Race as a Social Construction

Paper Summary:

The paper studies the pattern of ideas and analysis contained in the essay and then discusses how the style of language used in the argument affects the content of that argument. The writer also looks at the degree of persuasiveness that the argument has and the degree of difficulty that this presents for the reader of the essay.

From the Paper:

"The content of the essay is a combination of Williams' analysis of these issues in abstract terms plus a series of anecdotes, from personal experience, of how that analysis reaches meaning. The anecdotes illustrate how deep racial hatred goes in a supposedly prejudice-free society when the structure of that society, from the lowest to the highest levels of sensitivity and education, gives moral weight and moral authority to assumptions made about individuals whose identity is not that of the dominant racial group (therefore probably black) and not the dominant population within any group (therefore probably female). The anecdotes relate mainly to an incident when Williams was denied entry into an exclusive department store (Benetton's) because she was black. But it turned out that she was also denied the opportunity to tell her story from her point of view, as she found when she had problems getting that story published. In other words, race prejudice is not dead just because there are laws on the books against it. Not only that, race prejudice shows up in big ways and small ways in everyday life."

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