Sociologists are tasked with the responsibility of analyzing various social phenomena at different levels. They do this by looking at the issues from different perspectives. There are three theoretical perspectives or paradigms that sociologists use, and they include the functionalist, conflict and interactionist perspectives. In this current essay, we will look at an issue affecting the Black community leaving in a neighboring hood. The recent reports of the police shooting of an unarmed black man will be analyzed. The police shooting and racial profiling are some of the themes that will be examined. The conflict perspective is the sociological perspective that will be used to analyze the social problem.
Background to the Problem
In recent times, there have been reports of police killings of black men in cities such as Ferguson, Baltimore, and North Charleston. The murder of an unarmed Antwon Rose in June sparked waves of protests as residents of the area protested what the deemed to be racial bias and racial profiling by the police 1 . The police-black community relationship in some of the cities in the US is strained. This is because of what most feel to be racial profiling in the part of the law enforcement officers. Glover (2009) 2 Defines racial profiling as the act of targeting or suspecting a person of a particular racial origin from assumed or observed behavior or characteristics or the ethnic or racial group rather than on the person's features. This is morally wrong, and the police are not supposed to stop, arrest or shoot somebody based on racial bias. The police need to do their work guided by the dictates of the Fourth Amendment and other Articles of the Constitution that address the subject of law enforcement and the rights of the accused person or suspect 3 .
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Conflict is often seen as a fundamental social process that shapes and molds that society. A society is made up of many different groups that have competing interests; they each try to achieve outcomes which would be beneficial to them. The conflict theory tends to assert that the relative power of a social group rests with the ascendant class, which is favored both by the lawmakers and the law enforcement officers. The conflict theorists believe that the police are used by the ascendant group to suppress and control the weak and poor in the society. In some instances, the Whites see the presence of non-Whites in their communities as a threat to social order 4 . They consider these non-Whites as the cause of crime and insecurity in their neighborhoods. Sadly, this viewpoint is shared with some law enforcement officers, and that is why racial bias manifests itself in cases where police officers arrest or shoot black men who were neither armed or committing a crime.
Functionalist, Conflict and Interactionist Perspectives
Functionalism theory perceives society as a social system that includes different structures, institutions, and organizations that influence each other yet affect the entire system. The focus is on the function of the institutions and how they contribute to a continuous social network. Functionalism can be traced to Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), Wilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) and Emile Durkheim (1855-1917). According to structural functionalism, society is social order. Functionalist perspective focuses on how the society is interconnected by trying to understand how each part is influenced or influences other parts. The terms functional and dysfunctional are used by functionalists to describe how social elements affect the society. Functional factors contribute to stability and are said to be dysfunctional if they lead to social instability.
Conflict perspective assumes that society has different groups as well as interests that compete for resources and power. The concept looks at the various aspects of the society by identifying the groups with a significant proportion of power and benefits from an arrangement. Conflict perspective can be attributed to Karl Marx who suggested that society undergoes different stages of economic development. Movement from one step to the other shifts the concerns over survival needs to worries of making a profit. Two societal classes will then develop as societies industrialize. The two are the haves, and they have not or the owners of the means of production and the employees who benefit from the wages.
The interactionist perspective looks at micro-sociology. Its concern is the social psychological dynamics for individuals who interact in small groups. According to this theory, human interactions influence behavior. The definition and meaning develop through symbolic interactions determine how an individual will behave. Human behaves according to the situation. Similarly, sense of self or identity is a.lso determined by social interactions 5 .
Analysis of Police Shooting in the Neighbouring Community
Living in a community with whites and African Americans exposes one to related social issues that can be attributed to discrimination from the race. For some time now, the non-Whites are perceived to be a threat to the safety and security of the Whites. Most of the arrests made in the neighborhood have been tied to crimes such as domestic violence, robberies, and drug-related crimes. Most of those that have been arrested are from the minority groups. Police brutality has been the order of the day for the longest time with victims complaining of being profiled because of their skin color or race. The police have been known to use brutal and, in some cases, lethal force to apprehend a suspect.
Although many reforms have been instituted to policing in general, there are still many illegal and unfair practices displayed by the police. The African Americans and the police have strained relationships. They operate with what can be termed as a legacy of mistrust meaning that none trusts the other. For instance, the activities of the Black Lives Matter Movement were met with brutal force even though the protesters had gathered to express their displeasure with the way the police handled the shooting of the teenager. The Black Lives Matter Movement has been a vocal crusader championing the rights of the Black community that has been victimized by a justice system that tends to favor Whites over blacks. The Movement has been a strong voice against police brutality, mass incarceration, and re-entry programs that target the Blacks.
Additionally, Stewart 6 Observed that in some parts of Missouri, local prosecutors and the police conspired to arrest and punish local clergy who had camped outside the Ferguson Police Department praying for a black male who had been gunned down for failing to obey police orders. Stewart further observes that the prosecutors in the county have aggressively prosecuted protest cases with the aim of making an example of those thought to be engaged of the Ferguson protests. This move can be seen as an attempt to use brutal force to maintain the status quo where the Black community is widely regarded as a group that has no say. Peak and Everett (2017) 7 Support this assertion by arguing that marginalized groups in the society face police brutality since the law enforcement officers represent the majority group law that is intended to keep the minority group in check and its place in the society. Conflict theories, therefore, provide the best contextual and theoretical framework to explain the deadly encounters that most Black males are likely to have with law enforcement officers.
