Race and Ethnicity Maintain - Essay Example

Module Module ID: Several Topics Race and ethni maintain important significance in sociological studies. Though mistakenly considered to be one and the same, both these notions are quite divergent from one another in nature and scope. Race is actually attributed to the biological traits and features of the individuals, while ethnicity concentrates upon the social structure and establishment one belongs to. In addition, racial characteristics also signify hereditary background; on the contrary, ethnicity refers to the social environment one has been associated with. Hence, the color of hair and eyes, and facial features represent the race of the individuals; on the other hand, culture and nationality of the people define their ethnicity. For instance, the people belonging to white Anglo Saxon population (WASP) racial group contain white skin color and golden or red hair, while the Africans are identified for having small curled black hair and very dark skin color. Similarly, the eyes and eyebrows of the Arab men and women are thick, long and dark, while the people coming from yellow racial groups have small size of eyes. Moreover, the African and South Asian males have hairy physique, while majority of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean races contain smooth physique. On the other hand, an individual belonging to Nepal or Burma could be the citizen of Canada, UK and USA, and ethnically European or American, though he is South Asian by race. Similarly, the Russians living adjacent to the Chinese border are Russian by race, though share several commonalities with the Chinese and hence ethnically are Chinese. Moreover, the Jews could be Asian and European by race, though their ethnicity would remain Jewish or Israelite forever. 2. Marxist perspective vehemently condemns the exploitation of the haves-not at the hands of the haves. It is partly because of the social, political and economic domination the haves maintain over the downtrodden groups and communities that they start exploiting them in one way or the other. Since the proletariat i.e. laborers work from dawn to dusk in agricultural fields and industrial units, they must obtain their respective share in income and profit from these sectors or work places. However, it is the producer that takes the lion’s share in profit. In addition, the producer or owner of the unit can expel any worker at any time from his employment. Such feelings are sure to create the feelings of alienation in their minds regarding their work place, and their attachment with the work place starts declining gradually. The same is also applied to the ethno-racial prejudice and discrimination the majority groups observe while interacting with the minority races. It is predominantly the case with the African Americans during their dealings with the white majority. There was a time when the black racial group was the target of hatred and abhorrence in the entire country, and they were not allowed to enjoy any social privileges altogether. As a result, they had started considering them as aliens in the country their ancestor had been residing for the last several decades. Somehow, the situation has taken a drastic turn particularly during the contemporary era, and now the Americans have elected a person from the African American community as their president. 3. Attributed to famous psychologist Allport, the contact hypothesis serves as an imperative technique for bringing the people belonging to the divergent and conflicting ethno-racial, regional and religious groups, and socioeconomic statuses as well in order to resolve the differences between them on the one side and mitigate the level of conflict on the other. It is particularly applied to the minority racial and religious communities have been under threat and persecution at the hands of the majority groups of a society. Contact hypothesis provides the conflicting groups the opportunity of communication through dialogue instead of clashes in order to work out for the peaceful solution of the contradictory issues and points at large. The theorists have suggested four basic principles of contact hypothesis, which have been discussed as under: I. Exploration of Common Goals and Objectives: First as well as the foremost principle of contact hypothesis focuses upon the exploration of common goals between the rival groups. For instance, natural calamities, national interests, social changes, technological advancements, cultural challenges and social evils etc, which serve as the problems for all members of society without discrimination. Hence, the individuals belonging to the rival groups could be invited for this purpose in order to create harmony among them. II. Equal Status: Members belonging to the rival groups of society must be treated on the principle of equality, justice and fair play in order to increase co-ordination and cohesion in society, where no one should be more prestigious than the other. III. Equal Support from Authorities: The law enforcing authorities as well as judiciary must observe neutrality towards all groups and communities of societies. Otherwise, hatred and revenge would devour the social hierarch in the wake of bias and prejudice adopted by the authorities. IV. The inter-group Co-Operation: The political authorities and social and religious leaderships must make arrangements for the rival social groups to sit at the negotiation table for entering into dialogue with one another in order to mitigate the differences between them. The leadership should urge the individuals and followers of rival groups to observe tolerance, endurance and benevolence towards each other for the best interest of society and nation. 