...Abstract The point of this paper is to help the reader grasp the different aspects of human identity construction with regards to ones race and/or ethnicity. This is a topic that is incredibly important to all races of people regardless of economic class or whatever else is seemingly more important. It is quite impossible to go throughout life without forming an idea of who you are or where you have come whether you care to make it a part of your daily life, have no choice or acknowledge it when it is convenient; without that knowledge I find it difficult to fully make the most of life. Through the readings from the semester and class discussions I have come to the conclusion that White ethnics choose to either assert their ethnicities thickly or thinly, or they chose to incorporate it into their lives symbolically. Blacks on the other side of the spectrum lack choice in their racial identity because their race is visible and so it is assigned to them. Asians have both the ability to choose to assert their specific ethnicities but they are racially assigned. The issue with racial and ethnic construction is that it is born of social construction-what others believe of your race to be true. This can make the identity construction process much more difficult depending upon your racial or ethnic background. Regardless, I find this to be an important part of the identity construction journey. How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone. These words...
Words: 5152 - Pages: 21
...Construction of Identity and Worldview: The Influence of Social Variables The meaning of human identity is vast and complex. Identity, for our purposes, is in part a derivation of an inseparable piece of one’s consciousness, and largely an assembly of attitudes, behaviors, values, and beliefs collected and learned during a lifetime. Individual identity, as the centerpiece of an individual’s place in society, is the mechanism through which worldviews are shaped. Identity may seem a nonessential study of little consequence in comparison to more explicit and trenchant topics, but actually is very consequential. Identities and worldviews are, after all, what have defined and created our reality as we know it. Movements toward social equality and political progressiveness have been born as a result of identities and worldviews differing from that of the collective. To study the social variables that mold identity and construct worldview is to study how our species has created our reality. Learning about the way identities and worldviews are shaped is the first step necessary in altering the formation of those identities and worldviews in order to change our thinking; to create a better and more equal reality. In some cases, such as my own, the formation of an individual’s identity is influenced by a collection of social variables typical of those within their society, as well as variables considered atypical. An absence of organized religion, Caucasian racial categorization, a culture...
Words: 2772 - Pages: 12
...Application of Racial Idenity Development Theory in the Classroom by Beverly Daniel Tatum, she explores the reasons why students do not want to learn and talk about racism and how to overcome that resistance. She also emphasizes about the racial identity development theory. For blacks and persons of color, there are 5 stages of racial identity development. These include Pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. Whites go through 6 stages of racial identity development. They consist of Contact, Disintegration, Reintegration, Pseudo-Independent, Immersion/Emersion and Autonomy. The first stage of the Racial...
Words: 611 - Pages: 3
...In today's society, many of us are label gay or straight, black or white . Do these labels define who we are? Does a specific genre of music or style of cooking belong to a specific group of people? Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses the issues of identity, race and culture in his essay "Racial Identities". Appiah uses references from poets and scholars who see different or similar views on race and culture. Matthew Arnold, Thomas Sowell, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Charles Taylor are few of the scholars and poets that are used in "Racial Identities" and how their literary texts, views and issues contributed to Appiah's essay. Matthew Arnold poem was used as a reference in the "Racial Identities", where he discusses culture. Arnold was born on December...
Words: 1152 - Pages: 5
...Social Identity Development: Jones, S. R. & McEwen, M. K. (2000). A conceptual model of multiple dimensions of identity. Journal of College Student Development, 41(4), 405-414. A diverse group of female students at a university was interviewed in examining multiple dimensions of identity to fill a gap in studying development which has only considered a single dimension of identity. The conceptual model proposed for complex identity differentiates the core representing the inner self, how an individual perceives themselves, with the outside identity that is defined by others. Each factual dimension surrounds the core as intersecting rings, asserting the importance of considering multiple dimensions mutually and holistically. The contextual influences are significant to continually relocate the dots on the rings, which...
