Though social problems affect a wide variety of people from all races, classes, and cultures; minorities, specifically African Americans, encounter social problems on a multi-dimensional basis. Poverty, employment rates, discrimination, and other social problems strike African Americans in such a way that it is nearly impossible to separate them; each individual has different background, socially and physically, that would determine in which order his or her social problems need to be solved. Impoverished blacks in the inner city may have difficulty finding or keeping jobs, while others may have jobs, but face troubles with work discrimination that prevent them from moving upward .Underemployment, workplace inequalities, and unbalanced medical attention are three closely related social problems that, if ameliorated together, could increase upward mobility, decrease poverty levels, and tighten the lifespan gaps for not only blacks, but also other minority groups. The purpose of this paper is to show what effects these three problems have for blacks. Ties Between Racial and Workplace Discrimination Because workplace discrimination is closely tied with underemployment and unemployment, it’s important to know why blacks continue to obtain lower positions and promotions than their white co-workers. In The Social Psychological Costs of Racial Segmentation, Tyrone A. Forman discusses explanations of the separation of middle class African Americans in the workplace. The amount of blacks and whites co-working has grown, but blacks are often given the jobs with the lower prestige and rarely any chance of promotion. Despite increasing numbers of middle-class blacks working the same types of jobs, African Americans are primarily segmented... ... middle of paper ... ...ging feat. The most plausible answer seems to lessen workplace discrimination, thus increasing the number of African Americans with healthcare to allow better health. Works Cited Deitch, E. A., Barsky, A., Butz, R., Chan, S., Brief, A. P., & Bradley, J. C. (2003). Suble yet significant: The existence and impact of everyday racial discrimination in the workplace. Human Relations, 56(11), 1299-1324. Dressler, W. W. (1993). Health in the african american community: Accounting for health inequalities. Medical anthropology quarterly, 7(4), 325-345. Forman, T. A. (2003). The social psychological costs of racial segmentation in the workplace:a study of african americans' well-being. Journal of health and social behavior, 44(3), 332-352. Jewelll, N., & Russell, K. (1992). Current health status of african americans. Journal of community health nursing, 9(3), 161-169.
One of the most critical observations about the state of our sociological health is observed by MacGillis of the Atlantic’s article entitled “The Original Underclass”. That is that the social breakdown of low-income whites began to reflect trends that African American’s were primary subjects of decades ago such as unemployment, and drug addiction.
African Americans who came to America to live the golden dream have been plagued with racism, discrimination and segregation throughout a long and complicated history of events that took place in the United States dating back to slavery to the civil rights movements. Today, African American history is celebrated annually in the United States during the month of February which is designated Black History Month. This paper will look back into history beginning in the late 1800’s through modern day America and describe specific events where African Americans have endured discrimination, segregation, racism and have progressively gained rights and freedoms by pushing civil rights movement across America.
Gould, W. (1977). Black workers in white unions: Job discrimination in the United States. London: Cornell University Press.
Mortality rates among inner city African Americans have a detrimental increase depending on the quality of life from the adolescent stages of growth. African Americans historically have had the highest mortality rates among American racial and ethnic groups.1 The living conditions associated with inner-cities may be a contributing factor along with limited medical facilities and care options along with the lack of education and childhood socioeconomic family disadvantages. Studies have shown these early risk factors may be a major contributor to mortality rates in African American adults later on. Further studies show there are cultural barriers built in the inner city, which hinders the request for help or asking for help within their community.
Rajaram, S. S., Vinson, V. (1998). African american women and diabetes: a sociocultural context. Journal of Health Care for the Poor & Underserved, 9(3), 236-247.
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
"African American Communities and Mental Health." Mental Health America. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014. .
Institutions in the businesses sector are swarming in racial discrimination, much of which is covert and difficult to detect and prove. Racial discrimination excludes, marginalizes and exploits those citizens who are discriminated against, ceasing any opportunity for economic progress and development. Under certain regulations some businesses are required to diversify their workplace by hiring certain amounts of people of color, but in reality these small quotas do not do much for the overall condition of the people who are being discriminated against. Businesses that fail to take action on racial discrimination tend to have lower levels of productivity. This stems from employees not being interested in working hard, or because people with exceptional talents and skills choose to shy away from certain places of employment due to the fear of racial discrimination. Employees who feel wronged also tend to switch jobs, forcing the organization to spend more time and resources on hiring and training new employees, besides coping with the low productivity of a new employee. (Nayab)The effects of racial discrimination in the American work force could be identified with funded research on the topic. With ample data employers will be able to better understand the negative affects that racial discrimination have
"Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health." Public Health Reports. July/August 1998: 372 EBSCOhost. Available <http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html>. (11 February 1999)
Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority. "U.S. Census Bureau Report." 2007. OMH - Office of Minority Health. 3 December 2011 .
Williams, D. R., & Jackson, P. (2014, April 1). Health Affairs. Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/325.short
African Americans face a multidimensional health care crisis that affects the young or old, rich or poor. Too many African Americans are uninsured or underinsured. The elderly cannot afford long-term health care leaving the family to care for them. Health care cost is constantly rising and are out of control, reform is the only way out.
She demonstrated the inaccuracies and restrictions that each individual program provided to individuals who were not always poor enough to have access to them. She also compared immunization rates among poor minorities in Chicago with immunization records in Third World nations, which illuminated the weaknesses and lack of effectiveness of preventive measures across our nation based on the daunting facts in the city of Chicago. Preventive health was the most severe thing she reported as more care and resources were provided to individuals in their deathbeds instead of simple proactive measures that could prevent diseases and reduce overall cost. Across each example she was able to demonstrate the four separate levels of inadequate health care that are major determinants of poor health for many African American
Townsend, P., Whitehead, M. and Davidson, N. (eds) (1992) Inequalities in Health: the Black Report and the health divide, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
Race, class, and gender hypothesis appear to survive struggle at diverse level encounters and usually face depletion in presenting a complete and inclusive theory of continuing discrimination that can give details or identify the altering patterns of race and gender dissimilarity in the United States from the past few decades.