Race Is Socially Constructed Essay

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When thinking about the statement "race is not a simple matter of skin color, but a socially constructed category" you may think what does this mean? I think it's important to understand what a minority group is first. A minority group is a category of people who have unequal access to positions of power, prestige, and wealth in a society and those who tend to be targets of prejudice and discrimination. Minority status is not based on numerical representation in society but rather on a social status. You get an opportunity to look at race as a socially determined category of human identity and human interaction as you think about what it means to look at race through the lens of social construction. When people think of race, they often associate racism with the word as well. Racism stands for prejudice, ignorance, or a reason that causes them to discriminate against others because of the way that they look. When I think of racism, I generally think back to when slavery was a huge problem in America. You could even say that the category of "negro" was constructed so that the owners of slaves could find a way to justify the actions and mistreatment of the …show more content…

The concept of race grew out of social institutions and practices in which groups divided as "races" have been enslaved or otherwise exploited (Mooney 266-267). It's unfortunate that you see a lot of the time that an individual's race is just used to separate certain individuals from others. Despite the increasing acceptance that "there is no biological justification for the concept of 'race'" (Brace 2005, p. 4), its social significance continues to be evident throughout the world (Mooney

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