Marisol Munoz

Final Paper
Sociology

The Privileges Of The DOMINANT

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in

diversity there is beauty and there is strength Maya Angelou. We live
in a world where there are numerous of race and ethnicity that creates
us as a unique human being. A unique human being that are beautiful,
confidence, strong, independent, and different. The more different
features someone has, the more I believe we can learn from that
person. One feature that is really important is someones race and
ethnicity. Race was biologically determined in straightforward ways,
and the dividing lines between groups were clear. An ethnic group is
set apart from others explicitly because of its national origin or cultural
patterns. Some of the characteristic that makes different ethnic group
can include language, diet, sports, and religious beliefs. Also traditions,
norms, and values are important in distinguishing what ethnic group
you believe in. Understanding racial groups in United States is called
racial formation as sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant named
it. Racial formation is a sociohistorical process in which racial
categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed. Omi

Marisol Munoz
Final Paper
Sociology

and Winant argues, to understand race you must notice the social,
economic, and political forces that have built it as a basic distinction
among human beings. In British Colonies on the North-American
continent, people that were dominant were the people that were
associated in the categorizes of political and economic groups. They
had privileges over their employees. During, the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries they used violence and intimidation to control
their neighboring Indians and enslaved African Americans. Some of
their traditions were to use violence and physically hurt someone when
to punish them. Their punishments were nothing compared to our
punishments today. In 1620s, English law allowed rapists to be
castrated, people that would steal (thieves) allow people to amputate
their hands. That is mind blowing for someone to have the privilege to
order or to violate someones freedom because they are consider more
important than others. What are some Racial groups and their
percentage of total population in the United States are Whites (nonHispanic) 63.3%, Blacks/African Americans 12.2%, Asian Americans
4.8%, and Native Americans (Alaskan Natives) 0.8%. Now, some ethnic
groups and their percentage of total population in the United States
are Germans 15.2%, Irish 11.1%, English 8.2%, Mexican Americans
10.8%, Cubans 0.6%, Salvadorans 0.6%, and Dominicans 0.5%.What

Marisol Munoz
Final Paper
Sociology

caught my attention the most while reading chapter 13 in SOC by Witt

was that the most population in United States was White Americans.
The race from the beginning was the most dominant. Its category
never changed. For example White Americans only had one category
they went by. In 1790 it was categorized by free white males and free
white females while African Americans were categorized as slaves. In
1890, 1940,1990, and 2010 they were still named as White Americans
whereas African Americans were categorized as black, negro, black or
negro, and finally they were known as African Americans.

Ethnicity and race may also still be important to a specific racial

group. A racial group is a group that is set apart from others because of
physical differences that have taken on social significance. Being in a
group that is more dominant than another group can be beneficial.
People shouldnt be seen as more popular or more important because
of their social/racial group they are in. Evidence suggest that the ethnic
identity of the dominant group is more powerful than any other group.
This is true and I totally disagree. I dont understand why a particular
group has more power than a group that has less people. For example,
if you are a student in High School and you have plenty of friends, I
dont understand why that group can have privilege in making choices

Marisol Munoz
Final Paper
Sociology

or rules in school that other groups have to obey them. I remember my

junior year of High School there was a big hill in the middle of the
school and there was a rule that nobody but seniors could sit or stand
there. I found it ridiculous because senior students would tackle
younger students because they would step on the hill. Dominant
privilege can definitely be violent. Minority groups have significantly
less control or power over their lives than the members of a dominant
or majority group have over theirs. Sociologists consider groups that
lack power to be minority groups even if they represent a numeric
majority of the population in a society. In the State of Arizona 2010,
they passed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe
Neighborhoods Act, which allowed law enforcement to stop anyone
based on their race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than on a
persons behavior. The law required immigrants all time to carry their
documents to prove their legal immigration status. Although its more
controversial it still passed in April 2011 and encouraged different
states to get stricter immigration policies. Blacks and Whites have
significantly different perceptions of local law enforcement. In a
national survey, when asked how much confidence they had in local
police, 38 percent of Whites and 14 percent of Blacks had a great
deal, while 34 percent of Blacks and 9 percent of Whites had very

Marisol Munoz
Final Paper
Sociology

little. Feminist scholar Peggy McIntosh became interested in White

privilege. Macintosh discovered, that her skin color opened doors for
her. She could browse through stores without being shadowed by the
owner of the store, she would use credit card without suspicion, and
realized that her Whiteness made the job of parenting easier. These
were some privileges she had because of the color of her skin. People
with a certain type of skin color have it easier than others.

When change happens, it tends to follow a pattern. If someone

speaks out loud when it is necessary to stand up for someone in a
situation; It would definitely make a difference. People believe in their
freedom rights and are allowed to defend themselves. For example, I
was in my senior year and I wanted to desperately attend medical
assistant school. There were only four slots available, I submitted my
resume to my counselor and I was confident that I would be the one to
be chosen. When they announced the four students, I was devastated
because I wasnt one of them. I was confused because I passed the
test and submitted everything they had asked for. I was told by my
friend that my counselor said that he wasnt going to choose me
because I was Mexican American and he didnt like hispanic people. I
was disturbed and disgusted of his comments. I went to confront him

Marisol Munoz
Final Paper
Sociology

with my friend and principal. I didnt want nothing to happen to him I

just wanted to be accepted to this school Ive waited for a long time.
After the principal reviewed my resume and all of the other
requirements, I was accepted and started school the next week. After
months passed the principal thanked me personally, I was curious why
he was thanking me. He told me that he was proud of me that I stood
up for what I thought was wrong. He told me that the counselor for
over two years was only choosing Asian Americans and White
Americans. He has never picked any Mexican or African American
students to attend the medical assistant school. The principal also told
me that most of the White Americans students that were chosen had
poor grades. The moral of my story is that if I have never spoken up I
would have never been accepted to attend medical assistant school for
free but most importantly, this so call counselor would have still been
choosing whoever he liked instead of the people that really deserve it.
People go through so much discrimination from their skin color, their
race and ethnicity, the way someone looks period. People want the
same respected and equality as the dominant people.