Making Sense of Society

Essay # 56275

Ethnic Studies
Sociology

A discussion of the claim that racism is inevitable in a multi-cultural society.

2,235 words () | 12 sources | MLA | 2005 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper begins by giving a broad definition of the sociological term "multi-culturalism" before going on to explain the broad and diverse concept of "racism", where it stems from and what is actually meant by being racist. It continues with an assessment of whether racism today within British societies is indeed inevitable and therefore will never cease.

From the Paper:

"Ethnological writers, such as Gobineau of France and Amman of Germany taught and established false theories of "races being unnaturally unequal" (Ellis, 1915) because of craniological differences that affected a race's moral and intellectual capacity. Fear of Negroes and black inequality could be stemmed from this, as they presented a false "Negro type" that was circulated within the perfect white standard "to impress the rising generations against the blacks" (Ellis, 1915). Furthermore, the whole history of the slave trade must have indeed played an important part in the subsequent change in the attitudes of white societal members towards the blacks, as black people within their homeland were deemed "monstrous" acting out "animal like behavior" "cannibalism" and practices of "sodonomy" (Parekh Report, 2001)."