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Racial Formation Summary

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“Racial formation” is an ideology made for the construction of social structure of different races. Omi and Winant convey excellent cases of how “racial formation” affects our everyday lives. They examine how it has caused “America’s unsolved racial dilemma” (Omi and Winant,19). Throughout history, men have created “race” not only to separate one group from another but also as a means of control. The dominant ideological group determines the identity and characteristics of other minority groups in order to diminish their status and to gain control over them. Omi and Winant explain to the readers that “one of the first things we notice about people ... is their race” (24). Many people use the race of people they first meet as a means to find clues about what type of personality and characteristics the person has. For example, “the black banker harassed by police while walking in casual clothes through his own well-off neighborhood...testif[ies] to the way a racialized social structure shapes racial experience and conditions meaning” (24). …show more content…

In order to get sanctuary from the British Opium War, Chinese people started leaving for the United States. The gold, riches, and stories of success pulled the Chinese men even more to get work and send money back to their families still in China. Unfortunately, a stereotype was created that stated that Chinese men were docile, hardworking, efficient, and were paid lesser wages. They were known for being paid significantly less for labor than the white people. When the railroad company hired 50 Chinese workers to help lay tracks, many white people demanded the company stop hiring Chinese workers. However, “the company paid the Chinese workers $31 a month; had management used white workers, they would have had to pay the same wages plus board and lodging, which would have increased labor costs by one-third” (Takaki,

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