Winant Racial Formations

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White Privilege As noted in the article ‘Racial Formations’ by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, race is defined as a socio-historical concept derived from past social relations and the need to separate people who seemed inferior apart from others. And the only way to do this was to create the concept of "race" in order to create innate power over others. For example, when Europeans came over to the New World, they "wondered if the natives of the New World were indeed human beings with redeemable souls" (Rothenberg 14). "When European explorers in the New World “discovered” people who looked different than themselves, these “natives” challenged then existing conceptions of the origins of the human species, and raised disturbing questions as to…show more content…
This is what leads to the idea of racism. "Presentation of self, distinction of status, and appropriate modes of conduct" determine the "racial etiquette" that exists in the U.S. (Rothenberg 16). This racial etiquette, groupings, meanings, and categories work as an "amateur biology" and a way of explaining the variation or diversity in humans (Rothenberg 17). This biology includes categorizing and stereotyping different races based on their temperament, sexuality, intelligence, athletic ability, and aesthetic performance (Rothenberg 17). This can indefinitely be seen in U.S. television characters. In these programs, racial characteristics are given to certain characters in order to easily define characters to the audience and make the program "familiar to different groups who may watch it (Rothenberg 17). Today, racial identity issues are now being seen among Asians and Latinos. "In our view it is crucial to break with these habits of thought. The effort must be made to understand race as an unstable and “decentered” complex of social meanings constantly being transformed by political struggle…” (Rothenberg 19) We treat race like it is fixed and embedded in human nature, but it has actually been created by politics, power and…show more content…
Many of us do not believe that those of different races are inferior to us, but subconsciously a majority of white people has stereotypes cemented in the back of their minds. We see TV shows and movies everyday using characters as perfect culture and race stereotypes, and advertisements and the media all combining to consistently influence our subconscious. We may not be conscious to it or believe in it at all, but whites still have a privilege in today’s world, and it may take awhile until that cemented stereotypical subconscious is lifted from all of our minds. As noted in the first article, "Presentation of self, distinction of status, and appropriate modes of conduct" determine the "racial etiquette" that exists in the U.S. (Rothenberg 16). This racial etiquette, groupings, meanings, and categories work as an "amateur biology" and a way of explaining the variation or diversity in humans. This racial etiquette is not a real thing. It is not a natural or true biological truth – it is a stereotype placed on races by people long ago who wanted power. As seen in article two, this repetition of elite-created hatred and superiority over others eventually turned into a sort of culture in America. Especially in the south, white personal power over the Blacks was a deep-rooted part of their southern culture. White privilege is a real thing, but it is not something we cannot get rid of. As noted in the NY Times article, "What does white privilege
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