Racism as a Major Problem in the UK and Other Countries Around the World - Essay Example

Introduction Racism is a major problem in the UK and other countries around the world. This is because it seeks to put certain es of people ina certain position that prevents their advancement in many aspects of life. Some people believe that non-white people or minorities in Western nations have no power and therefore, cannot be racists. This statement can only be analysed and ascertained to be true or false if there is a thorough research of the core elements and aspects of racism and discrimination in these countries. This paper undertakes a critical analysis and review of the concept of racism. To this end, the fundamental views and conceptions of racism are reviewed and critiqued. The paper examines the concept of racism on subjective and objective levels to ascertain whether it is just a personal thing or whether it is a general matter. The paper critiques minorities attitudes towards racism and analyses its implications to the wider society. Additionally, modified versions of racism and its application are examined in this paper. Definition of Racism There are various definitions that authorities have put forward to explain the concept of racism. One of them states that "racism is prejudice or discrimination against other people because of their race or because of what is thought to be their race (their biological or ancestry or physical appearance" (Reilly et al, 2013: p15). This definition indicates that racism is about peoples attempts to treat others differently because of their origins and skin colours and appearance. Due to these things, a person or people get various treatments and various activities that are meant to satisfy the desire and expectation of the people who are in question. This definition seem to encompass a universal definition which affects all people and all human beings who look at other people differently and in different eyes. To this end, it can be said that racism is something that can be perpetrated by all people. This is because Reilly et al (2013) state that "racism involves the assumption that peoples birth or biology determines who they are: that behaviour is based on biology" (p15). This implies that racism is something that people choose to partake in. And in the strict sense, racism is just a perception and a way of thinking and analysing things that an individual chooses upon himself. "The belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominance" (Bell and Blumenfield, 2010: p19). This means that racism is based on a subjective view of life and a personal belief in the superiority of ones own group and the inferiority of other peoples. Historically, different peoples have been ahead of others. Development, civilization and advancement has not been uniform all over the world. This is because different people have had various levels of advancement. In the 1400s when the European exploration commenced, Europeans were relatively more advanced technologically and militarily than other peoples, particularly those in the southern continents. Due to this, a natural tendency came whereby people from Europe developed national and social structures that included elements that were universally discriminatory towards others. Thus, the European powers colonized nations in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Due to the fact that Europeans were more prone to getting the better education and fitting into the social structures made by Europeans, Africans and Asians were designated to take up lower and less desirable roles in the nations that developed after the Age of Explorations. To this end, Europeans exploited people of other races for generations. Therefore, in spite of the fact that a universal perspective of racism will generally indicate that anyone, including minorities like Blacks and Asians can become racist, historical trends indicate that racism in the institutionalized form has been perpetrated by Whites, rather than Blacks and Asians. Thus, there was the need to attach institutionalized racism from the perspective of dealing with White people who have historically been put at the top of the social order due to social and economic trends. However, the United Nations and other international organizations around the world have sought to define racism and racial discrimination in an objective sense, rather than a sense that incriminates White people as a race (Lerner, 2010). The popular methods of dealing with racism sought to attach institutional racism, rather than individual racism. To this end, there have been various processes and struggles which include the anticolonial struggle around the world, the civil rights struggle in the United States and the antiapartheid movement in South Africa (Mullings, 2005). These processes were designed to fight and dismantle racism and they have attained high media attention. This means that institutionalized racism has typically been perpetrated by Whites against Blacks and Asians. However, this does not necessarily mean that it is only White people who are racists. If racism is viewed in the universal sense, then it is something that is beyond anybody. Anyone could perpetrated racism and race based discrimination. Racism and Discrimination Racism can be viewed from various forms of hatred and discrimination that occurs to all people and in all societies and communities (Anderson and Taylor, 2006). This implies that there are various concepts and theories in sociology and the social sciences that explain how racism evolves as a form discrimination that has a major impact on the human mind and the human society. Racism and discrimination are interlinked and they work together to make an individual hate. These theories seem to indicate that racism and other forms of discrimination are mainly conducted through individuals choices and views of life, rather than a compulsion that is unique and distinct to just one small group of people. There is more to racism than just some kind of thing that is unique to one small group of people. Discrimination can be in various forms and in various processes. Thus, most sociologists classify racism as a broader form of discrimination that people portray and bring to life amongst various aspects of the society. Thus, discrimination is a general trend and a general process that people go through and this implies that racism is a unique and distinct version and process of discrimination that leads to social barriers and stereotypes as well as prejudices that become consolidated and