Reflective essay

 

Reflective essay-Social Injustice

 

The world is a beautiful place with beautiful people and beautiful things. The almighty god is quite credible for making this world and settling mankind on this planet. As human beings dominating this great world it is our responsibility to keep it wonderful and beautiful, however as reality speaks that is seemingly not happening right now. This world will be wonderful and beautiful if there is justice in it, but the truth is justice is very rare to be seen nowadays. As discussed in my sociology class there is way more social injustice than there is social justice, which is quite concerning I would say.

Social justice is the promotion of equality, equity, fairness, and providing human rights to allindividuals despite the persons race, ethnicity and religion. On the other hand, social injustice is the opposite of social justice. Social injustice “implies the presence or promotion of unfairness, inequity, inequality in society. Social injustice manifests itself in practices such as discrimination in all forms, oppression, and other practices and social structures, which hinder the realization of the full human potential.” (Charles 15). Basically, social injustice takes many forms such as discrimination, racism, sexism, classism, inequality, inequity, unfairness, prejudice, surplus labour, etc. The list of social injustice is very long and occurs everywhere and to almost everyone. People receive discrimination, and get oppressed by the power elite and nothing is being done. If I was to discuss social injustice, I would not be able to stop writing because there is so much to talk about and this topic is quite broad. People get treated unfairly at work, home, school, and out in society. At work people get dominated by employers and forced to work in horrible conditions with low wages, and many people are even refused to receive equal work opportunities as others specifically women. At home there is always dispute between spouses over the smallest things. At schools the notion of bullying is yet still problematic and always at rise. People often get abused and bullied by others for being a different ethnicity, race, religion, having different skin color, and even for being in a different class. One of the more common forms of social injustice that takes place is heterosexism.Gays and lesbians are commonly discriminated against and because of that they do not receive similar opportunities and treatments as heterosexists. Im shocked how one hiuman being can be so cruel and unjust to another human being especially for small minor physical differences.

          Most of the things I learned in the course were quite new to me and some were a bit familiar. After learning all the concepts and themes in this course I have learned and have become more aware of all the issues around the world that promote social injustice. I knew that there were many issues that people face every day but I am quite surprised with all the other additional problems that exist and to the extent they occur. These issues and forms of social injustice that exist are really problematic for people in receiving social justice. I feel more aware of the reality now and it makes me feel that something should be done to change this.

European Food crisis

European food crisis

Dec 10 2011

Affective Reading Method

Another interesting video we watched in class was about the European food crisis. A woman in the video explains the trouble she and her family and many other people in Africa have to face because of  the food shortages. Most people became reliant on international aid for food because the world bank was not providing them with food.

The world bank is suppose to provide the people with food and supplies however the people were told to rely and buy foods from international markets rather than producing their own food and crops because it would be cheaper that way. Because of that people stopped producing their own crops and food, since it was encouraged by the world bank. The problem is that international food is more expsensive to buy and is realistically more cheaper to grow, and by stopping the growth of their own crops people are on food aid.Furthermore, the world bank encourages African people to produce specific crops that are more favourable to Europeans.The world bank consists of members from America and Europe, and it seems quite obvious that the world bank is trying to make profits for themselves by exploiting these poor people in Africa. The world bank is making bad desicions on purpose for personal gains.

African Russians-video

African Russians-video

Dec 8 2011

By: Charles Quist-Adade

Affective Reading Method

In class we viewed a very interesting, but quite appalling video. The video regarded social injustice faced by many black individuals in Russia around in the 1990`s. The video is produced and made by our professor Charles Quist-Adade and is really great in explaining the issue of racism. The video is made around 1992, however, much of the same issues still exist today.

Many black individuals, both men and women, young and old, faced a lot of troubles in Russia because of their skin color and race. Mixed race marriages were highly unacceptable esepcially between a Russian woman and a African man.White women that married black men were considered outlaws and as prostitutes for sleeing with a black man. Russian born blacks were not considered Russian by people, because even if you had a white parent but were black ,you would receive the title as a black and not as a Russian.

Individuals that faced racism feared goin to school and work and tried to avoid going out to ignore the racist comments. Such acts still occur today but not to that extent. Hopefully people will learn to become more caring and open to all races.

