The Reality of Racial Inequality in the US: A Look Into Personal Lives - Research Paper

Introduction

Race is a social construct that is often associated with skin color and other physical features (Leclercq, 2019). There are different assessments of the current state of racial inequality and race relations in the United States. However, Americans across ethnic and racial groups also see ethnicity and race playing out differently in their personal lives. There is a high likeliness of a black saying that their race has hurt them rather than help them as compared to the Hispanics, whites, and Asians (Soufi, 2019). In fact, the other groups say that race has been an advantage rather than an inhibition. Sociology will help in understanding the problem by applying some of the sociological perspectives to define and explain the dynamics behind it.

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In assessing how race structures our lives, the theoretical perspective that will be used is the conflict perspective, which clearly defines and fits in the topic of discussion. The conflict perspective is a Karl Marx ideology, who believed that society is a dynamic entity that experiences constant change as a result of class conflict (Gregory, 2016). The perspective views social life as a competition, whereby society is made up of individuals competing for limited resources, and it focusses on the distribution of power, resources, and inequality. The race has a significant impact on the daily lives of individuals both internally and externally by influencing their privileges, behaviors, and attitudes.

Race impacts on the behaviors of people by influencing people's behaviors in different ways. Culture is explicitly learned the moment someone is born, and for example, babies grow up to be part of the culture in which they are born. According to Kena (2020), culture could have an impact on one's behaviors in different ways ranging from how they express different feelings through body expressions, how they handle conflict, and how they solve problems. For example, people from cultures that are more collectively oriented are more likely to help each other during a difficult situation. There are cultures that are more individualistic in nature and this could also structure the lives of people here, for example considering helping someone with their school assignment as cheating. People whose race has historically given some privileges may act differently in a particular society. For example, blacks who have historically experienced discrimination due to their skin color are most likely to feel suspicious, cautious, or mistrusting of the dominant society in which they live.

The race could also structure the lives of people by impacting their attitudes. Race impacts the attitudes of people on how they think about different issues. Based on their ethnicity, many people feel a strong sense of pride, and this is a major contributor to their attitudinal approach to other people and to the world. Some people may feel unconsciously or consciously racially biased against or superior to others (Davis, 2011). Depending on one's race, it could have a significant impact on their attitudes on various elements of life. According to the conflict theory, there is an element of the struggle of scarce resources and even inequality. Such struggles or competitions could lead to the members of the different ethical backgrounds to develop negative attitudes against each other.

The race also structures our lives by hurting our ability to succeed. While the whites say that their race has helped them towards achieving success, the majority of blacks complain that their race as acted as a barrier to them towards achieving their success (Gomez, 2018). More than half of the blacks in America say their race of being black has significantly hurt their ability to move forward. Contrary to the Africans, over 40% of the Hispanics, Asians or whites confirm that their race has had no negative impact on them and on their ways of success or progress (Kena, 2020). And more of them confirm that their race has helped them rather than harm them. From such observations, it is clear how race structures our day-to-day lives, and it is something that we have to live with since it is inevitable. Race or ethnicity plays a key role in the education sector as well, and this is a major reason why it impacts the success of blacks. About 57% of blacks who have at least some college experience say that being black has made them less advantaged compared to 47% of blacks who have a high school diploma or less (Sue, 2010).

The race also impacts the lives of people, especially blacks who experience regular discrimination. More than three-quarters of blacks and Asians say that they have experienced some sort of discrimination or have been unfairly treated due to their ethnicity or race, and this they say, happens at least from time to time (Bolin & Kurtz, 2018). Most whites say they have never experienced any racial discrimination, and this clearly shows how to race differently to impact the two groups of people in society, presenting a conflict between them.

Lastly, race structures our lives as many people see it as being central to their overall identity. The majority of blacks submit that being black is very significant in how they think about themselves. About 60% of Hispanics say that being Hispanic is overly important to their identity (Sue, 2010). However, only 15% of whites feel that being whites have any influence or impact on their identity. The race is, therefore, a very important factor influencing how one thinks about themselves.

The conflict perspective has a lot of impact on how the topic is understood. The topic of how race constructs our lives is pertinent and must be checked with importance. Race is a social construct that is often associated with skin color and other physical features. The conflict perspective is a Karl Marx ideology, who believed that society is a dynamic entity that experiences constant change as a result of class conflict. Race impacts the behaviors of people by influencing people's behaviors in different ways. It also structures the lives of people by impacting their attitudes. The race also impacts on the behaviors of people by influencing people's behaviors in different ways. It also impacts the attitudes of the people, their ability to succeed, and the identity of the people.

References

Bolin, B., & Kurtz, L. C. (2018). Race, class, ethnicity, and disaster vulnerability. In Handbook of disaster research (pp. 181-203). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-63254-4_10

Davis, J. E. (2011). 12 Black boys at school: negotiating masculinities and race. Educating our Black children: New directions and radical approaches, 169. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=szmRAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA169&dq=how+race+constructs+our+lives&ots=ExtSNGVCSI&sig=EjoqFI3JcIA87-xLqEEWvHZIcK8

Gomez, L. E. (2018). Manifest destinies: The making of the Mexican American race. NYU Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FUhBDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=impacts+of+race+on+our+lives+2018&ots=RSjVSmSPV1&sig=7mc5ejEIoFbHtaWNCzv2_QnC4EE

Gregory, S. T. (2016). The cultural constructs of race, gender and class: a study of how AfroCaribbean women academics negotiate their careers. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(3), 347-366. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09518390600696877

Kena, K. (2020). EM 851 Cultural Contexts of Ministry (3 credit hours) January 2020. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/04/09/the-role-of-race-and-ethnicity-in-americans-personal-lives/

Leclercq, S. (2019). A Critical Discourse Analysis: The Securitization of Black Lives Matter by Fox News Media (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/75521/REPOSITORY%20-%20GLOBAL%20CONFLICT%20THESIS%20EDITED%20SHANA%20FINAL%20OFFICIAL.pdf?sequence=1

Soufi, I. A. (2019). Racial Passing in the US of Today: From Nella Larsen (1929) to Danzy Senna (1998). Retrieved from http://193.194.86.113/handle/123456789/12339

Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-elephant-in-the-room/201302/the-reality-race-in-everyday-life