Analysis of the Ethnic Conflict in the American Army - Research Proposal Example

Investigation of Ethnic Conflict among African American Senior Leaders in the U.S Army

Introduction

The verbatim expression of ethnic conflicts in the United States starts from a discrete analogy of simple socialization aspects that links to the general formation of collective demeanors and behaviors. The United States of America has, for a long time, suffered from the blow of ethnic conflicts (Petras, 2018). When diverse ethnic beliefs conform to building the American culture, the conflicts revitalize to a new style of approach (Petras, 2018). Ethnicity remains a thorn in African American leadership areas, thus not slackening its savors.

History has evidenced the same effects of ethnic conflicts expressed in the exploitation of aboriginals, African Americans, Latinos, and Asians in the United States. As Dench (2017) argues, the lather of many ethnic groups had always involved a time to attain superior recognition in society. But, these agitation remains a phantom dream as the effects of ethnicity continue to undermine equal treatment and identity progression.

The ties of ethnic conflict in the U.S. Army involve African Americans and organizational leadership entwined in the American culture. The underlying elements of ethnic conflict include the acts of racism, white supremacy, bigotry, and preferences of superior identity in the senior leadership positions (DiAngelo, 2018). The root of these ties includes the social and political aspects of the broader American community. The causes of ethnic conflict in the American society stem from the past formation of world progression practices involving economic ventures, the struggle for freedoms, and development desires. Due to these past practices, the current American society today has conformed to the norms of ethnic conflict.

The conformity to the norms of ethnic conflict within the American society is assumed to be the causes of racial preference in the social, political, and economic spheres of leadership. The present American leadership culture involves ethnic recognitions. Such recognitions create preferential considerations in the determination and/or selection of persons taking leadership roles. The current state of ethnic conflicts in the U.S. Army and the choice of African American leaders is the expression of the past consequences of ethnic differences. In the past, racial/ethnic arguments were absent as the predominant and largely accepted idea was that whites were the superior race. Therefore, whites took most, if not all, leadership positions and roles in the U.S. Army.

However, later, there was an increased black consciousness that resulted in a fight for equality. The push for equality created a platform where leaders would be selected based on merit rather than race. Regardless, the selection to some level still considered one’s ethnic background. However, despite not making a significant impact at the time, the fight for equality promoted the recognition of other ethnic groups with a mugging behind their inferiority or superiority aspect to lead. As Davis and Martin (2018) argue, African Americans would have attained a little higher ranking in a few leadership roles, but they carried with them the identity of an inferior race. On the other hand, whites would also operate under the idea that they are a superior race. Therefore, they felt entitled to hold leadership positions as they perceived themselves to have better human and social features of leadership compared to other ethnic groups.

Background of the Problem

The critical aspect of ethnic conflicts among African American senior leaders underlies the consensual character of racial identity. Most studies have reviewed this issue to involve the politics attached to leadership roles and preferences of African Americans in a senior leadership position in the U.S. Army (Tate, 2018). As Kline, Wade, and Wiarda (2018) argue, politics built the American culture. Typecasting with politics has defined one race's real identity over the other on the perspective of superiority and inferiority measurement scale.

The terms of involvement of African Americans in U.S. Army senior leadership roles have only involved equality, racial discrimination, and ethnic inclinations. The exclusion of these aspects is ambiguous and thus portraying continual ethnic conflicts in the U.S. Army. Cole’s (2017) research identifies equality as involving the society's social ranking determined by the majority in a particular ethnic group. Strmic-Pawl, Jackson, and Garner (2018) also relate this aspect to result in ethnic inclinations of a race on the superiority concept to rule. Therefore, equality in this context takes the least consideration in identifying leadership qualities; instead, it involves making choices based on racial superiority. As a result, leaders prefer selecting individuals from their inclination or based on race identity.

Ethnic inclinations are the essence of racial discrimination. As most studies argue, racial discrimination includes a broader dimension of effects and expression of behaviors. West (2017) claims that racial discrimination delimits the American culture and consists of the treatment of the black population. Meine and Dunn (2019) highlight that the roots of racial discrimination are inexorable even if the new norms of American Lifestyle require equal treatment of African Americans and other minority races. As a result of these factors, African Americans have not gained the same and true identity as whites in the leadership role. For example, in the U.S. Army, unequitable recognition is identified from recruitment to leadership position ranking.

Previous studies have not argued on the actual demands and anticipation of a new American norm of equality. Complains of exclusion of African Americans in leadership continue even with the increased opportunities and cases of Africans taking senior leadership roles in the U.S. Army (Meine & Dunn, 2019). The arguments have not, therefore, fully expressed how the situation has made it challenging to identify the line of equality that will settle the difference in the preferences of African Americans in senior leadership positions in the U.S. Army.

