Racial And Ethnic Group Interactions

Three sociological perspectives used in the study of minorities are: Structural functionalism, symbolic interactionalism and conflict theory. These perspectives offer "theoretical paradigms" for explaining how society influences people, taking into account the social factors that impact on human behavior. However, different theories, ideas, and prejudices can influence a sociologist's conclusions. Each of these theories has a contribution to make with a distinct focus.

The social construction of race is a topic that is worth discussing. In the United States the black/white color line has historically been rigidly defined and enforced. People have been stereotypical and afraid as long as I can remember. Labeling people as we think they should be based on the color of their skin or just thinking it’s in their biology so they must be this or they must be that. Race is socially constructed and is not a biological construct.

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”.

I would like to discuss the issue of race and ethnicity in sports. We will also explore the bigger questions. How much does race and ethnicity matter in the sports world? Are certain races dominant in certain sports? Is there a difference in how we treat players based on race and ethnicity? Does it matter? I would like to answer some of these questions and gain a better understanding of how much of a part they play.

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.

Race relations in the USA today had gotten worse since the 1930s. People today use the names that we have gotten back in the past that people call each other to not be friendly. They each other names that relates to their color. Over the years it had, yes, gotten worse.

To understand the question, we must first familiarize ourselves with the definition of race. Race is defined as “An arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, especially formerly, based on a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups” (dictionary.com).

This practice of divide and conquer is made possible by stereotyping each ethnic group, so that society can attach an attitude about the work ethic of each group. For instance, Afro-Caribbeans in the workplace are often characterized as motivated, hard-working, and determined. On the other hand, African Americans in the workplace (and society) are characterized as lazy, entitled, and thus, unpreferable to hire over Caribbean immigrants. However, these stereotypes are damaging and do not paint a full picture on why each group is characterized as such. The critical mass of African Americans feel like they do not have much to lose in society, according to the condition of anomie, defined as when an individual or group becomes unstable or frail due to a breakdown of values or lack of purpose in life, As a result of inner city African Americans experiencing anomie, they will begin to exhibit symptoms of the “culture of poverty,” where they will believe that education is a futility, hard work is unnecessary, and success is not possible for them or their racial counterparts. In addition, they will feel less inclined to put on their “whiteness” refusing to make whites feel comfortable by adapting to social norms. Thus, in manufacturing factories or businesses, the critical mass of African Americans will be less willing to over extend themselves in the workplace, where they will often refuse to work over-time or feel the need to please their white supervisors. To the White employer who already deems African-Americans as inferior, these actions and behaviors exhibited by black Americans will only be used as proof for white employers to illustrate to their Caribbean workers why they are superior to African

Some of the similarities between the two terms are that by definition, they are a categorized group of a population. They are similarly significant in the sense that both terms share characteristic traits. In addition, "ethnicity" and "race" share genealogy. Contrarily, the two terms are different because ethnicities are categorized on the basis of a real or presumed common genealogy or ancestry, while races are classified on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics. In other words, ethnicity is determined by your ancestors and family tree. Race is decided based on physical characteristics such as eyes, nose structure, ears, body type, etc. Two examples that I would consider a race to be are African Americans and Whites. Two examples

Student Group on Race Relations or as it’s better known, S.G.O.R.R was started in August 2014 in light of racial tensions experienced in Saint Louis. The group aims to bring the community together through respect, conversation, teamwork, education and understanding. Through the weekly meetings, students are able to openly speak on issues that are often seen as controversial.

People are usually categorized in terms of race and/or ethnicity. Race is a term typically used to classify people according to similar and specific physical characteristics. Ethnicity is a term more broadly used that connects people according to an inherited status such as: a shared ancestry, language, history, religion, cuisine, art, clothing style, and/or physical appearance, etc.

Race and ethnicity are commonly used as synonyms for each other as we encounter many diverse individuals throughout the world. Sociologist on the other hand, find very distinct understandings to how these terms, while different, hold correlation to one another. Max Weber, a founding figure of sociology, was one of the first to define race and ethnicity. He stood with the idea of essentialism which presumes "that and individual 's identity depends on fundamental and innate characteristics that are deep-seated, inherited, and unchangeable." (Pearson, pg 241) As for ethnicity, Weber described it as subjective belief in relations to a groups common descent. While sociologist today may disagree with Weber 's theory, they do apply this idea of subjectivity and have correlated it to that of not only group definitions but of our own perceptions of biological similarity.

Understanding race and racism can be very difficult for American citizens. This also leads to confusion when discussing current events around racial disparities and inequalities. Mainstream American general society views racism and race differently than sociologist who study these disparities and inequalities. The idea of double consciousness and ethnicity directly relate to the different ways in which different individuals understand and experience race and racism. In our current society where media is widely used, individual’s understandings of these topics becomes confusing and difficult to understand and/or comprehend. Discussing the blurry ideas of race and racism is so

There are two major cultural divisions, Hispanic and Caucasian, to further complicate the work environment the ratio of Male to female workers is 20 to 1. No effort from either group of being sensitive to the others existence is apparent. (DuBrin, 2004, p. 67). Management’s main concern is for “ethnic diversity” to the point of not having issues with the equal employment opportunity act.