The first question that needs to be examined in this paper is the historical background for the proposed topic of discrimination. For the historical background of the topic, discrimination has existed for centuries, but has been a hot topic since the 20th century (Burt and Simmons, 534). In recent news, it has been the center of controversy when it comes to police brutality as well as the DACA children, who are being threatened with deportation simply for the reason their parents brought them to this country as illegal immigrants. While police brutality has been an issue periodically since the 1990s, during the last five years it has increased where African Americans have been subjected to cruel treatment by police officers across the country (Burt and Simmons, 537). Additionally, with the nation being so divided where the DACA dreamer children are concerned, there is a loss of compassion and remembrance for what principle this country was founded on. There is no logical reason to punish these children who are now contributing citizens by deporting them; many of the DACA recipients are in a variety of professions that make them valuable members of society.
Many readers may ask what the purpose of this type of study might be since the problem of discrimination has been in existence for so long. The sociological impact would be to improve race relations in the United States between groups that typically have experienced friction. While African Americans and Caucasians are the obvious groups that have friction between them, there is also friction between Caucasians and other minorities (Koppelman, 14). Namely groups such as Asians, Latinos and others who are classified as illegal immigrants have recently experienced discrimination from mainly Caucasians in America. Additionally, Middle Easterners have experienced discrimination since 9/11 and could derive some benefit from this study. At the risk of sounding utopic, the need for this study is to make relations between groups better for the current generation as well as future generations (Koppelman, 17). In short, the purpose of the study is to improve race relations in America.
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The study is worth doing because as with any type of situation, things change and it is not always for the better. As situations change, possible solutions to solve problems can also change (National Academies, 19). What worked to reduce discrimination twenty years ago does not work in today’s current society. This is the main reason why researchers should do follow-up studies on topics such as discrimination; new solutions must be discovered to meet current needs based on the problem. If sociologists left solutions in place and did not revise them according to the current needs of society, the previous work on the topic was for nothing (National Academies, 19).
It is also important to test assumptions with the current study being conducted for this project. Without the assumptions, there is virtually nothing to use to validate the results of the study. Some of the assumptions that are being used in this type of study are (1) that Caucasians are the main group who discriminate against other groups, (2) it is impossible to have perfect relations between the races, and (3) the discrimination experienced by minority populations is not the same for everyone.
In conclusion, it is apparent that there is a need to perform a study on the topic of discrimination. This topic has been an issue for decades, and given the current political climate there is a need to revisit this for an updated study. Additionally, at a time when society seems to have lost its moral compass, discrimination needs to be examined and possible solutions need to be sought before the consequences become too great to bear.
- Burt, Callie H., and Ronald L. Simons. “Interpersonal racial discrimination, ethnic-racial socialization, and offending: Risk and resilience among African American females.” Justice Quarterly 32.3 (2015): 532-570.
- Koppelman, Kent L. Understanding human differences: Multicultural education for a diverse America. Pearson, 2016.
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and Committee on Population. The integration of immigrants into American society. National Academies Press, 2016.