Most scholars assume the true reflection of American society to involve a diverse cultured community of people. This perspective has guided the argument of equal inclusion in the top leadership position in the U.S. Army. Nonetheless, the inapplicability of the concept has made it difficult to solve most ethnic issues. Americans’ contentions have viewed the military to take the corrupt nature of the nation. Therefore, it does not reflect the norm of inclusion, as identified in American society. Despite the better leadership preferences taking effect in lower military positions, the senior leadership in the army leadership shows a preferred choice for the superior and dominant race.

Therefore, most studies have not fully explored the struggle to ascend in leadership roles by African Americans and the building of a hierarchical ceiling Whites. The difference is at the core of the enduring ethnic conflict in the Army. The issue is linked to race and its historical-cultural roots on race identity, which has built the part of American culture and persists.

Statement of the Problem

Investigations into ethnic conflicts among African American Senior leaders in the U.S. Army has not exclusively viewed the existence of these conflicts and the actual relativity of the disputes to racial discriminations, inclinations, and inequality rooted in the American culture. There is a lack of a precise way of defining the form of involvement of African Americans in the senior leadership posts in the U.S. Army to help solve the existing ethnic conflicts. This inefficiency relates to the American culture, which has, for a long time, established a structure of ethnic indifferences in leadership preferences. The actual practice of equal involvement of all races in the U.S. Army leadership does not portray Black Americans' real conceptualization. This situation identifies a culture that denies its long-term formation and seeks to establish unfeasible equality.

African Americans have made efforts to overcome the labels deterring their true abilities to take senior leadership roles in the U.S. Army. The efforts have resulted in increased preferences in receiving higher leadership positions. However, the thirst for equality has not been quenched (Sue, 2016). The desire for inclusion involves current events linked to political and social incidents. The politics take the wave of preference, and this wave depends on the man in power. It underlies the trust and inclination expressed by few leaders on the abilities of race and the ranking it deserves in society. Such an expression shows that there is still a greater desire among African Americans to be better than White Americans. In recognition of this desire, the whites are creating more hierarchical ceilings hindering the African Americans from superseding the whites.

From the same perspective, the current American norm of equality has not excluded the fact that race difference marks superiority preference. Mendelberg (2017) names this norm as defining a culture. The current contentions deny the existence of racial inclinations, racial discrimination, and inequality in actions but accept its continual existence in practice. Ethnicity marks the differences between the two racial groups. As much as there is a legalized approach to control the overuse of power exercised, the ethnic group considered superior would take a higher leadership role in all formation, as identified in the Army's case. The preferences show a continual existence of ethnic conflicts in the Army's selection of senior leadership personnel.

The implication of this perception identifies that there is no true reflection of a current American culture that regards equality. Moreover, realizing equality leads to a struggle that creates a different form of inequality (Spring, 2016). This situation identifies with creating a definitive style of exercising equality in American society where blacks and whites will have an equal preference in all Army leadership areas. The problem includes unending racial discrimination, inclinations, and inequalities in the U.S. Army influenced by politics and culture. These aspects are the root of ethnic conflicts.

Rationale

The rationale of the study is to create an imprint of ethnic conflicts in the American culture and relate the effects to African American Leaders in the U.S. Army. The study focuses on the historical impact, the culture's growth to incline against African Americans, and their power to rule. Some of these aspects are discussed in Tate (2018) and include the American leadership culture. The study primarily takes a psychological perspective revolving around the ethnic conflict of African American senior leaders in the U.S. Army.

Similarly, the more substantial part of the study utilizes past arguments. It builds a new outlook on the effects of ethnic conflict on American culture and how such effects are related to racial discrimination, inclinations, and inequality. The study has assumed the preferences of a changing society, and it has argued on denial of a changing American culture with equality. Such a focus, as stated by Richeson and Sommers (2016), helps form an argument that has built on a rejection of changed inclinations and perception of inferior races, basing the evidence on the current happening that emerges out of power and influence.

The study assumes that, even with the existence of a new American way of life, the increase of power with one superior race may always lead to emerge of ethnic conflicts. Klinke, Renn, and Lehners (2018) argues that power fuels ethnic conflicts. Similarly, Harff (2018) states that such disputes will always seek an equal state of sharing power and identity. Such a state is unrealistic and may not, to some extent, have an authentic inscription in the current American society. This situation involves the present ethnic conflict among African American Senior leaders in the U.S. Army following. In this case, the assumption is that the Army takes the true reflection of the American culture.

Contribution of the Study

The study will build a different perspective on the current reviews that have tried to relate the American culture and its effect on leadership roles. This new understanding will focus on the unchanged cultural issue that has defined the current American Culture. Such perceptions will contribute significantly to new knowledge that seeks to change the American culture for a better future.