Words: 1181 - Pages: 5
...because society believes that it’s real. Ethnicity is a self-identity with a shared culture. Society is structured around one’s social perception of race and ethnicity, which enables society to categorize according to importance. I’ll discuss how one’s position in the racial hierarchy encourages and permits prejudice and discrimination. Today’s society is structured in a way by the dominant group that prejudice and discrimination comes across more subtlety and even at times unintentionally. This wasn’t always depicted that way in the past. For instance, in the 1930’s and 40’s the Nazi Party, the dominant group, was very open about their prejudice and discrimination toward the subordinate groups which included Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Jehovah Witnesses. Not only did they express their feelings of hate, but also acted upon them by taking away their civil rights and perused them with violence. The terms race and ethnicity are often used synonymously to each other. The definition of race has altered by society and time. These terms need to be independently defined in order to fully understand when and how to use the terms race and ethnicity correctly. Race is socially defined as a category based on people’s distinctive physical characteristics that are inherited, such as color of skin, shape of eyes, facial structures. Many groups have identifiable characteristics that don’t make the foundation for one’s racial distinctions. These specific characteristics can be significant...
Words: 2463 - Pages: 10
...Williams English 1 Honors/ Period 3 4 November, 2014 Social and Cultural Identity: How it can shape us. Erik Erikson once said, “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” I believed that Erickson wanted us to know that everyone should have an identity either socially or culturally. Social identity distinguishes you from everyone else by what you say and what you do. Cultural identity also paints an image to others about how you are excited about a culture or a belief and how you will interact with it. Experiences are important to us because it is something that allows society to see both of your identities. My experiences are similar to Beneatha in A Raisin...
Words: 1245 - Pages: 5
...Privilege, Power, and Oppression Name Institution Privilege, Power, and Oppression I am not merely an individual; I am a product of a system of privilege. This is Tim Wise's position about how the community participates in constructing an individual. His primary concern is social privilege. Maybe the privilege never favored him, and privilege made him work hard. The system of privilege shaped the direction of his life. The hardships caused by lack of privilege and the real life brought by privilege is his construction: a product of the system of privilege. He is conscious about the power and legacy of privilege in the society (Tisdell, 1993). He says that Politicians often talk about issues like housing, poverty, healthcare and education, but they rarely link them to the role that racism plays in the United States. He adds that the media often reports personal crimes while under-reporting organized and traditional discrimination. In the country, Black and Latino males are most prospective to have their cars stopped and searched for drugs. Tim’s argument regarding the color-blind perspective relates completely to the issue of the privilege system. In the system, color-blindness is treated like an inability. Talking about the realities race, oppression and white privilege make people uncomfortable. There are races that feel superior and their position oppresses the minorities. Institutional privilege and inequality exist in every society, including...
Words: 1201 - Pages: 5
...roles (Giddens 273). Social expectations about behavior regarded as appropriate for the members of each sex. Gender has to do with culture, and is something that is not natural. Gender is something that we both learn and do. As a result, there is gender role socialization, the process in which we learn about male and female typed roles. Some of which are social agents such as family and the media (Giddens 273). For example, boys may learn how to engage in rambunctious and aggressive play by watching their favorite male WWE fighter on TV. On the other hand, young girls may learn how to cook, clean and nurture their younger siblings by following the model...
Words: 866 - Pages: 4
...Exploring My Ethnicity Our amazing country is home to so much diversity and filled with so many different cultures, races, religions, and ethnic groups. Our large variation in this country can be both a blessing and a curse. In our society we are taught to be different from the next person, but in the same instance being different is one of the main reasons we are outcast. When most people are asked,” what is your ethnicity” they usually don’t give it much thought because most people already know their ethnicity and don’t have to do much exploring into their national and cultural background. Many people would simply classify themselves as Caucasian, African-American, Mexican- American, etc. Although we all know the meanings to each of these words, when asked what is your ethnicity we should look at the symbolic and cultural meanings of these words. My ethnicity is African-American, meaning an American who has African and especially black African ancestors Ethnicity is a complex term. Ethnicity is what makes a human who they are as a result of how they are influenced....
