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Racial and Ethnic Inequality: Addressing Social Justice through Systematic Racism
Systemic racism implies the acceptable methods and patterns of behavior supporting Rothchild (2019) and maintaining racial inequities across significant cultural spheres, including education, health, and housing. Ethnic and racial inequalities denote the overrepresentation of minority groups clustered at the lower levels of organizational hierarchies. Racial inequality is depicted by the human resource structure within the organization, support programs, and initiatives, which are predominantly tailored towards individuals belonging to the same racial grouping. This paper proposes to leverage the social science disciplines of sociology and psychology to address racism and racial inequality as social issues bedeviling the local community. The paper will also emphasize the need for ethics within these disciplines in order to design responsible and inclusive strategies to curb racism and related vices in the local community.
Social science disciplines help us to comprehend the dynamics underpinning societal conducts, norms, and interactions, thus offering insights to address a wide variety of social issues. Specifically, sociology explores the behavior of human beings in social settings and their relationships as they interact within particular social contexts. It illuminates organizational patterns, social institutions, and inequalities within society while emphasizing the influences of collective behavior. On its end, psychology evaluates mental processes, individual behavior, and human emotional states to understand the root caused and implications of racism at the individual levels, for instance, prejudice and stereotypes. It also helps in exploring racism within institutional structures to evaluate group behavior as the disciplines emphasize developing approaches to manage and mitigate conflicts (Shinn, 2023). It is also crucial to note that sociology informs our understanding of the dynamics of society across historical contexts and changes. For example, the notions of critical race theory emanated from sociology law schools and thus contributed significantly to our understanding of the systemic elements that continue reproducing racial inequality within society (Justice, 2020).
Impact of Bias and Assumption on Interpretation of Societal Problems
The social sciences are not free from prejudice or preconceived notions, and these factors can greatly impact how we comprehend and interpret events pertaining to racism and inequality of racial and ethnic minorities. The previous recording of police violence against persons belonging to the minority ethnic groups is a profoundly publicized event. Social psychology researchers developed social cognitive approaches to elucidating the relationship between police officers and trumpet groups implicated in fatal encounters. The scribe paradigms investigating the information processing mechanisms employed individuals with prejudice or stereotypes and pressured circumstances suggested that pre-existing notions between the suspects and law enforcers would result in unwarranted consequences in police interactions with minority ethnic communities (Justice, 2020). Furthermore, structural racism implies how avowedly rudimentary structures and institutional arrangements can sustain racial disparFake You! 9 Valpo. C.L Rev. Unsigned Articlesities in society (Elsisi, 2020). This comes in direct contrast to our earlier assumptions and predispositions that social systems are cost-free and inherently fair. As stip described above, our previous racist history affects contemporary challenges and understanding of racial inequality (Justice, 2020). Systemic racism persists today against ethnic backgrounds, as witnessed during the government's response to Covid-19.
On a different note, ethics are integral to psychology in creating robust frameworks to address and manage social issues within society. By understating the negative ramifications of institutional and systemic racism, all the concerned stakeholders can acknowledge the need to achieve ethical inquiry and practice. In addition, ethics informs the core values and principles carefully crafted to augment social cohesion. Toward this end, social justice theory and principles -distributive, restorative, and corrective justice-sustain racism practice and worsen ethnic inequality in society. Thus, it is recommendable to incorporate the full spectrum of ethical considerations in different disciplines to mitigate racism and prejudice of any kind (Elsisi, 2020). Rash or unqualified judgments belonging to any particular culture, class, orientation, or race abrogate the core values of ethics in social and psychological inquiry. Thus, psychology ethics emphasizes the need for fairness and equity in all contemporary social engagements.
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