Biological and Sociological Explanations of Race
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Differences between Biological and Sociological Explanations of Race
Racial Science considers race to be equal to biological reality. It further explains that external differences equally depict the internal differences explaining the social inequities. Sociologically, race is a socially constructed category. There is no biological validity in distinct, innate, separate divisions among the human population. Genetically, human beings share similar genes up to 99%. Based on racial formation, race is created by people and institutions in social and historical contexts. In racial composition, some acts are cultural, symbolic mechanisms that reflect and uphold our racial common sense, which is a form of discourse that maintains hegemony of racial beliefs. There is always a belief that one racial group is superior to other ethnic groups.
Conceptualized Racism in 3 Different Ways
The assumption of superiority that one racial group is superior to other racial groups is one way in which racism can be conceptualized. The other is the personalized settings where there is strong belief that a “post-racial” society isolated “diseases” or considered individualized ignorance. Lastly, the cultural/structural/systemic contexts advantages, privileges for particular groups’ institutionalized patterns of discrimination racism are embedded within our cultures.
Genderis socially constructed
Gender is socially constructed as opposed to it being biologically real in that every society has roles considered to be for the female and the others for the male. These roles differ from one society to another. As explained in the lecture, gender socialization is the process through which people attach symbolic or cultural meaning to their genitals. People are shaped and influenced by the label they are assigned from birth, as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’. Thus, gender is culturally expected behaviors and identities based on biological characteristics and attached to masculinity or femininity. Gender is dynamic, and the expression has never been permanent at any particular time or place. Thus, gender is a social or cultural expectation on how women and men should behave, as categorized.
Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory
Pierre Bourdieu explains forms of capital to include social, cultural and economic. Pierre felt the transmission of social class is unbalanced due to inequalities within societies. Individuals in society get to be stratified in a way that they possessed different levels and types of cultural capital. Cultural capital is expressed in Embodied state, objectified state and institutionalized state. People from well-off backgrounds are trained from birth in line with particular cultural dispositions, attitudes, and styles. These dispositions may be in the form of elite distinctions of cultural forms such as food, music, speaking styles and attire, and the materially unequal condition. Pierre felt that cultural capital act as educational navigation stem from parents’ transmission of knowledge and the complexities of locating avenues and opportunities in education.
The social capital is the resources under group possession, influence and support. It has an immense effect on childrearing practices since it influences parent’s economic resources, time, expression and social connections. In economy capital, large economic shifts and trends globalization of capitalism and rapidly changing technology determines economic inequality. Morgan and his partner try to get to work, stay at work, make payments, acquire necessities, and stay out of debt. They have to make many sacrifices to fit in the income structure, even though it does not allow their upward mobility. This presents a different economic class.
Difference between Transsexual and Transgender
Sexual preference of one gender to another cannot be determined by sex and gender perception. Gender refers to the performance as the display of culturally expected behaviors that categorize people and through socialization is performed until people get used to it. Gender is regulated through self and social interaction. Transgender are persons born with both genitalia of both male and female. This refutes the common analogy that men and women are inherently different because of genes and biology. The dominant thinking of male and female is not enough to classify people since the intersex opposes division of distinct sexes. A person born with intersex organs are transsexuals whereas the transgender are that person born of a particular sex, but performs roles contrary to the expectation of traditional standards and gratification.
Social Class and Raising of Children
According to Annette Lareau, financial resources create differences in child rearing practices. What is seen to be affordable to a particular social class may be expensive for the other class, as in the middle and lower social classes. Social classes also determine the educational resources at disposal for children. The children of higher classes had constructed vocabularies than the low-class children due to the superior levels of education. The middle class is said to be confident while criticizing the education and profession of their children. According to Khon and Schooler (1983), parents’ occupation and work complexities influenced their childbearing. The children expressed different experiences depending on their social class. Parents’ intervention on children situation also proved ineffective due to the differences in the social class.
References
Lareau, A. (2002). Invisible inequality: social class and childrearing in black families and white families. Temple University
Kohn, M. & Schooler, C, eds. 1983.Work and personality: An inquiry into the impact
Of social stratification. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Sandberg, John F. and Sandra L. Hofferth. 2001. “Changes in Children’s Time with Parents, U.S., 1981–1997.” Demography 38:423–36.