Sociology Essay: Analyzing Alienation, Gender Bias, and Racial Issues

This socio-autobiographical essay delves into the author's personal experiences with alienation, gender socialization, and racial prejudice, framed within sociological concepts. Drawing from Karl Marx's theory of alienation, the author reflects on their time in a capitalist firm and the resulting estrangement from their work, essence, and fellow workers. The essay further explores the impact of gender socialization, highlighting societal expectations and biases encountered in education and the workplace. Lastly, it addresses the author's observations on racial discrimination as an outsider in New Zealand, noting the subtle yet pervasive marginalization of darker-skinned individuals. The essay concludes with a call for societal change through constitutional laws and community programs to eradicate these forms of discrimination, emphasizing the lessons learned from navigating these social barriers.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Discussion............................................................................................................................2
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................6
References............................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Cultural and social differences exist among various nations. There lie several social and
cultural diversities and these barriers need improvement and scaling by time (Lawson, Crouter &
McHale, 2015). The concepts of gender socialization and racial discrimination have been a
much-debated topic throughout the centuries that is still practiced today. Through this socio-
autobiography, I will thus explain how the cultural and sociological barriers and concepts related
to alienation, gender socialization, and racial prejudice have affected my life till now and how I
achieved some of the negative perspectives regarding the society we live in. I belong from a
traditional family and being the middle child in my family I have witnessed and experienced
various factors and the phenomenon of gender discrimination in my life, both inside the family
and at my school. Furthermore, the concept of racism was something that I eventually
understood. As an outsider firstly I did not have any idea about the practice of racism but
eventually I found out the ongoing practice and the social barriers. I have thus grown and
developed to understand and realize that the answer to these age-old inequalities and
discrimination lies in the structure and process of the society we reside.
Discussion
The evolution of alienation from the idea of philosophy for secularizing the scientific
concept has resulted in a huge debate on a variety of range of political and intellectual issues
(Lawson, Crouter & McHale, 2015). According to the theory of alienation by Karl Marx in
‘Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844’individuals tend to become estranged from their
humanity as the resultant of residing in a capitalist society (Crittenden & Wright, 2013). In his

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theory, Marx explained four major types of alienation which I can relate to my personal
experiences in my life (Shantz et al., 2015). These are
Alienation of worker from their product: While working in a capitalist firm I realized that
workers like me do not have any control over our own wishes of production or rather any
specifications of my interest in work. We work for our salary and it is our duty to abide by the
rules of the company and produce their necessities without any questions or unnecessary skill
shows.
Alienation of worker from the act of production: I faced a major lack in my psychological
satisfaction while working for the capitalist form since the goods and services that were
produced were repetitive and mechanical in nature.
Alienation from species-essence: I lost all of my inner talents and skills while working in
the capitalist firm. This is because I hardly get the chance to show my skills and develop my
inner abilities in the burden of selling my labor power to the company.
Alienation from other workers: Each and every organization cosset of labor competitions.
I realized that like all other market commodities, human capital or labor power was also one of
the commodities which have results al the workers to compete against each other in the capitalist
organization.
From my personal insight, the concept of alienation is the surrender of control by the
separation of an important aspect related to self in the context of capitalism. While working for a
capitalist farm in my early years after college I realize that like all other workers in the nation I
am alienated from my humanity since the prevailing standards and norms have transformed my

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essence into a mere commodity resulting in the lack of control over my vocation. The capitalist
society is drawing the basic and natural essence of us in the name of employment norms
(Seeman, 1967). We are losing our personal specialties, talents and essence that we have
inherited or gained in our life. This is because of the lack of the platform to showcase our skills
and do something creative rather than the boring regular mechanism.
The concept of gender socialization is an aspect affecting enormously to the individuals
of every nation of the world (Adler, Kless & Adler, 1992). When we were born we did not know
how a male and female should act differently. I have been mostly influenced by the cultural and
social process from my initial childhood days which narrated the difference between a male and
a female in the society. Gender discrimination has been an age long issue in the world which is
still prevailing I our society (Carter, 2014). Still, in this decade, parents contribute to the gender
socialization by developing gender biased expectations for their coming child. According to
Wayne and Margaret gender socialization takes place when individuals are taught roles related to
culture on the basis of their sex (Lee et al., 2015). I have witnessed that girls and boys are treated
differently in their own society by their teachers, parents and other relatives. My personal
experiences on the gender roles are taught in our school are quite similar. I remember how our
school curriculum treated girls and boys differently. In case of life learning skills session, I
remember how there was a certain difference among the curriculum of studies of boys and girls.
The boys were sent to learn about the electrical and mechanical studies, whereas girls were
suggested to go for learning and cooking classes. From my personal insight, I realized how men
and men’s role were typically targeted and associated with dangerous and strengthful occupation
women were expected to be involved in caring and soft skilled tasks. Social institutions tend to
shape and influence the knowledge and responsibilities of the gender in our societies. Even at

