Definition of Racism Social Sciences Essay Research

Definition of Racism
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Definition of Racism
There are two perspectives of racism that mostly differ depending on the way different authors have defined them. Since racism is a complex social issue, scholars have advanced various perspectives and theories on racism. Critical race perspective offers the correct definition of racism. Critical race theory (CRT) argues that racism is systemic force that is deeply rooted in the system and fabric of different societies, instead of a problem of individual bias (Salter & Adams, 2013). Furthermore, discrimination and prejudice have a close relationship with authors such as Merton (1949) arguing that the relationship does not apply in all situations. This paper critically analyzes the relationship between discrimination and prejudice and how they have been presented by different authors.
George Lipsitz contends that both private prejudice and public policy have been responsible for creating “possessive investment in whiteness” that has developed racialized hierarchies in the current societies (Lipsitz, 2006). “Possessive investment” has been used both figuratively and literally. As a theoretical framework, CRT analyzes culture and the society and how they are associated in the categorizations law, race, and power. For instance, CRT argues that there is racial power and white supremacy that has grown over time, and that law has law influenced this growth (Salter & Adams, 2013).
Lipsitz (2006) argues that there is a cash value in whiteness, and they go to those people via the profits that are made by creating discriminatory market. These also result from unequal education that is offered to pupils of different races, insider networks that offer employment opportunities to friends and family, and intergenerational transfer of property and wealth that is inherited (Lipsitz, 2006). This is the reason why most white Americans are influenced to invest in the expansion of whiteness in order to possess identities that offer them opportunity, wealth, and power. Cultural and social forces have been responsible for encouraging the whites to spend energy and time in generating and regenerating whiteness.
In “Discrimination and the American Creed,” Merton (1949) argues that on most occasions, ethnic prejudice and racism results in discrimination against ethnic and racial groups that are considered as inferior in any society. The Merton typology in this context, discrimination relates to arbitrary denial of privileges, rights, and opportunities to individuals from the subordinate group. The name arbitrary is used to place emphasis on the members of these groups that are unequally treated as a result of their ethnicity and race and not because they do not have any merit (Bryant & Peck, 2007). The ...