Japanese Internment Camp Summary

The term internal colonialism describes a way in which a country’s dominant exploits minority groups for its economic advantage. Using the video about internment camps that was a part of our chapter 9 module, a functionalist would argue that the US government made the video as propaganda in order to convince the public that the Japanese people in the internment camps were happy and furthermore even helping make supplies for the war. Using analysis, one could start by questioning whether this was true. I would argue that it is highly unlikely the people in the internment camps really were not happy that they were forced out of their homes to live in the camp, since the government was doing it primarily because it didn’t trust them to be safe outside of the camp. One could also question the video’s assertion whether the people in the camps that were helping make supplies for the war were helping because they wanted to help, but rather they were forced to make supplies for the …show more content…
A symbolic interactionist would argue that the segregation of the Japanese people into internment camps would be sending a message to Japan showing that we have the ability to control their people. Using analysis, one could argue that the segregation of the Japanese people into internment camps were not only sending a message to Japan, but also to anyone else who dares attack us. In addition, the U.S. government also sought to demonstrate that they would treat these people well, and because of this symbol of fair treatment they hoped that U.S. citizens abroad would be treated fairly as well. It seems that the Germans, although they treated so many people unfairly, treated the U.S. citizens and captured soldiers fairly well by comparison. The Japanese military on the other hand did not get the message and the U.S. citizens and soldiers were treated poorly compared to the way the US government treated the Japanese