Racial Hierarchy
American Ethnicity
Final Exam Question
Racial Hierarchy
In reading and examining the arguments made by Blauner, Ture and Hamilton and Steinberg, I have come to realize or maybe just acknowledge more so, the many aspects of race, racism and its role within our nation. Not to say that I was oblivious to it (race) before this class, but I had not taken the opportunity before to examine it as closely as we have this semester. Primarily, I had associated race only to the color of one 's skin rather than what it is in actuality; a social construct. Although this social construct / racial hierarchy may change over time with political, economic and historical changes, it has been proven by empirical sociological evidence to be so deeply embedded within our society that it effects both directly and indirectly: 1) the discrimination utilized to mobilize or immobilize certain groups, 2) the stereotypes and stigmas impressed upon groups, and 3) the distribution of resource shares . Each of these three dynamics are central to the placement, progression and regression of racial groups, in which each effects the other in a constant cycle of discrimination, identifiablity, and resource shares (Aguirre & Turner). An excellent example of this cycle is in figure 2.1 on page 36 of our American Ethnicity books. Groups that are easily identified to be different from the dominant group ethnicity are most likely to be a target of discrimination. This in turn effects their resource shares and consequently results in more of a distinction placed upon them. When this pattern of resource shares becomes evident it creates an association between race and socioeconomic status which, in effect, places stereotypes and social stigmas upon the racial group. This association is then legitimized by overrepresentation of that group within the designated socioeconomic status. In an example from Aguirre & Turner they state that if African Americans are consistently over represented in
Final Exam Question
Racial Hierarchy
In reading and examining the arguments made by Blauner, Ture and Hamilton and Steinberg, I have come to realize or maybe just acknowledge more so, the many aspects of race, racism and its role within our nation. Not to say that I was oblivious to it (race) before this class, but I had not taken the opportunity before to examine it as closely as we have this semester. Primarily, I had associated race only to the color of one 's skin rather than what it is in actuality; a social construct. Although this social construct / racial hierarchy may change over time with political, economic and historical changes, it has been proven by empirical sociological evidence to be so deeply embedded within our society that it effects both directly and indirectly: 1) the discrimination utilized to mobilize or immobilize certain groups, 2) the stereotypes and stigmas impressed upon groups, and 3) the distribution of resource shares . Each of these three dynamics are central to the placement, progression and regression of racial groups, in which each effects the other in a constant cycle of discrimination, identifiablity, and resource shares (Aguirre & Turner). An excellent example of this cycle is in figure 2.1 on page 36 of our American Ethnicity books. Groups that are easily identified to be different from the dominant group ethnicity are most likely to be a target of discrimination. This in turn effects their resource shares and consequently results in more of a distinction placed upon them. When this pattern of resource shares becomes evident it creates an association between race and socioeconomic status which, in effect, places stereotypes and social stigmas upon the racial group. This association is then legitimized by overrepresentation of that group within the designated socioeconomic status. In an example from Aguirre & Turner they state that if African Americans are consistently over represented in