diversity in the united state
jaze111
studentsreply.rtfStudent 1 Ugw a
Social Constructio n , Race and Gende r A social construction is a term that is used to describe groups that form over time and which share similar perspectives that become real as they interact. These categories are created under particular historical circumstances and are reflective of certain power relationships(Healey and Stepnick 36). Hence, a social construct is developed when groups blend their cultures and beliefs as they interact and begin sharing similar perspectives.
Race and gender are considered as social constructions and they have various similarities and differences. The similarity is that both have biological and social components that make them to be highly visible. As such, it is easier for others to sort and judge individuals based on their gender and race as they are the most noticeable elements (Healey and Stepnick 6). People tend to attribute various behaviors and attributes to individuals based on their gender and race. On the other hand, gender and race as social constructions have various differences. With gender, various roles and responsibilities tend to be attributed to either men or women. Race on the other hand, has a significant impact on how individuals think about one another and how they organize society. The perceptions of race also tend to be subjective as individuals attribute physical characteristics to a certain group without considering other underlying factors.
“Gender becomes a social construction—like race—when it is treated as an unchanging, fixed difference and then used to deny opportunity and equality to women?” Even though gender is biological, gender roles are not and they can vary over time. However, if gender roles remain constant and individuals are treated differently because of being either male or female, then they are more likely to succumb to that way of acting. Most societies are patriarchal, meaning that they are mainly dominated by men (Healey and Stepnick 158). A rigid patriarchal society will lead to inequality and women will be denied opportunities because of the mentality or attributes associated with them.
Ideological Racis m , Prejudice, and Discriminatio n Ideological racism refers to a belief system that maintains that a certain group is inferior. Dominant groups in a society use the beliefs and ideas to justify their perception of minority groups as inferior (Healey, and Stepnick 83). Ideological racism tends to be incorporated into a society’s culture and through the process of socialization. The concept becomes rooted and continues to be passed down from one generation to the other. An example is where African Americans are regarded as inferior because of their slavery history. On the other hand, prejudice refers to the likelihood of an individual to think negatively about other groups based on their group memberships or associations. A prejudiced person makes generalizations of a particular group of individuals without a consideration of other details. An example of prejudice is if someone says that women are emotional (Healey and Stepnick 68). Prejudice can occur without ideological racism being present.
Institutional discrimination refers to the situation in which individuals are treated unfairly or unequally in a group. This unfair treatment arises from the daily operations of society and could be intentional or unintentional (Healey and Stepnick 84).Discrimination refers to unequal treatment of an individual or individuals because of their group or membership associations.Usually, this takes place at the individual level unlike institutional discrimination which occurs in institutions such as schools or judiciary system. One example of discrimination is if an employer decides not to hire a person because of their origin(Healey and Stepnick 81). An example of institutional discrimination is if an organization uses aptitude tests that discriminate over a given group of individuals. Generally, institutional discrimination differs from discrimination in the level in which unequal treatment occurs.
Student 2 yang
Question 1
Social construction is an idea created and sustained not by science but by historical, social, economic, and political processes. It remains important because of the widespread, shared social perception to make it important. Race and gender are a significant way of differentiating among people. They are inequality. False ideas and exaggerated importance attached to race have led to racial discrimination. All nations have some degree of gender inequality. Men are in a higher social level; they have more power and property than women. However, race is ambiguous, people are recognized as black because their black skin which is derived from melanin. It means when a white man gets more sunlight and melanin than his skin color become darker, and he will be a black man. Different with race, people are divided into male or female at birth because of their generative organs.
“Gender becomes a social construction—like race—when it is treated as an unchanging, fixed difference and then used to deny opportunity and equality to women?” This statement means gender and race are inequality, and this society has created a system that generates inequality. Race is used to deny opportunity and equality to Africans and blacks. “The elites of colonial society needed to justify their unequal treatment of Africans and seized on the obvious differences in skin color, elevated it to a matter of supreme importance, and used it to justify the enslavement of blacks.” Whites attribute their enslavement to differences in skin color, they “judge everyone as belonging to one and only one group, ignoring the realities of multiple ancestry and ambiguous classification.”(Page 23) Like race, gender is the product of biology, and this biological difference has been construed in our society to create an imbalance of power and respect. “Women, for example, were sometimes seen in traditional cultures as “delicate flowers,” too emotional and physically weak” (Page 24) This patriarchal nature of America has constructed an image of women are under men. This socially constructed view generalized females as being weak.
Question 2
Prejudice is the tendency of an individual to think about other groups in negative ways, to attach negative emotions to those groups, and to prejudge individuals based on their group memberships. Ideological racism is a belief system that asserts that a particular group is inferior, it is the group or societal equivalent of individual prejudice. Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling comes of individual, but ideological racism is a belief produced by dominant groups. Prejudiced person thinks about other groups in terms of stereotypes; however, ideological racism lead to an inferior status to minority groups. Ideological racism and prejudice are different phenomena with different causes and different locations in the society. Prejudice may exist even in the absence of an ideology of racism.
The difference between institutional discrimination and discrimination is discrimination is the negative treatment of one person by another on the basis of that person's perceived characteristics. Institutional discrimination is the negative treatment of a minority group that is built into society's institutions and daily operations of society. “For nearly a century, well into the 1960s, elections and elected offices in the South were restricted to whites only. It existed to disenfranchise the African American community and keep it politically powerless.” (Page 39) It is an example of institutional discrimination; it is a group level discrimination. It causes unequal consequences. Different with institutional discrimination, discrimination is unequal treatment of a person or persons based on group membership such as an employer who decides not to hire an individual because of his or her race and gender.
