There are many and varied roots of prejudice. Among the most extensively studied and deepest roots of prejudice include motivational factors such as the requirement for self-esteem, cognitive factors such tendency of humans to think categorically, social factors such as uncharitable in-group ascriptions to behavior of out-groups, and personal factors such as social dominance alignment. Studies conducted on the same factors indicate that prejudiced attitudes are not restricted to a few misguided or pathological individuals. Instead, the studies indicate that prejudice is an outgrowth of the normal functioning of humans, and that each individual is susceptible to it in one way of the other. There should be no motivation for optimism since when viewed from a historical perspective, most of the virulent strains of prejudice as well as discrimination are declining. In most nations, diversity and multiculturalism are being embraced widely, which is the reason for the existence of such functions as cultural history and heritage celebrations among others. However, this should not be taken to mean that the world had managed in dealing with prejudice; subtle forms of prejudice still exist, and this essay describes them through reviewing three pieces of extant literature on them. Of special significance among the findings of the review is the fact that the modern society does not approve of racism, but remains rooted to it,which means that subtle racism is the most prevalent.
In their study, Payne et al. (2010) study the effect of prejudice on the electoral process in the US. As much as their article indicates that they intended to examine both subtle and blatant forms of racism, they find that the former is more expressed among the populace. Racism, as the article reports, is an issue that the US must confront, and there has been significant effort to paint the American society as one, unified for the realization of the American dream. However, unlike during the past centuries when racism was more blatant, the form or racism that the article depicts is inherent of modernism. Two of the most significant of all the milestones the dealing with racism were the abolishment of slavery in the US and the inception of the Civil Rights Act (Stoskopf, 2002). This means, therefore, that it is not common for people to express their racial prejudices in blatant ways as they did in the periods before these major milestones. Instead, what exists today, as the article argues, is subtle racial prejudice in which people try to avoid, but find it difficult since it occurs unconsciously. In Payne et al. (2010), the authors find that subtle racial prejudice affects the electoral process since voters are sensitive to racial prejudices. In specificity, those who voted for President Obama in the 2008 campaign, according to the article, did so along subtle racial backgrounds. This type of prejudice, therefore, can be referred to as symbolic subtle racism since the people who hold the prejudiced perceptions refuse the old way of expressing the racism, but practice it indirectly.
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In another study, Guess (2006) venture into studying the role of the ‘Whiteness’ of the American Society on the privileges accorded to the rest of the racial groups that are largely considered as minority groups. The study reports that the fact that America is inherently a White society means that the rest of the racial groups have to make lives of their own, dealing with regulations instituted by the majority. Coupled with the fact that the modern society has developed lack of preference for blatant racism, at least from the public arena, this type of racial prejudice reported in Guess’s work is aversive racism. Aversive racism is a form of subtle racial prejudice in which perpetrators express beliefs in egalitarian principles that may include racial equity but still express individual aversion for the racial minority groups (Meertens and Pettigrew, 1997). This point could be one of the most discussed around the US since opponents of racism have continuously pointed fingers at policy makers for passing legislations that do not favor minority groups (Rosich, 2007). One of such cases involved the issue of medical healthcare, in which wrangles involve such issues as the constitution of policies that cater for the needs of African Americans living with poverty. In the perspective of aversive racism, it is plausible to posit that the fact that the political arena of the nation is predominantly White means that the rest of the groups only take the policies ‘imposed on them.’ Similar claims concern the sphere of business, sports, and other issues in which the minority groups take the backseat in terms of management because the Whites are much in control of corporations.
Lastly, Seabrook and Wyatt-Nichol (2016) study structural racism in the US. Specifically, they utilize the epistemological framework of intersectionality in studying the effects causes and effects of structured racism on society. They note the special contribution of the Civil Rights Act in dealing with racism and arrive at a consensus with the two other studies reviewed in this essay that racism in the nation has taken a more subtle form. They note that as much as the history of racism in the country has taught the need for racial equality, it has not succeeded in persuading the populace to eliminate it altogether. In this perception, the American society is inherently racist. The authors consider the criminal justice system of the nation, noting that structural racism still exists in the manner of execution of judgments, arrests, and other related issues despite the existence of laws protecting all citizens against such forms of treatment. Specifically, they note that the criminal justice system has continued to depict disparities in terms of its treatment of citizens from minority racial groups. Their argument resonates with that staged Guess (2006) in suggesting that society is founded in principles for the protection of the interests of Whites.
