Introduction to Sociology- Minority Groups

Introduction to Sociology- Minority Groups

Q1: Five characteristics of a “minority.”

Sociologist Louis Wirth characterized a minority group as any subset of individuals who, in view of their phenotype or cultural attributes, are separated from the others in the general public wherein they live distinctively and unfairly and thusly see themselves as targets of aggregate segregation. A minority group doesn’t imply that the majority outnumbers the group; for instance, women are considered a minority group, but they outnumber men. Other terms used to portray minorities are subordinate and dominant for the majority (Palacios et al., 2009). These two definitions correspond to the idea that the majority group is the one that holds the most power in the general public while the minority is helpless. Five attributes recognize a minority group: Unfair treatment and little to no control over their lives, noticeable or different physical or social attributes like skin shade or language, consciousness of subjection, High rate of in-group marriage, and lastly, Unintentional membership in the group.

Q2: African American analysis using the five characteristics of a “minority.”

Among the numerous subordinate groups, I will focus on the African American or Black people group. To start with, African Americans and Black people have distinguishing cultural and physical traits. Accordingly, the most obvious physical trait is the skin color of a dark shade, trailed by natural hair. Secondly, this group has been subject to unequal treatment and has had less power over their lives since their enslavement. Looking at some statistics, in 2018, 88% of police stops in New York included Black and Latino individuals, 10% were white, and 70% of these stops were guiltless. Black women are 3 to 4 times more bound to encounter a pregnancy-related demise than white people, even while at comparable levels of education and pay. By and large, black individuals get sentences that are 19.1% longer than white individuals indicted of a similar offense. In America, black people procure nearly 25% less than white people in a similar position (Ritter et al., 2011). Lastly, Black people in America are bound to be arrested more than white people; once arrested, they are additionally bound to be indicted and then even more likely to encounter long-haul jail sentences. These are but a few models of how black individuals in America have practically zero control over their lives and are subject to inconsistent treatment constantly.

The third trait is that African Americans do not have deliberate membership in this group. No one chooses the race they are born into. The fourth characteristic is that African American people are aware of subordination. The group has relatively low power, socioeconomic status, and renown in the society’s arrangement of social definition. In the education systems where schools with a large population of minorities, such schools are segregated, most teachers are underpaid, and college admissions are made with discrimination against minority groups. In the health system, minority groups are not conceded the same healthcare benefits as white people (Barger et al., 2009). This subordination stretches out to businesses, mortgages, policing, and basic human interactions. Black people are likewise made to observe the dominant group’s cultural patterns, standards, qualities, and laws.

Lastly, there is a high rate of in-group marriages; the rate at which African Americans marry within their group increases. This is because the group attempts to keep their cultural distinctiveness alive and maintain solidarity. A solid sense of group fortitude solidifies this trait. As a result of prejudice and segregation, the group is motivated to remain loyal to their community.

Q3: Magazine article regarding African American

The year 2020 saw America swept up by nationwide riots due to African Americans police killings and abuse. An article published by Time magazine on June 11^th, 2020, written by Justin Worland, shed light on the shift in the culture that oppressed the black citizens of America. The article explains how protests done by the minority group, led by the Black Lives Matter movement, are harassed and dispersed by heavily armed police officers. The movements were trying to protest against monuments dedicated to people known to enslave, beat, and kill black people. The article likewise reveals insight into how the leaders in America dismissed the claims made by the African American community about deeply rooted systemic racism. Despite that, barely a month earlier, a black man, George Floyd, was murdered by police on live video.

Justin explains how African American society is kept at a disadvantage in most systems: schools, health care, and prison, among others. And how these protests only shed more light on the problem, causing more white people to pay attention to it. According to the article, currently, more than 75% indicate that discrimination is a major issue. In comparison, about 57% know that people of color are bound to experience police brutality more than other races. Google searches for terms like systemic racism have also expanded a hundredfold, implying that people are educating themselves on the black community’s challenges. The article titled America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism shows that America is on the verge of a long-term change that will get rid of bigotry embedded in white people since the enslavement of black people.

References

Race, Ethnicity, and Discrimination/ Introduction to Sociology: (2021). https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-intotosociology/chapter/race-ethnicity-and-discimination/%20

Barger, S. D., Donoho, C. J., & Wayment, H. A. (2009). The relative contributions of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health, and social relationships to life satisfaction in the United States. Quality of Life Research, 18(2), 179-189

Palacios, E. D. & Trivedi, P. (2009). Increasing cultural literacy: Historical perspectives and cultural characteristics of minority groups. The psychology of multiculturalism in the schools: A primer for practice, training, and research, 17-48.

Ritter, J. A., & Taylor, L. J. (2011). Racial disparity in unemployment. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 93(1), 30-42.

America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism/Protests. Time magazine. https://time.com/magazine/us/5851840/june-22nd-2020-vol-195-no-23-u-s/

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In this session, you have been considering moral-ethical dilemmas you yourself faced or that you know of that you either resolved or failed to resolve but hopefully learned from. You may never have given much thought to ethical theory or the ethical premises/paradigms you have unconsciously held.

You will be focusing on this case for this assignment:

Jane Doe is a nursing student at University X. Jane is in week eight of a course entitled: “Introduction to Ethics.”

For the week one discussion, Jane copied work done by her friend John Doe in the same class two months ago (with a different professor). John told Jane it was okay to use his work as John’s professor never checked any work in the class using Turnitin.com. John also claimed to have earned an A on the work.

In week two, Jane went to StudentPapering.com and paid ten dollars for a week two essay done by a student (not John Doe) who took the same course four months ago. StudentPapering promises that all its archived work is of excellent quality and cannot be detected as copied. Jane then uploaded an exact copy of the work for the week two assignment.

In week three, Jane paid a worker at PaperingStudent.com ten dollars to write a brand new essay for Jane after Jane shared the essay assignment instructions with the worker.

In week four, Jane relied on her knowledge of Esperanto. She felt pressed for time and found an article by a professor from Esperanto on the week four topic. She translated Esperanto into English using Moogle Translate, and the translated text served as her week four paper.

In week five, Jane was running late again. Jane purposely uploaded a blank paper, hoping that she would later claim it was an innocent mistake and not be assessed a late penalty. In a previous course on History, she had done the same (with an earlier paper from the History class rather than simply a blank) and had not seen any late penalty assessed.

In week six, Jane took work she did in a nursing course from a year ago and submitted that for her discussion posting in her current class. She simply copied and pasted the work she had labored intensively on a year ago (even though University X forbids this practice as ‘self-plagiarism’). Jane was confident her Nursing instructor never checked that work using Turnitin.com or another method.

In week seven, Jane copied and pasted work found on website.com for the paper. Jane did not use any quotation marks or other documentation to show that the text was not written by Jane.

Since Jane’s ethics professor did not check papers and posts for any issues by using Turnitin.com or another method, the professor graded all of Jane’s work, unaware of Jane’s actions throughout the weeks of the class. Jane feels her actions are morally justified both because her economic situation requires her to work too much to devote time to school (although other students are well-off enough to have such time) and because her religion forbids cheating, but Jane ignores her religion’s teachings.