Racial Identity/Development

According to Cross’s (1991) model, individuals progress from multiple stages of the model, from race having little relevance to an identity in which race is very salient and fully present. For example, during the preencounter stage, individuals view race as a less important part of their identity. While during the encounter stage their racial experiences prompt a reexamination of racial challenges. In the immersion-emersion stage, AAs become pro AA and against Whites.

Race is a subject matter that appears throughout the world in many different areas. Many believe that they understand race, but it is much more complicated than what it appears to be on the surface. In the article Racial Formations by Omi and Winant, the authors acknowledge the fact that as time and society continue to move forward this redefines the true definition of race. A connection can be made between Omi and Winant's article and the novel Caucasia by Danzy Senna. The novel depicts the life of a bi-racial family living in Boston in the 1970’s. This time period had much turmoil going on as it encompasses the historic race riots. With the family being from a majority and minority race.

Since essentialism plays an integral role in the article, it is fruitful to examine the concept using different perspectives. Perhaps the most obvious way to think of racial essentialism is to view it in the terms of categorization. In

Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s arguments from “Racial Formations” are about how race is socially constructed and is shown in Caucasia by Danzy Senna. Michael Omi and Howard Winant believe that race is socially constructed in society; therefore, the meaning of race varies within different cultures and societies. According to Omi and Winant, influences such as, media, school, politics, history, family and economy create society’s structure of race. In Caucasia, media, family and school are forces that create race by stating how one should conform to social norms for different racial groups.

The Racial/Cultural Identity Development model (R/CID) is an expansion of the Minority Identity Development model. The R/CID model encompasses a broader population and removes the term “minority,” which can be disempowering to individuals. This model works to aid therapists in assessment and intervention of culturally diverse clients. It has five levels of development that individuals undergo to understand the dominant culture, their own culture, and the relationship between the two cultures, which is often oppressive. The first level of development is the conformity phase.

This is when race was the central topic of world history. In the mean time according to him, the color line also has significant subjective dimensions. He also examines race as symbolic and experiential reality.  With our modern society, we see a great shift in the racism, or the color line. The perfect example given in our book is about the election of Barack Obama for presidency. As we know that was one of the biggest events in the history of the US.  Having a president of color, shows how far we have come. Children today will be less likely to take white dominance, because they live in a world where there are also education African Americans, such as Obama and the first lady.  However, as mentioned in the book “racialization continues to be a powerful force in the United States” (pg 349). Statistics show that there are still more black males in prisons than other races. White communities are still healthier, and have higher educational differences than people in color.

Institutional racism on the other hand is far broader in context and more complex. It refers to the ways in which racism has infiltrated into social institutions which govern, discriminate and oppress various groups within that society based on their race (McConnochie et al, 1988). These institutions within our societies, such as schools and healthcare services, use racism in a systematic manner which favours one group over all the others. Although racism as a notion is the same for both individual and institutional purposes, the consequences of the two are vastly different. Sociologists have argued that in the recent years racism has shifted from excluding groups on a biological basis, to more of a cultural basis of difference (Giddens, 2001; Van Krieken et al, 2010).

I am a Hispanic woman who if I am honest have a lot of self hate for myself and my culture. “Internal racism has been the term used to describe the process by which persons of color absorb the racist messages that are omnipresent in our society and internalized them” (Sue, 2016). I grew up in a small border town where stereotypes are made. I never experienced much racism because we were the majority. However, looking at it now I have a lot of self hate, and I always identified as white growing up, because I am light skinned I still believe I can pass for white at least until I moved to Georgia. Living here has taught me that I miss my culture I miss the cooking, the camaraderie, the unity that Hispanics have. The other day I was asked at

Institutional racism is still prevalent in the United States. Racial groups are both denied or granted certain rights. Although there may no longer be lynch mobs or Jim Crow, there is still rampant racism from New York to Jena, Louisiana. Society should disband its racial conventions in programs such as affirmative action. It should instead adopt a new system based on many more factors than a person’s ethnic background.

According to Ang, (2005:84), difference can be characterized by the quality of being unlike or dissimilar. This essay is going to outline ways in which ‘difference’ has been theorized. To further demonstrate the concept of difference the audience will be provided with an analysis of how race is socially and culturally constructed. Additionally, this will provide a framework of research produced by various scholars in which they have theorized issues in regards to race. Through the works of Hatch, Hall and Jiwani, it can be proven that the process of defining race has benefited the agendas of particular social groups, and can identified as social construction.

According to Phinney (1990), racial and ethnic identity theories provide significant insight into how “individuals come to understand the implications of their ethnicity and make decisions about its role in their lives, regardless of the

Issues of race and ethnicity can be seen through three noteworthy sociological viewpoints: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Every point of view offers its own particular key to comprehension, and nobody viewpoint is accepted completely adequate all alone; rather, every one gives a vital method for seeing part of the social procedure. Together they give capable knowledge and various methodologies for comprehension social marvels.

Racism and racial stereotyping are constructs that has been around since the beginning of the colonization of America. It’s a notion very prevalent yet undermined by skepticism. Many would believe that a nation such as the United States of America has progressed from such a hideous perspective, however, their existence is once again escalating. We see racial profiling and discrimination portrayed in various forms throughout our daily lives. Whether it be something simple as segregated neighborhoods or schools to things such as minorities being discriminated against during employment opportunities. It’s apparent that the barrier placed between blacks and whites is something affront yet learned racism in its entirety. There’s an underlying connection between racism and anxiety of black individuals causing them to turn to their own rather than seek sympathy from opposing races. This brief synthesis analysis will draw connections to this generalized statement aforementioned to elucidate on how perspective of minorities changes over the course of their lifetimes.

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” It has become more and more apparent that America’s friends have turned against those who are marginalized, brought down by institutions, and treated unfairly both in and out of the system. The statistics reflecting institutional racism are sickening and uneasy to read of but by bringing them to light and showing that they are there, action can take place and be more effective than simply letting these disparities continue to occur and take over the institutions that we otherwise would trust. By looking into various institutions such as schools, prisons, the workplace, medicine, churches and various

Although race and ethnicity are delicate topics which are seldom discussed, it is vital in doing so as these two concepts are crucial since they shape much of our everyday interactions. A racial stereotype can be defined as generalizations associated with a specific race, nationality, or skin color. Prejudice is defined as the preconceived ideas of someone due to their group membership. Once these preconceived ideas begin to affect the way an individual is treated be it positive or negative, discrimination ensues. While racism is the belief that members of each race possess certain characteristics, or attributes that are superior or inferior, institutional racism transpires when the treatment of individuals based on their race becomes manifest in institutions (Steckley,2014). The