In regard to the provided discussion on the podcast about names and the impact they have in people’s lives, the participants in the program give interesting assertions. For instance, one of the participants in the program is named “E” while another one is known as “Yo” (Freakonomics, 2013). The naming supposedly is to make them not to be identified with any racial background. Perhaps the main question that ought to be asked is, what instigates parents to give their children such names?
Some of the answers to the question above can be sought from the program in the podcast. One of the reasons is that there is still racial profiling in the United States. For instance, as stated in the program, African Americans attempt to give themselves an identity by giving their children unique names different from those used by whites. However, the program notes that due to racial profiling, people with names that have an African identity may be disadvantaged. When a white employer comes across a name of an African identity, they seem to reject the individual’s application.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
One of the prominent structural and racial discrimination mentioned in the podcast is Google’s Adwords. People with names that have an African origin tend to be associated with crime or arrests. Advertisers tend to place their adverts against such names because people will tend to click on such names more than traditional white names. Most of the time, people who have never had any crime record are implicated. Although the discussion concludes that people’s names do not determine their economic achievement, a potential employer who comes across Google’s Adwords implicating someone with crime might not hire the implicated person. It is therefore evident that people’s names in the United States still elicit racial stereotypes and forms one of the basis of discrimination.
References
Freakonomics. (2013). How Much Does Your Name Matter? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast -. Freakonomics . Retrieved 1 July 2018, from http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-much-does-your-name-matter-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/
