Sociology Discussion Responses Response to Post #

Sociology Discussion Responses

Response to Post #

I agree with you completely that racism is one of the most significant social problems in contemporary society at every level from local communities to the international global community. As your post illustrates, racism occurs both overtly such as in the case of explicit acts of prejudice and discrimination, as well as covertly, such as within institutionalized settings. Combating racism requires addressing the most obvious manifestations such as the violence you describe as well as the less obvious but equally prevalent manifestations, such as systemic prejudicial and unequal treatment of minorities within governmental or quasi-governmental institutions.

At its most fundamental level, racism is a social problem that is largely attributable to social learning and other aspects of socialization. Therefore, the most effective approach to addressing it requires intervention at this level to prevent the formation of biases in the first place. Unfortunately, by the time racist attitudes and beliefs develop within individuals and in communities, it is much more difficult to reduce them after the fact.

Response to Post # 2

While I agree that hunger is a tremendously important problem among the poor communities in many nations and within the largest segments of the population in many poor nations, I would not necessarily agree that the most effective approach to resolution lies in increasing food production. That is simply because in many of those poor nations, there would not be such a shortage of food and other resources but for the inefficient utilization of resources by the governments. In many cases, the corrupt governments in the poorest nations commandeer the available resources for profit-generating sales to other nations while their own populations are starving. Likewise, international aid in the form of donated foods are also intercepted by dominant political groups and criminal enterprises with political connections and sold for profit instead of distributed to the needy populations for whom they were intended.

Therefore, I would consider the most efficient approach at resolving the hunger problem in some of the most needy populations in the world to be ensuring that the governments of those nations stop interfering with the optimal distribution of resources and (especially) with the resources donated by the international community that are expressly intended to help the poor. The other approach I would consider most important would be to apply international pressure on for-profit companies that have usurped the natural resources (such as access to fresh water) in parts of the world where indigenous farmers relied on those resources without free access to which they cannot continue to farm productively for the benefit of their communities.

Response to Post # 3

Your post perfectly illustrates the importance of addressing racism at the most fundamental level of socialization instead of retroactively by trying to reduce its manifestations once racist perspectives have already developed and been internalized within the dominant population and its governmental institutions. Racism and prejudice among police officers is a long-known example of some of the ways that racism in society more generally can influence its institutions and perpetuate racism in government functions. By the time police officer candidates receive their training and appointments, it is often too late to make significant changes to personal beliefs, attitudes, and expectations in regard to racism through sensitivity training or to change behavior through formal policies and procedures. The more effective way of eliminating racism in public servants is to address the formation of racist attitudes much earlier so that fewer individuals in society reach adulthood with those types of prejudices.

For the same reason, it would seem much less effective to try to resolve deep-rooted antagonism between youth and law enforcement institutions in society after the fact, such as once they are already established. Therefore, the most effective approach to reducing the antagonism that often exists between youth and police might be to focus on preventing the underlying contributing factors from developing long before they become manifested in attitudes and beliefs about governmental institutions. Part of that approach would involve promoting collaboration of youth and police agencies in the education system rather than attempting to resolve negative perceptions after the fact. Naturally, greater sensitivity on the part of government institutions to the justified complaints of civilians is essential to that approach.

Response to Post # 4

While I certainly agree that addressing the various risks posed by terrorists is one of the most important concerns of contemporary government, I would suggest that the traditional approach of using military resources to protect physical borders is likely to be insufficient because it is outdated. First, the growing trend among international terrorists is to promote attacks by decentralized organizations without any affiliation to groups that can be combated through traditional applications of force. In many cases, international terrorist groups rely on the Internet to recruit and indoctrinate prospective terrorists who operate from within the national borders of nations and, increasingly, as "lone-wolf"-types of terrorists.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, the greatest international threat today is likely to be executed through asymmetric types of warfare that permit hostile nations and major terrorist groups to attack larger and much better equipped nations with whose military forces they could never fight through traditional military means. In that regard, the greatest terrorism and asymmetric warfare operations are conducted through the cyber medium and, increasingly, by infiltrating and attacking computer systems responsible for maintaining non-military operations such as civilian monetary institutions and municipal systems upon which modern society depends. While continued military capabilities with respect to physical borders are still important, the emphasis for the future defense against terrorism should probably focus on protecting the computer system infrastructure such as municipal electrical power systems from attack through the cyber medium.

Response to Post # 5

I would completely agree with your emphasis on cultural awareness and the reduction of cultural imperialism and relativism as some of the most important ways of improving contemporary society. As I have suggested in other post responses in a slightly different context, the most effective way of improving the interrelations of local communities as well as global communities is to focus on preventing the formation of prejudicial beliefs and attitudes very early in the socialization process. By comparison, trying to reduce their prevalence and their effects after those attitudes and beliefs have already become established in the individual and within communities (at every level) is much less likely to be successful than preventing their formation in the first place through the socialization process.