4. The term total discrimination simply refers to the impact of both current and past prejudiced behavior on the individuals. In other words, total discrimination concentrates upon the effects of the bias and hatred observed by rival groups of society against one another leaving the indelible imprints of abhorrence and displeasure behind them. History is replete with the bitter precedents of discriminatory behavior the white population adopted towards the black racial group. Similarly, the Catholic and Protestant sects of Christianity also witnessed the same. In addition, the extremists Sunni Muslims inflicted brutality on the poor Shiite Muslims out of sheer feelings of prejudice. Though the level of hatred between the whites and blacks had observed tremendous decrease with the passage of time, and the individuals coming of both these racial communities appear to be working shoulder to shoulder in every field of life under the same roof and same environment, yet the past memories of discrimination still haunt the minds of thousands of people from both sides. Hundreds of literary pieces, including Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), Rosa Parks-My Story (1991) and several others depict the horrible picture of prejudice between the races, which is vehemently essential for comprehending with the total discrimination had been in vogue in social establishment. Consequently, negating the existence of the same in past would not be a wise thing altogether in respect of having knowledge of changes he society has observed during the last few centuries to go. 5. Introduced by the US authorities by the second quarter of twentieth century¸ national origins system defines the immigration quota specified for the individuals coming of different countries and states of the globe at large. The main reason behind inviting the foreigners to obtain immigrant status in the USA includes the hiring of great brains and educated stratum so that the growth level of the country could witness acceleration. However, confining the same to some specific proportion is meant for the discouragement of the foreigners to grow as the majority racial group of the country. The statistics reveal that the Asians, particularly the South Asians and the Middle East people, appear to be fastest growing immigrants in all parts of the world including the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe. It is partly due to the large scale unemployment and political and social unrest in the South Asia that force the people to proceed to the developed countries for good. Since the Europeans and Australians are considered to be the wealthy communities, they maintain highest probabilities of obtaining the US immigration. Moreover, the people from China and Middle East also seek bright perspectives of getting the US immigration. However, the Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are the communities appear to be the most interested ones in obtaining the US citizenship. 6. The term respectable bigotry submits to state the bias and prejudice the White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASP) maintain against the white racial groups other than the WASP. It has often been observed that the people with the white Protestant origin look down upon the Russians, Germans, Hungarians and Ukrainian by declaring them inferior to them in ethnic and racial points of view. The similar kind of prejudice is also observed by the members of white and black races towards the individuals belonging to mixed racial groups i.e. the children of the parents of two different races and/or ethnicities. For instance, the present US President is also criticized by blacks because of his dual race due to the very reality that his father Barrack Hussein Obama Sr., belonged to Kenya, and hence was of pure African origin, while his mother Stanley Ann Dunham was pure white. It is therefore, both black and white voters at first hesitated in openly supporting Obama during his presidential campaign. Similarly, white ethnics refer to the white people, who also have white skin, though do not belong to the WASP or European Protestant background (EPB). Hence, the WASP and EPB do not consider the white ethnics and Caucasians to be their equivalent in status and ethno-racial background. The people belonging to East Europe including the Caucasians, Russians, Poles, Jews, Canadians, Greek, Germans and Austrians etc also belong to the white ethnic group, complexion and skin color of which are white, but refuted to be equivalent to the WASP by the white Protestants. 7. Renowned early twentieth century US historian Marcus Hansen has articulated his principle of third generation interest, where he submits to state that though the people enthusiastically migrate from their native land to some other country or region or the world in pursuit of superior business, employment, health and other perspectives, and get settled over there on permanent basis, their next generation also follows the same and prefers to reside in the country their parent(s) had selected for migration. However, the third generations of the immigrants dream of returning to the indigenous land of their ancestors instead of living in the country they are born and are citizen of. The famous Harlem literary movement launched by the African Americans during nineteenth and twentieth centuries endorses the same view articulated by Hansen. Hansen’s theoretical framework also has relevance with assimilation and pluralism. Assimilation simply refers to the individuals’ adjustment in new culture and society by becoming the part of mainstream culture. Since the grandparents and parents of the third generation have already become the part of the culture they have migrated, the indifference of the third generation from the same looks a bit strange one. Since, they appear to be longing for living around the people of their own race and ethnicity, they look deficient of accepting assimilation process their forefathers had adopted in past. Here appears the concept of pluralism, which submits to state that the minority groups do not let their individuality and unique traditions even after migrating to some other lands. It is particularly applied to the Latin Americans, Jews, Hindus and Muslims, which retain their separate identity wherever they travel or move. Read More