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workplaces women often face gender discrimination and issues like unequal pay scale at the
workplace (McCright & Xiao, 2014). The concept of male superiority and gender discrimination
still prevails in the society despite the influences of modernity (Adler, Kless & Adler, 1992). I
believe the gender socialization is rooted to the social and cultural perceptions and the perception
regarding men having the authoritative power should be abolished. Throughout my life, though I
have witnessed many contexts of gender discrimination where a woman has been considered as
the weaker gender, I have also come across many strong women breaking the contemporary
stereotypes. Girl students nowadays also receive electrical and mechanical education and engage
in the dangerous occupation of the army and air forces to give tough competition to the boys
( McCright & Xiao, 2014).
Another of the notable factor of social discrimination that I faced throughout my life as
an outsider of New Zealand is the concept of racism (Puri et al., 2011). Racial prejudice and
racism, this practice dates back to the historic era where caste systems and discrimination of
individual on the basis of their skin color was initiated and followed (Quillian, 2006). When I
first came to the country I did not realize the presence and practice of racism in the culture. My
workplace supported the racial and cultural diversity. But eventually, I witnessed the practice of
this discrimination among the local people. I witnessed how the darker people are being
dominated by the superior whites on every sphere of their daily life. Starting from school level
the children are often subjected to discrimination and mockery in context of their race. They face
isolation and marginalization from their classmates and often from their teachers. This eventually
affects their minds and hampers their psychological attitude towards the society (Lawson,
Crouter & McHale, 2015). Even in case of employment, local organizations tend to prefer the
white people over the black one. Researches found that around 31.8% dark skinned people

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reported being rejected on the basis on unknown reason, often company’s tend to be biased and
they do not judge the candidates on their educational qualifications and skills but on the basis of
their race and ethnicity (Quillian, 2006). This racial discrimination is different in case of locals
that for the outsiders. The society seems to be perfectly balanced from the view point of an
outsider. Only when someone goes inside it, it can be understood that how the discrimination in
the context of race and ethnicity still prevails widely within the society and how the dark people
are still the victims of dominance and marginalization by the superior white population of the
society.
Conclusion
The world has always faced problems of discrimination. Images and stereotypes held in
our minds regarding certain racial or gender groups stem up the prejudicial attire towards the
marginalized group of the society. The above socio-cultural essay explains my personal insight
into the concept of alienation, racial prejudice and gender socialization in the context of my
personal life experiences. I believe that discrimination is wrong since it is a selfish attitude
towards the minority group by the overpowered and superior group of people in the society. It
results in many problems and thus the government of each and every nation should take up
positive steps to eradicate these social attires. Implementation of constitutional laws and
community programs for the development of a nation free from discrimination needs to be done.
Though the negative views regarding these social barriers has affected my entire life and
attitudes towards the society but I definitely gained a lot of lessons through the experiences of
my life.

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References
Adler, P. A., Kless, S. J., & Adler, P. (1992). Socialization to gender roles: Popularity among
elementary school boys and girls. Sociology of education, 169-187.
Carter, M. J. (2014). Gender socialization and identity theory. Social Sciences, 3(2), 242-263.
Crittenden, C. A., & Wright, E. M. (2013). Predicting patriarchy: Using individual and
contextual factors to examine patriarchal endorsement in communities. Journal of
interpersonal violence, 28(6), 1267-1288.
Lawson, K. M., Crouter, A. C., & McHale, S. M. (2015). Links between family gender
socialization experiences in childhood and gendered occupational attainment in young
adulthood. Journal of vocational behavior, 90, 26-35.
Lee, Y., Muennig, P., Kawachi, I., & Hatzenbuehler, M. L. (2015). Effects of racial prejudice on
the health of communities: a multilevel survival analysis. American journal of public
health, 105(11), 2349-2355.
McCright, A. M., & Xiao, C. (2014). Gender and environmental concern: Insights from recent
work and for future research. Society & Natural Resources, 27(10), 1109-1113.
Puri, S., Adams, V., Ivey, S., & Nachtigall, R. D. (2011). “There is such a thing as too many
daughters, but not too many sons”: A qualitative study of son preference and fetal sex
selection among Indian immigrants in the United States. Social science &
medicine, 72(7), 1169-1176.

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Quillian, L. (2006). New approaches to understanding racial prejudice and discrimination. Annu.
Rev. Sociol., 32, 299-328.
Seeman, M. (1967). On the personal consequences of alienation in work. American Sociological
Review, 273-285.
Shantz, A., Alfes, K., Bailey, C., & Soane, E. (2015). Drivers and outcomes of work alienation:
reviving a concept. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24(4), 382-393.