Reading Response Paper #1
In the formulating of a “hierarchy of differences,” German physician Johann Blumenbach created a socially constructed classification of races. At the top of tier, the race that was deemed superior was Caucasians. At the bottom of the tier, the race that was deemed inferior, were African decent. Other races were formulated somewhere in the middle. This socially constructed classifications of races lead to centuries of white supremacy, still lingering today. With the knowledge of superiority, white males who were ruling in every career path (scientists, authors, and physicians.) socially constructed the “other” or the other races that were not white. The white man had the power to change history in the favor of white …show more content…
The things we have learned throughout history have been shared through intercultural interactions. History has favored the Caucasians due the false assumption of power. We can look at our selves and distinguish our cultural codes, “skin color, hairstyles, facial features, and expressions, as well as gestures and clothing, all convey meanings within complex cultural systems of signification, shaping our thoughts, actions, and experiences” (Sorrells 53). Our differences make us unique and when bringing cultures together the shared information is limitlessness, unless you control how that information is shared. For instance how history is depicted and how it is described to us through mass media. An example is in the teaching of how girls should be feminine and telling our boys to be masculine. Women, in the business world then can be seen as not serious and less important compared to her male collogues. These assumptions can lead to “the global exploitation of women in the workplace, sex trade, and ‘marriage’ markets” (Sorrells 57). This was affected by a historical event, “Anthropological evidence suggests that hunter-gather societies were relatively egalitarian; however as animals were domesticated, agriculture developed, and people settled approximately 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, male dominated societies emerged, along with the attitudes, practices, and justification for …show more content…
I do not wake up everyday thinking I am different or of lower status because of my race, which sadly many people around the world do. For example, I wake up every morning, look in the mirror and see a woman. Women of color may look in the mirror and see a woman, but also see their race. I don’t think my life has been affected by the color of my skin in any way. Thus I have no need to think about it. I have never had an issue of race; instead in the last years I have become aware of my privileges because of my race. For example, if I get pulled over by the police and they see that I am a white woman they may assume my innocence, but if I was a black woman the police officer may question my innocence. The social orders that were implemented throughout the world based on the color of people’s skin were alarming. The implemented order called “racial whitening,” which was a process “by which racial mixing would produce lighter-skinned children and improve social status” (Sorrells 61). To me this shows to citizens that if you were not white you were of lower class because of the color of your skin. It is baffling to me that we have white supremacy to this day. White supremacy is “a historically based, intuitionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and people of color by people of nations of European descent for the purpose of establishing and maintaining wealth, privilege, and power”(Sorrells
In the formulating of a “hierarchy of differences,” German physician Johann Blumenbach created a socially constructed classification of races. At the top of tier, the race that was deemed superior was Caucasians. At the bottom of the tier, the race that was deemed inferior, were African decent. Other races were formulated somewhere in the middle. This socially constructed classifications of races lead to centuries of white supremacy, still lingering today. With the knowledge of superiority, white males who were ruling in every career path (scientists, authors, and physicians.) socially constructed the “other” or the other races that were not white. The white man had the power to change history in the favor of white …show more content…
The things we have learned throughout history have been shared through intercultural interactions. History has favored the Caucasians due the false assumption of power. We can look at our selves and distinguish our cultural codes, “skin color, hairstyles, facial features, and expressions, as well as gestures and clothing, all convey meanings within complex cultural systems of signification, shaping our thoughts, actions, and experiences” (Sorrells 53). Our differences make us unique and when bringing cultures together the shared information is limitlessness, unless you control how that information is shared. For instance how history is depicted and how it is described to us through mass media. An example is in the teaching of how girls should be feminine and telling our boys to be masculine. Women, in the business world then can be seen as not serious and less important compared to her male collogues. These assumptions can lead to “the global exploitation of women in the workplace, sex trade, and ‘marriage’ markets” (Sorrells 57). This was affected by a historical event, “Anthropological evidence suggests that hunter-gather societies were relatively egalitarian; however as animals were domesticated, agriculture developed, and people settled approximately 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, male dominated societies emerged, along with the attitudes, practices, and justification for …show more content…
I do not wake up everyday thinking I am different or of lower status because of my race, which sadly many people around the world do. For example, I wake up every morning, look in the mirror and see a woman. Women of color may look in the mirror and see a woman, but also see their race. I don’t think my life has been affected by the color of my skin in any way. Thus I have no need to think about it. I have never had an issue of race; instead in the last years I have become aware of my privileges because of my race. For example, if I get pulled over by the police and they see that I am a white woman they may assume my innocence, but if I was a black woman the police officer may question my innocence. The social orders that were implemented throughout the world based on the color of people’s skin were alarming. The implemented order called “racial whitening,” which was a process “by which racial mixing would produce lighter-skinned children and improve social status” (Sorrells 61). To me this shows to citizens that if you were not white you were of lower class because of the color of your skin. It is baffling to me that we have white supremacy to this day. White supremacy is “a historically based, intuitionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and people of color by people of nations of European descent for the purpose of establishing and maintaining wealth, privilege, and power”(Sorrells