The sociology of race and ethnic relations involves the study of political, social and economic relations that exist between ethnicities and races at all societal levels. While race refers to how we are categorized by skin or color and phenotype, ethnicity does not focus on our color but rather on the common culture, religion, and language that we share. According to many researchers, an ethnic group does not exist because of our cultural origin but rather because of shared unique historical and social experiences with which we identify with (Garcia-Alexander et al., 2017). The study of racial and ethnic relations have been widely influenced by individual elements in the major wave of immigration. As we struggles to keep our culture and ethnic identity, we build a strong racial and ethnic relationship. Despite scientists viewing race as a pure myth because of lack of meaning in biology, sociologists have focused on studying race because of the belief among many of us that we belong to a certain group. Race and ethnicity have been very controversial topics among scholars leading to the formation of functionalism, conflict and interactionism theories to explain how people express their race and ethnicity.
Previously, we viewed the concept of race to include ancestral and family ties. However, this has since changed as the race is much more connected with shared physical features. The labels of racial groups can be noted in different regions. According to radicalization school of thought, a race is not biologically identifiable, but rather we as a group of people becomes radicalized through a social process that makes us feel unequally treated through a perceived physiological difference (Spencer, 2014). According to this school of thought, we socially construct race. Ethnicity is described by the shared culture, values, and beliefs of a particular group of people. Just like race, we can identify individuals by ethnicities in complex ways. Ethnicity continues to be the used as an identification method that we as people use today either in the non-discriminatory laws, census or affirmative initiative actions. According to Luis With, the minority group is any group of people who are singled out because of either our physical or cultural characteristics in the society. Charles Wagley, a sociologist, define minority group regarding various five characteristics which include unequal treatment, distinguishable physical or cultural traits such as skin and culture, involuntarily belonging to a group, awareness of subordination and high rate of in-group marriage.
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Various theories have been developed to explain race and ethnic relations in the sociological perspectives. The first theory of race and ethnicity is functionalism. In the view of this theory, race and ethnic inequalities must have served some significant role for it to exist. Theorists who adhere to this theory argue that racism and discrimination do not contribute positively to our society, but only to the dominant group. In the last decades, this has been used by the dominant groups to discriminate against the minority group. According to this theory, holding racist view can act to benefit us when want to deny another group certain rights. However, racism can harm our community over a long period because of the outcomes such as poverty and unequal opportunities to the inferior group. The dominant group can, therefore, use racism to benefit by discriminating the minority. The minority can use race to pursue some positive outcome and even gain both political and economic advantage.
Conflict theory relates to the inequalities applied in gender, social class, race, and education (Murji & Solomon, 2015). It examines the past and the present struggles between the minority and dominant group. These past struggles lead to our group viewing the other as a threat and thus form a conflict between them and us. Symbolic interactionism is another theory that explains race and ethnicity relations. Race and ethnicity are perceived to provide strong symbols as sources of identity. According to some theorists, the symbols of race is what leads to racism, not the race itself. Racial prejudice only forms when members of the dominant group interact. Without interaction, however, there would be no racist views among the dominant group. The interactions between the dominant groups contribute to an abstract picture of the minority group that makes the dominant group support its view of the minority, a situation which leads to status quo. An interactionist perspective can also be looked regarding how people define their races and the race of others. People who are black define themselves using their color and judge others by their color.
A culture of prejudice theory of race and ethnic relations argues that prejudice is embedded in people’s culture. As we grow up, we are surrounded by images of stereotypes and casual expression of racism and prejudice. We can learn these imagery stereotypes from certain sources such as popular movies. When a group of people grows up, our culture is emerged in prejudice, making them practice ethnicity and racism towards another group.
In conclusion, race and ethnicity is an idea that has been in practice for the last many decades despite scientists’ view that it is purely a superstition. A particular group who share certain common features develop certain cultural and racial ideologies which we practice towards another group we view as inferior. Functionalists consider race study as role dominant where subordinate play to create a stable social structure. Interactionist view race and ethnicity as significant sources of individual identity and social symbolism. The culture of prejudice, on the other hand, accepts that all people are subject to some stereotypes that are embedded in their culture.
References
Garcia-Alexander, G., Woo, H., & Carlson, M. J. (2017). Race and ethnicity . In Social Foundations of Behavior for the Health Sciences (pp. 101-116). Springer, Cham.
Murji, K., & Solomon, J. (Eds.). (2015). Theories of race and ethnicity . Cambridge University Press.
Spencer, S. (2014). Race and ethnicity: Culture, identity, and representation. Routledge.