Words: 508 - Pages: 3
... 1 Racial and Ethnic Groups Wendy Turner ETH/125 Cultural Diversity November 3, 2013 Madasamy Thirumalai Diversity 2 Many things have been learned throughout the course of this class. We learned about race and ethnic groups to slavery to racial diversity. These things are talked about about well throughout the world. Racism has come a long way from when it first started. Many people still are not accepted within society. This needs to change is the world wants to be a better place. In the next few paragraphs, I will talk about racial diversity, social diversity, prejudice, and pluralistic. Diversity has been quite difficult to understand in the past in many ways. From taking this class, I have come to understand it better. My definition is any ethnic, gender, racial, or social economic variety in a situation, institution, or group. I still do not have a clear understanding of diversity. No one ever will. This subject is not even brought up in the schools...
Words: 804 - Pages: 4
...just like their parents when they get older. This social construct is called identity. According to Fearon James D.’s article,“What is Identity (as we now use the work)?” An identity represents social groups which can shape guidelines to determine membership and personality traits or structures (2). Social identity is based on a group of relationships, suchas sexual category, race and culture, or other social classes. Identity might bring positive feedback to one that one can recognize that who are they, what are their weakness and strength, and...
Words: 1922 - Pages: 8
...certain people then other and the only part of this class that I really understood was racial profiling so learning more about prejudice but it was complicated because of the different types of things that come along with it because you may think someone was being prejudice towards you but you don’t know what way they were being towards you and having to try and diagnosis it can be difficult. I think that it can be harder to profile a certain racial profile because you never know what may have been up with that person past and I have always believed that every man is equal unless he or she has given enough reason to say other than that. Prejudice has been many different things for me I lived in predominantly minority places where I am one of the people who is only white and everyone else is a different ethnicity so I have lived in these situations for most of my life so I have a respect for these kind of people that go through some much every day and still put up with it because most of them are at that point of breaking but they are still going. I found out that in my ethnicity is responsible for a lot of thing that define racial presences in today’s world but the new understanding is so much better now than what it used to be because being a Caucasian male it isn’t so easy for use in today’s world because we are not classified as a minority so in today’s world it can be harder to find work or do things because we seems to almost be hated upon by many people just like the police...
Words: 1090 - Pages: 5
...certain people then other and the only part of this class that I really understood was racial profiling so learning more about prejudice but it was complicated because of the different types of things that come along with it because you may think someone was being prejudice towards you but you don’t know what way they were being towards you and having to try and diagnosis it can be difficult. I think that it can be harder to profile a certain racial profile because you never know what may have been up with that person past and I have always believed that every man is equal unless he or she has given enough reason to say other than that. Prejudice has been many different things for me I lived in predominantly minority places where I am one of the people who is only white and everyone else is a different ethnicity so I have lived in these situations for most of my life so I have a respect for these kind of people that go through some much every day and still put up with it because most of them are at that point of breaking but they are still going. I found out that in my ethnicity is responsible for a lot of thing that define racial presences in today’s world but the new understanding is so much better now than what it used to be because being a Caucasian male it isn’t so easy for use in today’s world because we are not classified as a minority so in today’s world it can be harder to find work or do things because we seems to almost be hated upon by many people just like the police...
Words: 1090 - Pages: 5
...(printed): 2327-5731 • e-ISSN 2375-6527 PHENOMENOLOGY OF RACIAL OPPRESSION LAUREN FREEMAN Lauren.Freeman@Louisville.edu University of Louisville ABSTRACT. This paper attempts to further understand the lived experiences of racial oppression by bringing together personal testimonies, resources from phenomenology, and empirical work on stereotype threat. Integrating these three areas provides a psychological, existential, physiological, and embodied understanding of the fundamental harm of racial oppression. My aim is to show that the harm of existing as racially oppressed is not just psychological or physiological. That is, racial oppression is not only harmful with regards to the immediate and lasting effects of the compiled stresses that result from continually being made aware of one’s bodily existence as “other” in a predominantly and normatively white world. In addition, racially oppressed people also often lose a sense of themselves, become alienated from themselves, and come to understand themselves vis-à-vis the oppressor. Combining contextualized analyses of the psychological, existential, physiological, and embodied dimensions of oppression, I argue that existing as racially oppressed in a white supremacist society also changes the ontological structure of one’s being-in-the-world. Keywords: phenomenology; oppression; stereotype threat; Martin Heidegger “Only when we come to be very clear about how race is lived, in its multiple manifestations, only when...
Words: 10178 - Pages: 41
