W10: Race_and_Ethnicity_Moon Jungeon(문정언)

Summary

Definition

A race is a human population that is believed to be distinct in some way from other humans based on real or imagined physical differences. Ethnicity, while related to race, refers not to physical characteristics but social traits that are shared by a human population. For example, nationality, tribe, religious faith, shared language, shared culture, shared traditions.

 

Prejudice, Bias, and Discrimination

Prejudice can refer to the formation of a judgment without direct or actual experience. Prejudice can be taught, socialized, or conveyed through other means, like mass media. Discrimination is the actual mistreatment of a group or individual based upon some criteria or characteristic. Bias can develop through pronounced negative interactions with the stereotyped groups. Both bias and prejudice are generally viewed as negative.

 

Racism

Racism is recognised by many as an affront to basic human dignity and a violation of human rights.

 

Expressions of Racism

-Individual-Level Racism

Individual-level racism is prejudice, bias, or discrimination displayed in an interaction between two or more people.

-Structural Racism

Structural racism refers to inequalities built into an organization or system.

-Cultural Racism

Cultural racial discrimination, a variation of structural racism, occurs when the assumption of inferiority of one or more races is built into the culture of a society.

others:

-Historical Racism

-Racial Profiling

-Color-Blind Racism

-Genocide

 

Opinion&Question

We learned it is bad that to do racism. But in daily life, we unconsciously did racism. Let's think about the following situation. In the street, you meet a men who has a white skin. He ask you where is a department store. Then, how to handle this situation? You will tell how to go to a department store. But, a men who you meet in the street, was black, you react the same? I think it will not be so. Not only us, the people of the world have racism.

 

A couple of days ago, in Canada, Korean elderly couple assaulted local police ruthlessly. Just, couple didn't hear their order that out of the building because they received a report in next door. Isn't it a form of racial discrimination, unfair violence that took place because they were different race.

 

In our society, completely eradicating racism is impossible. But, We have to aware of things gone wrong and have to go in a correct way. What are ways to reduce racial discrimination?

 

 

 

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/video/2602000001.html?cid=MYH20161102009400797&input=1197m

nineth posting by Choi SeongHo_W9

#a : Stratification

Summary and my thought

In general, people have a certain socio-economic characteristic in the society they belong to, and thereby the height, or hierarchy, between people, when the hierarchy of individuals with the same or similar hierarchy is called the social stratification.
social stratification can be defined similarly, but it is defined as a more comprehensive and looser concept than the social class in that it is a more appropriate term when the class is strictly labeled as the middle class or middle-high class.
Several things can be used to divide the social stratification.
Social stratification can divide by job, or by academic background.
In addition, it can divide by the level of income or the source of income, or it can be divide by to the style of residence and housing, and the type of social activity such as religion or leisure, and the type of social activity. In addition, the above things can be taken into consideration in a comprehensive manner, or a different standard can be used.
If the nation is getting wealthier, the more inequality becomes. So, in present, Social inequality appears well in korea. because, korea has become a wealthy country in just a few decades. 
On the other hand, people's level of personality does not follow income.

Question
How can alleviate inequality in korea? Let's discuss it!


reference
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APyramid_of_Caste_system_in_India.png

Park chae eun ,W10

Introduction to Sociology : race

-Through my perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prologue

 

Race distinguishes human beings according to their local and physical characteristics

Typically, there are white race, yellow race, and black race.
But the definition of race is very diverse. Examples include skin color, facial type, cranial profile and size, and texture and color of hair.
When it comes to the subject of race, the first thing I think about is racism.
Racism is the division of people into different races and disadvantages to certain races.
Democracy is the most developed nation in the United States, but only 150 years ago there was slavery.  In the 1800s, as the cotton business was developing, the farmers began to bring slaves from Africa through slave traders. Slave traders have dragged African blacks out as if they were hunting animals. Most white people thought black people were barbaric and did not feel guilty because they thought it was natural to be slaves.
Therefore, Western society spread white supremacy to justify the colonial system.

 

http://nancen.org/1231

My thoughts about racism

 But this does not mean that Koreans are not racially discriminated.
The Japanese wasabi case is an example of this. The Japanese sushi restaurant in Osaka provided too many amount of wasabi to Korean tourists.
In these cases, we are always faced with racism.
Based on my experience, I went to the United States with my parents when I was a junior high school student. Three white people talked to us badly while we were visiting the museum.I did not know the details, but I still remember my feelings.
My family, who was working hard, was feeling shameful and unfair.
In order to solve these problems, anti-racism laws should be made.
There are still no laws prohibiting racial discrimination in Korea, The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has also recommended in 2007 that the government should take the lead in eradicating discrimination because emphasizing a single nation can be a racial act .
Eliminating prejudice is also the most fundamental and important solution to eliminate discrimination.  You should not take the double standard and judge people by race.
In order for our society to live healthy and peaceful, racial and cultural prejudices must be overcome. It should be recognized that the difference in skin color is a difference, not a basis for judging the superiority.