institutionalized in a given society or community (Kleg, 2012). One of the views and conception of racism is that it is "a discrimination by avoidance and this differs from discrimination of denial to the extent that the former does not require the target group or individual member to be actually seeking some desired equal treatment" (Kleg, 2012: p114). This means that the concept of racism is a form of discrimination that exists in a persons mind. And if that individual in question has no way or process of dealing with issues, that person seeks to hate or avoid people of other origins and other backgrounds because of their racial features or properties. Therefore, racism when viewed from the perspective of sociologists and other researchers appears to be some kind of unconsciousness which develops in all human beings (Quillian, 2008). It involves negative associations with certain groups of people, particularly minorities (Quillian, 2008). This means that racism is just a mental state that people could fall into and this involves various forms of prejudices. Racism is therefore a major internal matter rather than an external situation or circumstance (Klitgaard, 1972). This is because it is an internalization of prejudices and this determines a persons attitudes towards people of other races and origins. Individual and Institutionalized Racism As discussed above, an individual becomes racist because s/he internalizes some elements of racism and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, origins and inherent looks. Under this categorization, racism is somewhat an individualized thing or situation. Therefore, it is conclusive that people choose to be racist. However, a review of the collectivization of racism, one identifies that institutionalized racism exists and it is more likely to be perpetrated by one group of people against another. Lentin views institutionalized racism as a system through which a group of people build political structures and systems through which one group or race is perpetually placed ahead of another (Lentin, 2011). "Institutional racism denotes those patterns, practices and policies which operate within social institutions so as to consistently penalize, disadvantage and exploit individuals who are members of non-white groups" (Better, 2012: p11). This definition belongs to the conventional school of thought which is based on processes and procedures in nations like the United States and United Kingdom where White people are in the majority and some seek to preserve the old structures that prejudiced Black people and people of other non-White backgrounds. This system has been institutionalized and preserved through various policies and systems that ensures that White people are held in a superior role in society whilst Blacks and other non-Whites are kept in a low caste or class in the society. "Individual racism relates to personal actions, which may or may not be supported by a personal belief in stereotypes" (Better, 2012: p11). This means that individual racism is a choice based on a persons personality and views of life. And it guides the way a person does things. When looking at individual racism, it appears that anyone can become racist and this is due to the choices a person makes as opposed to the social system set up and preserved by a people who seek to keep one race ahead of another. This is done by formulating and preserving various forms of ideologies and philosophies that keep certain people below others. Ideological racism is seen as a system of beliefs that one racial group is biologically or culturally inferior to others (Yang, 2013). This is similar to attitudinal racism or racial prejudice which refers to the negative attitudes or beliefs about a racial group that are based on faulty or inadequate information (Yang, 2013). Attitudinal racism is somewhat an individualized form of racism that a person picks up and decides to live by. On the other hand, ideological racism is somewhat based on a general idea that people are taught from one generation to another. On the other hand, individual or attitudinal racism is an internalization of racism in a way and manner that is inadequate and does not really reflect the realities and the truths on the ground. However, both ideological racism and attitudinal racism give way for behavioural racism and this involves taking action as an individual or as a group (Yang, 2013). This shows there is a clear distinction between the racism perpetrated on an individual level and on the group level. As identified above, history of the world over the past 500 years has favoured the White race. Incidents like the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe and Industrial Revolution has put Europeans in a more privileged position. Through this, they set up nations and communities and formulated various ideologies and concepts that was meant to consolidate White supremacy as a compulsory plan for nation building. Therefore, people are taught about racism as an unconscious method and an unconscious system in the national structures of White nations. Henry and Sears (2009) studied racism and how it thrives in society. They identified that symbolic racism and prejudice against people is crystallized through the lifespan of an individual and this is consolidated by the voting age of an individual and becomes part of their affairs and matters (Henry and Sears, 2009). Colour-Blind Racism & New Racism The efforts made by the civil rights movement, anticolonial struggle and antiaprtheid movement clearly sought to question institutionalized racism. It is obvious and clear that most of these struggles were aimed at White supremacist policies and racist policies that clearly delineated Black and Asian people and segregated them to a life of perpetual inferiority. This started during the First World War where Caribbean troops and Senegalese troops fighting on the side of the Allies rebelled and mutinied on the grounds that they were treated in a negative way and manner. It continued through the interwar period into the post-Second World War period where the anticolonial struggle in Africa and Asia occurred and the civil rights movement commenced at the same time. These claims made by minorities and African/Asian people created an awareness of the evils and negativity of institutionalized racism. However, after the elements and aspects of institutional racism were declared illegal by statute, various forms of discrimination emerged and came up. Modern racism is defined as new forms of racism that is perpetrated by the majorities