Racial discrimination

Posted: January 5th, 2023

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Racial discrimination continues to surface in the headlines, with various cases being reported each day in our modern society despite the effort being instituted to curb its rooting in our community. The rising instances of discrimination in society are an indicator of human suffering; hence this prompts the understanding of the concepts of race, racism, and antiracism. The race is the basis of the racism cases, which champion the advocating for antiracism to eliminate the racism cases. Race hence entails the physical differences among the various groups and cultures which are considered socially significant. Therefore race entails individuals with shared physical or socially distinct characteristics. On the other hand, racism entails the biasness and discrimination of the individuals based on the shared qualities commonly referred to as a race. This paper, therefore, describes the social construction of race and its maintenance in society while also expounding on racism discrimination as evident in the lack of BAME representation over the white generation at BBC shows.

Race as a social construction

Historically, the race notion emerged on a biological basis where there was speculation surrounding blood purity during the Spanish Inquisition. This ultimately culminated in the link between individual biology to the various social and personal attributes. During the 19^th century, the recurring ideology intensified and spread to different nations due to the development of the racial sciences, eugenics, and ethnology (Nyborg 140). This thus implicated the categorization of the human being on the basis of superiority and inferiority. The scientific racism thus escalated to its antiquated racial misconceptions being experienced in the 21 century.

In contrast to the human belief on the racial division based on the natural body physical variations, there exists no supporting evidence to the various racial grouping in history. It is genetically supported that the different human variations differ by 6% within the various described racial classifications. While we account for the considerable differences in the human based on human phenotypes, especially skin color, the genetic differences are based on racial groups. According to Nyborg (140), this hence culminated in the ultimate ruling that the variation had no biological evidence it could rely on. The genetic diversity accordingly characterized human survival, which resulted in the invalidation of the pure ancestry ideology. Based on this argument, the race was thus conceptualized on the basis of artificiality as opposed to the scientific evidence, which incorporated the race into the biological origin. Since then, scholars have sought to expand on the race’s definition of the social construct (Campbell 2019). Historians have thus been exploring the history of the historical context that culminated in the inception and persistence of modern society’s racial divisions.

On account of the various postulation by the different theorists in the society, it has then been ruled that race is a result of social construct. For instance, Race Delusion described race on the basis of how individuals identify rather than genetics. He expounds on how both the deemed racial groups, “Black” and “white,” differed in the cultural meanings. The various individuals in the United States identify themselves as black if they can trace their originality to Africa. Genetically, DNA evidence accounts for the human population’s spread from different backgrounds, resulting in splitting and interbreeding (Mukherjee and Roopali 151). Therefore, the conclusion of individuals being born without the knowledge of the race but impacted by the mindset and culture as well as the skin color.

How socially constructed racial classification is maintained.

The socially constructed racial classification has been maintained in society through the various philosophical projections being published in the community and the multiple instances of human beings discriminating against each other. In modern society, the cultural mindset has been emphasized that being white entails enjoying various privileges such as being safe, competent, and noncriminal. This ideology is being passed from one generation to another (Mukherjee and Roopali 149). Hence, the doctrine implicates the various individuals who develop an intimate connection with the other race individuals. One of the members gets intimated on account of race may leave the different feeling no longer safe (Campbell 2019). This, therefore, leads to the maintenance of racial classification and discrimination. In addition, the social reality of the couple does not align with the racial type.

In addition, the various social, political and economic race meanings belonging to the diverse racial group are rigid. The different non-European and non-American group purpose have remained to be described as black hence no change of meaning. This, therefore, leads to the upholding of the various racial classifications in the society despite the growing interracial marriages (Annamma et al. 152). Hence, this does not offer insight into the future changing to accommodate the racial groups. Despite the various individuals being born in certain foreign nations considered to be white, they still get discriminated against on the basis of them maintaining a culture based on their originality. The discrimination cases are thus managed through the various discrimination and court proceedings. Multiple policies have been formulated and enacted by the government with the aim of combating the numerous instances of racial discrimination, which is evident based on skin color, hair texture, ancestry, and identity performance. This is to change the societal mindset owing to the growing number of the individuals deemed black within the nations considered to be a “White” nation hence characterized by the various societal amenities classified for white and the blacks status separately (Annamma et al. 150). These rules are considered antiracism, where the social classification is seeking to eliminate the various cases of racial discrimination.

Racism in BBC channel context

British Broadcasting Corporation, one of the world’s oldest national broadcaster, constitutes the best public service broadcaster globally. It also enjoys the most significant number of employees in the world with an approximation of 22,000, although 19,000 are in public sector broadcasting. In addition, the company also offers an employment opportunity of about 15000 employees on a part-time basis. The corporation is founded under the Royal Charter, which works under the constitutional guidelines of the Secretary of start for the Digital, culture, media, and sports in the United Kingdom. The various fees that the corporation is compliant to the government are controlled by the British government, agreed upon by the parliament. The corporation also broadcasts in 28 languages, hence enjoying the Arabic and Persian viewers and listeners (Kay, Jilly, and Boyce et al. 142). The corporation also wants to distribute the international language news service and the streaming of the various international news on its platform. Therefore it offers a broader audience coverage to its shows. However, the company is accused of the different racism cases in its broadcasts despite of the various racial job opportunities it offers to the vast communities.

