Question

Review various ways of defining “racism.” Which of these approaches discussed here comes closest to your own understanding of the term?

Answer 1

The various ways of defining “racism" is as follows;

Racial formation refers to the process that is determined from the interplay between social structure and everyday life, through which the meaning of race and racial categories are formed. This theory was developed by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, which is used to look at race as a socially constructed identity.

Scientific racism refers to the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support racial discrimination, racial inferiority, or racial superiority. In other words, Scientific racism can be classified as a practice of classifying individuals of different phenotypes or genotype into discrete races.

According to the biological viewpoint, races may be referred to as the genetically distinct populations of individuals within the same species. For example in human beings, a race may be referred to as a person's physical characteristics, such as bone structure and skin, hair, or eye color. Biological traits such as white skin and blonde hair are associated with American people or brown skin and black hair is associated with Asian people.

According to Sociologists and other social scientists race is a socially constructed concept. Race may be referred to a person's physical characteristics such as bone structure and skin, hair, or eye color. Racism refers to the belief in the superiority of one race over another, that dictates discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity. Throughout the world, racial, cultural, and ethnic differences are used to place people into different categories. Once people are placed in categories it is assumed that they have the essence of this category and based on these assumptions we are likely to treat people differently. For instance, whites have mostly been categorized as being racist, intelligent and superior whereas African Americans have been described as uneducated, aggressive and unemployable.