Personal Vision for Society: Understanding Racism and Ethnicity | Desklib

An analysis of racism and ethnicity in society through personal experiences and sociological theories. Read more on Desklib.

Running head: PERSONAL VISION FOR SOCIETY
PERSONAL VISION FOR SOCIETY
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author's Note:

1PERSONAL VISION FOR SOCIETY
The aim of this essay is to discuss the personal view of the society which is highly
impregnated by the differences among the people thus affecting the personal understanding and
social integration. These differences mainly immerge from the factors of race, ethnicity, class,
gender, religion, sexuality, place of birth, language, disability and many more. Since the early
ages, these factors of society have created boundaries and prevented people to mix with one
another freely and share their thoughts for the betterment of the society of the world. As these
differences among the people in this civilized societies around the globe have affected the lives
and actions of other, either victimizing them or making them evil to destroy others, the socialists
from historical time have been finding solutions of these problems. To Delgado and Stefancic
(2017), several, concepts and theories have been developed within the sociology of race and
ethnicity which scholarly response to the problems experienced by the people of world
historically and in the present.
In order to understand the true nature of racism, different types of racism are to be
understood. There are mainly three factors from which the issues of racism actually originate.
These include, cultural racism, religious and biological racism. This essay will be discussing the
theories of ethnicity and the dynamics of ethnic change in multiethnic societies that includes
critical race theory, structural factionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory for
understanding political economy approach to race and ethnicity. My personal view about
different settings and values in the understanding of others have greatly influenced by these
differences (Bonilla-Silva, 2015). Therefore, holding my experiences as the test case, I shall be
analyzing these theories so that better method to face these issues can be found out.
As I have mentioned before, my understanding of race, ethnicity and cultural differences
have been formed from the schools and college. As the resident of a multicultural society, I have

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seen many prejudiced visions, references and actions that has affected others in a critically
negative way. I have witnessed the bullying mentality of persons who really brag for this higher
class and race than the others. They garb the facilities on the basis of their ethnicity and
subordinated others to follow their power. In order to understand the true nature of racism,
different types of racism are to be understood. There are mainly three factors from which the
issues of racism actually originate. These include, cultural racism, religious racism and
biological racism. In my whole life I have come across all three types of racism in any way and
all the experiences were beyond my expectation in a negative way.
The religious racism, is based on the religious believes and leads to the religious
discrimination. This is the treatment of the persons and groups differently because of the values
and beliefs based on different religions. This includes the adherences of the different religions
differently and promoting the own religion to be the superiors than the others. In this regard, the
persons of one particular religion intentionally deprive the people of other religious
communities. in some of the non-religious organizations I have seen that the people of other
region are treated unequally for their beliefs and values. Religious discrimination is related to
religious persecution, the most extreme forms of which would include instances in which people
have been executed for beliefs perceived to be heretic (Matsuda, 2018). The religious racism is
spread in each part of the world. I have come across the news that in the Asian countries the
problems of religious racism are much more active where there are political parties present to
support the religious discrimination and the people of higher castes and religious superiority get
more opportunity than the others. In the countries like India, the lower caste people are
discriminated in one hand and exploited greatly on the other.

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The biological racism is another term for scientific racism. Based on this view, the issues
of white racism or gaining power as well as accumulation has been started by the white people
around the world. Despite the fact that these all factors are related with the superiority of the
culture and ideology of the white people of Europe. After the First World War, the theory of
white biological superiority began to be demised by the protests of the colonies in one hand and
scholarly communities of most of the European countries. Through the intellectual progress of
the new generation white people, other cultural and psychological theories emerged. The cultural
racism on the other hand is the most prominent one where the people of different cultures focus
on their superiority and discriminate the other. In some times, the cultural suppression leads to
the extinction of culture.
We in this era of globalization have grown up surrounded by the images of stereotypes as
well as casual expressions of racism and prejudice and this situation is getting worse as despite
of having all the possibility to get connected with the other culture or race and get information
about them, we do not feel conformation. Therefore, the issues of racism remain in our specifies
as the it is impossible to know to what extent they have influenced our thought processes. In
understanding this aspect of power execution on the basis of ethnicity and race, the critical race
theory can be discussed (Banton, 2018). This particular theory is a critical framework in the
social sciences to examine cultural categorization of law, race and power. According to
Camfield, (2016), this particular framework, racism is considered to be engrained in the fabric as
well as system of the civilized societies of the world. This frame work identifies that the power
structure actually remains in one particular section of the society mainly dependent on the
complexion and pace origin of the people. In this regard I can connect the issues of white
privilege and their supremacy in every section of the society in a multicultural framework of

