Assignment essay and discussion Forum in Sociology Week 10

Assignment and discussion Forum in Sociology Week 10 - Essay Example re many African Americans, Blacks and Hispanics in America who are being discriminated against either based on ‘real or alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other subjectively selected attributes† or â€Å"on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics† (kendall, p. 255-56). Such groups of people are very often ill-treated and are negated of equal opportunities and are looked down as inferiors. Instances on stratification based on race and ethnicity is visible in almost all aspects of life; the â€Å"color line† that negated African American baseball players of entry into the national team for centuries is the best example for stratification based on race and ethnicity. These sorts of stratification have given rise to the emergence of dominant and subordinate groups in the American society. Prejudice, segregation, discrimination, stereotyping, and ethnocentrisms are the salient features of a society where racial or ethnic bias prevails. When it comes to racism and ethnicity, questions such as whether people sort others based on physical appearance or individual traits come to one’s mind. It is also interesting to note whether everybody classifies people in the same way. The PBS link on sorting people shows that people are classified even based on physical traits such as skin color, finger prints and blood type. Based on these three types of physical traits, people are categorized into American Indians, Asians, Blacks, Hispanic/ Latino, and Whites. The conclusion drawn is that there are many ways to sort people and that â€Å"race is a social idea† the categorization of which is not always â€Å"based on nature, but on our ideas† (Sorting People: Conclusion). One should also notice that there is considerable degree of disparity in income distribution, percentage of poverty and educational attainment among these various races. The US Census Bureau of 2003 shows that the social standings of Africa n Americans and