Race & Ethnicity Phenomena - Essay Example

Ethnicity refers to selected cultural aspects, perspectives, and distinctions used to classify people and categories that are distinct from each other. Ethnic groups are distinguished on bases common characteristics like ancestry, history, language, and dress form (David & Kai, 4). On the other hand, race refers to biological subspecies that consist of individuals with similar biological traits that are socially significant and distinguishable from other races. The racial distinction is based on skin colour, colour of hair, and other specific facial features that cluster into a single distinct group of people.

In America, ethnicity and race have been perceived differently in the past and presently due to colour, gender discrimination, and religious differences, which are the main determinants. The traditional perception of race and ethnicity in the country was that those who belonged to a specific race were segregated from the other. Each tribe was independent of the other irrespective of the above factors. Today in America, ethnicity, and race involve grouping people based on how much society rewards them and their shared culture.

Unlike in the past when the majority of Americans were white, presently, people in America are either black or white, and their no transition except for Native Americans or Asian Americans (Margret, 12). As a result, race and ethnicity were not based on colour in the past. Today, white people in America live segregated from the non-whites. African Americans live typically in large African neighborhoods. Residential segregation has led to elevated levels of poverty experienced by racial and ethnic minorities. These minorities have dismal chances to acquire jobs, poor healthcare facilities and are prone to crime. There has been increased resistance to fusion in marriage patterns of people of America outside their ethnic, religious, and racial groups.

Gender differences did not have power in the past hence determined not much race and ethnicity. Today, gender has been a base of discrimination in the United States where the interests of the females have been addressed as those of a minority. The white men have overlooked the oppression of the female sex gender. Feminism distracts women from full participation in America’s progress, and their formation of feminist groups among the Blacks worsens the matter (Clear et al, 22). The media portray black African-Americans negatively where they are seen as uneducated, prostitutes, and homemakers.

Race and ethnicity have been violent because of religious differences presently due to the increase in religious denominations. In the past, religion did not have as much power as it does today hence determined less about race and ethnicity. Today, people have used religion as a discriminatory factor in the United States. Terrorists have even used religion as their basis for terror, for example, the Muslims fight the Christians in America. European immigrants sometimes faced religious intolerance as well as the Roman Catholics who suffered from prejudice (Clear, 38). People discriminate against others because of religion because they are unfamiliar with other religions and the childish mentality that any opposing religion is wrong. Many people from childhood grow up not knowing how to appreciate other religions and thus train to treat them brutally. People of a specific religion are thus forced to adopt some behaviours that will seclude them from the rest and this forms a base for racism and ethnicity in the United States (Barron, 4).

In conclusion, race and ethnicity are common in American society, but different from the traditional perspective concerning colour, gender discrimination, and religious differences. Evident in this paper, presently, the patterns of race and ethnicity are changing by being biracial and multiracial among the present children (Margret, 18). Colour, race and ethnicity have been defined differently in the past and present, which has also been influenced by gender issues and religious differences. All these give a new definition of the emerging process of racial formation and a clear reminder that race is socially structured.