Week 3 assingment - Essay Example

Week 3 assignment Critique of readings The first reading “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” is a text that considers the current prison system as new form of social control that can be likened to slavery as was advocated for by the southern stated during the civil right movement. The author speaks as a concerned citizen and not as an expert on the sociological subject matter. She makes the book to appear as a wake-up call to the people to perceive the differences that exist in the society and the need to consider the differences among the classes of people categorically the poor and the vulnerable versus the rich in the society.

In as much as the book offers an inciting account on how the American well-functioning legal system has been replaced by parole, imprisonment and detention, it must be understood that sociocultural and economic situations in the country has changed thus influencing the nature of crimes in the society. Imprisonment is, therefore, a crucial tool for protecting innocent members of the society from the criminals. The second reading is an article about “Girl Speak: sterilized against their will”.

This article reports the activities of the United States government on the island of Puerto Rico. The government forcefully sterilized women in the island against their will or through giving deceptive information concerning the implications of sterilization. From a sociological point of view, all humans are designed special, and each has a right to control his/her own body. Nevertheless, according to the United States government, an increase in the islands population would result in social and economic turmoil.

Though the government of United States government was right in regard to economic effects of increased population, I agree with the article that it is socially incorrect to invade a person’s body through irreversible measures in an effort of achieving goals, which are not definitively proven.Presentation by Rick Najera The presentation depicts the racial discrimination and social inequalities in the American society. Born a Latin, the presenter discusses the discriminations and social effects of racial discrimination and segregation that he experienced firsthand beginning from the family level, through encounter with a stepmother as well as in the community where people of Latin origin were constantly discriminated.

Arguing from an experienced point of view, the speaker insinuates that racial discrimination is the whole mark for the social and economic turmoil in the country. In the event of racial discrimination, evil societies like the criminal gangs arise within a settlement locality with the intentions of protecting members of their races against discrimination and exploitations. In as much as some of these societies may be recognized, they sometimes translate into terror groups that destroy and kill members of other races thus interfering with the social and economic fabrics of a society.

In an effort to prove the need for social integration, the speaker uses both biological and religious proofs to point at similarity among members of the society. In an event that a person understands that ethnicity and race should not be a separating factor among members of the society, people will be able to see themselves in the body of others, have a feeling for others and develop a more integrated society. The development of a socially inclusive society according to the presenter would eliminate most vices in the community, as there would be equality in social classes as well as distribution of resources.

Work citedAlexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press, 2010. Susana Medina. Girlspeak: Sterilized Against Their Will. Chicago press, 2014