Racism and Stereotyping are a historical fact. They permeate every aspect of a person’s experience and to a large extent the interactions within society. Some forms and levels of racism are manifest from the personal level to the macro-societal level and run the range of overt to un-exhibited. This analysis will examine recent events using an article from The New York Times entitled “Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist?” written by Nicholas Kristof.
Making assumptions about a group of people based on preconceived assumptions are identified as stereotyping (Newman 2016:338). Engaging in stereotypical views tends to reveal individual personal biases and in the aggregate feeds predetermined societal views about traits within groups of individuals. …show more content…
Such inclusion in these groups tends to influence social interaction among and between racial populations with attendant bias. Also, social behavior such as criminal activity and perceived levels of threats, drug use and prison terms tend to be associated with a racial bias. In a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Studies, two scholars sent out nearly 5,000 resumes, alternating between black and white-sounding names. The ‘white sounding’ names yielded benefit to the applicant equivalent of eight years of experience. This bias was obvious in the professionals who reviewed the resumes, but was unconscious. In another study at the University of Colorado, players were asked to take the role of a police officer in a video simulation and decide when to use firearm force related to perceived threats. Black men were drawn on and shot more often, in a shorter time frame and the participants were more likely to shoot an unarmed black man. This bias was even exhibited by black police officer simulation participants. It has also been demonstrated that Hispanic and blacks tend to receive less pain medication when treated in hospitals than whites. This can be attributed to a drug use bias and demonstrates racism within the healthcare community; in addition ethnic minorities are arrested 3.7 times the rate than whites for marijuana possession
Making assumptions about a group of people based on preconceived assumptions are identified as stereotyping (Newman 2016:338). Engaging in stereotypical views tends to reveal individual personal biases and in the aggregate feeds predetermined societal views about traits within groups of individuals. …show more content…
Such inclusion in these groups tends to influence social interaction among and between racial populations with attendant bias. Also, social behavior such as criminal activity and perceived levels of threats, drug use and prison terms tend to be associated with a racial bias. In a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Studies, two scholars sent out nearly 5,000 resumes, alternating between black and white-sounding names. The ‘white sounding’ names yielded benefit to the applicant equivalent of eight years of experience. This bias was obvious in the professionals who reviewed the resumes, but was unconscious. In another study at the University of Colorado, players were asked to take the role of a police officer in a video simulation and decide when to use firearm force related to perceived threats. Black men were drawn on and shot more often, in a shorter time frame and the participants were more likely to shoot an unarmed black man. This bias was even exhibited by black police officer simulation participants. It has also been demonstrated that Hispanic and blacks tend to receive less pain medication when treated in hospitals than whites. This can be attributed to a drug use bias and demonstrates racism within the healthcare community; in addition ethnic minorities are arrested 3.7 times the rate than whites for marijuana possession