As argued by Keane, Khupe, and Seehawer (2017), this type of study is essential in building new knowledge. This knowledge will be about the unique ethnic issues affecting the U.S. Army leadership. In this case, the new experience will involve understandings of ethnicity from the view of cultural changes and politics. Since the study focuses on overlooked the psychological instances, the study will enhance a perspective that will help in the shift of cultural conformities, beliefs and practices, thus increasing a new way of understanding that will develop a harmonious society.

There is also an unrevealed need to understand army issues in the reflection of what builds society. Leadership practices in different communities and organizations are the reflection of the cultures. This study focuses on reaching for a better view of how army leadership is the reflection of society's leadership structure. The study has identified the impression of African Americans in the community and as well as related their discernment to their role in Army leadership. The study will also build an understanding of actual hindrances to African American leadership advancement opportunities and how such applications are implemented in the Army formation.

As Anya (2018) states, ethnic conflict is also a diversified concept. This study will help form another view of this issue concerning African American senior leaders in the Army. In this case, the knowledge will help understand the issue affecting U.S. Army leadership and, at least, form a suggestive solution to creating a long-term solution. These contributions build towards building a better and strong cultured nation. Ultimately, the study will instigate a desire for further studies to seek contrary views on the topic and help learners form a comprehensive perspective on the study topic. Zimbardo (2017) states that such contribution helps enrich the study knowledge and will necessitate problem-solving thinking that considers the risks identified within a society.

Research Questions

• Are there ethnic conflicts among African American Senior Leaders in the U.S Army implicate the American culture described with racial discrimination, inclinations, and inequality?
• Is there satisfactory involvement of African Americans in the senior leadership post in the Army?
• Does the American culture reflect the Ethnic Conflicts among African American Senior Leaders in the U.S Army?
• Is the history of racial discrimination, inclinations, and inequality related to conflicts in the African American Senior Leaders in the U.S Army?
• What are the institutional factors that aggravate ethnic conflicts within the Army?

Process to Accomplish

The study shall use the survey research methodology for data collection. In this methodology, the participants would be administered a survey that would be aimed at obtaining essential inputs on their opinions, behaviors, and characteristics specific to the research questions. Qualitative and numbered data would be collected through questionnaires, and the data thus obtained would be statistically analyzed to get insights into the trends based on the responses to the responses of the participants. The same would be utilized to test the research questions. The questionnaires would include various questions in the context of the subject of the research, and such questions shall be structured not to be ambiguous.

Moreover, participants would be presented with multiple-choice as well as opinion-based questions to eliminate the possibility of the researcher’s bias. The multiple-choice questions shall allow many answers, including "if none in the list, please specify," so the participant's exact response may be obtained. The questionnaire would also include some questions which would require rating by the participants. Such ratings would include extreme views, which would enhance the study. Hence, the survey more open-ended. The opinion-based questions would be kept open-ended, which would allow the participants to provide their natural responses. This would help obtain neutral responses, and any sort of entrapment would be avoided during the procedure . The questions must be arranged in the best possible sequence. The questionnaire would, therefore, include the most relevant questions in the beginning. The questions would be so devised that they sound friendly and non-threatening. The survey responses would be analyzed to answer the research questions. This survey research method would be more feasible than open-ended interviews as the participants would be able to pen-down their responses without the hesitation of having to face the interviewer. This method would also yield original and relevant data compared to the old and obsolete data that might be obtained from a systematic literature review.

Conceptual Framework

The roots of ethnic conflicts lie in a multitude of factors, which include ethnic manipulation by political powers, institutional policies that aggravate ethnic intolerance, competition over resources, and ethnic emotions associated with historical memories. For an ethnic conflict to occur within an institution, institutional policies, competition, and emotions associated with memories seem to have played a vital role. The primordial theory explicitly explains the role of ethnic emotions associated with historical memories. Such historical memories primarily comprise of grievance against a specific race or ethnicity.

The primordial theory explains the relevance of historical hatred within ethnic and cultural perspectives. It states that humans exhibit an urge to distinguish and reject others, and the instinct has its origin not only from our ancestors but also from the animal predecessors. According to the theory, xenophobia and intolerance have drawn human societies' interest since prehistoric times . On the one hand, such ethnic emotions seem to be primordial, whereas, on the other hand, such emotions are constructed socially and politically. They are drawn from the historical experiences of prejudice, the idea of injustice, and grievances against the others.

Ethnic intolerance is also motivated by competition over resources and rights. The concept of institutional policies that tend to aggravate ethnic differences does serve as sources of conflict. Such institutional policies are often motivated by political mobilization of the ethnic groups, which consequently leads to ethnic conflict in most cases. It has been asserted that political entrepreneurs find it easy to capitalize on potential ethnic conflicts when there is an increased competition over the resources. Such competition is often economically motivated wherein a specific ethnic group may feel victimized, which might lead to conflicts.