Conflict theory posits that power and authority are critical for maintaining social, economic and political inequality as well as in exerting control over those considered to belong to a lower class or the so-called surplus population 8 . Accordingly, conflict theorists are of the opinion that the law and the justice system is skewed n favor of the majority or the dominant class and that there is no fairness or equality under the law. Guided by this notion, police officers often disrupt protests organized by minority group disregarding that peaceful protest is a protected right. Similarly, when a police officer stops a Black man and the man tries to run away or is asked for an ID or a driver's license, the police can quickly shoot the man assuming that the suspect was either fleeing or resisting arrest or was reaching out for a concealed weapon. These assumptions have cost many Blacks their lives, young men with their whole life ahead of them getting killed because of being branded violent criminals who were responding to police presence. This is sad particularly considering that most of the cases that have been covered in the media were of young Black men that were innocently going about their business.
Homicide by the Police
The proponents of the conflict theory argue that the use of force by police is influenced by the class and racial standing of the victim. Some go to the extent of claiming that the cops intentionally lower the threshold of suspicion for non-Whites as opposed to Whites. Others argue that the police have two trigger fingers, one for the Whites and another for the non-Whites, with the latter being faster to pull than the former 9 . Since threats and the use of violence is critical in maintaining class order, conflict theorists hold that the use of lethal force and state-sanctioned coercion will automatically be most significant in jurisdictions with the most significant social, economic and political inequalities. Economic inequalities mean that non-Whites are denied a chance to enjoy opportunities that the Whites enjoy and by so doing the non-Whites are pushed to engage in crime to meet their needs. Some of these are forced to live way below the poverty line. Taken together, these factors can be used to explain why there is a high rate of felon killings by police especially in neighborhoods which are known to be occupied by the minority groups.
Racial Profiling and Conflict Theory
A closer look at the state of affairs in the US justice system and more particularly looking at the manner in which the law enforcement agencies deal with minorities, one can see that there are some elements of racial profiling. The police often consider young Black males as being armed and dangerous even if no weapon has been spotted on the suspect. It is commonplace for police officers to draw their weapon when approaching a young Black male or a group of young Black men. This is informed by their racial profiling where they assume that every Black male is dangerous and should, therefore, be approached with caution. Some might argue that it is standard police practice to draw their firearm when approaching a suspect, but a keen look at what happens on the ground will reveal that the police readily bring their weapons when the suspect in question is from a minority group.
It has been argued above that poverty, and other injustices are what pushes most young black males to crime. However, this does not in any way excuse their criminality. What this paper advocate for is due process. The Constitution is clear if someone is suspected to have committed a crime, s/he should be arrested and be presented in court to answer charges. If an individual is found guilty, the US Justice System has a way of dealing with such. The police should not act as judge and executioner. The police should only draw their weapon and use lethal force where their lives or those of others are in danger, and this should apply to all persons regardless of their class or skin color.
Racial Discrimination in Police Stops
Issues of racial bias in policing have continued to elicit a mixed reaction as police shooting of unarmed blacks continues to increase. The shots are terrible but are uncommon to raise significant interest in manipulating big data to understand the phenomenon. Routine stops, however, involve a substantial proportion with one out of eight drivers being stopped by the police. According to a Stanford University open policy project, black drivers are more likely to be arrested by the whites than their white counterparts. Data analyzing traffic from 2011-2015 shows that blacks are two times likely to be stopped by the police, therefore, supporting the idea that it is an offense to drive while black. Becker devised a model in 1957 that argues that racial discrimination tests should only consider the outcome. In this case, if the blacks are more likely to be stopped even though they might not be in possession of an illegal item, then this proves racial bias. The Stanford data indicate that white drivers have a 32% chance of possessing contraband while blacks and Hispanic drivers had 26% showing a clear bias in the two groups. Similarly, it is critical to perform the Becker test by looking at the possibility that drivers are exposed to similar treatment from the police if they commit the same offense.
From the discussion, it is clear that the non-Whites in the community are being discriminated against by law enforcement officers. The police, who have been mandated to protect the lives and property of the community it serves, has since turned to be the ones inflicting pain and harm to the very community that they have been called to serve. Racial profiling, which in some cases lead to homicide by police needs to be addressed. Movements such as the Black Lives Matter Movement should be allowed to protest and act as advocates for the weak and poor in society. When the police are wrongly used to coerce and intimidate the weak and the poor in society, mistrust builds, and this can birth some antisocial consequences for all the parties concerned. For instance, some communities have been known to fight lethal force with lethal force. Police killing by civilians who are fed up with the mistreatment they receive is an example of such unfortunate consequences.
Bibliography
Burris, J. L., & Whitney, C., (2015). Blue vs. Black: Let’s End the Conflict Between Cops and Minorities . Indianapolis: Burris & Whitney.
Glover, K. S. (2009). Racial profiling: Research, racism, and resistance . Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.
Peak, K, & Everett, P.M., (2017). Introduction to criminal justice: practices and processes. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage.
Stewart, M., (2016). Ferguson tries and fails to convict pastor for "praying while black": Why do prosecutors keep pushing these petty cases? The Huffington Post , February, 10.
Taylor, M. C., & Mateyka, P. J. (2011). Community influences on white racial attitudes: what matters and why? The Sociological Quarterly, 52(2), 220-43.
The Guardian, (2018). Pittsburgh police officer charged in shooting death of the unarmed black teen . Accessed from <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/27/pittsburgh-police-officer-charged-in-shooting-death-of-unarmed-black-teen>
1 The Guardian, 2018
2 Glover 2009
3 . According to the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and individuals are secured from unreasonable searches and seizure. It prohibits warrantless searches of the premises of an individual.
4 Taylor & Mateyka, 2011
5 The three perspectives can be used to explain discrimination of African Americans by the police
6 Stewart, 2016
7 Peak, K, & Everett, P.M., (2017). Introduction to criminal justice: practices and processes. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage.
8 Burris & Whitney, 2015
9 Burris & Whitney, 2015
