1.

What is racial profiling? Provide examples of how law enforcement,

government officials and/or ordinary citizens use racial profiling in the
aftermath of 9/11. (review Arizona case). How might the contact
hypothesisremedy profiling?
Racial profiling is a type of discrimination usually by government officials and
authorities who base an action off ones race instead of carefully examining the
persons behavior. Racial profiling can be seen as a positive and negative act.
Many law enforcement such as police and airport securities require newly
immigrant families to carry document that state legal immigration status. This is
to prevent all other possibly crimes from happening. It is to regulate laws and
improve our security check from foreigners from entering our nation. It may be
inappropriate for government officials to label someone as more likely to be
involved in a criminal act simply by looking at their ethnicity. Among citizens,
racial profiling increased after the terrorist attack of 9/11 due to the heighten
awareness of people identifying as Muslims. This is caused by the many fears
people received from the news. The Arizona case happened when protestors who
are against the strict laws of Arizona, including Los Angeles City Council, decided
to stop doing business with the state. Such strict laws of racial profiling concerned
others to have tighter immigrant regulations. The contact hypothesis can resolve
racial profiling by many ways. One being that when interracial groups of people
who share equal status interact together, it will cause them to be less likely to
discriminate others. This is true as our social status is an important aspect to a
persons life.

2.

Discuss various ethnocentric practices historically used by those in

power that have contributed to prejudicial attitudes towards racial and
minority groups.
The ethnocentric practices developed among prejudice groups are hate crimes.
Hate crime is an offense committed because of racial and ethnic bias towards the
minority. This is commonly seen in murder and assault. Another ethnocentric
practice passed down by those in power is the glass ceiling theory. This theory
prevents minority groups who may be qualified for the job title or promotion from
accessing new resources. This is wrong in the hiring process where the
interviewer examines ones gender and race rather than the skills they are
qualified. This prejudicial attitude is caused by the 2 unequal status level of the
groups, one having control of the resources which they have the power to treat
minority different.

3.

What is the social construction of race? Provide a symbolic

interactionist perspective. How can this concept (social construction of
race) be applied to Americans from multiple racial backgrounds?
The social construction of race is our understanding of the racial characteristics
that appear to have more dramatic effect such as a persons skin color. We live in
a cultural society where we all value deeply as where we all came from and the
backgrounds of our ethnicity. A symbolic interactionist perspective that can be
related to the social construction of race is that we tend to focus on the meanings
and symbols. For example, we take everything we see and apply it to what we
know, we try to make meaning of our own and disregard the larger meaning of
society.

4.

Define the term model minority. Discuss which minority group is perceived
as living up to that image. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of being a
model minority.
The model minority is a group of people who is perceived to succeed
economically than the average. This is similar to the use of stereotyping because
Asian Americans and whites set up the image of having a stable life and career,
however the overall results does not show that they obtain such powers. Sadly,
model minority still face the glass ceiling affect because in generalizing an ethnic
group involves all kinds of different sub groups that may affect the result. The
advantages of being a model minority is that we have a positive image for the
ethnic group, which makes it appear to have more power. However, the downside
is the pressure we receive from the society to stay within our model minority
representation.