Racial categorizations are premised on the notion of biological classifications of groups of people based on morphological features, including skin color and other physical attributes. The society externally classifies individuals into racial groups instead of the individuals choosing their race or identity themselves. Conceptions of race are generally controversial because of their influence on social identity, including how the identity affects a person’s standing in the society (Desmond and Emirbayer 13). In the contemporary society, race and racism intersect with all other forms of social division. Whereas racism produces a variety of privileges for white people, it has undesired effects on minorities, especially the African American population.
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Firstly, race is associated with an individual’s physical characteristics such as eye, hair, or skin color, while ethnicity is associated with an individual’s cultural factors such as language, ancestry, culture, and nationality (Desmond and Emirbayer 10). Secondly, the society imposes race on an individual while the individual can select ethnicity himself. For example, the society views the U.S President, Obama, as being black despite the fact that his mother was white. In addition, race premises shared genetic and biological traits, whether imaginary or real. In spite of the fact there lacks scientific evidence, racial differences at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, were given significance in areas such as personality and intelligence. In fact, racists hold the view that certain races are inferior to others. Ethnic differences, in contrast, are learned rather than being …show more content…
White people benefit from their whiteness in their everyday lives. The favors or advantages that whites draw from the society may not necessarily be explicit. Over the years, policy makers and institutions have enacted laws and regulations aimed at discouraging discrimination and racism. These laws have reduced institutional and explicit racism but have failed to address implicit and individual racism. Institutional racism is a type of racism expressed in the practice of political and social institutions. It is different from individual racism, which is a type of racism that stems from an individual’s conscious or unconscious personal prejudice. The criminal justice system is an example of an institution that is said to have institutionalized racism. Similarly, whereas explicit racism is overt and intentional, implicit racism refers to a person’s use of unconscious biases when relating to people of different ethnic or racial groups. To address discrimination, the colorblind ideology has been proposed. This ideology advocates for the disregard of racial features when choosing individuals to receive some service or participate in an activity. In practice, the colorblind ideology discourages the use of racial profiling and classifications based on
Firstly, race is associated with an individual’s physical characteristics such as eye, hair, or skin color, while ethnicity is associated with an individual’s cultural factors such as language, ancestry, culture, and nationality (Desmond and Emirbayer 10). Secondly, the society imposes race on an individual while the individual can select ethnicity himself. For example, the society views the U.S President, Obama, as being black despite the fact that his mother was white. In addition, race premises shared genetic and biological traits, whether imaginary or real. In spite of the fact there lacks scientific evidence, racial differences at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, were given significance in areas such as personality and intelligence. In fact, racists hold the view that certain races are inferior to others. Ethnic differences, in contrast, are learned rather than being …show more content…
White people benefit from their whiteness in their everyday lives. The favors or advantages that whites draw from the society may not necessarily be explicit. Over the years, policy makers and institutions have enacted laws and regulations aimed at discouraging discrimination and racism. These laws have reduced institutional and explicit racism but have failed to address implicit and individual racism. Institutional racism is a type of racism expressed in the practice of political and social institutions. It is different from individual racism, which is a type of racism that stems from an individual’s conscious or unconscious personal prejudice. The criminal justice system is an example of an institution that is said to have institutionalized racism. Similarly, whereas explicit racism is overt and intentional, implicit racism refers to a person’s use of unconscious biases when relating to people of different ethnic or racial groups. To address discrimination, the colorblind ideology has been proposed. This ideology advocates for the disregard of racial features when choosing individuals to receive some service or participate in an activity. In practice, the colorblind ideology discourages the use of racial profiling and classifications based on