Wisleidy Plasencia
Applied Social Psychology
Dr. Anthony Nelson
September 30, 2021
Lesson 6 Blog Entry
Intergroup relations and diversity are a big topic in today’s society. There are many issues arising based on discrimination, diversity, and intergroup relations. In today’s society it is very common to see an African American man married to a White woman, or vice versa. Even though there is a lot of diversity now compared to back then, where White’s had to be with only White’s and Blacks had to be with only Black’s, we still see discrimination happening amongst our own races. There has been police brutality amongst African Americans that are not justifiable, there has been riots where all races are involved in violence towards one another, and discrimination in general where a person of colored is not wanted somewhere because they are not White. These are things that are coming back after many years, and although it never went away completely, it was very subtle until a couple years back when the police brutality against African Americans began. This spiked a huge uproar in the communities all around our country, which has now led to more discrimination than there ever was.
Cultural diversity as a whole has grown much more now than it ever has, but that doesn’t mean that there still isn’t discrimination amongst these cultures. Although our communities try to stay together and try to be culturally diverse, there is always something pulling us apart. There is always discrimination that has to appear from somewhere that will cause an uproar in the community, but things aren’t how they were back then. Now, any person can work in any place they desire and can not be dismissed based on the color of their skin. No White man or woman is expected to work with only Whites, just like Blacks aren’t expected to work with only blacks (Gruman, Schneider & Coutts, 2016). This is where our cultural diversity has definitely strengthened. We as a country are more diverse, we are allowed to work with others who aren’t part of our culture and our race. We are allowed to be around one another despite our differences. This allows for us to learn more about each other and our cultures. One of the things that our country relies on is the power distance.
The power distance is the extent in which a society or a country allows inequality. The United States is very low on this spectrum ( Gruman, Schneider & Coutts, 2016). The United States seems to be more focused on building equality as opposed to hierarchy and that is how it should be. We should be building more equality for our people and our cultural groups of people. No one should be left behind or discriminated against because of their race,culture, or color of their skin. We should be building equality and that is only done by coming together as one big community and helping each other out. We should listen to the power distance that the United States has in place and look beyond that. Coming together will end a lot of the brutalities that are happening around our country. There are so many young souls that have passed due to racial inequality and discrimination and that is not how it should be.
This should be a lesson learned for everyone in our community. We need to do better. We need to come together as one big group and stop the inequality and the discrimination happening across our cultures. We are culturally diverse, but we aren’t quite where we need to be as a Country. We need to be able to come together to stop the fatalities that are happening between one another, between the different races and cultures. We should fight for our equality and not fight each other about it. Being culturally diverse is beautiful, but not when all we see in our communities are deaths based on racial or cultural discrimination. This needs to end and it needs to end now. Cultural diversity is happening, but the discrimination rates need to lower and come to a complete stop. We need to come together as a whole, for all of our safety.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Hello,
I agree with you that diversity within cultures have came a very long way from what it used to be. Like you said, no one white man can expect to work with only whites just like an African American man shouldn’t expect to work with only African Americans. However– just because that is the morally right way, does not mean it is always the case and is followed. I believe that there is still very real racism lurking among us and there is always a way it shows its’ face. There is a documentary that breaks down the 13th amendment and everything that goes along with it. It explains how the system is built to work not with but against African Americans, and even shares many real life facts among the topic (13th, 2020). One thing that stuck out for me was that for every 1 in 3 black man to be arrested equates to 1 in 17 white men (13th, 2020). Statistics like that make me question how far we have truly came- or if we’ve just modernized slavery with jails. Thank you for sharing.
References
“13th”, YouTube, YouTube, 17 Apr. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8. Accessed 30 Oct. 2021.
hi Wisleidy,
I agree with your opinion about cultural diversity is beautiful and it eliminate conflict between different groups. However, the racist problem still exist, and it needs more effort. I agree with you mentioned that we should establish equality, and this can only be done by coming together as one large community and helping each other. And the way you mentioned power distance concerning with this topic is also what i learned from this lesson.
On second opinion, I think in some cases, current cultural diversity causes more racial problems. For example, in some media press, they would trumpet the weakness of minorities. I think the basic rule is to eliminate the distance between racial difference, create an equal social environment.
References:
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com