated against because of the color of their skin. We, as a society, like to believe that oppression and discrimination ended long ago, thanks to the Civil Rights movement. However, there continues to be a misunderstanding about the differences we possess in our skin color and, unfortunately, the belief that we are separated by race, continues to stratify mankind.

The basis of identity is formed through the concept and ideas of race and racial consciousness. The implied stereotypes that are labeled on to each race has the ability to cause an individuals to become racially conscious about themselves. Race builds a wall that creates a consciousness mind that connects to the identity of person forming the way they live, speak, act, believe, and feel. In the memoir Between the Word and Me written by Ta Nehisi Coates, Ta Nehisi’s letter to his son reveals how race and racial consciousness can shape identity and elaborates of how the meaning of identity is developed.

Lastly, Leung’s article discusses the perception of Asians in America. According to Leung, Asians are portrayed as “hardworking, highly educated, family-oriented, and financially successful.” (Leung, 2009. 390). Although these are positive judgments, the stereotype can make it easy for others to discriminate against an Asian (Leung, 2009. 392). Asians may undergo discrimination and inequality through their peers who do not treat them as individuals. They can be mislabeled according to their income, grades, achievement, and more. Leung points out that discrimination occurs among races that are considered inferior and superior.

Every night as I close my eyes, flashbacks from the day’s news, painted in vivid reds and blues, flash in my mind in rapid succession. Racial tensions in Baltimore. Protests in Dallas. The constant cycle of death and loss due to racial issues, set on replay throughout the country, throughout the world. It boils down to the significance of race- which stagnates in my mind everyday, sticks to the walls of my brain, like two interlocked magnets struggling for control. The idea wrestles in my mind. Race- it’s relevance and irrelevance, its strength and weakness, its push and pull. The person I am today is a result of the Puerto Rican culture that permeated in my household growing up- the bits of Spanish I would use to converse with my grandmother,

SCENARIO - Involving new hire paralegal Carl and the law firm Dewey, Dewey and Howe.