Racialization is the social construction of race that involves a process of ascribing ethnic or racial identities into a social relationship. Racialization is mainly created out of group socialization where one group wants to remain to dominate the social group. Whenever racialization is developedthe interaction and group domination, the racialized group usually embraces a particular race. The concept of race has changed over time and cross cultures to being connected with the physical characteristics. Previous researchers have studied race basing it on the various geographic locations, regions, skin colors and ethnicities. The topology of the race which developed in the early racial sciences had its use reduced,and radicalization, which is the social construction of race, has become most commonly used to understand the various racial categories. Based on the racialization school of thought, the race is not biologically identifiable but is created when certain groups become racialized through a social process that leads to some inequality based on the physiological differences. As a result, the view of race and racialization is far much removed from the biological features and instead focuses on the social construction of race where one group wants to remain dominant over the other social groups.
Overview of Racialization
In modern society, people are considered as either being white or blackbased on their skin color. The social construction of race has also been over the past years reflected in the way the various names of racial categories change. Race in this scenario is also used as a sense of identity. The term racialization can, therefore, be used to demonstrate the history of the idea of race and how it impacts society ( Clair & Denis, 2015 ). It shows an emphasis on the ideological system that is often referred to as an unconscious process. Racialization, therefore, forms a complicated process by which various groups get designated into a certain racial category through social construction and subjects them to unequal treatment. It is the process of racialization that creates the ideology of seeing the other group as unequal and therefore, demands unequal treatment ( Clair & Denis, 2015 ). It forms the process of creation and utilization of the notion of race in various capacities. The white people while being racialized, may not view themselves as so due to the normative of being seen as white. As they may not see themselves as part of the race; however, they can still hold the authority and racialize other people. People get identified by the racial characteristics based on social and cultural processes. Social order can play a key role in racializing a particular group by using political actions as well as through the media coverage to form a perception about a certain group. Racial categories have throughout history been used to permit one group to discriminate against the other which they feel is different from them. In the mid and early 19th century, the artwork had become a key area for racialization with the target being the Asians and the Middle East ( Hughey, Embrick & Doane , 2015). Most artworks at the time were used to show prejudice to the other group which was considered to be of the different race using sexualized and manipulated images. After the formation of a racial group through the process of racialization, one group views the other as being different. This creates competition for dominance as each group wants to be seen dominating over the other. The outcome is prejudice and discrimination against the other group seen as a threat to the dominance.
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Racialization and Inequality
Historically, the race has played a key role in the rise of inequality not only in the United States but globally. Over the years, the social construction of race has dominated various areas amid dominance competition by different racial categories. The blacks, which is a social construction of the people of color, have suffered a series of cases of inequality and injustices in the United States from the slavery era to the modern days ( Hughey, Embrick & Doane , 2015). The spatial distribution of the black population has evolved over some time and has led to inequalities. Irrespective of the mass migration of the blacks from the South to the cities across the United States, the current distribution of the African Americans resembles the way it was during colonial times. As a result of racialization, the whites have continued to view the blacks as not being equal and thus do not deserve similar treatment. Throughout history, the people of color have received unequal treatment in areas of economic mobility and opportunities. The blacks continue to live in poverty in the rural and poor neighborhoods. Due to the lack of equal chances as a result of race difference, the blacks continue to stagnate as a racial category that is not dominant. As a minority group, blacks have suffered from serious economic alienation and lack of equal opportunities.
Also, the racialization of labor is one area that has seen a serious impact of the social construction of race on the people of color. The racialization of labor involves segregation and the appointment of employees based on the perceived ethnic differences. As a result of racialization in labor, a hierarchical arrangement has been created in a way that limits the mobility of employees based on their race ( Itzigsohn & Brown, 2015 ). The process of racialization is always created through the presupposed and stereotyping features which are imposed on the individuals. The dominant racial groups always find it difficult to move up in the labor force because the mobility is usually based on the race. The whites who are the dominant group in the United States, have the priority to move up in the labor mobility, while the blacks and Hispanics tend to be dragged by the racial prejudice. The members of the dominant group usually benefit from their privilege of whiteness, irrespective of whether they are psychological or material, and are reproduced and maintained within the social system. As a result, society has been racialized through the social system where one group is seen as the dominant race and who view the other races as a minority who does not deserve to get equal treatment. This social construction of race creates a society with racial inequality and discrimination as people are seen and treated not as citizens of that country, but as a particular race.
Education is one key area that has been affected by racialization as inequalities in educational opportunities continue to prevail based on the racial groups. Due to the view that a particular racial group does not deserve to get equal treatment because they are from a different race, many racial groups have experienced inequalities in educational opportunities for long. The whites based on the whiteness as a privilege, have more educational opportunities compared to the people of color. Discrimination in education in the United States had had a long history dating from the slavery days when the black children were not allowed to attend the whites’ schools ( Itzigsohn & Brown , 2015). Even though this had been outlawed, the people of color continue to experience low educational opportunities which are as a result of the past racial injustices that the African Americans had faced due to their race. The outcome of this is the low educational attainment amongst the blacks, increased economic inequality, and discrimination in the job market.
Mass incarceration of the blacks in the United States of America is also an area where racialization has had effects on society. After the change of law to increase the fight against illegal drugs, America witnessed mass incarceration of people and imprisonment. Although the reforms were introduced to be applied to all the citizens irrespective of race, it disproportionately impacted on the African Americans. The mass incarceration, which could be referred to as racialized mass incarceration, led to the police wrongfully and unfairly targeting the people of color ( Armenta, 2017 ). Due to the “blackness” which forms the basis of their race, the police perceived them to be criminals, and many were unfairly incarcerated even if they were innocent. This explains the extent to which racialization can create prejudice and racial profiling towards a certain racial group.
The mass incarceration of the blacks has created a social problem in the society, with the majority of the people arrested leaving behind their family without someone to care for them. The major issues are that as more blacks are incarcerated, their children are left without a parent to provide for their needs and education. The outcome is the increase in school dropout amongst the black children thus reduced educational attainment.
Conclusion
Racialization, which is the social construction of race, relates to the current social world and reality of the events today. Racial discrimination continues to exist in the United States, as one group views the other in terms of a particular racial group. With the whites being the dominant group in America, the view of inequality and unequal treatment of the other groups have prevailed. This is evident in the labor sector, where African Americans face exploitation, working for long hours and receiving poor pay. Due to racial profiling and the view of groups to be belonging to a particular racial category and therefore deserving unequal treatment, many social injustices have existed in the society.
References
Armenta , A. (2017). Racializing crimmigration: Structural racism, colorblindness, and the institutional production of immigrant criminality. Sociology of race and ethnicity , 3 (1), 82-95.
Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2015). Racism, sociology of. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences , 857-863.
Hughey, M. W., Embrick, D. G., & Doane, A. W. (2015). Paving the way for future race research: Exploring the racial mechanisms within a color-blind, racialized social system.
Itzigsohn, J., & Brown, K. (2015). Sociology and the Theory of Double Consciousness: WEB Du Bois’s Phenomenology of Racialized Subjectivity. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , 12 (2), 231-248.