                                                          -Wasabi terror                                                                 

Instagram '_20150513'

 

Qustion

We know racism is better than anyone else, but we do racist behavior against foreign workers and international marriage victims. What is the reason for this double-sided behavior?

 

                                                                

Posting by minyoung Jung - Week9

Stratification means dividing people according to standard.
Class can be divided by degree of people's wealth.
Inequality can occurs because of stratification.
There are a variety of inequality. For example, economic inequality, racial/ethnic inequality, gender inequality.
Inequality is related with private property.
And some scholar insist that these inequality will last.
Joel charon who is sociologist explain why inequality last.

Structural-functionalism and conflict theories is method of approach about stratification.

The most interesting part of the contents of the wikibooks is global inequality.
Among countries inequality index have a large gap.
But this inequality is unlikely to be solved.
Main cause that account for result of global inequality is Development, Modernization, Dependency, World Systems Theory and The New International Division of Labor theory.

I want to know what aid of dimension of state existed in the nation that continue an inequality. 

File URLhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/2005gdpIndustrial.pngAttributionBy Anwar saadat [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Classifying Humans - Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Gender (Week 10) - Conan Chua

1. Summary

Race is now seen as a social construct, and the perceived reasons for creating this method of human classification are often controversial as the identity they force upon a person often affects his/her social “rank”. Evidence that supports the case of race being a social construct can be found in US and Brazil racial classifications. US’ racial classifications change over time, seemingly adding more can more races as time passes. Brazil on the other hand, even though it has a set number of races, has citizens who often try to “self-lighten” in order to be perceived better. Race does not seem to have a set definition and is dependent one’s opinions, lending truth to the claim that it is a social construct.

Ethnicity on the other hand, is much more defined than Race. Race seems to look at physical attributes, and is often externally defined. Ethnicity on the other hand, looks at a person’s history; their nationality, tribe, faith, language, culture and traditions. These historical facts allow one to derive an ethnicity, instead of imposing a race.

With the study of race comes the study of prejudice, bias and discrimination. The different between prejudice and bias is how the judgement is derived. Prejudice involves judgement before interaction, while bias involves judgement after multiple interactions. Discrimination is acting negatively upon one’s prejudice or bias. The good news is that prejudice and bias is a learned trait, and thus can be unlearned.

Racism is a term that can refer to all 3 of the above-mentioned terms (prejudice, bias, discrimination). It is a violation of human rights, and is usually opposed by the mainstream voices of a country.

Society is not only segregated by constructs such as race, but also by something seemingly scientific like gender. Although it seems that a person’s sex and gender might seem predetermined by physical attributes, the variations are actually quite large. Human beings are born with so many minute differences that what we see as a strong dichotomous state of sex is actually a generalization.

Sex refers to a person’s assigned physical trait into socially constructed categories determined by biological factors. Gender on the other hand is a person’s own perceived identity between masculine and feminine behaviors. Between sex and gender are 2 classifications of Cis and Trans, where Cis describe people who conform to existing notions, while Trans describe people who don’t.  Trans gender/sex usually refer to people who can identify with more than just either masculine or feminine behavior, and is usually met with harassment or discrimination (cissexism/transphobia).

This blurring of current gender and sex norms bring into question certain social or psychological differences such as occupation, salary and education. The past saw females as a smaller part of the workforce due to society’s view of them as the caregivers of the family, leading to an unbalance in their careers and in turn wages.  If done on purpose, this unbalance can be seen as a form of discrimination (Sexism). Sexism can be any form of belief that there are only two sexes, a superiority of a certain sex, a divide between the sexes or a hatred of a certain sex.

From a Structural Functionalist point of view, gender is viewed as a means to define responsibilities, where the women are homemakers and the men are breadwinners. Conflict theory sees gender classifications as a fight to balance the power within relationships.

2. Something of interest to me

It does seem that current society views race as a very strong method to classify and strengthen one’s “group of people”, aka the race in which they belong to.  In the age of globalization, ancient reasons for differing physical attributes do not hold as strongly as before. For example, the harsh solar conditions of Africa that led to the darkening of one’s skin do not matter as much in a world where people have the ability to go anywhere they want. As stated in the article, there are certain races or ethnicities that have a resistance to different kinds of diseases. Is there a possibility that humans can evolve a biological need to diversify, where a mixing of different ethnicities leads to an overall stronger population? The need for racial classification would be gone, because the world sees racial segregation as a “weak” trait.

3. Discussion point

I think that the presence of categorisation in humans, such as race or gender whether or not it is socially constructed, is a means by which we try to understand the world around us. If everything is defined by such clear cut factors like one’s history in determining ethnicity, is it something that we can truly identify with? In the same way that transgender people should be given the liberty to choose what behaviour they identify with, shouldn’t people who “self-whiten” be allowed to do so, if it makes them feel better? Then again, maybe this actually further propagates racial inequality. But if the social constructs are here to stay, why stop people from feeling happier?

Extra posting : is modern democracy really "the will of the people"? by Jihye Um

Modern democracy is a constituent member of the state of the country.
That is, everyone is jointly responsible for managing the nation.
Citizens are the ideal opponents to achieving democracy and the ideals of democracy.
With the advent of the modern society, citizens 'participation' in the civil society is increasing.
Looking at this, modern democracy can be viewed as a result of people's will.

