Psychology

6 Pages 1414 Words

An oppressive system can work in different ways to achieve the same outcome, create inequalities of power. At the micro level, the media can play a huge role in how minorities are viewed. For example, for years the media influenced how people viewed slavery. While the abolitionists fought to destroy slavery, those for it used the media to promote slavery as a good thing. The Jim Crow persona depicted black males as drunken, happy buffoons that had no real purpose. Although it started as a stage comedy act, it quickly spread nation-wide and became a character in shows and movies that white people came to assume of black African Americans. The media can provide misleading images of minorities. For example, sixty percent of photographs and video footage covering poverty depict African Americans although only 29% of the African American population are poor. Due to these misrepresentations, citizens usually overestimate the proportion of poor African Americans. Also, Latinos are usually portrayed as criminals.
At a locality level, the neighborhood or community can display system of oppression. Surveys display that African Americans prefer to live in racially integrated neighborhoods more than Whites do. In fact, some studies display that most White residents have a comfort level with racial integration where the minorities cannot portray more than 8% of the community. After that proportion exceeds it is likely they will move and the neighborhood will become mostly minority. In the article it states that predominantly low-income African American communities have a big share of liquor stores indicating that its residents are at an increased risk of alcohol consumption and alcohol related health problems. Drug related homocide is the number one cause of death among African Americans between 15-24 years of age (Haynes et al.,p. 145). According to the article, increased availability of crack cocaine, drug dealing and increased a...