FREE ESSAY ON RACISM IN AMERICA

RACISM IN AMERICA

Racism In America
Race is a socially constructed category. Society assigns races to people based on
opinion
and social experience. If races are socially constructed, then racism must also be an
offshoot of
race and derived from social experiences too. Racism, as defined by Webster's New
American
Dictionary, is "a belief that some races are by nature superior to others." Why is there
racism in
America today? 
There are two distinct schools of thought; the social psychologists and the sociological
theorists. There are two social psychological theories. The scapegoat theory, that
argues
"historically, members of the dominant group in the United States have harbored various
frustrations in their desire to achieve social and economic success" and vent these
frustrations in
the form of anger towards other racial groups (Andersen, Taylor, 291). The authoritarian
theory
"is characterized by a tendency to rigidly characterize people" (Andersen, Taylor, 291).
The
sociological theories focus more on institutional racism. 
Racism appears to be a mixture of the scapegoat, authoritarian, and sociological
theories.
While majority of the people automatically characterize people into groups, they also
have a
tendency to turn these groups in punching bags. The reason from this may be the
detachment
associated with categorizing people into groups other than your own. Therefore,
detachment of
one person from another allows each person to feel able to blame or hate the other
without
feeling guilt. George Ritzer would argue that "Mcdonaldization of society" definitely
helps to
create the dehumanization needed to ignite and cultivate racism. 
Symbolic interaction theorists ague that greater interaction within the groups will
reduce racism. 
If racism is socially constructed, then changing the structure of how society allows only
brief and
indifferent interactions between people, (curbing the growth of mcdonaldization) will
help create
a more equal society.