Answer to Question #181508 in Sociology for Lerato

Question

Using sociological imagination discuss experiences with racism and address racism in South Africa

Answer 1

The ability to appreciate the structural basis for individual issues is referred to as sociological imagination.The study of the relationship between racism, ethnic discrimination, and racial disparity is known as racism sociology.

I will use Unemployment as a example:

When few people (minority) are unemployed, the problem is considered a private or indivual issue because people often think that the unemployed are lazy and unresponsible without discussing the root cause of the unemployment. However, if many people (majority group) are unemployed, it becomes a public problem and is handled structurally. This is the same experience with racism since its only the minority group that suffer from it, the majority group either ignore it or assume its individual problem and not their concern in the socity.

Racism in South Africa

-Most of the racism that exists in South Africa today can be traced back to the Dutch colonization of the country in the middle of the seventeenth century. South Africa did not become a colony until the nineteenth century, though it had already passed ownership to the British empire. The acculturation of the new British colonists was a top priority.

-Issues surrounding ethnic identities and evolving dynamics of race relations, unsurprisingly, as South Africa establishes a modern non-racial democracy, have been left largely unexplored in African society.

-If we were to blame the victim, we will devote our scarce resources to addressing the personal failings of those who are victims of racism. Instead of blaming the machine, we should concentrate on the different social factors (injustices) that cause these problems. According to sociological research, the latter approach is ultimately needed to help us deal effectively with the soc.