Posting by Ji yeon Kim(김지연)-Week 9

Introduction to Sociology/Stratification

1. Summary

Sociologists study about stratification and inequality for a long period of time. Stratification is arranging people in hierarchical way. Inequality is having unequal access to some resources because of limited resources. Sociologists always wondered where did inequality originate and what is the reason that inequality continues.

 

*Socioeconomic Status(SES)

There are three traits of individuals which is power, property and prestige. Power can be divided into legitimate power(authority) and illegitimate power(coercion). Property is more large concept than income because It is total of one's possessions. It is good indicator of measuring social stratification than income. Prestige has same meaning of reputation and esteem. Nowadays, prestige is related with one's occupation.

 

*Social class in America

There are upper-upper class, lower-upper class, upper-middle class,lower-middle class,working poor and underclass in American. Because of the Great Recession, gap between rich and poor has increased.

 

*Origin of Inequality and Private Property

We can find inequality when hunter/gatherer society changed into horticultural/pastroalist society. In hunter/gathere society, small group of people had almost same belongings and jobs. But, In horticultural/pastroalist society, large group of people traded with each other and This time, division of labour settled down and It led to surplus of goods. This made inequality.

When Industrialization begun in England, there was 'collectivity' but in the late 15th century in Europe, 'private property' began to spread and famous. The place where once was collective space began to divided up into private takings. In 17 and 18th century, people thought there should be equality in society..

 

*The Persistence of Inequality

There are three reasons why inequality persist. First, the rich and powerful retain the system of inequality. Karl Marx criticized about this. He aruged that rich and powerful have a big influence on social institutions. Second, culture teaches the acceptance of inequality. Americans think rich and powerful are more deserving as they are smart and skilled. So, They think inequality as justified. Lastly, people are socialized to accept their position in life.

 

*Elimination of Inequality

Is it possible to eliminate inequality while society commit inequality?

 

*Dominanat-Perspectives

1)Structural-Functionalism on Stratification

In this theory, Stratification and Inequality are inevitable and good to society. but, there are some problems which is difficult to determine the functional importance of any job only in stratification. And this theory says stratification system is rational and fair as people who are qualified and skilled deserve so but, in real life It does not function so. This theory also thinks It is fair that some chosen minorities have power and wealth.

2)Conflict Theories

Stratification system is dysfunctional and not beneficial. This theory think inequality is not inevitable, It is made by people who want to protect their power and wealth.

3)Towards a More Egalitarian Society

Marxists argue people have to work according to their ability and talent AND people must get the fruits of this labour according to thier need. Also, they think democracy is more effective in decision making.

 

*Intersections of Class, Race, and Gender

When natural disaster appear, by class,race,and gender,life rates are different. For example, In the sinking of the Titanic, 60% of first class people survived otherwise only 24% of third class survived.

 

*Capitalism, class, privilege, and oppression

Capitalism increased inequality based on stratification system. It causes competition, inequality, stress and anxiety among people in middle and low class because the opportunity to move upward is little.

 

*Capitalism, race and gender inequality

Capitalism also takes advantages of race and gender ineuquality.

 

*Points of View: Micro-Meso-Macro

1)Micro-level Prestige and Influence

Stratification system and Inequality affect to individual. By clothing,fancy belongings, Each person differentiated themselves by other person.

2)Meso-level Access to Resources

Our positions and connections in organizations and institutions lie within the stratification system.

3)Macro-Level Factors Influencing Stratification

Our position in the international economic system in the world shapes our opportunities throughout our life and our access to important resources.

 

*Consequences of Inequality

There are differnces in many aspects of life opportunities based on stratification. People who belong in low-class have fewer chances in education, health, insurances and so on than the rich.

 

*Global Inequality

Why are the poor still poor? Who is to blame for poverty?

1) Poor people still poor becasue of their traditional beliefs. They follow tradtional economic systems while modern world follow modern economic systems.

2) Poor people still poor becasue developed countries exploited developing countries. Poor countries have large debt so that they cannot develop at all.

3) In world systems theory, world economy system is divided into three types: Core,Semiperipheral, and Peripheral.

 

 

 

2. My opinion and Interesting points

 

Since I was young, I believe duty of government is to eliminate inequality in society as it is unfair thing. So, after I read this chapter, It is quite surprising and sad that social institutions cause inequality. It is also surprising that some people think inequality is inevitable because the rich and powerful deserve more qualified things. However,as we know, in real life, wealth and power does not purely attained by their efforts. Some are rich by birth. Therefore, I want to support Conflict Theories in stratification system and inequality in society. I can find the answer of why inequality does not disappear in conflict theory what Karl Marx insisted. The rich and powerful protect the system of inequality to retain their position.

 

3.Questions and Discussion Points

 

There is a system of special case in society such as special admission and army exemption or exception. Is this system inequal or equal? Let's discuss about it together.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEVcCluTyZI

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

-you can see flow of social stratification in this video clip. It is cute, fun and easy! Take a look at it.