White supremacy is a xenophobic attitude. It categorises and discriminates against the “Other” races. Other races are those people who are not white. Sociology is a subject that focuses on the concept of race. It unfolds the construction of power associated with white supremacy. A sociology paper can teach us the supremacist attitudes and construction of race. This article will tell you what you can learn from a sociology paper on white supremacy.
What things can you learn from a sociology paper on white supremacy?
1-The concept of the superior race
A sociology paper explores the concept of a superior race by analysing the concept of identity. Sociology argues that race is a social construction and not a biological factor. White supremacists judge people based on their skin and colour.
Blacks emerged from the shackles of slavery, and even after that, they had to fight for civil rights. The white supremacists, especially the Ku Klux Klan, are the white supremacists. They terrorised, lynched, and executed a lot of Blacks. These ideas were innate in the notion that non-whites are biologically inferior to whites. But a sociology paper tells us that race is not an immutable scientific fact.
It is a social construction, and people ascribe meaning to the concept of race based on an ideology
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2- Power Dynamics
A sociology paper can teach you that the cultural context determines the understanding of people regarding the concept of race. Sociology is a subject that helps us understand the power dynamics involved in constructing meaning attached to a race.
3-Colonisation
By reading a sociology paper, you can understand the entire discourse generated in the aftermath of colonisation. For example, Britain coined the concept “Mission civilisation” during colonisation. This concept was essential in maintaining the dominant position of the colonisers.
They justified the exploitation of the resources of other nations in the garb of mission civilisation. They termed the colonised people as the “white man’s burden”. It indicates the conceptualisation of white people’s superiority.
4-Ideology
A sociology paper can tell you that ideology determines the concept of race. Ideology refers to cultural notions favourable for the maintenance and justification of dominance by one race over another. The superiority claims serve the interests of the dominant groups and establish social stratification.
5-Social Stratification
A sociology paper can teach you about the social stratification that white supremacists argue for. Social stratification is the division and classification of people into hierarchies.
These hierarchies establish inequality in society. It depends upon the notion of supremacist ideologies. Dominant groups with claims of superiority are the major beneficiaries of social stratification. It marginalises the “Other” races and confines them to meagre resources.
6-The social construction of race
A sociology paper can teach you about the social construction of race. Furthermore, it can tell you how meaning is created through the concept of race. For example, the classification of various groups into different categories depends upon the interests of the dominant groups.
Sociology can teach you that the categorisation of race is not a fixed concept. It changes over time and across different places. But since the industrial revolution, the hierarchies of race have been embedded in the contemporary culture.
The white man is at the top of the hierarchy and other races, blacks and browns, are beneath them. It is a notion that accentuates the existing inequalities in the world. The Eurocentric notions of race and identity have established their monopoly over every field of life.
Sociology can help you understand the rising trend of white supremacists in Western countries. For example, during Donald Trump’s tenure, the white supremacists damaged the multicultural and pluralist social fabric of the United States.
Similarly, the rise of white supremacists across Europe argues for restrictions on immigration because it serves their interests. They do not want outsiders to come to their country and take away their jobs. Sociology can teach you how the social construction of race evolves. It can also help you understand what its political implications are.
7-Xenophobia and Rising violence
A sociology paper can teach you about the causes behind the xenophobic tendencies emerging in the western world. White supremacists are attacking other races to exclude them from social life.
One such example was the attack in the Netherlands on a mosque by a white supremacist. Xenophobia always leads to violence. The world witnessed the horrors of the superior race in Nazi Germany.
Hitler justified the brutal killings of millions of Jews in Nazi Germany by claiming the superiority of the German race. These notions propelled the entire Western hemisphere into a bloody war that took millions of lives.
8-White hegemony
A sociology paper can teach you about the concept of white hegemony. Whiteness determines the legitimacy of white people to be dominant.
Sociology can teach you to critically engage with the discourse and understand how whiteness has become the norm. Everything coming from the West is acceptable because they are the dominant ones.
But sociology paper compels you to think critically and dissect the construction of knowledge and meaning in the white hegemonic discourse.
9-White Privilege
A sociology paper can teach you how white privilege is still prevalent in third-world countries. People in third-world countries use slurs for their people who have a dark complexion.
People use all kinds of beauty products to attain the white colour. It is because white privilege still colonises the minds of third-world people. It can be even seen in some of the institutions in developing countries that white people get the privilege and benefits only because of their colour.
10-Political marginalisation of light-skinned people
A sociology paper can teach you about the political marginalisation of light-skinned people in Western countries. It can help you understand how the white supremacists justify the marginalisation.
The global rise of the Far-Right
A sociology paper can help you understand the global rise of the far-right across Western Europe. The right-wing nationalist political parties are against the pluralist ethos. They are damaging the multicultural social fabric of western societies.
Conclusion
A sociology paper can help you evaluate white supremacy by dissecting the concept of race and ethnicity. Reading sociology papers will help you understand that race is a social construct and based on an ideology. The ideology justifies the exploitation and marginalisation of light-skinned and brown people.