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action. I have found the afro American students in the schools get the less privileges than the
white students, despite the fact that now the rights of these victims are restored by the protection
from legislation and other policies initiated by the government still the question of preferences
always support the whites all the time. The critical race theory draws the priorities as well as
perceptions of both the critical and legal studies. This particular study does not support the
liberalism approach of social transformation (Hatch, 2018). This is due to the fact that liberalism
relies on the right based remedies and supports the aspect of color blindness in transformations
but the critical race theory only favors the approaches supporting the race consciousness for the
social transformation and political organization of the society.
Along with Critical race theory, other theories can be referred to understand the reasons
of the prejudice originated from racism and ethnicity in the societies. Throughout my life, I have
faced the questions whether the effect of racism and ethnic differences has any positive impact
on the society. I always pondered about the fact that why some of the groups maintain distance
from the other and what make them believe that they must be superior in any situation than the
others. In this regard, I can refer to the structural functionalism approach that refers to the idea
that the racial and ethnic inequalities may have served some important functions. This concept is
of course problematic. What I have found in this theory that it shows people the functions or
dysfunctions of the cultural or racial inequality. To most of the functionalist critics, racism is
functional for the dominant groups as this suggesting that racism morally justifies a racially
unequal society. in this regard I can connect the racism concept with the slavery in the
antebellum South. I think this is why the slave owners considered the black people to be
fundamentally inferior to the whites and they must prefer slavery to freedom.

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In finding the answer why the groups of higher races boast about their prominence and
potentiality, I have found that the culturally underprivileged races are also observing racism in
their own ways. In the colleges I have found groups keeping themselves aloof from the others
and satiated among themselves. They neither bother about the others except the welfare of their
own groups and do everything for the benefits of their groups. In this aspect I can understand
why the functionalists have supported this particular view. To Morse et al. (2016) the structural
functional approach strengthens the bonds of the people among the in-group members though
ostracizing the about-group members. This supports ad considers the community can increase
Solidarity by refusing the outsiders access their group. The dysfunction associated with racism
include the failure of taking advantage of talents of the subjugated groups. This also includes that
the racial actions divert the society from actual purposes including the effort and time needed for
maintaining artificially constructed cultural and racial boundaries.
In derailing my personal experience regarding racism and cultural differences, I have
come across the term minority. As I have understood from my parts experiences, this term has
been used to refer to the population who have limited number or amount of power, benefits and
opportunities in the society. I have witnessed the minority students suffering from social
discrimination or stigma. A lot of experiences of witnessing bully in the school or college life I
have understood that minorities either on the basis of religion or class or race, are subjected to
suppression historically. The conflict theory mainly captures this aspect of racial and the
dynamics of ethnic change in the society. This theory is applied to the inequalities of social class,
race, gender and ethnicity (Morse et al., 2016). It is related to the conflicts of the socially
accepted races with the subjugated ones. It is inevitable that the social minorities cannot always
remain clam without responding in the continuous exploitation by the which class.

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I have come across the news like a Ferguson, Missouri, teenager was shot and killed by a
police officer in 2014, and this act was not perfectly judged as there was a racial reference in it.
In this regard I relate this incident through race-conflict approach. This sociological perceptive
helped to identify that there is a constant disparity as well as tension among the people of
different racial and ethnic groups in the world. This theory focuses on the racial inequalities and
conflicts. To Krieger (2016), this is the approach with which the socialists point out the causes of
race conflicts. This approach also points out and analyses the issues of white privilege that give
the one particular group opportunities of earning high level of income, obtaining advanced
healthcare support and educational degrees. Therefore, the conflicts against white privileges to
garb all the benefits similar and liberties will be symbols e continuing in the society until the
power gaps gets reduced.
This culture of prejudice has been gaining impetus day by day in this current global
context. This is due to the fact that the racist individuals are using symbols to different
themselves from the rest of the population. For these interactionalists, race as well as ethnicity
provide a symbol of elements leading to racism. I have found that the racial prejudices are
mainly formed through the interactions among the members of the dominant groups. Without
these interactions, the persons of the dominant groups will not hold the racist view. These types
of interactions actually contribute to the abstract image to the subordinate group which allows
the dominant group for supporting this view of the subordinate group to maintain the status quo.
in the field of sociology, providing a key theoretical foundation for much of the research
conducted by sociologists (Hatch, 2018).
The dominant principle of this particular perspective is the meaning that we derive as
well as attributes to this world around us. This is the social construction which is produced by the

