Racism (Causes) Essay, Research Paper

INTRODUCTION

Racism and prejudice are a problem. They have existed for thousands of years and they are transmitted from generation to generation. However, racism have not always been the same, it have changed trough the history and every day it have become more sophisticated.

DEFINITIONS

Prejudice is any negative belief, feeling or action toward a specific group or its individual members.

Racism is any negative thought or action toward members of a racial minority or any manifestation of racial inequality. It is also the belief that humans are subdivided into distinct hereditary groups that are innately different in their social behavior and mental capacities. Therefore, they can be ranked as superior or inferior.

TYPES OF RACISM

1.- Individual racism It suggest a belief in the superiority of one s own race over another.

2.- Institutional racism The conscious manipulation of institutions to achieve racist objectives. It is seen in colleges, companies and some specific organizations that admit people of certain ethnic group easier than they admit other.

3.- Cultural racism Contains elements of both individual and institutional racism. It is the expressions of the superiority of one s race cultural heritage over that of another race. It is a matter of cultural racism when the cultural achievements of a race are fully ignored in education, this happen mostly with the ethnic minorities.

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF RACISM

Frustration Aggression It explains that a person who is frustrated in his o her goal to achieve a highly desired goal tends to respond with a pattern of aggression. Because the real source of frustration is either unknown or too powerful to confront directly, a substitute is found on whom the aggression can be released. The substitute target is a scapegoat, a person or group close at hand and incapable of offering resistance.

When we suffer some kind of frustration, we are sometimes inclined to strike out at substitute targets such as our spouses and children. If the frustration continues, we may begin to blame more remote groups or institutions like the government, bureaucrats, blacks, Jews or gays.

When the aggressive behavior is displaced, it only can bring at best a very short time of relief of an individual s anxiety. Unless the actual source is attacked, the feeling of frustration will quickly recur or intensify.

FORMS OF RACISM

? Ethnic racism It is the belief that one set of cultural attributes is better than other cultural attributes.

? Geographic racism It s the belief that people from other places are worse people than the ones from your place.

? Epidermal racism It s the kind of racism that believe that the people one range of skin tones is better than other that have different range of skin tones.

? Ageism It draw conclusions about people s rights, obligations and abilities based solely on their age.

? Classism Economic barriers imposed to some specific race

? Abeism It s a racism of the healthy to look down the ill and fail to give him solidarity.

? Sexism It s the feeling of superiority from one sex over the other one and/or homosexuals.

? Genism It is the judging of people based on their genetic environment.

? Specysm The ultimate form of racism is the belief that the human race is superior to other species with whom we may not be able to mate.

RACIST GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS

WHITE SUPREMACIST

KKK (Ku Klux Klan) Founded in 1866 in Tennessee. They went on night rides in which they would intimidate the empowered blacks of the South from voting.

The KKK has gone through five eras since it was founded. The fifth era has coincided with the rise of the Internet, in this era the KKK has associated with other groups like Stormfront, Aryan Nations, American Nazi Party, etc.

ANTISEMITISM

Nation of Europa Organization that denies the Jewish holocaust in the WWII

The Christian alternative (Holly War) They try to fight the International Racist Jewish Mafia by the use of the Internet.

ANTICHRISTIAN

Altar of Unholy Blasphemy Their slogan: Sodomize the priest, avenge the little boy of the world .

World War Blasphemy Support the war against Christianity

SKINHEADS

Hammerskin Nation, Skinheads UK, Southern Cross Hammerskins Promote white pride, white loyalty, white heritage, white power.

CONCLUSIONS

All of us have something racist inside us, and it s not because we wanted to, we have learned that from the society that we live in. In first sight, we all have stereotyped some specific group and this is the one of the bases to create racism. However, this is not dangerous until we heart (physically or psychologically) with intention to the members of a specific race or group just for being of that group.

To end the racism, we need to stop transmitting this way of thinking to the next generations. With this, we will create a world without prejudice and with equal rights for everybody.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marger, Martin

Race and ethnic relations, 1997

Jones, James

Prejudice and racism, 1972

Aronson, Elliot

The Social Animal, 1992

World Against Racism (internet)

http://www.endracism.com/

Hatewatch (internet)

http://www.hatewatch.com

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