Racism And Discrimination

Words: 715
Pages: 3

This proposal addresses the issue of ending racism and discrimination in the United States. In order to achieve a greater depth of understanding, it is important to distinguish between the term racism and the term discrimination. Racism, a term that first garnered attention in the mid-twentieth century, is regarded as a coordinated form of prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination but is more all-compassing than any of these whereas discrimination is treatment of an individual based on the group to which that person may belong to. These three components of racism not only contribute to negative attitudes and beliefs but they also allow racism to operate at the significantly broader institutional and individual social levels. This raises the …show more content…
According to Allport (1979), prejudice is ultimately a problem of personality formation and development; no two cases regarding prejudice are the same. He argues that individuals have a natural tendency to exhibit prejudice; no individual would mirror his group’s attitude unless he has a personal need to do so. In-group memberships, or any cluster of people who can use the term “we” with the same significance, are vitally important to individual survival. Ultimately, prejudice is reflected by the influence these memberships have upon the development of the individual’s …show more content…
They argue that race is a social construction that originated from political actions, or racial projects. These racial projects make race an unstable social category that is constantly changing, as supported by political actions such as the Civil Rights Movement. However, race has an unstable, complex meaning that is being transformed by political struggle. In order to combat racism, it is important to target individual behavior so that eventually it may become eradicated within institutions. A variety of strategies have been proposed to eradicate racism, with the main focus being on increased multicultural education and affirmative action. Collectively these strategies are designed to limit, reverse, and possible eliminate racism. The arguments that eradicating racism and discrimination is impossible and/or unnecessary will also be considered.
Multiculturalism allows people with different cultures and values to share their ideas and perspectives, so everyone has a unique way of viewing the world. When people share aspects of their culture with one another, respect and tolerance is promoted and people begin to feel more comfortable with others. This allows the formation of a non-discriminative society which is essential to combating