Social Construction Essay

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Recommended: Race as a social construction

Throughout American history, the media has played an important role in creating and molding social constructions relating to race and crime. Conceptually, the idea that a persons’ race is driven by external, physical characteristics. However, every human being on the planet shares the exact same number of chromosomes and sequences of deoxyribonucleic acids. Likewise, differing appearances between people hailing from different parts of the world show genetic adaptations to the environment from which they came. Scientifically, all human beings are of one race, limited only by their ability or inability to better their current situation. The media would have a person believe that they are in a bad situation because of what location their genetic …show more content…

The social construction of race is based solely on external physical characteristics of groups of people, with a majority of the construction determined by the coloration of one’s skin. Likewise, people tend to associate with others that are alike in their physical appearance, based on race, in order to remain in their comfort zone. Markedly, the education sector of America has been struck various ways by the social construction of race, leading to increased segregation, both through district boundaries and with the educators themselves. Additionally, the media feeds into the social construct of race by airing entertainment shows the put people into stereotypical situations and communities. Barring the occasional portrayal of role-reversals, the media has firmly established social constructions based on race. More often than not, the media uses the racial construction to link crimes and poverty occurring in low-income neighborhoods. For the most part, the media utilizes the “blocked opportunity” frame to show the myriad of social issues within impoverished areas and the need for government intervention to reverse the descent of societal values. Lastly, the legal system has been the subject of controversy in regards to “victim’s laws,” with few named to honor people of

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