According to Erasmus, (2008) race is a social construct. Erasmus continues to argue that race is not natural or not found in society. “Race is not given”. Race ideally was made by modern science. Race can be learned and unlearned over time. In the same way as Thornton would argue about culture not being real, but something that has been historically created, the same analysis can be made about race. In that case race challenges the stereotypes about it having any biological or cultural basis. Erasmus goes on to argue that race is not something you are born with but something that has been created socially. Therefore, I would agree with Erasmus about race being socially constructed. However, I acknowledge the fact that apartheid ideology still has an effect on racism in South Africa to this very day. It might not be apparent but it still exists. I would argue that it is wrong how the media and society reinforces racial ideas, after 20 years of freedom; it is time to let it go. In comparison to race is a social construct, in this essay I will analyse and compare two advertisements that were made in South Africa in post-apartheid in order to provide evidence for my argument. To begin with, firstly I will be summarising two advertisements, a Standard Bank advertisement, and on the other hand, a Nedbank advertisement. The Standard bank advertisements main character is a white male banking consultant. He is dressed in a white shirt and tie which makes him look professional. He’s body language shows him leaning forward, sort of pushy but still confident in what he is doing. From the wording in the visual advertisement I pick up that he is talking to a Standard bank client about their new product on the market, online banking. The clien... ... middle of paper ... ...sion. To move on to the Nedbank advertisement, I will start off with the target audience. I feel the audience for this advertisement is aimed at people who own businesses, people who want to start businesses or even people who want their businesses to grow and be successful. The layout of the advertisement like I have mentioned shows to men, one being the Nedbank consultant and the other the business owner. The fact that the black guy has a laptop and body language shows that he is trying to explain to the business owner, tell us that he is the more educated one out of the two. Now before post-apartheid, this racial idea would not have existed. The fact that a black guy being more educated than a white guy would not have been allowed before post-apartheid, one would rather see a white guy teaching a black guy. Lastly is the use of language in the advertisement.
Advertisers aim for an attractive advertisement depends on what audience they wanted to aim for. This is a way to make a good way of attracting people to make efficient money by using stereotypes, and psychologically
There is a specific meaning to race and how its role impacts society and shapes the social structures. Race is a concept that “symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies” (Omi & Winant 55). In other words, Omi and Winant get down to the crux of the issue and assert that race is just an illusion. Race is merely seen as an ideological construct that is often unstable and consisting of decentered social meanings. This form of social construction attempts to explain the physical attributes of an individual but it is constantly transformed by political struggles. The rules of classifying race and of identity are embedded into society’s perception. Therefore, race becomes a common function for comprehending, explaining, and acting in the
Racism is often considered a thing of the past, with its manifestation rarely being acknowledged in the United States today. Race: The Power of an Illusion, is a documentary that addresses the legacy of racism through its significance in the past, and its presence in society today. To understand racism, it is vital to understand the concept of race. Race is a social invention, not a biological truth. This can be observed through the varying classifications of race in different cultures and time periods. For instance, in the United States, race has long been distinguished by skin color. In nineteenth century China, however, race was determined by the amount of body hair an individual had. Someone with a large amount of facial hair, for example,
Race: The Power of an Illusion was an interesting 3 part film. After watching this, it made me questioned if race was really an illusion or not. It is absolutely taboo to think that the one thing that separates people the most may be a myth in itself. “We can 't find any genetic markers that are in everybody of a particular race and in nobody of some other race. We can 't find any genetic markers that define race.” (Adelman and Herbes Sommers 2003). Racism is something created in the U.S made to create supremacy for the creator. Racism is not just the way someone thinks, it is something that has is manifested in our society to separate us and can be traced to our everyday activities.
The connection of race and race relations in the United States was an ongoing issue, and while much progress was made, there are still people who revert back to old and ignorant takes on different races as the white man. This clearly relates to my own history based on the fact that various races are still being discriminated and treated unfairly and looked at as unequal. I can only hope that one day the whole population of the world can do the right thing and look at everyone as equals.
Race is a social construct because the existence of race requires that people collectively agree and accept that it does exist. It typically works through race indicators which are used to indicate which race you are, and consequently what sort of status you have in society. The Thomas Theorem is a theory that states “If men (and women) define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”, meaning the interpretation of an event causes the action. White privilege is institutionalized when the practices and policies of an institution systematically benefit whites at the expense of other racial groups. Peggy McIntosh published an article entitled “White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack”, which names in very clear ways, how everyday, having white skin confers privileges that white people don’t often realize they receive.
