Race/Racism

Racism is a man-made categorization that is used to determine who gets access to social resources. As
humans moved across the globe, they adapted through genetic variations to survive. Today skin color is
the most associated thing with race as it is the most visible but where many populations looked similar
culture and religion were markers of racial differences. Race emerged during the 1400’s during the first
era of colonization, when white invaders thought they were superior, and the people of the colony were
inferior. Race and racism effects how people are treated in society, what opportunities they have, and
how much they will be paid for work.
White Privilege

White privilege is benefits members of society gets for being white. European wealth, status, and land
was passed down by generation always giving white people are head start. When Europeans colonized,
they always made a hierarchy and put themselves at the top and everyone else below them. All the
rewards have been built into society and all of its systems used to benefits whites are still in place. Only
2% of corporate heads of companies are non-whites which is underrepresentation. If everyone started
at the same playing field everyone would be about equal.

This can lead to tension among people and lead to debates among people if white privilege still exists or
how it is non-existent in Canada because we live in a multicultural society but instead of focusing on
white privilege, we should focus on tackling it.

Sexism

Women continue to be underpaid for doing the same work women do and are still stereotyped of
having nurturing jobs such as nurse and teacher rather engineering and lawyer. Sexism can be defined
as the institutional process of regarding women as inferior to men. Women are seen as more emotional
than men and aren’t able to handle high ranking positions, especially in the business world. Women of
color are face even more discrimination. Even women who are qualified for jobs can be turned down
because they are seen as less capable than as men. Women only make up 4.6% of corporation heads
and 25% of all political positions, (lower than Cuba, and Mexico). When women do break all the barriers
set up in their way an do make it into what is considered a male’s profession, they often face sexual
harassment and violence, especially in police departments. Men in defense say it is biological and
cannot change and women are destined to be raped.

LGBTQQ2

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and two-spirited. Have the highest suicide
rates across Canada and people of color who are LGBTQQ2 face the most hate crimes 89%. When
homosexuality was removed from the list of mental health conditions it was a step in the right direction.
Sex tells what gender you are based on genitals while gender is how you are expected to behave based
on your sex. Sex and gender can be understood better, imagine there was a long line, the spectrum of
sex and gender means that people can be located anywhere on the line. Sex and gender is based on the
idea that people should naturally fall at one end of the spectrum, you can be anywhere on the spectrum
and identify as any gender.

Heteronormativity refers to the social practice that male and females’ spousal relationships is the
normality of society. – Heterosexuals can easily put photos of their spouses up while a homosexual man
cannot so easily without being discriminated. Although we live in a country where same sex couples can
get married, we list have a long way to go before most people are ready to accept it and stop with the
hate crimes.

Social Class Inequality:

Social class inequality is linked to economic wealth, the poor get poorer while the rich get richer due to
the rising cost of living. Social class inequality is also linked to how rich people are able to get better
representation in the criminal justice system. Social class inequality determines a persona’s quality of
life, the amount of education thy will get, housing options and how successful they will be and be less
likely to commit criminal activities.

On the other hand, those who are economically deprived are seen as inferior, less intelligent and more
prone to criminality, therefore when a person I placed before a judge their social class is linked to their
moral character and judges are inclined to give higher sentences.
Describe the historical and economic reasons for selective Containment in USA and Canada.

The Historical and Economic reasons for selective Containment in USA and Canada is Black men are
being targeted the most more than any other group, along with being pulled into prison by mandatory
minimums leading to the American prison boom which Canada is on the path to follow. This boom had
made a significant change in terms of war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes,
longer sentences in general, tougher approach to bail and parole.

Canada also has bad history with prisons. Aboriginals especially are incarcerated nearly 8x their share of
the population of Canada. This is nothing new as Aboriginals have been targeted and stereotyped since
the colonization of Canada.

America has a majority of males in jail rather than females, leading to Canadian prison population is
about 90% male; along with the connections to the demographics of crime, because young people,
especially youth known to commit more crimes than any other group. On the other hand, Selectivity and
Containment in Canada is in regard to the Aboriginal Canadians and how they take up seven to eight
times greater than their share of population outside.