Definition of Terms

Senior Leaders in the U.S. Army: identified as personnel holding the rank of Sergeant First Class, Master Sergeant, First Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Command Sergeant Major, Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, & Lieutenant Colonel .

Ethnic: pertains to a subgroup of the population having common cultural traditions .

Conflict: It is defined as incompatibility between interests, opinions, or principles .

African American: It is an ethnic group of Americans having an ancestry (partial or complete) from any of the black races of Africa .

Racial discrimination: discrimination against an individual based on the color of his skin or ethnic origin .

Ethnic inclination: Preference given by an institution to a specific ethnic group .

Primordial Theory: A theory that explains the ethnic conflicts as an ancient natural phenomenon. The theory supports the idea that a group with shared cultural traits would ultimately conceive an idea of a nation .

Limitations and Delimitations

The study shall collect data from a survey questionnaire and analyze the participants' responses to obtain useful inferences. Participation is limited to the senior leaders of the U.S. Army. Since the study aims to understand the prevalence and causative factors of ethnic conflicts among African American senior leaders in the U.S. Army, the participation would be limited to the African American senior leaders. Though the said survey research is expected to yield useful results, one general limitation to the said research is the oversimplification of the social reality. The multiple-choice questions which would be a part of the survey questionnaire might include questions or response choices of arbitrary or biased design. Thus the reality might be presented in an overly simplified view. Moreover, the questions that involve rating responses would lead to arithmetic manipulation of the figures to arrive at average responses, which might not carry real significance, and the extremities carried therein might get diluted .

Though the survey research method is an excellent tool for accumulating the facts, it may also dilute the reliability of the results in terms of presenting a static picture of the dynamic concepts. There is also a possibility that the participants produce dishonest responses, which might further affect the credibility of the results. Despite the questions being correctly and adequately formulated, there is a possibility that the responses are inadequate in terms of the culture and values represented by the respondents. Care must be taken to prevent the prejudices, ideology, and value system of the researcher that might lead to the researcher's bias. The study shall address the limitations of the survey research methodology by formulating unbiased questions, most of which would be open-ended.

Chapter Summary

This chapter presents the introduction to the investigation of ethnic conflict among African American senior leaders in the U.S. Army. It has been asserted that the United States of America has suffered from the issue of ethnic conflicts for a long time and that such conflicts have revitalized to a new style of approach as diverse ethnic beliefs conform to building the American culture . In the current scenario, ethnicity is an issue of great concern and is particularly needed to be studied in the context of African American senior leaders in the Army. The chapter, then, discusses the rationale of the subject based on the American leadership culture. It has been assumed that even with the existence of a new American culture, the increase of power with one superior race may always lead to emerge of ethnic conflicts.

The introductory chapter also explains the process to accomplish the study. The study shall use a survey research methodology involving questionnaires that would comprise objective and open-ended questions for improved credibility of the data. The responses would be statistically analyzed to get insights into the trends based on the responses to the responses of the participants. Moreover, the conceptual frameworks of institutional policies, political capitalization through competition for resources, and primordial theory that illustrates that emotions associated with memories seem to have played a vital role in ethnic conflicts have been discussed. There are certain inherent limitations of the research methodology used in the study in terms of the oversimplification of the social reality and biased survey design. However, the same would be taken care of by eliminating prejudice and framing more open-ended questions.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Begin with an introduction with no section heading. Remind the reader of the study topics and the foundational theories that drove the review of the literature.

Summary

The discussion should summarize the key points presented in Chapter 1. Information should be presented in a discussion context. Supporting citations should be provided for key points.

Key Points

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW (Headings are required within this chapter.) Subsequent headings should begin with level 1. Use subsequent levels as needed.

Begin this chapter with an introduction that explains the purpose of the literature review and conclude it with a summary. Use the literature review to establish the context for the investigation.

Use sources to identify important previous work. Acknowledge the contributions of other researchers to the development and formulation of the dissertation proposal. Evaluate and interpret significant findings and major conclusions from cited sources in terms of their impact on the present work. Explain and establish the relationship of the dissertation proposal to previously conducted investigations in the professional literature. Each reference to the literature in the text must be accompanied by a reference citation. The form of the reference citation is discussed in the Form and Style section of this document.

Students should use between 100-150 sources, 50% of which should be recent within the past five years. Additionally, 75% of sources should be academic articles, with the remaining 25% making up books, dissertations, web content, etc. The literature review should be between 30-50 pages in length.

The following topics are intended to serve as a guide:

• The theory and research literature specific to the topic

• Summary of what is known and unknown about the topic

• The contribution this study will make to the field