In society, race clearly affects one’s life chances. These are the chances of getting opportunities and gaining experience for progression. The social construction of race is based on privileges and availability of resources. Looking at society and the formation of race in a historical context, whites have always held some sort of delusional belief of a “white-skin privilege.” This advantage grants whites an advantage in society whether one desires it or not. This notion is often commonly referred to as reality.
Social Construction Race Race has been one of the most outstanding events in the United States all the way from the 1500s up until now. The concept of race has been socially constructed in a way that is broad and difficult to understand. Social construction can be defined as the set of rules determined by society’s urges and trends. The rules created by society play a huge role in racialization, as the U.S. creates laws to separate the English or whites from the nonwhites. Europeans, Indigenous People, and Africans were all racialized and victimized for various reasons.
Race, in the common understanding, draws upon differences not only of skin color and physical attributes but also of language, nationality, and religion. Race categories are often used as ethnic intensifiers, with the aim of justifying the exploitation of one group by another. Race is an idea that has become so fixed in American society that there is no room for open-mindedness when challenging the idea of racial categories. Over the years there has been a drastic change with the way the term "race" is used by scientists. Essentially, there is a major difference between the biological and sociological views of race.
The concept of race is an ancient construction through which a single society models all of mankind around the ideal man. This idealism evolved from prejudice and ignorance of another culture and the inability to view another human as equal. The establishment of race and racism can be seen from as early as the Middle Ages through the present. The social construction of racism and the feeling of superiority to people of other ethnicities, have been distinguishably present in European societies as well as America throughout the last several centuries.
The clear dominant part of the advertisement is the three human subjects placed in the middle. The first subject described is in the left hand side, sitting on a desk. The model is wearing traditional gendered beautification: pear necklaces; short dress; and high heels, this will lead to me believe she is representing a woman. When analyzing the pose of the woman, you can see the way she is sitting. The dress shows most of her leg, portraying the normative view of women as sexualized subject. This model is “doing gender” as West and Zimmerman described in their article. The model is representing a gender and therefore dressed and posed as a woman is expected to be in society. As she is leaning to the right, I no...
Reflecting directly on the cultural attitudes and sociocultural messages explained throughout this course, it is clear that race, gender, and sexuality are all socially constructed in one way or another. Contrary to popular belief, race is actually almost completely socially constructed, it is not biological. Further, a human’s DNA does not differentiate at all to create any specific race. However, society has categorized certain things, such as skin color, to determine the race of individuals. In simpler terms, there are not specific genes that parents pass on to their offspring that determine their race; society categorizes people into specific races when they are born based on their
A Comparison of Two Advertisements Introduction Advertising and media are part of everybody’s everyday life, with or without them realizing. Each day we see adverts on the television showing us new lifestyles that look glamorous, we hear adverts on the radio, we see slogans emblazoned on people’s clothes, on the side of buses, on billboards, everywhere!! Big companies know that they need to make their product appeal to as many ‘niche markets’ as possible and they do this by ‘audience segmentation’. This is when companies make an advert so that it would appeal to one type of person, and then another advert for the same product but for a different type of person. Although it is hard to know exactly when there target audience will be watching, companies will spend lots of money researching.
Advertising is simply everywhere, it is something that we can not avoid. Although we might ignore it when we are walking down the street, there is always something wanting to catch our attention. We have advertisements through radio, television, magazines, newspapers, and even on billboards. It has gotten increasingly popular in today 's economy because of how companies uniquely promote their product. These advertisements are created to introduce the goods and services to an audience to try and inspire them into buying their product. Therefore; when companies promote an effective advertisement, customers usually engage in a way if it appeals to their wants and needs. "The Essence of Breitling" ad in Fortune magazine
The purpose of advertising is to sell a product, marketers accomplish this through targeting audiences and using various layouts with images, and writing. This writing contains many techniques used to persuade to reader into buying their product. Advertisements sell a products but they also sell ideas and lifestyles. Audiences are targeted using stereotypical aspects such as colours, and fonts. The advertisements layouts, text, images and colours draw the reader in. These are shown in many advertisements including Blackmore’s women’s vitamins advertisement and an advertisement for an apartment on South Terrace in Adelaide.