Racial discrimination is an act of prejudice directed to s specific racial group based on the idea that another race is more superior. Racial discrimination is based on the idea that people should have qualities that identify them to a certain race and it will be used to determine their superiority or inferiority in a social setup. In contemporary society, racial discrimination is portrayed as an attitude that assumes one is superior or inferior because of skin color. Racial discrimination is depicted in form of harassment, intimidation, and violence; this may exclude a group of people from receiving services that other races have access to. I chose the topic because, for ages, it has been persistent in our society and thus, prompting further research and exploration (Meer and Nayak, 2015).
Fundamentally, racial discrimination is an attitude and a belief which presumes that a specific group of people is lesser based on their consequent physical appearance, ethnicity, and religion. Racial discrimination is, therefore, an important aspect of sociology since it gives a rationalization on matters of segmenting humans into groups of exclusivity and inclusivity; this in itself is a progression of power and superiority. For example, a person’s skin color is considered biologically superior or inferior. So generally, in seeing a skin color we stop perceiving it as whether it’s black, white or indigenous but rather we start making presumptions based on biological fixed identity and such identities are linked to certain characteristics.
Background of the social issue
According to NBC New (2018), Survey Monkey conducted a survey which indicated that 64 percent of Americans believe that racism and racial discrimination is one of the major problems in the country. According to the statistics, Americans believe that racial profiling is taking a toll in the country and arrests are made while people do innocuous activities like barbecuing in a park or in a coffee shop. Early this year, two black people were arrested in Philadelphia as they waited for someone inside a Starbucks store, the arrests prompted protests for days with accusations of racial discrimination. Additionally, 45 percent of Americans believe that racial tension gets elevated every day and little attention is paid on racial discrimination issues. 30 percent of Americans believe that the biggest division in the country is race and this is tied to national events that create racial tensions.
Further, 4 in 10 African-Americans states that they have received ill-treatment in restaurants or stores because they are “people of color”, this is a clear indication that certain groups of people are targeted because they belong to a certain race. The most affected people are African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. The perception that there is a difference between the groups has cause more rifts in the country because each racial group feels threatened by another. The National Registry of Exonerations (2017) conducted a study to determine why innocent Black men were often convicted wrongly. The research indicated that more than 50% of innocent African-Americans are likely to be detained compared to the Whites. Data collected demonstrated that innocent black people were 12 more times sentenced and detained for drug cases use than innocent white people.
Applying a sociological framework
Racial discrimination has been assumed as a system that marks specific groups of people for disparate treatment based of physiological disparities; nonetheless, the society can curb the system by fighting against the rhetoric that promotes the stereotypes in the society. While it is the nature of humanity to identify certain societal meanings that assures a useful expedient in social interaction, it is important to distinguish the effects of these patterns that lead to discrimination and prejudice. Problems associated with racial discriminations should be addressed from a sociological perspective because overlooking is will be pointless as it still exists in our society. Racial discrimination has made people experience citizenship in diverse ways, capabilities and opportunities of the citizens do not receive the same treatment and the issues of egalitarian justice are not implemented and they are supposed to be. Racism has fractured the aspect of common nationhood and divided people into different societies; this largely explains why there are differences in schooling, workplace opportunities, and treatments (Meer and Nayak, 2015).
While the society today prides itself in appreciating people of different colors and embracing diversity, there are many people who perceive other races as their danger and the consequences of such kind of prejudice can cause undesirable effects. On a personal level, racial discrimination can lead to offensive thought, poor attitudes, an outburst. Bigger consequences are associated on a governmental scale, like discrimination in judicial systems, moral upheaval, and unethical behaviors. Because society is made of social groups, the problems associated with racial discrimination as mentioned above should be dealt with from a sociological perspective because they affect the relationships in the society.
Important sociological ideas/concepts to this topic
According to symbolic interaction theory, ethnicity and race provide essential symbols which are used to identify race. Interactionists contend that racial discrimination is caused by the symbols of race rather than the race itself. The theory states that racial discrimination is developed through interactions between people from the superior group. Without the interactions, people from the dominant group would not have any racial discrimination ideas. The interactions lead to a conceptual picture of the inferior group which allows the superior group to uphold its view and the status quo is maintained. For example, an individual might have perceptions and views of a specific race based on what the media portrays; the images conveyed by the media are unquestionably perceived to be true even when the individual has never met anyone from the specific race (Korgen, 2018).
A different way to apply the symbolic interaction perspective is by looking at how people define the races of other people and their own. According to this view, people have created symbols of their own race and individuals whose symbols do not match their own are considered inferior. As people interact, they see the differences they have like skin color, culture, and religion. Additionally, symbols of a race were created back in history and they have been held to the present world. Certain races are associated with specific duties and actions that are considered inferior compared to those of other races. Social groups have been created throughout the history of the country and each race is attached to certain symbols, these symbols are assigned through interaction and they determine perceptions and attitudes.
References
"Poll: 64 Percent of Americans Say Racism Remains a Major Problem." NBC News, 29 May 2018, www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-64-percent-americans-say-racism-remains-major-problem-n877536.
Korgen, K. A. (2018). ENGAGED SOCIOLOGIST: Connecting the classroom to the community. S.l.: SAGE PUBLICATIONS.
Meer, N., " Nayak, A. (2015). The race ends where? Race, racism and contemporary sociology. Sociology, 49(6), NP3-NP20.
National Registry of Exonerations (2017). EXONERATIONS IN 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/documents/exonerations_in_2016.pdf
