Segregation: The Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion

1553 Words4 Pages

Race is an ambiguous concept possessed by individuals, and according to sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant, it is socially constructed. Race divides people into categories which causes needless cultural and social tensions. The concept of race also causes inclusion, exclusion, and segregation in U.S society. Both inclusion and exclusion tie together to create the overall process of segregation — one notion cannot occur without resulting in the others. Segregation is a form of separation in terms of race that includes the processes of inclusion and exclusion. Race was the main factor that caused conflicts among people in society in the realms of culture, education, and residential. Historians, sociologists, and other educators such as Macias, Kelley, Menchaca, Valencia, and Sugrue have researched the issue of segregation, how people use it to include and exclude others, as well as the consequences that followed. In the U.S society, Whites have fought to prevent interactions between them and Blacks throughout the centuries. One method of segregation that included inclusion and exclusion was through public housing — Whites reinforced means to drive Blacks out of their neighborhoods. In Thomas J. Sugrue's article, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964," he addressed this issue of segregation in public housing for African-Americans. Whites in Detroit, Michigan were preventing the black population from "invading their enclaves." (65) The city of Detroit attracted many African-American migrants after World War II and those who sought upward mobility wanted better housing in primarily white sections of the city. Therefore racial tensions and segr... ... middle of paper ... ... when people wanted to mix despite their races, authorities prevented them because of their races. Segregation with its processes of inclusion and exclusion existed in the cultural sphere even when people wanted to mix despite their races, but authorities prevented them because of that. People's beliefs in the superior and inferior races led to segregation that included and excluded people in U.S society. People disassociate with others because they have dissimilar interests and they look different. Races are biologically and genetically vary by nature but the activity of people physically distancing themselves because of their differences is what causes conflicts. When people engage in inclusion and exclusion in the process of segregation, that is when conflicts arise among them. It is when people start to believe in the superior races versus the inferior ones.

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