through various subtle processes and systems that discriminate and exclude people on the basis of their skin colour (Goldberg, 2008). Many books and journals present racism as something that is ended and will not be perpetrated by anyone. However, empirical studies indicate that racism is pervasive and persistent amongst different people in society (Zamudio and Rios, 2006). W. E. B. Dubois, an African-American rights activitist rose into fame at the turn of the 20th Century. He stated that although the United States sought to eliminate colour-blind racism at the end of the 19th Century, there were many issues and matters that continued to keep racism going (Bonilla-Silva, 2001). This is because the more things changed, the more things stayed the same due to the fact that there were people in the social system who sought to preserve White supremacy as an end in itself. Thus, when structures changed, they sought to change the way they perpetrated institutionalized racism and kept people they considered to be inferior in inferior parts of the social strata. Colour-blindness as a policy was meant to disregard racial characteristics when selective people to participate in certain services (Monnat, 2010). This meant the exclusion of racial data and no racial processes. It was believed that racism will end if colour and race was eliminated from cases and situations where people were being selected to partake in various economic activities and processes. However, this was not meeting its objectives because people were so much steeped in keeping others in certain social levels. Thus, Chief Justice John Roberts made a distinction between discrimination as a concept and discrimination as an act (Reason and Evans, 2007). This was done by presenting discrimination as an act and the only way of dealing with it is to stop the act rather than try to deal with an abstract concept which looked good on paper and did not really make any meaning to the quest for equality and fairness. Minorities and Racism Thus, from the discussion above, it is apparent that White people are more likely to be challenged in cases relating to institutional racism. This is due to historical matters and factors as well as other circumstances and systems that have put White people in a position where they are a majority in these nations and communities. However, there are other forms of activities that are aimed at White people by minorities which can be viewed as discrimination. Some are constructive and others are destructive and seek to pay White people in their own coin. There are two forms of constructive racism presented by Black/Asian people and often accepted by White people. The first is the case of averse racism. This is defined as "... a subtle form of bias typically expressed by well-intentioned, liberal, well-educated individuals, in contrast to other forms of modern prejudice, such as modern racism and symbolic racism which focuses more on political conservatives" (Chin, 2012: p120). This is a form of discrimination that is presented by liberals against traditional political conservatives who often support the status quo and its discrimination against Black and Asian people. These liberals include some White people who seek to bridge the gap caused by racism and years of discrimination. Positive discrimination on the other hand seeks to create a system of inclusion that will ensure that diverse groups and minorities will get the chance to become included in society (Centeno and Newman, 2012). This involve the actions that is aimed at eliminating racial discrimination and this is often a trend that White people and minorities endorse and they seek to improve and enhance the society and promote diversity (Kennedy-Dubourdieu, 2012). Positive aspects of countering racism is done with the view of enhancing matters in society to ensure that Blacks and Asians are included and given the right treatment in the society (Jacobson, 1985). This positive system is meant to present society into a cultural dimension rather than racial matters (Gunew, 2008). This presents a constructive system through which cultures and groups of people can adjust in nations like the UK and USA and interact to build strong nations. On the other side, the minority is also guilty of racism in the negative sense sometimes. This is described by authorities as reverse racism which is the rejection of the majority group and the quest to present the majority (white people) as bad and negative people (Mio, 2012). These people, often tagged as Black Supremacists find ways of demonizing White people and presenting White people as the cause of problems in the world. However, people who defend the school of thought of reverse racism state that if there was no racism by the majority (White people) there will be no need for reverse racism (Kirkpatrick, 2010). This means that if White majority drop racism, these supporters of reverse racism must also quit. However, some of them present concepts that seek to use the principles of reverse racism to exact retribution on White people (Cashmore, 2012). Conclusions The research indicates that racism can be viewed from various facades in sociology. Racism, viewed on the individual and absolute level indicates that anyone can become racist if they come up with attitudes that supports racism. On the collective level though, it is apparent that history has caused White people to create systems and social structures that are based on institutional racism. This involve various practices and processes that seek to keep White people ahead of Blacks and Asians. Therefore in terms of institutional racism, White people are historically put in the position of perpetrators rather than victims. However, it was noticed that there could be other forms of racism that could be perpetrated by Blacks and White people. And this include positive discrimination which is often not destructive and negative discrimination which include reverse racism which seeks to promote revenge against White people. References Anderson, M. L. and Taylor, H. F. (2006) Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society Wadsworth: Thomson. Bell, C. A. and Blumenfield, D. (2010) Overcoming Racism and Sexism London: Rowman and Littlefied. Better, S. (2012) Institutional Racism?: A Rimer on Theory and Strategies for Social Change New York: Rowman and Littlefield. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001) White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era New York: Lynne Riener. Cashmore, E. 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