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Race As A Social Construct Essay

529 Words3 Pages

Midterm Essay
It is within our human nature to perceive the world through a racial lens that tints our world black, white, Asian, Mexican, minority, or “other”. The way we are viewed and our impressions of others aid in influencing various aspects of our lives and the lives of those we encounter; from the varieties of jobs we qualify for, the amount of money we make, who we surround ourselves with socially, where we choose to live, our food preferences, the schools we attend, etc. The “all-inclusive” social structure we reside in is impacted by at least one social construction, race. Remarkably enough, most individuals in the United States are mindful of this concept, yet it has failed to be completely dismantled by the society we live in. Why is that?
Often times, the term “social …show more content…

Essentially indicating that race is not determined by science or any unique mutation found in ones DNA. However, comprehending what is intended by race as a social construct is crucial to understanding the capability race has by interweaving and altering other aspects and fields of life and society, as well as how to go about disassembling it. In the text book, The Sociology Project 2.0, by Jeff Manza and Co., Manza brings notice to what most sociologists believe to be the first signs of racial categorization beginning with the enslavement of the African people, sending them to America by white colonist Europeans as free sources of labor. Manza then sheds to light the fact that those who have black and white ancestry are immediately considered black, no matter the ratio of black ancestry white ancestry. This decree is known today as the “one-drop rule”, and many sociologists according to Manza theorize that “because lack slaves in the United States were a source of free labor, it was in white Americans’ best interest to increase their numbers, and the one-drop rule of treating mixed-race people as black,

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