In the US, prison boom has allowed many private interests to make big profits and fortunes from
supplying, building, or even running prisons on contract to state governments. Moreover, more money
can be made by the introducing of prison labor. For a fee government will make convicts do all the labor
jobs and have all the overhead costs, including security and housing. Companies pay prisoners as little as
five percent of what outside workers receive and these minor earnings are even reduced further
because the government makes the prisoners pay for their own incarceration. Along with racking up a
debt for room and board that follows them even when they leave prison.

Discuss the meaning of: ‘’Conditions not of your own choosing’’ and use examples from the book to
illustrate its importance

There are many ways humans are born into conditions not of their own choosing which can have a very
good impact on them or set them at a huge disadvantage with society. A female person of color who is
born being a lesbian and is paralyzed will have a much harder time than a straight white man born to a
rich family who is able bodied.

As we already know in Canada and in the rest of the world people are stereotyped based on their race,
color region and gender. None of these are conditions we get to choose yet they define us when before
we can even open our mouth or be judged by our actions. People of color in Canada face challenges of
being stereotyped and seen as something they are not on the daily. Aboriginal people are seen as
alcoholics even though alcohol was introduced to them by the colonizing Europeans.

Ableism in another form of discrimination which is against people who have disabilities. Their career and
employment options will be limited even if they have the perfect resume employers would not want to
have a liability with an employee and possibly pay fees if they get hurt on the job.

Women not only face discrimination getting an education but also when applying for jobs. Companies
are less inclined to hire female workers as they assume, they will get pregnant and have to take paid
time off which would mean paying.
Describe and discuss the notion of ‘’Panopticon’’ in prison design.

Proposed by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century, Panopticon relied on ‘’all-seeing’’ surveillance to
control those inside. People wouldn’t know if they were being watched by the guards and would
therefore always be on their best behavior not knowing if they would be punished.

Inmates would have no idea if they were being watched and they would act on their best behaviors
giving the prison guards God-like powers as no one would if they are there but would act as if they were.

Bentham also recommend that workplaces, schools, and hospitals should have the same surveillance as
the prison system he designed. Making the workplace a prison of its own where the government has all
the power.

Foucault argued that most institutions had gone through a change because of these high tech
surveillance systems which now dominated society, making it a prison of it own.

Discuss how slavery is connected to prisons.

In the United States neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States except as a
form of punishment. This means that prisoners can be exploited against their will and be used as slaves
for a number of uses.

This is no different than the slavery America has for nearly 250 years, Black people especially are being
targeted and being put in jail at very high rates and then can be used as slaves, which many are and have
to make products for many companies

This is not something new that just recently started happening in American societies. As soon as the civil
war had ended in America, Black people were put in jail for breaking Jim Crow laws and could not pay
the excessively high fess to avoid it. They were seen as a workforce that could be used for anything
including convict leasing where plantation owners would rent slaves and have them work in horrible
conditions growing tobacco, cotton, mining and rebuilding the American south.

From this we can see that slavery was never really abolished in America is was just presented in a new
way that people could come to approve of and exploit and call rehabilitation.

Discuss ‘’Violence and the Spectacle of Punishment’’ and its function as a precursor to modern day
prisons.

Prisons is known to have made punishment more rationale and humane, allowing states to get away
with more horrific practices in the past. For instance, death penalty. Punishment in Canada today is a
way with less brutality, along with declining of grisly public tortures, increasing undoubtfully a step
towards civilization.

Secondly, prisons have found a more profound, more rational, and human way of delivering pain to
inmates without doing immense amounts of damage physically towards the individual. Instead, focusing
on the destruction of the mind. Moreover, prisoners losing liberty personal possessions, heterosexual
relationships, independence, and lastly security.
Foucault’s idea of public execution was to drive home the message that the king’s power was awesome
and overwhelming. Anyone who disobeyed royal law or royal wishes would not last and be crush and
punished immediately.

The reason why the punishment such as confinement, and sentencing was ought to be more efficient
and effective because it seemed less excessive and made good sense of every inmate should receive a
punishment equivalent to what crime they committed. For instance, if an individual commit something
as minor as theft, the most punishment they will receive would be a 1-year sentence or even a simple
fine, or if an individual committed a serious offence such as murder then he could be sentenced to life.
Furthermore, this way of punishing seemed less excessive and more responsive to “rational” control
form above exactly constituted a “just meaning of pain for any particular crime.