African American Social Theory

There are 4 peculiar institutions of the United States stated by Loic Wacquant. These 4 peculiar institutes were developed to control, define, and confine the African Americans to the lowest positions in society. These institutions has spanned from before the United States came to be.The 4 peculiar institutes Chattel Slavery, Jim Crow, the Northern Ghetto, and Prison were designed to take control of the African American race for free labor. The African American race has been stigmatized and defined as living property, slaves, sharecroppers, menial workers, and criminals. All of these titles share a common goal which is to keep them at the bottom of society.

In the period from 1515 to 1765, the native American society was almost destroyed unlike the wealth of societies of European settlers since contacts with alcohol and diseases like smallpox which Americans did not face before Columbian exchange make Americans lose power to resist toward colonialism. Europeans looted the gold and silver of America and did not respect Indian culture and civilization, so Americans lost both their economical and cultural assets. Moreover, because of sugar plantation and slavery, many Africans were taken from their home to America. It results foundation of African American society in many countries in Americas in modern days. First of all, native Americans lost their power because of drastic population decline caused

Throughout history, including today, minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics have been discriminated. These two groups are being discriminated by the higher power class such as the elite whites. African Americans and Hispanics have been murdered by whites committing such violent acts against them. It is seen that today there is no longer slavery and segregation system, but it has been reported by the mass media that African Americans have committed and have the highest homicide and crime rates. Not only do African Americans have high homicide and crime rates, but high rates of killing among themselves for example gang killings. In order to support these claims, there are four relevant sociological theories. There are several common factors within the four theories which are father’s education, father’s occupation, and ability for African Americans to make a change. The four sociological theories are Human Capital Theory, Social Functionalist Theory, Cultural Deficiency Theory, and Intergenerational Mobility Theory. These theories will help answer why African Americans have higher crime rates among any other group.

The African American group has been seen to have lower status in contrast to white individuals. Today, the stratification or chain of importance contrast between blacks and whites is still present.

1. Summarize the historical background, demographics, and diversity within the African American community in the United States.

Immigrants in the U.S have always experienced plenty of hate, due to the dysfunctions in American society. In the American society we encounter many dysfunctions such as people with fear, ignorance and people that feel the need to have or maintain all the power in society. Fear, ignorance, and obsession of power are all things that appear in the dark history of the United States.

Throughout the years, social classes have been bolder where people distance themselves from the poor creating buildings, parks, areas that can’t be afforded by the poor. These approaches are theoretically known as obstructive agreements, zoning regulations, building codes, and political regulator over extents of the regions of a nation. With these methods, sections are made within towns which dictate the areas that are only accessible to the middle to high class and areas that could be inhabited by the low class people.

A feeling of affiliation with community and strong interaction with all of its members serve as the basis of the peculiarity of Black community. Membership of community has been always more important to African Americans than the feeling of individualism and competition among its members. Jagers and Mock (1995) have talked about Afro-cultural communalism. This communalism is the tendency of African Americans toward collectivist orientation or the preference for interdependence among people. Students who are driven by this communalistic orientation cannot describe themselves in individualistic terms. In fact, much of their self-identity is grounded in their social concern for, and need to be with, others [3]. Being a member of community young African Americans always relate themselves to it, because as it has been mentioned above, individualism is not a characteristic feature of Black community.

In essence it’s crucial for us to look beyond what lies in front to avoid one’s theory to become clouded. The superficial level shows what is obvious and disallows what is real. Society wants the majority to believe that what appears in the world is natural. However, it is evident that social order prefers people to accept the perception “it’s natural people just want to be with their own kind.” Consequently, soon after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 African Americans established a huge success. Importantly, African Americans were farming land. They attained businesses and established trades, along with the right to vote. Additionally, African Americans purchased homes, obtained an education, and held jobs. Unfortunately due to this

Social bond theory shows an interesting way to look at the social problems, such as crime, that surround the world we live in. The theory primarily focuses on the peers and peer groups of individuals. The four basic elements that the theory focus on are attachment, commitment, involvement in activities including both criminal and noncriminal, and also the the common values that are giving to an individuals groups and subgroups. The element of attachment can be described as the values or the norms that someone has in their society. Attachment is most important with the figures that have a strong influence over a person 's life such as parental figures. Friends at school can also be important people related to attachment. Commitment is different than attachment in that it focuses on how much a person is committed to abiding by legal behavior. As a child we are hopefully taught was is the right thing

Apartheid, a political system that was recognized by the government to segregate the colored people from the white. Even though African Americans have been free for over one hundred years, there are many things that make African Americas second hand citizens like, residential laws and economic forces that are staked against them in the United States.

1.) In chapter 1, Black women slaves were defined as either a “jezebel” or “mammy”. In detail define the characteristics of a “jezebel” and “mammy”. Why were black women defined in these two extreme ways? By contrast, how were Southern white women characterized?

Today’s society is nothing like we want it to be and how we are supposed to define America. We are supposed to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave” but it is nothing like that. We have people who are considered a minority because of skin color, slavery, laws blocking the constitution, and are fed lots of lies from government. We are living in a country that is unfair and is slowly falling apart day by day. This country is completely divided and there is only laws protecting certain people. Our country has the dominant and the oppressed and there is rarely anyone in between.

To contribute, African-Americans have a significant feature that portrays their culture tremendously in today’s society. We African-Americans have certain hairstyles, and fashion that separates us from various cultures. For example, in the article, “How does Black Hair Reflect Black History”, written by Rumiana Jahangir she states, “Black hair has been an integral feature of black history - from African tribal styles to dreadlocks and the Afro. In early African civilizations, hairstyles could indicate a person’s family background, tribe and social status” In today’s society, African-Americans have different types of wild hairstyles that makes us different from other cultures pertaining to us having thick, and curly hair. These hairstyles consists of fades, afros, dreadlocks, braids and more. To add, the article also emphasizes how dating back to African Civilization basically your lineage can be pictured through your hairstyle which relates to how African-Americans culture is expressed in today's society. Furthermore, Africans have a specific taste when it comes to fashion ware being made. To reiterate, in an article titled, “Clothing in Africa” written by the Muhonja Khamina he states, “Early clothing in Africa was also made from treated animal hides, fur, and feathers. Many African societies weave cloth from locally grown cotton.” Dating back to prior centuries in Africa, their clothing seemed to have been made out of animals, animal skin, fur, cotton and other useful

Rape has been an ongoing issue within society for centuries. In early times, men raped women for reproductive purposes. Today, it is still believed