The notion of subtle racial prejudice addressed in the three papers reviewed above raises issues of concern for society. The sensitivity of the American public to matters of equality and fair treatment as provided for by the Civil Rights Act makes racism of any type, subtle or blatant an issue of national concern. For example, when exhibited subtly as expressed in the articles reviewed, racism is likely to affect the quality of treatment accorded to different groups of Americans since it is not easy for the subjects to realize their rights are being infringed (Rosich, 2007). In such cases, the affected persons will always want to consider the manner in which they are being treated as a normality, which is they are less likely to complain. Perhaps, this occurrence is line with the preference for modernity among Americans. What this statement means is that the fact that society strives to uphold norms of living that respect human rights through championing equality is a default characteristic of modern life in the US (Brown, 2004). When this issue is interpreted according to this perspective, it can be argued that society only feels that racism is old-fashioned, which is why it out to be practiced subtly as it does. The US society remains inherently racist though that people subjected to such racial prejudices remain unconscious of the mistreatment they are accorded.
However, on occasions when racism is expressed blatantly, society has been drawn to react more vehemently than it has done in the case of subtle racism. Such reactions have been used to defend actions of the offender in the wake of condemnation of the voices of the offended. One of the issues that can used to confirm this argument is that which involves mass shootings around the nation. Specifically, debate has raged news outlets in the events of such unfortunate attacks with the two divisions of the American society, the Whites and minorities, blaming each other. For example, when the shooters are White and the victims Black, the rest of the races have been quick to indicate that Whites are killers and the government sponsors their activities to kill those who cannot be protected by relevant laws (Brown, 2004). The blame game is true for the reverse scenario. The issue of blatant racism implies that society does not have room for mistreatment of people from any ground, which is why such debates rage. It should be noted that in most cases, the issues of blatant racism have reached the political arena.
As Payne et al (2008) note, the electorate has been accustomed to vote along blatant racist lines, which is why most of the southern states ushered in the regime of President Obama with much excitement since they hoped that he would prioritize their issues. In addition, the recent presidential elections highlighted similar issues. For instance, during his campaigns, President Trump appeared to champion anti-immigration policies, and he received much appreciation from the White community. Even while this later example cannot be wholly interpreted as racism, they can be done so in the line of blatant prejudice. Specifically, this example demonstrates that the Whites want to avoid the possibilities of interference of their rights and privileges that would arise out of an interaction with a larger number of minority groups that are mainly immigrants. Overall, these examples of blatant racism indicate that racism could produce a further subdivision of society concerning the national policies.
In conclusion, different factors such as personal, psychological, and others motivate prejudiced perceptions of others and their opinions. The articles reviewed in this essay suggest that prejudice racial perceptions in the US exist only subtly. As the essay has described, this form of racism exists because society is much concerned with respecting the rights of people as provided for in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition to this legal motivation and obligation to avoid racism, the modern society strives to attain equality for all since it signifies modern living. However, the American society, as the paper has argued, remains inherently racist. In fact, racism is one of the issues that have affected negatively most of the national policies that have been instituted in the country. While it does not exist blatantly, racism exists subtly. For this case, racism has been blamed such issues as unequal opportunities for self-advancement and fair trial. Most of the policies, according to the perceptions of the minority groups, are instituted to favor the dominant Whites. The minority groups have had no option except taking such policies without minimal complaints. However, in the events when racism has been expressed blatantly, such issues have attracted vehement responses with each of the two sides of the divide keen to defend its stand. The cited issues of American politics demonstrate the effects of blatant racism to society. Therefore, racism is a norm of the American society.
References
Brown, D. A. (2004). Fighting racism in the twenty-first century. Retrieved September from http://law2.wlu.edu/deptimages/Law%20Review/61-4BrownIntro.pdf
Guess, T. J. (2006). The social construction of whiteness: Racism by intent, racism by consequence. Critical Sociology , 32 (4), 649-673.
Meertens, R. W., & Pettigrew, T. F. (1997). Is subtle prejudice really prejudice?. The Public Opinion Quarterly , 61 (1), 54-71.
Payne, B. K., Krosnick, J. A., Pasek, J., Lelkes, Y., Akhtar, O., & Tompson, T. (2010). Implicit and explicit prejudice in the 2008 American presidential election. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 46 (2), 367-374.
Rosich, K. J. (2007). Race, ethnicity, and the criminal justice system . Retrieved September 28, 2017 from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwinxKbL_cfWAhVKkRQKHfzaDxsQFghwMAs&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asanet.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fsavvy%2Fimages%2Fpress%2Fdocs%2Fpdf%2FASARaceCrime.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFIFtv3fdOsfh1Nq49YtQ_67Hfhmg
Seabrook, R., & Wyatt-Nichol, H. (2016). The ugly side of America: Institutional oppression and race. Journal of Public Management & Social Policy , 23 (1), 3.
Stoskopf, A. (2002). Race and membership in American history: The eugenics movement. Brookline, Mass: Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation .
