Sociological Perspective On Race And Ethnic Relations

First of all I would like to define sociological perspective before commenting on the sociological perspective on race and ethnic relations. Sociological perspective is a view on human behaviour and its connection to society as a whole. It invites us to look for the link between the behaviour of individual people and the structures of the society in which they live. We look at our society and the way it is arranged. Sociological perspective helps us to understand how society is important in shaping our everyday lives. The US Sociologist goes on to explain that the concept of race ‘appeals to biological based human characteristics’. At the same time the focus on particular human physical features (such as skin colour, hair, and so on), in order to indicate race, ‘is always and necessarily a social and historical process’ (Winant 2000). It is important to note that sociological theories of race do not pay much attention to the physical features that are associated in the popular imagination with the concept of race. The sociological approach does indeed recognise that some groups of people tend to have darker skin than the others, or differently shaped and coloured hair, and they may tend to be taller and leaner or shorter and heavier. These physical features of their bodies are not meaningful when considered on their own, in isolation from the meanings attached to them by social, cultural and political forces. At the level of political level,