Racism in America
Racism is one the most pressing social issues in America, among many others. From the beginning of the country, up until the present day, racism has been a part of American society, and it has negatively impacted the lives of many minority groups throughout its history. While the situation has gotten better over the years, it is still a major problem, and, because of this, many scholars and academics have studied the issue trying to explain its root causes. In particular, psychologists have determined three explanations for racism in America. Therefore, what follows below is a brief discussion of racism in America, along with a look at three psychological theories that help explain it: socialization, prejudice, and stereotypes.
Racism can be commonly defined as the idea that all members of a race have the same defining characteristics, either positive or negative. This comes in many forms, some obvious and easy to label as racist and others more subtle, requiring detailed analysis. For example, subtle forms of racism include members of a race not being hired at the rates as others, communities that are predominantly one race being designed so that they have less access to services, schools of predominantly one race being less funded, and countless other examples. These types of examples can be found throughout American society, where the victims are often African Americans and Hispanics and the perpetrators are often white, although it can happen between any two ethnic groups. Because of how widespread it is, it is important that the causes and the effects of racism be studied so that maybe that can be combated.
Racism in America is revealed in the data. For example, African Americans make up 12.7% of the population, yet they are arrested for 37% of violent crimes such as murder and assault and 29% of robberies. This shows that the law enforcement and judicial system is biased towards African Americans, in that they are more likely to be arrest and convict African Americans. Furthermore, according to the Harvard Business Review, African Americans are hired at less rates than other demographics. The study in question looked at hiring rates over many years, involving almost 43,000 applications for almost 21,000 positions. The researchers determined that there was little change in the rates that African Americans were hired, suggesting that this form of racism has not changed since 1990, the earliest the data was collected (Quillian, 2017). Statistics like this show that racism is sown into the fabric of American society, forcing some to have less opportunity, even today. Therefore, it is hard to argue against the fact that racism is still prevalent in American and a continually negative force in the lives of many Americans.
To explain why racism like this happens, not just in America, but all over the world and throughout history, the field of human psychology needs to be employed. First of all, the concept of socialization needs to be addressed. This can be defined as a person adopting the values and beliefs of the society in which they raised. Regarding racism, if a society is predominantly one race and this race is racist then these negative ideas get perpetuated as children grow up witnessing it and learning it. This happens in many ways, including many that are imperceptible, such as how races are depicted in advertising or in movies. According to one paper the way a child watches their parents has an effect later in life. They claim, “an adolescent’s perception of their parent’s racial socialization practices is a dynamic influence on the relationship between racism and racial identity expressions of African American school-aged youth” (Stevenson, 2009). This demonstrates that the environment that children grow up in effects how they perceive race and racial identity. Therefore, one of the major causes of racism is the socialization of children in America, in that other races are negatively portrayed in everything from how their parents talk to how they seen elsewhere.
Furthermore, prejudice is, of course, an important factor in racism in America. This can be defined as the incorrect perception of an individual based on their inclusion in a certain group. Psychologically speaking, prejudice comes from the need for people to fit in with a group and the social norms defined by a society. That is, people naturally gravitate towards groups and for the sake of social cohesion, people adopt the values and beliefs of that group. Moreover, a society dictates what is acceptable and what is not by the social norms. These are what people have collectively decided are the values and beliefs of the larger group. Furthermore, Brown suggests that prejudice is a necessary part of survival, as people need to make quick judgements about everything, as an in depth analysis is just not feasible (Brown, 1995). Therefore, people apply these psychological principles to other people, which helps explain the origin of racism.
Lastly, stereotypes are another major factor. These can be defined as the solidification of prejudice built up over time. That is, prejudices that have existed for a long become part of the collective belief system regarding another group of people. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but they form the basis for the prejudice against another group of people. Regarding racism, people use negative stereotypes to judge other races of people based on an incorrect assumption about the group they belong to (“Race, Ethnicity”, 2007). Therefore, stereotypes help perpetuate racism as it makes it easier to be prejudice.
Reference
Brown, R. (1995). Prejudice: Its Social Psychology. Blackwell Publishing.
Quillian, L. (2017, October). Hiring Discrimination Against Black Americans Hasn’t Declined in 25 Years.
Race, Ethnicity, and the Criminal Justice System. (2007). AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.
Stevenson, H. C. (2009). Racial/Ethnic Socialization Mediates Perceived Racism and the Racial Identity of African American Adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology,15(2), 125-136.