The Issue of Racial, Gender Bias and Criminal Justice in Us

There being various aspects of social life, Macionis offers full-chapter coverage of groups and organizations, explaining the importance of group life and investigating how and why large organizations have come to dominate our way of life, how the operation of society generates both deviance and conformity and also surveys the operation of the criminal justice system and the social foundations of human sexuality.

In a culture defined by competition and overwork, where both men and women are seen to be placing work before family relationships and obligations, our chances of building stronger relationships and/or giving or receiving care from others diminishes. We therefore have to build and infrastructure of care and this can be achieved through policies like quality and affordable health care, an investment on early education and the right to request flexible work. If such policies are considered, then questions such as how our culture values caring for others can be dealt with.

There wouldn’t be concerns such as how to change the balance of importance which currently favors work over family needs. When applied, such policies would support workers who choose or have the need to care for their family members first. If all walks of people valued care, they would see it as an engaging activity both socially and individually, and not as a black hole on a résumé. When it comes to sexuality and the society, the pursuit for social justice has been an issue as seen with the emergence of feminists. However, an important pursuit that can be identified by all in the recent U.S history is the public restrooms which had been segregated by race after the civil war. It did not include the public restroom but also other facilities such as waiting areas, schools, hospitals and even cemeteries.

This gradually declined through the journey towards racial equality. Regardless, this was not the only social inequality that was evident in the restrooms. Gender inequality is also a great concern. Would it be right to segregate public restrooms in a binary way or should people feel free to use the restroom they want? The transgender movement showed concern to restrooms and since it does not believe that gender is binary, the movement therefore advocated for free will. The signs on the doors of restrooms can be translated to how our society vies sexuality and access to public space.

Year after year, people are becoming more aware of racial bias when it comes to the operation of criminal justice. To be specific, it has gone on record where police use excessive force when it comes to African American men even when they are unarmed. This has resulted to movements and claims such as “black lives matter.” What is even more disturbing is that police are more likely to stop and frisk an African American motorist with the notion that they are more likely to be carrying drugs and weapons when compared to the white motorists. However, that is not entirely true; racial bias is also a key player in this case.