Problems associated with race & ethnicity and/or sex & gender (Essay Sample)

Response 2
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Discrimination or prejudice is a vital subject in sociology. This owes to the reality that understanding how prejudice and discrimination affects the society enables sociologists to build a favorable living environment for the entire humanity. Some of the causes of prejudice include race, ethnicity, and gender. It should be noted that even though prejudice and discrimination have negative effects, there are some positive effects of grouping people based on race, gender, and ethnicity. It follows that how the civilization perceives the aforementioned social categories determines whether discrimination and prejudice exist. This paper discusses discrimination and racial prejudice by focusing on race, ethnicity, and gender.
It is critical that race, ethnicity, and gender are associated with several problems. This owes to the reality that categorizing people based on their physical or social grouping could result in prejudice and discrimination. For instance, grouping people based on their race could make people believe that some races are superior than others i.e. whites are considered superior to Spaniards and Indians who are considered superior to blacks. This would in turn belittle other races that would prefer to imitate cultural practices of superior races. Categorizing individuals based on sex or gender is also associated with societal problems because grouping people according to their gender could result in issues such as sexism, male chauvinism, patriarchy, and gender violence.
It is clear that ethnicity, race, and gender could result in several societal problems. Nonetheless, I believe that ethnicity, race, and gender could benefit the society. For instance, the aforementioned elements provide human beings with a source of identity. Through ethnicity, race, and gender, someone can trace the routes of their ancestors and understand their origin. This is enhanced by the fact that people of color can appreciate their origin after understanding that their ancestors were natives of different countries. Gender also makes people live happily knowing that they are male, female, or bisexual. This is highlighted by the reality that people who suffer from gender identity disorder report to feel a lot of pain.
It is notable that even though race, ethnicity, and gender have several negative aspects, dividing people according to sex or race could benefit the society. For instance, men and women have different anatomies that respond to the environment differently. This owes to the reality that men have physical bodies that adapt to sports while women do not. It follows that dividing people based on gender pr...