The Institutionalization Of Racism In America

Words: 1031
Pages: 5
Open Document
Race and the Institutionalization of Racism in America The topic of "Race" and "Racism" in American society tends to be controversial and provocative, a subject to threaded cautiously. Though it may be uncomfortable to discuss openly, it cannot be denied that it remains a major social issue in today's society. An array of social issues arises from structural and institutionalized racism in the United States. For the purpose of this paper, I will discuss how race and racism emerged within the context of the United States. Furthermore, I will explain the ways through which racism became institutionalized and structured in America.
First, in order to understand why racism is central to many of today's social issues, we must understand the …show more content…
According to Barbara Fields' piece titled, "Ideology and Race in American History," race was the fabrication of "bourgeois social relations” and the "ethos of rationality and science in which these social relations were ideologically reflected." [Fields: 152] Meaning that in order to justify and legitimize the inferiority of other human beings the creation of race would then serve as an understanding of what was ordained by God and what was "natural." Moreover, the classification of people rendered the opportunity to use color as a marker of differentiation between whites and Blacks. Furthermore, the legitimization of race facilitated and justified the slavery of African Americans for more than 300 years. Initially, the enslavement of Africans was for the purpose of free labor and the economic gain/greed of Europeans and not because they thought it was their God-given …show more content…
Racism comes in two types of violence; overt and covert. The first form is in an individual basis; where one person directly harms or acts against another individual. The second form is when a community as a whole engages in ways to hurt or act against another community, this is called institutionalized racism. Institutionalized racism enables the operating of policies, properties and functions of an ongoing system of normative patterns which in turn oppress and forces dependence of groups, in this case African Americans. [Jones: 219] For example, during the Jim Crow era, laws were established in order to provide white privilege and establish white
Show More

Related Documents: The Institutionalization Of Racism In America

Racism In America

post-racial society, that we as a nation have transcended race and racism. And that is simply untrue. We are a country built on racist principles, and keep in mind it has only been about 50 years since the civil rights movement. A racist society cannot be dismantled within 50 years. Racism is still at work within America though it may not appear so to a white person who doesn't have to experience it. But to be able to recognize what racism looks like one must know the definition and the forms it takes…

Words 1048 - Pages 5

Housing Discrimination Research Paper

“There's a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground (Richard Pryor).” This quote is a great example of the current disadvantages black families are facing today and have been facing for a lifetime. In the past blatant racism to an individual’s face was something to chide someone about, but the racism hidden in our social structures has remained and is continuing to thrive. Structural racism in the U.S is defined as the normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics…

Words 2343 - Pages 10

Anth 103 Notes 10 27 12 2 Google Docs Essay

they inbreed. What historical research has shown that the very idea of race has carried more meanings than typical phenotypical differences; it often expresses hierarchies. ● Race was invented in the 18th century to classify populations brought to the Americas Aristotle – “Great Chain of Being” ● Aristotle, in 800 B.C., says that some people are naturally slaves and others are naturally masters – from his book “Politics” ● “There is no difficulty in this question…for that some should rule and others should be…

Words 4919 - Pages 20

Inequality in Psychology Essay examples

globally known physicist Stephen Hawking who is arguably one of the most intelligent physicists, or humans for that matter, alive) fair when being administered Galton’s test? Henry Goddard is credited with translating and bringing the Binet scale to America (which is an intelligence test that still persists today in a modified form.) Goddard is also credited for starting one of the first laboratories that studied mental retardation during his early teaching career, being a proponent of special education…

Words 1768 - Pages 8

El Barrio: A Street History

until 1949 Puerto Rican schools were forced to teach in only English by the U.S. colonial administration. Those who emigrated from the country to the U.S., suffered from even “profound cultural shock” (52) as they were now prominently subjected to racism and humiliation, whereas back in Puerto Rico they were raised on principles of respect. These socioeconomic changes so profound and numerous, accounts for why Puerto Ricans suffer from “high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, broken families…

Words 2482 - Pages 10