Types of Racism - Essay Example

? (Your Sociology The term racism refers to the opinion that individuals are further divided into different groups and their cognitive and physical capabilities differ from each other along with differences in their societal behavior. Racism has been divided into three types including: institutional, personal and quiet racism. Personal Racism is the expression of racist attitudes or behaviors by individual people (Newman 168). Personal racism refers to the way racist feelings and actions are expressed by different individuals. Personal racism can take place in different forms, for example: people using insulting names while referring to people of different ethnical groups and people showing hostility towards people of these groups. Personal racism might not always be easily identified, for example: parents not providing higher education to their daughters in order to restrict them from finding jobs. Personal racism is further divided into two types including: prejudice and discrimination and stereotyping. Stereotyping takes place when a minority portion of an entire group is used to analyze the group. Prejudice refers to the negative attitude held towards a certain ethnical group on the basis of stereotyping. Discrimination refers to treatment of individuals in an unfairly manner due to their characteristics. For example: it is a common belief that males perform better than females. Quiet racism takes place when people have negative attitudes and behaviors towards a particular group, but these attitudes and behaviors are covert and are hard to notice. For example: feeling uneasy, uncomfortable and fearing people of other groups. Quiet racism is different from personal racism in the aspect that in personal racism actions and attitudes is hostile and can easily be seen and in quiet racism, actions and attitudes is covert. Quiet racist are those who have a negative attitude towards racism but they cannot avoid being racist due to the cultural norms. Racism does not end at the individual level; racism can be experienced at society level. Different societies have different norms and these norms guide behavior of the people of the society. Society norms are one of the major reason due to which individuals treat people of different groups in different manner. Institutional racism refers to rules and regulations, traditions and activities reflecting existence of racial inequality in a particular society. Individuals of these societies are even recognized as racist even if they conduct these practices without any racist intentions. For example: blacks were given no rights and slavery was a part of the constitution during the 19th century. Institutional racism can be experienced in the economic system, the health care system and educational system. For example: females are asked to perform easy sports activities in schools and collages because they are seen as weaker than males. Institutional racism is very hard to detect and eradicate, this is because institutional racism is mostly experienced in secretive form. Institutional racism is even hard to eradicate because this kind of racism is hidden behind reasons that are completely acceptable and factual. For example: companies do not send their representatives in dangerous areas as they claim that these areas can be a threat to the lives of their representatives. 2. According to Newman “the term deviance refers to socially disapproved behavior-the violation of some agreed on norm that prevail in a community or in society at large” (Newman 104). In broader view point, the term deviant denotes to behavior that has been disapproved by the society or is against the norms of a particular society. If we apply this definition to the case, then the stealer will be recognized as deviant in those societies where stealing is against the norms of the society. If we take this meaning of deviance in consideration, then every small step taken against a society’s norms will be recognized as a deviant action. Sociologists differ from this meaning of deviance and state that deviant behavior is one which is against the most important norms of a society. It is very hard to categories behaviors as deviant or not deviant because certain behaviors are acceptable to the society under certain circumstances and the same behaviors are not acceptable under other circumstances. These definitions of deviance ignore the factor that a person is not recognized as deviant until he is recognized as deviant by the court of law or until there is enough evidence that shows that an individual has committed a deviant act. Understanding deviance becomes more complex as certain sociologists believe that deviant activities can fulfill a particular purpose. For example: groupthink might be considered as a negative act but on the other hand, groupthink helps in consolidating groups. Deviance has been described in different manner by people who have different perspective of deviance. The absolutist view of deviance states that deviant behavior is one which is against the norms predetermined by the society. If we take the absolutist view of deviance in consideration then the man will be recognized as deviant. According to the absolutist view of deviance, once a person is categorized as deviant, he will always be recognized as deviant even if his activities change in future. The Relativist perceives that individual and his activities cannot be considered as deviant until he or she has been recognized as deviant through a process (Clinard 6). This view of deviance conflicts with the absolutist view of deviance as the absolutist view states that any individual who performs against the norms of the society is deviant and there is no process involved in recognizing his activities as deviant. If we take the relativist definition of deviance in consideration, the man in the case will not be recognized as deviant as his actions have not been processed as he was able to escape and the entire incident went unnoticed. The conflict in relativist view of deviance is that one act may be recognized as deviance in a particular jurisdiction or society and the same act may not be recognized as deviant in another jurisdiction or society. For example in certain jurisdictions, no individual is allowed to carry a gun and in others individuals may carry a gun for the purpose of security and self defense. Works Cited: 1. Newman, David M. Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life ; Brief Edition. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Pine Forge Press, 2010. Print. 2. Clinard, Marshall B, and Robert F. Meier. Sociology of Deviant Behavior. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Read More