Sociologist Argument That Race Is Still Relevant In Modern Day Society

In the article, “What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’,” Ta-Nehisi Coates asserts that the idea of race is that “puts hundreds pf millions under domination” (Coates, p. 3). The definition of race is “the classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, ancestry, genetics or social relations, or the relations between them.” Liberals often say “truly stupid things like race has to biological element” (Coates, p. 6). William Z. Ripley wrote a story which desired to “delineate racial difference through head type” (Coates, p. 4). Coates states that “race does not need biology. Race only requires some good guys with big guns looking for a reason” (Coates, p. 6). Race is just a social construct and “is an idea, not a

The fundamental difference between racialist race, socialrace, and minimalist race lies in the distinct variations in the areas of biology, social construction, and scientific elements.

In their overview of seven articles Ford and Helms present the negative effects internalized racial stereotypes have on African American test scores. Dixon-Román et al. addresses the same types of internal feelings. Dixon-Román et al. describes these feelings as “racial paranoia, fear, and social distrust” (p. 25). These feelings create a mindset that can lead students to achieve lower scores. Most professional testing associations in the U.S. would deem these tests as “unfair” because they are affected by a “measurement of supposedly irrelevant constructs” (Ford and Helms, 188). Unfortunately, this argument has not altered the use of standardized tests as they continue to lessen the chance of African American student

It’s unfortunate that even in today’s society that institutional racism is something that happens in the everyday life of many people, especially minorities such as African Americans and Hispanics. Koppelman (2014) defines institutional racism as “establish laws, customs, and practices that systematically reflect and produce racial inequities in American society” (Koppelman, 2014, p. 189). One example of where institutional racism is prevalent is in standardized testing in schools. There has always been a question of whether standardized testing, in particular the SAT’s, have been fair to minority students. Even though the SAT board feels that the test has been researched to include questions that give students from different races and

A very controversial topic of discussion today involves the difference between the biological and social view of race. The biological view sees a population according to traits that are passed down biologically, this is where the term “race” comes from. It would be somewhat accurate to say that people from different parts of the world have some differences biologically. The issue in this argument is found when people see that there may be some differences biologically but try to segregate them into fixed categories. What is found by this is that by assessing this biology and peoples' appearance, you can categorize them into a specific race. I believe that this is a misguided view because race does not fall so easily into set categories, there

In the article, “How Race becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality” by Clarence C. Gravlee, Gravlee argues that race, and the assumption of race in everyday life, makes the difference in biology much more clear and affects the life cycles of people due to their perceived race (Gravlee, 51). The author provides, using both his research and others’, an argument against the complete notion that race is only a social construct (Gravlee, 53). Through a series of statements, Gravlee states that race shouldn’t simply be excluded from anthropological discussion, but incorporated into present views regarding healthcare and impacts on society.

Race and ethnicity are seen as form of an individual’s cultural identity. Researchers have linked the concept of “race” to the discourses of social Darwinism that in essence is a categorization of “types” of people, grouping them by biological and physical characteristics, most common one being skin pigmentation.

In our society today and even in the past, there has always been a tendency to associate certain qualities and behaviors with a particular race or ethnicity. In addition, many times these associations

In the U.S., we were taught to categorize people into different “racial groups” such as White, Black, Asian, and so on, based on physical features, including skin color, hair texture, shapes of lips, and more. However, race is socially and not biologically constructed. According to the textbook, sociologists described race as a human invention which was shaped by social forces present in a time and place of its creation. There are three main arguments for why race is created and designed by society.

This simple nine word quotation from Matshona Dhliwayo summarizes much of what Jane Elliot has spent her entire career trying to get people to understand. Watching the film, The Essential Blue Eyed, gave me an entirely new perspective on racism and in truth, showed how ignorant I had been. Jane Elliot is able to give study participants and viewers a completely new perspective on the social construction of race.

Throughout history social scientists have been trying to examine the different parameters of race in terms of phenotypic characteristics, and cultural behaviors regarding the different groups that society construct’s. legally judges have had different rulings regarding the categorization of different ethnicities and groups within the United States. Many philosophers such as Kwame Appiah, and Scientists such as Dr. James Watson have had opposing arguments on the topic of race and whether it exists or not. In order to do so we need to examine the different definitions of race, and analyze them in order to see how race is a social construct, where people’s notions of race and their interactions with different races determine the way they perceive

However, seeing race as more than something you are born with, but rather something thrust upon you at many different points in life is a good way to start. The racial profiling of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans has been built into society throughout history through discriminatory traditions, assumptions and amplified stereotypes. Today, contemporary forms of mass media both enlightens people to and exemplifies the problem of racism in the United States. Just like the classic game of Jenga, one by one, race is consistently picked apart and manipulated as generations upon generations find new ways to define it. Just like the classic game of Jenga, every different race- the blocks in the game- is imposed on society as independent from one another. Pull the wrong one, however, and the foundation crumbles. No one block perfectly supports another, rather, it is all of them, every block, every person of every race that supports all the others in order to achieve a balanced

“White isn't a race, its a state of mind”, stated by Rachael Dolezal. It could be a common question people ask you in a social or private conversation. All human beings are born a certain race depending on what their birth parents ethnicity or race is. In the US, people are saying they are a different race than they actually are which ends up blowing up in their face, especially politically and socially. Because a lady named Rachael Dolezal is falsely claiming she is black when proven white, society believes she is “mentally ill” and taking it too far as a chosen performance. The question is, should this be acceptable?

Part I: During the last lecture sessions, Dr. Jendian talked about appreciating diversity, race, ethnicity, and racism. In his lecture, we learned that many people believe that race is something biological. However, the true reality is that race is a social construct and not a biological one. For example, in the documentary Race: The Power of An Illusion, we were able to understand that there are more variations among people in the same “race” than with people from another “race.” However, physical differences, for example, the most obvious skin color, has created prejudices against minority groups. These prejudices that “white” people carry leads to discrimination against people of color. During the lecture, Dr. Jendian explained about ethnocentrism as well. The definition that he provided states that we judge others using our culture’s values, beliefs, and practices. Therefore, we believe the way of doing things is superior, so other people’s ways are inferior. For example, the professor explained that one day he went to a Oaxacan restaurant and that he ate crickets. He explained that for people that don’t have the same culture, this food might be uncommon, however, it is not uncommon for the people of Oaxaca. According to Aguirre and Tuner in their chapter “Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations,” minority groups are single out living on unequal treatment, thus, becoming objects of discrimination. For example, one of the minority groups

"Racism is an ideology that gives expression to myths about other racial and ethnic groups that devalues and renders inferior those groups that reflects and is perpetuated by deeply rooted historical, social, cultural and power inequalities in society."