Florence Tang

Sociology 101

Professor Ghazarian

6 August 2017

Understanding Race

1. Racial profiling occurs when individuals are labelled a criminal suspect solely on the
grounds of their racial, religious, or ethic background. This type of profiling is
discriminatory, and occurs at local, state, and federal levels within the United States.
Following 9/11, Arab and Muslim persons coming into the United States were singled out
for questioning or background checks. Legal immigrants living in the country were also
persecuted for seemingly insignificant violations. Although racial profiling occurs within
law enforcement, it is also carried out in everyday situations with ordinary citizens. Some
individuals will racially profile and look to minority groups to find a scapegoat.
However, racial profiling can be avoided by observing the contact hypothesis. This
hypothesis suggests that when placed in cooperative circumstances, members of equal
status but from different groups will eventually reduce conflict and prejudice between
them. Since racial profiling generally stems from ignorance or biased stereotyping,
employing the contact hypothesis on a larger scale could solve the cycle of racial
profiling.

2. Prejudiced dominant groups will often resent minority groups for being amongst them.
With the idea of Social Darwinism, dominant groups felt even more supported in the idea
that one race or ethnicity could be superior to another. World history has seen various
ethnocentric practices used to victimize racial and minority groups. In Germany, Hitler
led the infamous genocide of millions of Jews during World War II. Genocide has also
occurred in American history, when Native American tribes were pushed off their
territory by Europeans. Expulsion is another ethnocentric practice; one such example is
seen in Vietnam forcing its Chinese population off the land altogether, in 1979. The most
infamous practice of discrimination in the United States has been the issue of segregation,
most notably towards African Americans. Because of their skin color, African Americans
were given separate schools, seating areas, residences, and so on.

3. A social construction of race occurs when society places standards and boundaries for a
race. Like gender, however, there is no single, biological definition of race, and race can
very much be fluid. From a symbolic interactionist point of view, the ideas of race and
racism would be based on the meanings and thoughts attributed to them. For instance, a
darker-skinned person in the United States may be considered black, but considered
white in Africa, simply because of varying views on skin pigmentation. Americans of
various backgrounds are a great example to use for social construction of race, as they are
 comprised of a variety of races. As such, one will see that the social construction of race
is a societal standard and cannot be easily applied.

4. The term model minority describes a minority group that has excelled both
economically and academically, despite whatever hardships and challenges they may face
as a minority group. However, this term is based on perception, and is more of a
stereotype than an academic term. The most stereotypical model minority is that of the
Asian race Asians are stereotyped as the race that produces top-notch doctors, lawyers,
and CEOs. This stereotype comes with the advantage of society having accepted these
accomplishments; society accepts Asians as a hardworking and successful group, and will
not think twice about Asian accomplishments. However, being a model minority comes
with the disadvantage of having to live up to these perceived standards, and an Asian who
decides to go into construction work, for instance, will find it hard to do so without being
judged.