Social Problems and Sociological Perspectives
Racism is a socially developed system that distinguishes and classifies individuals sharing phenotypical features. Sociologists perceive racism issues through various sociological viewpoints such as functionalism, critical sociology, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalism views racism as serving a significant role in society for it to exist for an extended period. Sociologists argue that racism and prejudice positively contribute to the community, particularly the dominant group. However, it results in marginalization, poverty, crimes, and unemployment (Nuccetelli, 2007).
On the other hand, symbolic interaction theory perceives that race and ethnicity render symbols as identity marks. For example, some race signs signify and influence the notion of racism. An interactionist, Herbert Blumer, illustrated that interactions between people form racial discrimination (Blumer, 2012). Thus, humans in the dominant category would not maintain racist notions without the interaction factor. Hence, interaction constructs an abstract image of the inferior group, allowing the superior group to influence its status quo. Critical sociology addresses the concerns that influence racism as the foundation of social inequality. A feminist, Patricia Hill Collins, argues that people cannot isolate the consequences of prejudice and other characteristics of race and ethnicity (Collins, 2019). Individual experiences of race shape gender and social class layers.
Further, addressing the problem of racism is essential to human survival. Sociologists agree that recognizing and comprehending one’s rights as a human is primal to solving the issue (Clair & Denis, 2015). Society must learn and undo the traditional perspectives that differentiate one person from another. It involves understanding these privileges across economic, cultural, and socio-political environments. Privileges help to dismantle race and ethnic-oriented systems from their core. More so, people must be aware of their biases and analyze their origins. This involves paying attention to messages adults communicate to children about individuals of different ethnicities and races (White, Thornton & Greene, 2021). Also, the nature of the environment a person resides in requires to be inclusive and accommodating. Therefore, these tackling experiences address bias, discrimination, and stereotype issues.
References
Blumer, H. (2012). Symbolic interactionism [1969]. Contemporary sociological theory, 62.
Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2015). Sociology of racism. The international encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, 19(2015), 857-63.
Collins, P. H. (2019). The difference that power makes: Intersectionality and participatory democracy. In The Palgrave Handbook of intersectionality in public policy (pp. 167-192). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Nuccetelli, S. (2007). What is an ethnic group? Against social functionalism. Race Or Ethnicity?: On Black and Latino Identity, 137.
White, A., Thornton, R. L., & Greene, J. A. (2021). Remembering Past Lessons about Structural Racism—Recentering Black Theorists of Health and Society. New England Journal of Medicine, 385(9), 850-855.
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Question 
Unit 1.2 DB: Social Problems and Sociological PerspectivesUnit 1.2 DB: Social Problems and Sociological Perspectives
Select a social problem such as drug abuse, suicide, homelessness, bullying or racism and discuss how the various sociological perspectives view the problem and how they may go about solving this problem.
Social Problems and Sociological Perspectives
You must support your response with scholarly sources in APA format. Simply stating your opinion is not enough, back up your opinion with citations. Refer to the DB Grading Rubric for more details.