Discrimination and Racism in the Society

Running head: DICRIMINATION AND RACISM IN THE SOCIETY
MUSLIMS ARE OFTEN PORTRAYED AS A MONOLITHIC GROUP, WHOSE
CULTURE IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
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DICRIMINATION AND RACISM IN THE SOCIETY1
Introduction
Discrimination is one of the most important wicked problems that the world is
presently facing and it is seen that it is not just limited to race, ethnicity, skin-colour and
others but extents to religion as well (Roche 2018). According to Allen (2016), presently it is
seen that the people had to face a substantial amount of racism or discrimination on the basis
of the religious faith that they follow. For example, it is seen that the people from the Islamic
religion are being looked upon with suspicion or outsiders in the majority of the Christian
nations or even in the ones like India wherein Hinduism is being followed by the majority of
the people (Yakushko 2018). More importantly, their religious practices or for that matter
their way of life by virtue of the practices that they follow on the basis of their religion is
being viewed as completely radical and thus they are being marginalised or ostracised in the
society (Case 2016).
This essay will take the help of the Intersectionality theory and the ideas that it
propounds regarding discrimination to shed light on the statement “Muslims are often
portrayed as a monolithic group, whose culture is incompatible with human rights and
democracy” and show that this is not true. The portrayal of the Muslims is completely
contradictory to their actual lifestyle and their culture or practices although seems against the
precepts of human rights or democracy are within the bounds of the same. I am personally
interested in the topic because I had an affair with a Muslim guy and through my personal
experience I found that this is not true. I would say that the reason why the Muslims had to
face discrimination is because their religion or the practices followed by them are not being
understood by the common people and thus they had to face discrimination.

DICRIMINATION AND RACISM IN THE SOCIETY2
Intersectionality theory
The term Intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in the year
1989 and is usually called by the name of Intersectionality feminism (Clegg 2016). Bright,
Malinsky and Thompson (2016) are of the viewpoint that this theory is primary concerned
with the identification of the manner in which the political as well as social discrimination
overlap with the construct of gender. According to Case (2016), this theory takes the help of a
“non-empirical qualitative analytic framework” which in turn takes the help of
“deconstructionist critical theory” to analyse the different forms of discriminations faced by
the individuals within the societal framework. The primary purpose of this is to identify the
manner in which the “interlocking systems of power” in the society (mainly the power held
by the ruling class or the religion which is being followed by the majority of the people in the
developed nation) affect mostly the ones who are marginalised by the same (mainly the
people from different racial or religious backgrounds) (Van der Noll and Saroglou 2015).
More importantly, at the time of the formulation of the theory under discussion here it was
seen that the concerned theory was being used to understand the social stratification on the
basis of race, creed, social status, religion and other aspects and the discrimination that the
people had to face on the basis of the same (Green and Witte 2017). However, in the present
times it is seen that the theory is concerned with the identification of the relationship that
these different forms of discrimination that the individuals have to face within the societal
framework (Ameline, Ndobo and Roussiau 2019). Furthermore, the theory also requires the
individuals and the institutions to take into account the relationship that the different forms of
discrimination share with each and thereby promote political and social equality (Case 2016).
The Intersectionality theory thus becomes an important one from the perspective of the
sociologists and the individuals who wish to analyse discrimination within the contemporary

DICRIMINATION AND RACISM IN THE SOCIETY3
societal framework and also the ones who aim to promote equality within the same (Clegg
2016).
Muslims and Discrimination
Van der Noll et al. (2018) are of the viewpoint that the Muslims on the score of the
religious faith to which they subscribe had to face a great deal of discrimination not only in
terms to religion, the countries that they hail from, the practices that they follow and others.
This can be explained on the basis of the fact that the religion or the religious practices
followed by them are drastically different from the other religions of the world like
Christianity, Hinduism and others and often too drastic in nature (Jefferys 2015). The
resultant effect of this is that they are not only viewed as outsiders in the different first world
nations of the world like Australia, UK, USA and others but also treated with a great deal of
suspicion as well (Hervik 2015). This as a matter of fact is one of the major reasons for the
religious discrimination faced by the Muslims in the different nations of the world. For
example, it is seen that unlike the citizens of the different nations in which the Muslims seek
asylum or abode, the number of educational, employment, healthcare and opportunities that
are available to the Muslims in these nations is very limited (Lindemann and Stolz 2018). To
add to these, the discrimination that the Muslims face in the longer run begins to take a toll
on their emotional or mental faculties which in turn greatly affects their ability to lead a
normal as well as prosperous life in the different host nations. More importantly, this leads to
the ineffective fulfilment of their basic psychosocial needs which in turn once again reduces
the quality of the life that they led and this often makes them turn to different kinds of
offensive or aggressive practices like terrorism, crime and others (Yakushko 2018).
Green and Witte (2017) are of the viewpoint that in addition to the evil of religious
discrimination an important wicked problem that the Muslims had to face in the various first