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Racial inequality african americans
The racial inequality of the United States the inequality theory
Characteristics of social conflict theory
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As racial inequality within society embodies the superiority and power of whites over blacks, it effectively correlates with the elements of the social conflict theory. According to this theory, society remains in a state of continual conflict due to the established social division between two races. The theory implicitly identifies the cause of social conflict between diverse races and ethnicities as a result of limited wealth and resources. The social conflict theory evidently expresses the idea that social order within society is sustained by the power and domination of one particular race or group rather than unity and harmony. The theory focuses on the distribution of wealth and resources among a race or ethnicity and the manner through
Du Bois argues in this quote that “basic racial difference between human beings and had suffered not change,” meaning that racism is still a pressing issue. In this quote he essentially asks the questions, why wont the idea of racism die? Du Bois then links the persistence of racism to economic incentives when he states, “and clung to it… the modern African slave trade a tremendous economic structure and eventually the industrial revolution had been based on racial differences.” As illustrated in this quote, the link between economics and racial indifferences is one reason Du Bois offers as an explanation for why racism has been able persist even until today. The perpetuation of racism and racial difference is how society allocates status and wealth, while socialization maintains the idea of racism Du Bois argues
Winant, Howard. 2000 "Race and race theory." Annual review of sociology ():-. Retrieved from http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/Race_and_Race_Theory.html on Mar 17, 1980
There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.
In reading chapter 1, of the “Ethnic Myth”, by Stephen Steinberg, explains how the U.S. has a dominant society. In the U.S. class structures, unequal distributions of wealth, and political power vary between certain racial and ethnic groups. A main idea in this reading is ethnic pluralism which is defined as a particularly diverse racial or ethnic group that maintains their traditional culture within a broader more common civilization. Throughout history, race and ethnicity have caused conflict and the struggle of dominance over land. In reading chapter 2, of Drawing the Color Line, by Howard Zinn, explains how early in history inferior statuses of races which lead to mistreatment lead to racism. The very start of slavery began when african american slaves were brought to the north american colony called Jamestown.
In society today, race can be viewed in a variety of ways, depending on the manner in which one was raised, as well as many other contributing factors. These views are often very conflicting, and as a result, lead to disagreement and controversy amongst groups. Throughout history, many communities have seen such problems arise over time, thus having a profound impact that can change society in both positive and negative ways. Such a concept is a common method through which Charles W. Mills explains his theories and beliefs in his written work, The Racial Contract. In this particular text, Mills explores numerous concepts regarding race, how it is viewed by different people, and the sense of hierarchy that has formed because of it.
Inequality became instrumental in privileging white society early in the creation of American society. The white society disadvantaged American Indian by taking their land and established a system of rights fixed in the principle that equality in society depended on the inequality of the Indians. This means that for white society to become privileged they must deprive the American Indians of what was theirs to begin with. Different institutions such as the social institution, political, economical, and education have all been affected by race. Sociologists use Assimilation theory to examine race and institutions. The perceived deficiencies of minority immigrant groups by white society has resulted in a generalized characterization of these different racial groups that is demeaning and reinforces the negative stereotypes towards minorities in the United States. Knowles and Prewitt argue that the cause behind the racial tension is the historical roots of institutional racism, which has prevented the minority from attaining equality. Following structured social inequality in the United States, institutions have consistently denied the minority groups through discrimination in education, employment, health care and medicine, and politics. Some ways that this has been done is the use of Jim Crow Laws. These laws created inequality in the educational institution by conducting the black schools and whited schools separately; whites used different textbooks than blacks and they could not be interchanged, and promoting equality for the races was considered a misdemeanor offense resulting in fines or prison. Because of these institutions, we see that there is an American Ethnic Hierarchy. This is divided into a three tier system: first ...