BAME (Black, Asian, and the other minority ethnic group) constitutes the minority groups in the United Kingdom demographic statistics who lack representation at the BBC. Hence, this indicates the large population of the BBC broadcast a national and international corporation constituting the majority of the white people, which delimits its accord to the international standards. As detailed by Kay, Jilly, and Boyce et al. (145), the company has also instituted the interview program, which attracts the wider population’s attention. This is because the interviews are very heated as they attract individuals from various settings and industries, which attract international concern. The discussions also involve guests from both the primary and minority groups as racially classified as whites and blacks. However, the recent past has been characterized by interviews involving white guest speakers, which attract the attention of the minority who do not feel their presence recognized by the organization (Svetaz et al. 331). The BBC’s lack of minority ethnic representation in almost or equally distributed interviews just as white hence sparks racism, which highly focuses on skin color. Racial discrimination is an illustration of majority-minority discrimination based on skin color. Thus, this describes the racism entailing of the BAME discrimination on the basis of the skin color context on the BBC programs.

The unfair representation of the minority in favor of the majority groups can be described as a failure to the television corporation in embracing the diversity of the corporation’s viewers. The BAME, which forms the diversified viewer population even worldwide, is thus eliminated from being represented in their programs. The 2020 statistics, according to Scepanski (2021), indicate the BAME population constituting the majority of the Broadcast corporation in the world compared to the whites with whom re-represent in the broadcast corporation interviews. This hence spearheads the campaign for antiracism claims as the BAME feel devalued in the representation of the group lives in the discussions. Yet, they form a majority of the viewers. For instance, it was evident that the broadcast corporation interviewed 17 white interview guests against zero black representation during the midweek of July 2020. In addition, upon the welcoming of the BAME communities in their interviews are racially directed, focusing on the topics highly irritating to the BAME communities, such as the Back lives matter and colonialism (Scepanski 2021). Therefore, this illustrates the racial discrimination in terms of the diversity of the corporation viewers. Thus, supported by the adequate race and racism definitions on the BBC lack of BAME representation, it is easier for the government to develop the various development of antiracism policies.

Antiracism is generally described as the various policies and actions undertaken against biasness, hatred, and the different marginalized groups in the community. Antiracism is socially defined to include the conscious and sustained efforts to the various change systems, practices and the institutional policies and guideline which leave a negative implication to the minority groups. Its application in the BBC context would entail the various measures and procedures instituted to improve the BAME population participation in the organization’s activities (Svetaz et al. 320). The various activities and actions would thus entail the balance between the two racial groups, white and BAME guests, and ensure that the panelists in the corporation inquire on matters concerning the BAME group expertise rather than concentrating on the racial issues. Furthermore, the actions can also focus on portraying the various lifestyle standards as well as involving the BAME population as cast.

Ultimately, the paper as described above illustrates the development of racial classification as a social construct that explains the rise of racial discrimination in modern society, which calls for the community’s attention on antiracism to counter the mushrooming racism. Race is constructed on the basis of the socially rather than on genetic basis. The culture in the United Kingdom context with whom its broadcast controlled corporation is accused of the various racial discrimination in its broadcasting services. Hence this assures of the various affairs of the corporation being on check by the government. The corporation context is based on the race to the two critical racial groups based on the skin color where the BAME are discriminated against the white as illustrated during midweek interviews in 2020. The corporation did not factor in the minority who form the majority of viewers. The BAME, which constitutes most of the corporation’s viewers, feels devalued by the international corporation, which has been accorded various praises as described above. Hence the corporation is described to have failed in embracing diversity in their services. The antiracism context describes the multiple measures instituted by the BBC to include the BAME community. These antiracism actions as described above include the balance in the racial representation in the shows and the topics to be discussed in addition to the large population it has employed and the diversified language representation in the corporation.

Works cited

Annamma Subini, Jackson Darrell & Morrison Deb. “Conceptualizing color-evasiveness: Using dis/ability critical race theory to expand a color-blind racial ideology in education and society.” Race Ethnicity and Education, vol. 20, no.2, 2016, pp. 147-162.

Campbell, Luke, and Nicola Hay. “Organisation Case Study of Show Racism the Red Card Scotland.” Radical Community Work Journal vol. 3, no.2, 2019.

Kay, Jilly Boyce. “Out of Place: Women as Linguistic Interlopers in Mediated Political Speech.” Gender, Media and Voice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020, pp. 149-169.

Mukherjee, Roopali. “Of Experts and Tokens: Mapping a Critical Race Archaeology of Communication.” Communication, Culture & Critique vol. 13, no. 2, 2020, pp.152-167.

Nyborg, Helmuth. “Race as social construct.” Psych vol. 1, no.1, 2019, pp. 139-165.

Saini, Angela. Superior: the return of race science. Beacon Press, 2019.

Scepanski, Philip. Tragedy Plus Time: National Trauma and Television Comedy. University of Texas Press, 2021.

Sveta, Maria Veronica, et al. “Inaction Is Not an Option: Using Antiracism Approaches to Address Health Inequities and Racism and Respond to Current Challenges Affecting Youth.” Journal of Adolescent Health vol. 67, no.3, 2020, pp. 323-325.