Bernadette Gibbons
Sociology
Dr. Carter
March 30th, 2006
Minorities
Each and every nationality possesses a certain culture. Each culture in fact
possesses its own traditions. What makes each person that we come into contact with
each day is their heritage and their traditions. People are brought up in various ways and
the way that values are instilled in them determines what type of person they will
become. These days’ minorities are viewed as somewhat of a problem or as a group of
people that America needs to be cleansed of in order to have a stable society. My
argument is that America is only a stable environment because of the diversity in culture
that is present here today. This country was built by various groups of immigrants and to
deny certain groups the life that we are living is very unfair.
The functionalist theorists view society as a world built up of each individual
interacting with those in their society. In my eyes, they are saying that people are
comprised of not only their own ways of life but that they also capture a mixture of other
cultures when they come to terms with them, thus making a new sort of culture. The
conflict theorist view society as one that is ever changing and that it is because of the new
immigrants and such that the world is in some way disintegrating because the new elite
groups are replacing the old.
If one was to look closely at both of these methods there would be some sort of
reality that would shine through. The thing that is scary for United States officials is that
here are these immigrants who are extremely well educated and they are coming over
here and taking the well paying jobs right from under our own feet. Is it their fault that
they have the ability to be that successful? I don’t believe it is. I believe that this kind of
situation should empower Americans to strive to do even better. That way, each person
would be working to the best of their ability and we would have a sense of variety in our
employers as well as our employees.
On the television these days I see various sitcoms that show different families
holding on to particular lifestyles. Take the station UPN for example. Not to sound
judgmental, but it is a known fact that primarily the sitcoms broadcasted from that station
are aimed at African Americans and Hispanic people. It’s not very often that you would
see a sitcom with an entire African American family on the WB anymore. That is just the
way that television is run these days. For another example take teen films that are being
released these days. There is what everyone seems to know as the token black guy in
every film as the lead role’s best friend. He is the one who makes the funny jokes or who
is always talking about the girls when they walk on by. Even the movie “Not Another
Teen Movie” had a character coined “The Token Black Guy”. These are just examples of
how some parts of society view certain minorities. It is a sad reality, but one that is ever
present.
Sociologists have many perspectives from which they view society and how each
inhabitant behaves. They all believe that the method in which they use can determine
everything about a person or a group of people rather. Both the functionalist view and
the conflict theorist view acquire certain methods. These two views help in making us
understand why people are viewed as they are.