Racism is one of the most pressing global social issues. The US remains at the limelight and epitome of the racial issues with the fact that many ethnic and races emerged as a result of immigration dating back in years of the industrial revolution. According to Bonilla-Silva (2015), racism refers to the perception and beliefs that a specific race or group of people has superior qualities compared the others. The superiority is assumed on all aspects including the mental, physical and psychological aspects. Racism occurs with discrimination on aspects such as color, language, birthplace, and customs. Thus, the racist groups see others as inferiors hence apply predetermined assumption on them. Interestingly, the racial cases have hit the news headlines more often. However, it is recognizable that the cases of racially based discrimination have lowered in the US in recent years. But this does not eliminate the fact that racism and its associated discrimination is still a thorny issue in the US and globe at large. The paper wills address the racial issues through three social perspectives of structural functionalism conflict theory and symbolic interactionism theory.
Structural Functionalism
On a structural functionalism perspective, racism can be addressed by focusing on its functions and dysfunctions in society (Hatch, 2018). It tries to create a realism of an issue where it can create some justification for a concept to be acceptable in society. For instance, arguments on the racism against blacks could be argued as if the specific race was more oriented as slaves than in freedom status.
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Racism in society is a social issue that involves some of its members viewing the orders as inferior them. This creates animosity as people tend to fight discrimination that results from racist acts. According to Bonilla-Silva (2015), racism is a mind percept that of superiority that is not proven in reality. In this case, any of the groups considered as superior or inferior can outperform each other in different areas. However, with predetermined perceptions and judgment, those presumed as inferior tend to get a chance of denial. The definitive terms play a role in condemning and presenting racism as a biased act and perception. In this case, the defining terms act as a way of discouraging the racist acts.
Institutions work in an interesting manner where they relate and label some of racial groups and religions on different views. Cases of insecurity show direct favor of the whites where they are highly exempted from suspicion on issues relating to insecurity, or violence. For an instant, The Fox news reports complain by the Muslim community in the US who were offended by the claims of wrong labeling of the Islamic religion as a terrorist grouping ( Starnes, 2016) . Generally, racism against Islam has continued to have the connection to terrorism as many whites’ arguers believe.
Newyork-times media (2019) reports that Americans vies on various societal and national issues tend to waiver their supports on race-based lines. For instance, it reflects on a survey done to investigate the views of the citizens concerning most of the current president’s sentiments concerning immigration and national issues ( Kaufmann, 2019) . Interestingly, the majority of blacks find Trump's sentiments as racist compared to the whites. Interestingly, the case of response flows across both the democrats and republicans. Moreover, support or the deportation of the undocumented immigrants finds differing support where the whites support more than the blacks. This shows how views on national matters can create a strong dysfunction in society. It is also interesting where political ideologies also define the views on racism.
Conflict Theory
Racism view through the conflict theory relates an examination of the past racial grounds and perceptions on the different groupings (Hatch, 2018). Inequalities go beyond are race issue to and also occur in gender, and class divisions. In this case, we explore racism specifically as a national and global issue. Normally, the race issues arise with the problem of one group being dominant to another hence appearing as a threat to it. Interestingly, the conflict theory focuses on the struggle that arises with the minor group trying to rise to power against the dominant group. Generally, the race issues occur mostly between the whites and the blacks Americans where the former is the dominant and the latter is considered minority.
The racist issues occur with difficulties of the minority groups having issues and difficulties in getting employment, as well as other opportunities such as the good housing, power opportunities, and other social concerns. According to Reuters (2008) report, the cases of racial inequality continued to persist in the US. The media source pointed out pout areas such as health, education and income being some of the pointers of the racial problem evidence (Bigg, 2008). It claims that African Americans were highly likely to face poverty issues compared to whites. The report came at a time a first prospective black American president was about to come to power. It would be right to argue that, the post could have also contributed to the awareness of how the blacks remain on lower opportunities yet they could be possessing similar capabilities.
