Political Culture of Racism and Essay

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The roots of social control theory can be traced back to Emile Durkheim, who in the late 1800s proposed that "The more weakened the groups to which [the individual] belongs, the less he depends on them, the more he consequently depends only on himself and recognizes no other rules of conduct than what are founded on his private interests" (209). Hirschi expanded upon this theory to include the influence of social bonding on antisocial behavior. As described by Tittle (1995), Hirschi's social control theory "contends that everybody is motivated toward deviance, but only those who are relatively free of the bonds of commitment to, and belief in, the conventional order, attachment to others, and involvement with conventional institutions of society actually manifest their deviant motivation in unacceptable behavior" (7).

There is little question that ethnic minorities are the ones most likely fall into this category. This is not because they are 'born criminals' but rather because they are frequently isolated from conventional society and therefore are not tied to the conventional institutions of acceptable behavior. Unfortunately, the more people tend to believe that criminal behavior is innate to certain races and ethnicities, the more isolated these groups become, and in turn, the more likely they are to commit crimes.

According to Paul Gordon Lauren, the true regulator of criminal activity is, for most people, not the threats of the criminal justice system, but their own set of morals, values and beliefs. These morals, values and beliefs are shaped by one's surroundings. Most people do not commit murder or other crimes because they know deep within themselves that it is wrong and they simply could not live with their own conscience if the committed such a horrendous offense against humanity.

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However, for those who are raised in environments where criminal behavior is rule rather than the exception; where poverty is rampant and role models are scarce; value systems naturally begin to shift.

There is little room to deny that white people, on the whole, have access to more resources and more privileges than many minorities. Therefore, it is often easy for whites to blame race and ethnicity as the inherent reason for high levels of minority criminal activity and incarcerations. After all, they have not had any of the same experiences as these minorities so it is difficult for them to fathom making some of the choices that other people make. What these people fail to realize, however, is that because their experiences have been different, their way of thinking is different as well. Their set of values and beliefs formed in an environment that was nurturing and productive, while others were raised in an environment that shaped their values in an entirely different way. Race may be something that can be identified physically via biological traits, but that does not mean that it predisposes people to certain behaviors. Thus in all senses that matter, race is a social construct, and as such, there is potential for racism and the negative effects that go with it to change, if only society were to change.

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