The town I grew up in is Show Low, Arizona. Surrounding Show Low are many small neighboring towns. These towns all come together to form the White Mountains. Most of the citizens of my community are of a Caucasian background. There are also some different minority groups that come from different background that also live there. The majority of the non-Caucasian residents are of Native Americans decent and Mexican decent. There are Native Americans because of the Apache Reservation that lies to the East, and the Mexicans have immigrated because of the vast amount of construction jobs. The mixture of these different groups has caused many different problems with in the community of the White Mountains. There lies within the community old roots of prejudice and discrimination towards people of different cultures. Not only does prejudice still run high, but has also been a hindrance to the progress of the community, which has not just affected the progress of the community, but most likely the traditions will be passed down of prejudice and discrimination to the children of Show Low and the rest of the White Mountains.
In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.
Some people define race as if it is something solid or concrete, but what they don’t see is that it is a “social fabrication”(Mathew Desmond, Mustafa Emibayer,2009;2). Race is based on the difference in physical appearance which is determined, for example, by the most apparent trait; skin color. Inequality emerges when people living, whether on the same sovereign terrain or across continents, are not treated with the same amount of respect and not given the chance to engage their rights in a free and fair manner. Race and inequality are often linked together because of the “issues that began in the 1800s”(NFB;Journey to Justice;2000) such as racial segregation. Over the years issues of race and inequality have decreased dramatically. How did racial inequality decrease and through what? To study this case, two theories need to be put in practice, “resource mobilisation theory and new social movement”(Tremblay;2013).
The United States used racial formation and relied on segregation that was essentially applied to all of their social structures and culture. As we can see, race and the process of racial formation have important political and economic implications. Racial formation concept seeks to connect and give meaning to how race is shaped by social structure and how certain racial categories are given meaning our lives or what they say as “common sense” Omi and Winant seek to further explain their theory through racial
Laying the Sociological Foundation. There are many different races in the world. A race is a group of people that share the same physical or biological characteristics and can be distinguished from another group because of those. One common myth is that one race is better than other races. This can become a problem if they act on it, like when Hitler killed many Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and people with disabilities. The attempt to wipe out, or destroy a certain race or ethnicity is called genocide. Ethnicity or ethnic is the cultural characteristics a person or group has. For example, Jews is an ethnic group, not a race. Within ethnic groups and races, there is minority and dominant groups. A minority group is one where people are not treated fairly, even if they aren’t the smaller group, and discriminated by the dominant group. A dominant group is one that more power, privileges, and a higher social status. Some
Conflict theory states that for society to function, each individual and group must strive to maximize their benefit from society. Conflict theory has four primary assumptions. Competition is at the heart of all social relationships. People may compete over scarce resources, other people, work availability or other societal constructs. Within any society, there exists inequality. Since inequality naturally benefits one part of society, those people will fight to see that it is maintained. If those in the bottom rungs of the system see the status quo as a threat to their equality, revolution will naturally occur. They will fight, up to the point of war, to change the system and try to right the inequalities.
A social inequality that I would say I’m concerned with would be, racial and ethnic inequality. Racial or ethnic inequality is often established based on characteristics such as skin color and other physical characteristics, or a person’s place of origin or culture. Another meaning of racial inequality would be the advantages and disadvantages that affect different races within the Unites States. Race has become a socially constructed category capable of restricting or enabling social status. Racial inequality can lead to diminished opportunities, which can also lead to cycles of poverty and political problems. With this minority members in a society can result in discriminating actions such as; exclusion, oppression, expulsion, and extermination.
Conflict theory is the ideal that we all as a members of society are in a constant power struggle with one another competing over limited resources. This theory finds that the social order is held together by the power elite, those in control of the limited resources, and their power to exert their control over all others. A conflict theorist would view society as an unbalanced scale in sense, were there would be far more people on the side of the scale without any real resources other than their time which is used for working for the few who control the majority of the resources, such as the factory owners and those in political power.
The conflict theory explains the social division amongst our society, and amongst our society we have the higher class and lower class. Relatively, social division originated for both groups to create automatic conflict of interest. Because of the conflict theory wouldn’t the simplest thing to do is rise workers- consciousness and awareness of different of oppression. According to the conflict theory those with more resources exercise negative power by the use of power struggle results. Ultimately power struggles can be involved with class, race, and gender. Ideally, the other perspectives deal with the positive aspects of society, whereas, the conflict theory focus on the negative and ever changing