Racism, Stress, and Health: A Sociology Blog Analysis for LIBS 1520

This assignment analyzes Karen Sternheimer's blog post, "Racism, Stress, and Health." The student explores the main ideas of the post, focusing on hidden forms of racism and their impact on individuals, particularly in customer service. The analysis connects the article's themes to the student's pers...Read More

Running head: Racism, Stress, and Health
Sociology
- Racism, Stress, and Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Racism, Stress, and Health
Introduction:
The following review if of the article “Racism, Stress, and Health” by Karen
Sternheimer in which the author recounts a person experience where she saw a racist
behavior directed at an individual (Sternheimer, 2019). The analysis is aimed to discuss the
main ideas pointed out by the article, points that I can relate to my own personal experience
and understanding of the social world, comparison of the worldview of the article with my
own, representation of power and the contribution of the article to our understanding of
inequality.
Discussion:
-Main Ideas of the selected post
In the article, the author points out that even though racism is officially abolished, a
hidden form of racism still plagues the society. In the incident described by the author, where
a customer used racist remarks against the security at the retail store, who was of African
American origin, the author suggests that the usage of the term ‘boy’ to refer to the guard had
a deeper historical connection. In the period of segregation, known as John Crow, the term
‘boy’ was used to emasculate the slaves and thereby perpetrate their subjugation.
The author suggests that such forms of hidden racism is common in the present world,
and experiencing such behavior can be stressful, especially for those against whom such
behavior is directed. In the customer service and retail industry, where proper behavior in
front of the customer is necessary, with no such rules applying for customers, employees
often has to internalize such behaviors, causing them more stress. The author argues that
chronic exposure to such stress can have adverse health impacts.

2Racism, Stress, and Health
-Interesting points about the article and how it relates to my own experiences and
understanding of the social world
I believe that the most interesting parts of the article was how the author pointed out
that racism and racist behavior was common in today’s word. I believe that the world we live
in today is equally polarized, that have created an invisible separation between people, based
on their nationalities and ethnicities. A political view, commonly known as the ‘Alt-Right’
that propagates the ideology of racism and superiority of white skin only echoes the past
beliefs that allowed subjugation and slavery of human beings. I believe that our social world
is fragmented based on differences in views and opinions and hostility towards others who do
not ascribe to our own is becoming more and more common. Such differences can easily
manifest itself as racism, as seen in the article. The incident described by the author therefore
supports my own understanding of the society.
- How does this article agree with, or conflict with my own worldview?
The article fully supports my own worldview and understanding of the society. I
strongly believe that racist ideologies and mindsets are all but abolished and people still
follow the perverted mindset of racial supremacy and advocate inferiority of other human
ethnicities. Several incidents around the world imply that racism is still present in places of
education, employment and healthcare, showing how our society is riddled with this problem
at its very fabric. I also believe that the employees working in retails and customer service
sectors are especially vulnerable to the misdirected anger from the customers which can
cause significant stress among them increasing their risks of several health issues.
- How is power represented in the article?

3Racism, Stress, and Health
In the given article, power is represented as the rigid nature of authority of the
customer in the retail sectors. The design of businesses such as retail and customer service
focuses on the providence of best experience to the customers, and gives customers a large
power while they select the company’s product and services. This represent a bottom up
design of power in the hierarchy were the power is at the bottom of the design.
-How the article contribute to my understanding of inequality
The article helped be understand how racism is a very common a regular problem
faced by our ‘progressive’ society, where artefacts of historical inequalities done on a section
of the country’s population still are used to inflict insult to the people and remind them of the
past. The article also helped me fully understand the nature of stress that employees working
in customer service or the retail sectors have to experience, dealing with different types of
unruly customers, risking aggression against them and in the process risking their mental and
physical health. I was already aware of such challenges in my society before I read the article,
but the article further impressed me upon this fact.
Conclusion:
From the article, it can be concluded that the problem of racism still exists in our
modern world, which is driven by the sense of fragmentation and consideration of others as
different and inferior (racial inferiority). People can often retort to the usage of racist
remarks, however these remarks have a deeper historic connection related to the subjugation
of people and their misery. Using such remarks is not only disrespectful but also in poor taste
that breaks the values of our modern society. I believe that the article nicely points out this
problem, and how it affects the health of people, showing a very real challenge associated
with this issue.

4Racism, Stress, and Health

5Racism, Stress, and Health
Bibliography:
Bailey, K. A. (2016). Racism within the Canadian university: Indigenous students’
experiences. Ethnic and Racial studies, 39(7), 1261-1279.
Baker, J. (2017). Through the Looking Glass: White First‐year University Students’
Observations of Racism in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador,
Canada. Sociological Inquiry, 87(2), 362-384.
Baker, J., Price, J., & Walsh, K. (2016). Unwelcoming communities: youth observations of
racism in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Journal of Youth
Studies, 19(1), 103-116.
Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2015). Sociology of racism. The international encyclopedia of the
social and behavioral sciences, 19, 857-863.
Fleras, A. (2016). Theorizing micro-aggressions as racism 3.0: shifting the
discourse. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 48(2), 1-19.
Gulliver, T. (2018). Canada the redeemer and denials of racism. Critical Discourse
Studies, 15(1), 68-86.
Haque, E., & Patrick, D. (2015). Indigenous languages and the racial hierarchisation of
language policy in Canada. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development, 36(1), 27-41.
Maiter, S., & Joseph, A. J. (2016). Researching racism: The colour of face value, challenges
and opportunities. British Journal of Social Work, 47(3), 755-772.
Sethi, B. (2017). Unmasking Racism (Creative Intervention). Studies in Social Justice, 11(2).

6Racism, Stress, and Health
Sheppard, C. (2017). Challenging systemic racism in Canada. In Race and Inequality (pp. 57-
76). Routledge.
Sternheimer, K. (2019). Everyday Sociology Blog: Racism, Stress, and Health. [online]
Everydaysociologyblog.com. Available at:
https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2019/02/racism-stress-and-health.html
[Accessed 30 Mar. 2019].