FREE ESSAY ON FINAL EXAM

FINAL EXAM

3. 1. Unfortunately in our society people are judged and put into categories by race.
Hansen tells us that the definition of race is, how a person identifies themselves in
response to a question about their racial background. People have tried to categorize man
since the beginning of time. The first actual reference to race comes from Homer. He
spoke of a black or southern race. Early Greek and Egyptian writings talk about the poor
being of another race. The first person to attempt to classify people by race was German
Anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He came up with five groups including
Caucasians, Mongolians, Ethiopians, Americans, and Malayans. It is important to almost
every culture to distinguish people between races. They look at how some people are the
same and how they are different from each other. While there are many different social
definitions for race modern genetics tells us that there are no biological factors that
determine race. There are physical characteristics that we conotate with certain races
but that has nothing to do with biology. We know from DNA studies that we all have a
common ancestor. I will go through six different theories of race. Race as lineage is
classified by a group of persons, animals, or plants connected by a common descent or
origin. The major point of this definition is that physical traits are passed down by
heredity. Linnaeus came up with the binomial classification which came from the
observation that there were animals that could not successfully interbreed with other
animals. Race as a type uses characteristics with a special form. This theory uses the
physical characteristics such as skin color, hair color, disease, and the ability to
adapt to a climate as its basis. Race as a subspecies is used based on the definition
that subspecies are a genetically distinct group that has evolved in relative isolation
almost to the point where it cannot successfully breed with other isolated groups in
within its broader species. (Hansen) Race as status is used just like a caste system.
Status is a position held by a person or group in relation to another person or group.
(Hansen) Certain groups have better intelligence while others have lower intelligence.
Race as a socially constructed category says that there is not a way to classify race
through biology. This theory believes that race is defined differently by different
people. Hopefully some day we will be able to classify people in other ways besides race.

4. 2. Ethnicity as defined by Hansen is displaying or being perceived to display shared
historical experiences as well as unique organizational, behavioral, and cultural
characteristics. There are different cultural characteristics that give ethnic labels.
These characteristics include native language, cultural traditions, country or region of
beginning, norms and beliefs, family rituals or practices, preferences in food and
clothing, and interaction patterns or interpersonal styles. 
5. 3. Prejudice and discrimination are two terms that can be 
intertwined but are different in meaning. Schaefer 
gives us very good definitions of these two terms in the book. He defines Prejudice as, a
negative attitude toward an entire category of people. (Schaefer 44) He also defines
discrimination as, behavior that excludes all members of a group from certain rights,
opportunities, or privileges. (Schaefer 44) Both of these terms can be applied to
different things such as race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. I will use
ethnicity because it is often used in prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice is covered
through thoughts and beliefs and not through words. When you show prejudice toward an
individual for whatever reason you are not looking at ther individual qualities or
beliefs you are looking at the group that they belong to that you do not like..
Discrimination comes through the denial of an opportunity because of an individuals
ethnicity. If you do not give a qualified person a position for your company based on the
fact of the ethnic origin that is discrimination. An example of prejudice would be racial
slurs. Often on this campus I here different racial slurs all of the time. Often times
when I attend a party or go out to a bar I will hear people making fun of others by using
these racial slurs. While many people contend that they are just joking and do not really
mean these things it says to me that they really do mean these things. If they did not
believe them they would not use these racial slurs. An example of discrimination would be
not getting a promotion for a job because of your ethnicity. My father is a sergeant with
the Chicago Police Department. In 1993 he took a promotion test with the department to
make it to the rank of Lieutenant. There were two sections to the test. One verbal and
the other one was written. My father aced the written part of the exam while he failed
the verbal part of it. If you missed one question in the verbal part of the exam you
failed the test. It was found that the test makers of the exam told many of the white
officers the specific response to a particular question. If you did not know this correct
response you failed the test. My father along with the rest of the minorities failed the
test. This test was discriminatory because certain answers were given to white officers
and not to minority officers. Both of these two terms are very much in our society.
Hopefully some day these terms will remain in a history book and not in our daily
papers.
4. Immigration is an important fact that affects and that has always affected our
country. There are all sorts of views to it. There are people who believe that this
country should remain open to all because that it is how our forefathers came here. There
are others that say that our country is already filled with enough people and that we
should not let new people into it. Immigration is defined by Schafer as, coming into a
new country as a permanent resident. (Schaefer 505) There have been many different waves
of immigration to the United States since its existence. There are three dist 
6.