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regular social interactions (Gillborn, 2015). This approach is chiefly focused on the methods how
we actually use the interpretation of things as the symbols for communicating with one another
and how we actually create as well as maintain our own selves that are presented by us to the
society. This is a sense of the self within us and how we imminently create or maintain the
reality that we believe to be true. To Delgado and Stefancic, (2017), symbolic interaction theory
of racism mostly refers to the images presented in the popular media and how they portray one
race particularly. This type of symbolisms is so very appealing that in this current global context,
the individuals are believing on the portrayal of the particular group as well as their actions
which are showed as well as conveyed in the popular media (Capper, 2015). These symbolism
and portrayals are being unquestionably believed as in most of the cases, the individuals cannot
meet the group themselves.
The cultural of prejudice is also a part of the racial and ethnic disparity that I have
experienced a lot in my life. I have experienced these issues in schools, colleges, neighborhood
and other places I was physical present somehow. Along with these, I have also faced some
incidents with myself and some I have collected from the news which has disturbed me in a great
deal to claim myself to be a part of the civilized society. In this respect, the symbolic interaction
theory can eb applied effectively. This perspective is to look at the process how people actually
define their races and culture and present them to the others. This idea is completely mutual as
well as similar in any type of racial groups. As mentioned before, the relation to the social
construction of race and ethnicity, the people differentiate themselves more depending om the
skin pigmentation rather than the cultural aspects or religion (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017).
Therefore, it becomes easy the popular media to identify each of the racial groups through their
different thoughts rather than cultural ethnicity. In many of the cases, I have found, the

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advertisements of the popular and daily materials are categorized o the basis of race and
ethnicity. These are also based upon the complexion and preferences of the groups which do not
help the social development in anyway.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the issues of racism and ethnic discrimination is very
natural in todays’ world and these have already affected the decisions and actions of the people
believing in racial supremacy. There are three main types of racism which include cultural
racism, religious and biological racism. In order understand the reasons and other related aspects
of racism the theories like critical racism theory, structural factionalism, conflict theory and
symbolic interaction theory has been discussed. However, the more discussion on this topic will
be limiting this type of problems more otherwise this global problem will have no end and affect
the lives of more people for the mere cause.

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References:
Banton, M. (2018). The concept of racism. In Race and racialism (pp. 17-34). Routledge.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2015). More than prejudice: Restatement, reflections, and new directions in
critical race theory. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1(1), 73-87.
Camfield, D. (2016). Elements of a historical-materialist theory of racism. Historical
Materialism, 24(1), 31-70.
Capper, C. A. (2015). The 20th-year anniversary of critical race theory in education:
Implications for leading to eliminate racism. Educational Administration
Quarterly, 51(5), 791-833.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction. NYU Press.
Gillborn, D. (2015). Intersectionality, critical race theory, and the primacy of racism: Race, class,
gender, and disability in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 277-287.
Hatch, M. J. (2018). Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives.
Oxford university press.
Krieger, N. (2016). Living and Dying at the Crossroads: Racism, Embodiment, andWhy Theory
Is Essential for a Public Health of Consequence. American journal of public
health, 106(5), 832.
Matsuda, M. J. (2018). Public response to racist speech: Considering the victim’s story.
In Words that wound (pp. 17-51). Routledge.

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Morse, J. M., Stern, P. N., Corbin, J., Bowers, B., Charmaz, K., & Clarke, A. E. (2016). From
grounded theory to situational analysis: What’s new? Why? How?. In Developing
Grounded Theory (pp. 194-235). Routledge.
Satzewich, V. & Liodakis, N. (2017) “Race” and Ethnicity in Canada: a Critical Introduction
(4th edition). Canada: Oxford University Press