Diversity in American Society - Essay Example

According to Gracia, ethnicity refers to the association of an individual to other people with similar character traits that include common heritage, common native language, common cultural practices, common beliefs, and sometimes from the common geographical area (3). When many people with similar ethnic attributes come together, they form an ethnic group.

Ethnicity is broader than race since individuals depicting different racial characteristics can share ethnic attributes with other people. Nationality on the other hand is much broader than both race and ethnicity. Nationality refers to an individual’s recognition and sense of belonging in a certain country and nation. It is the birthplace of an individual where that particular individual recognizes as home. Nationality also includes a place where a particular individual holds legal citizenship (Gracia 4).  Nationality is all-inclusive and according to international laws of citizenship and nationality, it is difficult to ascertain an individual’s nationality by considering the ethnicity or race of the particular person.

Problems usually occur during conversations involving the use of terms such as nationality, race, and ethnicity. The main problem occurs due to misunderstanding and false perception about the connectivity of race and nationality of an individual. Many people tend to determine and assume that nationality is related to an individual’s race and is hard to differentiate. For instance, many people across the world assume that all people with black complexion have nationality in any of the African countries. The same confusion applies in determining or identifying the nationality of people belonging to the white race. Many people assume that white people always have nationality in any of the American or European countries.

Prejudice refers to having or displaying preconceived beliefs and perceptions about a certain person on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, or cultural practices of the particular individual.  Discrimination on the other hand refers to outright and unfair treatment of a person on the grounds of bearing or belonging to “unwanted” ethnicity, race, gender, culture, or education qualification. The interest theory of discrimination posits that the main motivation factor behind discriminating against others is the overwhelming desire to protect and safeguard one’s own interests, comparative advantage, privilege, and power. Under the interest theory of discrimination, many groups tend to fight for very scarce resources such as jobs, prestige, and money (Chambers 13).  The interest theory of discrimination can occur without any form of prejudice against the target. This is because the powerful individual will only express concern and focus on obtaining what he/she wants. The interest theory of discrimination properly fits in explaining political wars. In most of the politically instigated battles and discrimination, contesting individuals may pronounce discriminatory statements against one another but without preconceived negative beliefs against each other.

The institutionalized theory of discrimination states that institutional discriminations targets particular, easily stereotyped, and general attributes of an individual like race or gender. According to Chambers, this form of discrimination is usually prevalent in governmental and social institutions (14). Institutionalized discrimination can occur without any form of prejudice against a particular target individual. For instance, it is easy to discriminate against and deny a person promotion on the bias of academic qualification without necessarily having to prejudice that particular person. Institutionalized discrimination without prejudice is also widespread in some countries such as Saudi Arabia where the law does not allow women to drive cars. Certain countries also have laws that deny women the right to vote. This institutionalized discrimination is executable without any form of prejudice.

Collins and his mother engage in telephone communication where Collins is the caller and mother the receiver. Collins is a high school student, 14 years and has never had an opportunity to deposit or be involved in the payment of school fees. The purpose for which Collins makes the call is to request his mother send him the school fee through an electronic system. The mother seems not convinced with this idea but is willing to make direct payment electronically instead of sending Collins the money. Collins on the other is insisting that the mother should send him money first and then he make payment by himself. Misunderstanding arises between the two but later they reach a peaceful resolution. Collins insistent is due to the feeling that he is a grown-up and can pay fees by himself. His mother on the other hand feels that since the son has never paid school fees by himself, it was possible to trust him. In addition, the mother thinks that making direct payment will shorten the process and save the transaction fees. To resolve the conflict, the mother had to admit that Collins was as grown as he felt. Collins on the other hand had to understand the reasoning of his mother to shortening transactions and saving on the transaction fees that would be costly if she sent the money to Collins to pay fees. Chapter 3

Given the power to improve communication among people, I would struggle to eliminate the barrier of “jumping into conclusion”. This is because it has always been difficult to achieve effective communication whenever either of the parties involved in the communication process has a predefined conclusion against the other.  Jumping into a conclusion in a communication process also involves an individual making his/her own interpretation of another’s statement without necessarily seeking clarification.