Critical Race Theories and Colorism - 1375 Words

Critical Race Theories and Colorism (Research Paper Sample) Content: Critical Race Theories and ColorismNameProfessorInstitutionCourseDateCritical Race Theories and ColorismIntroductionMarking of the millennium witnessed the two related trends in research of Americaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s families of color. In this context, there was a need to identify factors which influenced the growth in Americaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s racial morality and immigrant population and conceptual theories on colorism.Theories of critical race support the notion that inequality via racial discrimination shaped family structures.During research three substantive topics emerged as the area of interest that could give answers to these questions: racial socialization, inequality in economic mobility within families and interracial romantic pairings. Race entails the assumption that people can be divided into groups on the basis of phenotype or genotype and that these groups comprise meaningful differences (Bonilla-Silva, 2009).Ethnicity is a subset of individuals whose members have common ancestral, cultural, national, and religious uniqueness that differentiate them from other groups (Daniel, 2002).Colorism is the share of privilege and disadvantage in respect to the darkness or lightness of someoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s skin (Burke, 2008, p. 17). The application of colorism tends to favor lighter skin than darker skin as mentioned by the appearance of a person as proximal to a White phenotype (Hall, 2005). Facial features as well as Hair texture and eye color, is considered dark or light skinned (Hunter, 2005).Colorism beliefs and practices work both across racial and ethnic groups (Bonilla-Silva, 2009). The shift of the line of America from a predominately biracial society comprising a large White majority and fairly small Black minority to a nation composed of several racial and ethnic groups (Lee Bean, 2004, p. 222). This change was brought by a growth rate for Latino and Hispanic populations which was four times that of the total population of U.S.A.ConclusionWh enever the race is fair, the consequential inequality is the penalty of living in an open and mobile society. However, upward mobility is a major activity in American society. From social scientists with an interest in inequality and socioeconomic mobility the millennium sa...