Concepts of Race and Whiteness - Essay Example

Race and Whiteness The paper deals with the concepts of “race” and “whiteness” as social constructs. In the context of themodern global world, black-white paradigm cannot be denied and very often a color of skin of ethnic minorities prevent them from career development and many other social benefits, which are available for people with white skin. Thus, this paper relates the concepts of “race” and “whiteness” to Asian Americans and Brazilians. Key words: race, whiteness, social construct, social values, cultural background, traditions, customs. A concept of race In the modern socio political context race is not a biological issue. This concept is considered from a wider perspective and it comprises cultural, social and many other features of one nation. Race is a social construct and it is also related with a social construct of whiteness. A concept of “whiteness” has deep roots of a social norm. There are deep historic concerns, in accordance with which non-white peoples are normatively treated as a socially privileged group of people. Actually, there are two types of racism, which are racism by intent and racism by consequence. For example, it is more often that racism by intent is widely accepted as “racial prejudice and discrimination toward non-white individuals” (Petrucelli, 2007). A concept of whiteness Basically a concept of whiteness is based on custom and tradition, but it greatly undermines social and scientific principles of race. Racism is a representation of a historical evolution and there is a great degree of the inferiority of an “other” “race”. Racial practices are usually degrading and representatives of ethnic minorities are afflicted by negative practices of racism. There are many factors influencing deepening of discrimination practices, such as customs, traditions, social and political factors and even law. Racism by intent in the run of time transformed different cultures and social practices and underlined the superiority of white ethnic groups. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account many other social and political factors, which can prevent black-skinned people from promotion and development or help them to be more successful. Everything depends on the politics of the government, which are able to create different social initiatives for decrease of racial bias. Brazilians and the concept of “whiteness” Furthermore, the social construct of race and whiteness are considered in relation to Brazilians and Asian Americans. From the very beginning, Brazilians differed from native inhabitants by skin color and were often referred to as browns or blacks. Race classification on the basis of the skin color differed greatly from color of race. Starting from 2000 in Brazil there was a lot of complaints concerning discard of color of skin and there was a need to introduce numerous social and political changes in order to constrict social gap between native inhabitants and ethnic minorities. There are evident controversies between “ideological” and “scientific" positions and representations of race. In accordance with Nobles (2000): “the majority have lacked the basic rights associated with citizenship for most of the twentieth century and for all of the country´s earlier history” (Nobles, 2000 cited by Petrucelli, 2007). The Brazilian blacks managed to turn into a strong force promoting cooperation with other human rights organizations throughout many different countries. For Brazilians conceptualized racial identity and turned into a more flexible and situational and not a fixed one. A concept of “whitening” is the lightest racial category permitted by their skin color. Nevertheless, there is an evident socio-economic gap among the Brazilians, when it concerns a concept of “whiteness”, because the employers are more interested in hiring people with a white color of skin. According to this view, "Because the discourse of blackness would dislocate the debate from an abstract celebration of the interpenetration of cultures to a vehement denunciation of the precarious and always unequal life conditions faced by the black population in the country of the supposed racial democracy" (Carvalho, 2005 cited by Petrucelli, 2007). Brazil took an affirmative action to foster the involvement of international organizations in a different manner. First of all, it was relevant to foster social norms triggering changes and implementation of racial equality. Second fact is that the government of Brazil was interested in promotion of the image of a racially tolerant nation. “Whiteness” and the Asian Americans A concept of “whiteness” as a social construct is also relevant to Asian Americans, because the American nation promotes the principles of democracy, but, at the same time, ethnic minorities are often prevented from freedom and liberties. The representatives of this nation contributed much to the development of the American nation and country in the nineteenth century. These are hard working people and they managed to sustain their national values, customs and traditions in the American society. At the same time, there is a lack of integration of Asian Americans in the context of America. Unfortunately, there are many other social stereotypes and perverted perceptions of race as a social construct in America. A concept of “whiteness” denoting a socially privileged group still exists in America. So, there is a need to promote satisfaction of Asian Americans interests and support of their development in the historic context of their geographic place of dwelling. Asian Americans consist of many different representatives, such as people from Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Japan, Korea and many other countries. Consequently, it is relevant to promote national values and beliefs of Asian Americans even in the context of the American nation. There is no need for Americans to obtrude their own philosophic views and political ideas on Asian Americans, but rather to create favorable conditions for worth living of these people, which contributed much to the development of the country. From another perspective, the American Constitution provides equal rights and freedoms for representatives of different nations in this country, but there is a need to shift accents from political concerns to social concerns of the nation. Lee underlines: “The history of Asian exclusion in the Americas thus contributes to a larger global history of race by demonstrating how race, migration, and international relations intersect at multiple levels— locally, regionally, nationally, and globally” (Lee). In other words, black-white paradigm exists globally and it cannot be argued that white supremacy is gone in the world. Therefore, it is appropriate to initiate researches and studies in the field of race research for further eradication of this social phenomenon from the modern global context. References Grillo, Ralph. 2004. "The Language, Ethnicity and Race Reader." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10:932+. Lee, E. The “Yellow Peril” and Asian Exclusion in the Americas. Montagu, A. (1951). Statement on Race: An Extended Discussion in Plain Language of the Unesco Statement. New York, Schuman. North, M. (1998). Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language, and Twentieth-Century Literature. New York, Oxford University Press. Pagano, A. The Americanization of Racial Identity in Brazil: Recent Experiments with Affirmative Action in a Racial Democracy. Peabody, N. (2005). Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity and Language in National Censuses. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 11, p. 863. Petruccelli, J. L. (2007). Brazilian ethnoracial classification and affirmative action policies: Where are we and where do we go? Read More