Symbolic Interactionism Theory
The symbolic interactionism theory involves the use of symbols between people. In this case, racism is defined by the symbolic means of actions and not a certain existing features of people (Rock, 2016). The racial divisions come from the creation of prejudice and discrimination of others where the dominant groups tend to view others as lesser and low in all aspects. A prejudice is a preconceived opinion with no bases of real reasoning. Generally, prejudice is a form of perception that promotes biases in cases of interacting with other groups. F this makes it difficult for the society members to live in harmony in case biases marred the decision making where assumptions are made on minority groups.
A good example of symbolic interactionism theory can be explained through the shaking of hands. The society assumes that such actions show and promotes peace among different groupings. However, the same action may mean different things to different races. For the minority races, ease of getting such a handshake from the whites means ease of interaction and recognition of equality. However, other groups assumed it as a hypocritical move by one group hence making the existing animosity to continue. Moreover, other groupings assume the move to shake hands as a way to drive change and create a better image to society.
Unfortunately, the issue of racism keeps on the reoccurring factor that worries the world. This creates questions on to whether the issue can ever lapse or it will keep hunting it forever as people of different languages, color and ethnicity seem to remain in their divisive lines. Reports that issues of racism cut across many For instance, the Guardian News reports on the cases of football players facing racist chants and directs offenses from opponents ( Hunter, 2019) . This happens to those with African descent and black skin color. In response to such criticism, the black players argue that racism and associated discrimination is also supported by the media through the amount of focus they give to the whites compared to the minority groups.
Analysis
Each of the three perspectives tries to explain the racism occurring in the world and the US in particular. Although they have a related concept of argument, there is still a significant difference in their effectiveness in addressing the race issue. Symbolic Interactionism Theory is best suited to address the racism issues since it creates positivity on addressing it. Interactionism theory finds racism as a result of the symbols of how people interact and coexist. It creates the possibility of people changing from certain behaviors and practices which could bring to end racism.
The conflict theory revolves mostly on the case of inequality factors which undermine the racial coexistence. Thus, the conflict theory does not provide any hope that the issue can be avoided since it ignores the fact that race is a percept in the mind with predetermined opinions. Also, the functionalism theory offers both criticism and praise top the racism effects on society. In this case, it justifies some racial inequality happening in one way awhile condemning the implications of the same.
Conclusion
Racism is a pervasive and continuing social issue that affects most parts of the world where diverse groups converge, work, or live. It affects psychology if the affected people where they live with perceptions that demean others. As a result, different human groups result in being hostile to each other. However, with an understanding of many concepts and arguments on the issue, racism revolves around the mindset up and assumptions that others s are inferior and poor in all manners including cognitive abilities, working and even their morals. With these perceptions, divisions in the world continue to grow and cases of racist acts and sentiments are recorded often. It’s appreciable that most international companies are making significant efforts to eliminate racism through diversity. In this case, both the minority and dominant groups can understand the color and religion do not define an individual’s abilities. It is recommendable that more agencies, in addition to the federal government should work toward eliminating racism as a social problem in society.
References
Bigg,M. (2008). Racial inequality persists in U.S.: report. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-inequality/racial-inequality-persists-in-u-s-report-idUSN0561390420080305
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2015). The structure of racism in color-blind,“post-racial” America.
Hatch, M. J. (2018). Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives . Oxford university press.
Hunter, A. (2019) Raheem Sterling emerges as a leader in football’s fight against racism. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/26/raheem-sterling-accidental-leader-football-fight-racism-england-montenegro
Kaufmann, E. (2019). Americans Are Divided by Their Views on Race, Not Race Itself. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opinion/race-america-trump.html
Rock, P. (2016). Making of symbolic interactionism . Springer.
Starnes, T. (2016). Muslims complain about town's 9/11 memorial. Fox News. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/muslims-complain-about-towns-9-11-memorial