 

 

guest lecture

Under the Same Sun

Guest Lecture

Under the Same Sun Presentation

Affective Reading Method

Dec 8 2011

“Under the Same Sun” is a organization in Surrey that is helping people in several different parts of Africa who suffer from albinism. There were individuals from this group that attended our class and discussed many issues related to albinism. This group is attempting to bring awareness to people about the issues of albinism, education and protection to those with albinism and for people who do not fully understand what it is. The main concern is that many people in Africa go missing and die when they have albinism. The reason for this is that many people in Africa believe that those who have albinism must have magical properties and if they have their body parts it may bring them good luck or maybe fortune.

Basically, there are many weird people out there that lead people into believeing in false fortune and charm. Many people perform black magic and vodoo type of things, and these people make other people believe that they can get good luck by getting a body part of a person with albinism, and this has led to many murders and horrible incidents of people in Africa that have albinism.

This group brings awareness and educates people of such acts and issues. This form of social injustice must stop and I believe this organization is doing a great job by educating people about it.

chapter 4-Social justice in local and Global contexts

Ch.4 -The sociology of human rights and social justice

Nov 11, 2011

Author-Charles Quist-Adade

Paraphrastic Reading Method

Socialization is no small matter. The twists and turns of the long and winding process of socialization makes a person adequately human, capable of discering good and evil, morality and ethics. At birth the person relies merely on his or his instincts and imitation of significant others to navigate his or her limited world. With the passage of time and the accumulation of biological maturation, the individual gradually learns the norms of his or her society.

       Socialization is very important in our lives and takes place kind of naturally. Who we are today and how we behave, or even more importantly our identity is highly affected by our socializationn process. Socialization is the process by which we learn to become members of society. Our friends, family, work, school and even the media contribute to our process of socialization. Initially socialization is suppose to make us into good citizens, however since everyones experiences and socialization is different it may influence every individual some what differently. There are many people that are into crimes and are apart from society, which can conclude that those people may have socialized differently or the process of socialization may have taken place differently.

Chapter 3, social justice in local and global contexts

Social Justice and the social construction of inequality and difference

Nov 11 2011

author-Charles Quist-Adade

 Paraphrastic Reading Method

“Differences between categories such as race and sex are assumed to be fundamental and or found and reflect non-biological differences in behaviour, perception, and personality and are used to argue for different legal, social, and economic roles and rights. There is a danger of being labeled a member of “other” category.  For instance men, who appear feminine face strong public criticism and humiliation. Thus, people try to maintain a distance from one another to avoid criticism that might be leveled by members of their own and other groups”.

In society it is evident that it is not that hard to be seen as a “other”. Constructing differences is quite easy, which is seen in life today. People get discriminated and crticised for any possible small difference. Taking gays and lesbians for example, probably face one of the most discriminations and criticisms from society or other people, only because they have different views and ideas, that may not be accepted by many societies. However, in the text book it states that “otherizing is an effective social control mechanism because both victims/victimized and victimizers perpetuate them. The victimizers do so through both open and subtle coercive mechanisms such as punishments, threats, socialization, hegemony, etc., and victimized accepts and succumbs to oppression through passivity, paralysis of will, self-fulfilling prophecy, etc.”.-Charles

 

chapter one Social justice in local and global contexts

 Nov 11 2011

Key Concepts and Recurring Themes

Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts

Chapter 1: Key Concepts and Recurring Themes

Charles Quist-Adade

Dialectic Reading Method

What questions did the text raise?	How did the text answer this?	How does the answer match my own ideas and experiences?
What concepts are in our critical thinking toolkit?	Concepts of ignorance Obvious Debunking Critique Bracketing	In this chapter I learned many new things and ideas that I did not understand or knew before. We use these concepts almost everyday in life and never realize it. For example ignorance, which basically means to ignore or not pay attention to, which we all have done. Debunking is a really interesting critical thinking concept, it allows people to look at the obvious and surface-level explanations for social behaviour and the less obvious and deeper explanations.
What are the core concepts and recurring themes of Social (in)Justice ?	Justice Human rights Ethnocentrism Cultural relativism Binaries Dialectics social injustice	Most of the terms discussed in the text are pretty common and very familiar to me, but the terms binaries and dialectics was kind of new. Ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, binaries and dialectics are more related to social injustice while justice, human rights are more connected with social justice.