Essay on Racial Formation. Social Sciences Essay.

Racial Formation
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Racial Formation
Before taking the course, I thought racial formation entails how races are formed in the United States of America (USA) and how it affects the way people interact. Although I was not wrong, my definition was incomplete. In particular, the course has made me understand that racial formation refers to how racial identity is constructed socially and how the economic, political, and social forces affect racial categories. Race is a controversial concept that can bring people together or create conflicts due to differences among communities. One of the important things that I learned is that racial formation involves how individuals perceive themselves and others. People use the racial formation to protect themselves and for personal achievements. For instance, since black individuals are naturally strong, other races are intimidated by them and they call these people beasts. Racial formation defines how a particular group of people is different from another one and it is affected by leadership, religious affiliations, social structures, and political campaigns.
The racial formation has significantly helped me to understand the USA’s culture, history, and society. For example, racial formation brought about the concept of racialization, which involves imputing particular sets of characteristics to a specific group of people based on the physical or cultural traits that they possess, namely religious custom, skin color, and the language spoken. Racialization began about five centuries ago when people from other regions, such as Africans, Irish, Mexicans, Muslims, and Jewish, started settling in the USA (Takaki, 2008). The American ethnic composition started to be diverse a long time ago, which explains the reason why racism has remained a significant issue in the USA. For example, racial prejudice and supremacy led to slavery in American history. Since black people are strong and can withstand harsh conditions, white people started using them to work in their large plantations. As such, the problem of racism emanated from racial formation, which entails people’s identities formed by their differences in skin color, religion, culture, or ethnicity. Overall, racial formation has contributed to some of the significant problems that Americans face today, such as racial discrimination.
My understanding of racial formation has enabled me to understand the importance of culture in society. The USA is one of the countries with the most diverse population. Many people have continually migrated to this country for different reasons, such as exploration, education, or occupation. Culture has significantly influenced how different communities in the USA relate to each other (Takaki, 2008). For example, there has been cultural conflicts between whites and African Americans. White people perceive blacks as violent, inferior, and lawbreakers. For this reason, African Americans have suffered discrimination for an extended period, which led to the formation of the Black Lives Matter social movement. Cultural background is a significant factor that can lead to inter-community conflicts if different groups of people do not understand or respect o...