Race Relations
Race relations refer to relations between two different groups of races and how they relate and connect to each other in their environment. The goal of this paper is to discuss the social changes in America and how they will impact the future of America. Other areas of discussion will be the sociological theories applicable to race and ethnic relations in the United States.
Sociological Theories of Race and Ethnicity
To examine the issue of race and ethnicity, three major sociological theories or perspectives should be put into consideration. They include symbolic interactions, functionality and conflict theory. The concept of functionalism is very problematic because, in order to exist as long as they have, ethnic and racial inequalities must have served a significant role. The focus of Nash (1951) on the resultant functions and dysfunctions of racial inequality was on how racism is functional to the dominant group; for instance, giving a suggestion that a racially unequal society is morally justified by racism. One way of applying functionalism is by considering how slave owners in the antebellum justified slavery through suggesting that white people were fundamentally superior to black people and preferring slavery to freedom (Spenser 147).
Another applicable way of functionalist theory to racism is through discussing how racism can add value to the proper functioning of any society by extending the bonds between members of a group through including those outside the group. Failure to utilize talents in a subordinate group is one of the dysfunctions associated with racism that was identified by Nash(1964). The society must, therefore, divert from other purposes to efforts and time required to sustain artificially constructed racial boundaries (Little 233).
The second theory of race and ethnicity is conflict theory which in most cases is applied to inequalities of education, social class, gender, ethnicity, and race. In the U.S history, the conflict theory can examine the past and present struggles going on between the ethnic and racial minorities and the white ruling class. During the late 19th century after the Civil War, the growing power of African-Americans led to the draconian Jim Crow laws that to a larger extent, limited black social and political power. A pattern of attempted disenfranchisement and voter suppression efforts with an aim of predominating minority neighborhoods has been witnessed since the times of civil war (Spenser 150).
Patricia Hill Collins (1990); a female sociologist developed intersection theory that suggested that individuals can't isolate the consequences of sexual orientation, race, gender, class and other attributes. While we examine race together with its advantages and disadvantages, we should appreciate the fact that the experience of race is shaped by either class or gender. For instance, there is a difference between prejudice focused on a white woman due to her gender and prejudice focused on a Germany woman affected by stereotypes associated with her ethnic status, poverty and being a woman (Little 233).
Lastly, interactionism is a theory of race and ethnicity. For reasons of symbolic interactionism, ethnicity and race provide strong symbols as a foundation of identity. Some scholars in this theory propose that race symbols are the driving factors of racism and not the race itself. Herbert Blumer (1958) had a suggestion that formation of racial prejudice is by means of interactions between members of the dominant group. People within a dominant group will not have racist views without these interactions. These interactions have a big contribution to supporting the views of the subordinate group, hence maintaining the status quo. A good application to this is when looking at how people from different races define themselves and how they define others (Spenser 152).
Social Changes that will Impact the Future Directions of Race Relations in America
America has never got a lasting solution on about race. America has tried by all means to construct a nation of various tribes and a country of African-Americans and Caucasians, Muslims and Christians among others. The sense of nationalism in America has evolved and incorporated many people within its borders. This section will examine the social changes that will bring an impact on the future directions of race relation in America (Derick 4).
By conventional measures of occupation, education, and income, about one-third of African Americans able to be categorized as a middle class as compared to half of the whites. This is a notable change from early 1960's where black people in America who could enjoy the "perverse equality" of uniform poverty. Conversely, poverty depth among the poorest African American can only be associated with the length of its duration. Thus, in the recent and present days, with regard to education, income, occupational status, victimization by violence and participation in electoral politics, there are great disparities between the first and the last of African Americans (Minnesota 2).
It can be envisioned that other two patterns of poor and wealthy African Americans lose or regain their faith that the creed of Americans can be tested. The present conditions of African Americans are probably and usually unstable. Political policies and engagements over the coming years will determine whether an African American will come to feel that they will be allowed by their nation to enjoy full psychological benefits of their success and whether poor black Americans give up on a state that never listens to them. Racial politics currently cannot be well understood to allow any trend to predominate. The political choices, leaders and citizen's responses are up for grabs (Nielsen 2).
The instability of ethical and racial coalitions is clearly shown by the attitude towards certain policy issues. Latinos, unlike Asians and whites, have an attendance of supporting strong affirmative actions but sometimes less than blacks do. Most research indicates that affirmative action for blacks is more likely to be supported by black while Latinos and blacks frequently concur on weaker. even though most of them support affirmative action for Latinos, all concur in lack of support for Asian affirmative action (Vance 1).
Another explanation of America's ethnic and racial inequality is rooted in the conflict theory which in turn falls into the system-blame approach. It attributes ethnic and racial inequality to individual and institutional discrimination, lack of educational opportunities and other aspects of life. For instance, segregated houses prevent and restrict blacks from escaping the central business destination and from accessing greater employment area. Employment discrimination lowers the salaries of people of color. Schools attended by many blacks are typically underfunded and overcrowded. If this problem will continue in the United States, it will become harder for individuals at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder to climb due to ethnicity and race (Minnesota 2).
In the year 2016, many of Republicans were talking about race as a refined party composition. At the Republican National Convention, on the MSNBC demonstration, an analyst proposed that the convention agenda is driven by dissatisfied white people. One of the guests at the show; Steve King of Iowa who was representing Republicans behaved much defensive when asked the historical contribution of the African Americans in the shared citizenship. King viewed the question as an attack on the race of white people, and he offered sentiments that white people also are discriminated in one way or the other (Nielsen 2).
Research indicates that the proportion of African Americans will raise in some areas by the year 2030 and the smallest portion of the population will consist of whites. Therefore this means that their number will decrease. On the other hand, the population of black people will slowly increase. These changes in demography may not have much effect on racial effects as thought. For instance, the proportion of white voters is higher than the proportion of the white population in states like Florida and California. This kind of trend is likely to continue for many years to come. Its, therefore, to mean that racial and ethnic politics at will be variable at the national level (Vance 2).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be deduced that the sociological theories applicable to ethnicity and race are functionalism, conflict theory, and internationalism. On the other hand, the social changes that are more likely to impact the future direction of race relations in America are discussed under discrimination, education, employment, population proportionality and distribution and political policies. To ensure that there is political stability equality in the future, the American government must consider all the above mentioned.
Works Cited
Little, William. “Race and Ethnicity.” Introduction to Sociology - 1st Canadian Edition, no. 11, 2015, pp. 227–50, https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter11-race-and-ethnicity/.
Sibelius Nielsen. Musicology for Everyone: Race Relations, Social Change, and American Music. 2014, http://music.allpurposeguru.com/2015/07/race-relations-social-change-and-american-music/.
Spenser, Stephen. “Theories of Race and Ethnicity.” Race and Ethnicity: Culture, Identity, and Representation, 2014, pp. 140–282, doi:10.1017/CBO9781139015431.
The University of Minnesota. Understanding and Changing the Social World: Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the United States. 2016, http://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/10-5-racial-and-ethnic-inequality-in-the-united-states/.
Vance, Jack, and Derick. “Why Race Relations Got Worse.” National Review, 2016, https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/08/race-relations-getting-worse-america-why/.
