Racism that Continues to Be a Problem in Australia - Report Example

University Name Racism continues to be a problem in Australia Student name Admission number Course name and code: Supervisor: Date of submission Essay Plan In present society, issues of race and racism have been so rampant around the world. There are few Australians who may admit to be racist, but majority will dispute it in pretext that they are “colorblind” to the happenings in regard to issues of race. Nevertheless, race and racism are fundamental and indisputable matters of existing culture and societal social history. Given the issue of race to our society, it may be hard to express or talk about and encompass difficult in defining the matters of race and racism. This paper aims to discuss the statement “Racism continues to be a problem in Australia” by giving a reference to Ross Gittens writing: “Idea of a fair society taken for a ride” in “The Sydney Morning Herald” while exploring issues of race and racism in modern Australian society by elaborating on; Concept of race and racism in contemporary society Illustration of critical race theory A problem of racism in Australia Diversity issues in relation to race and racism in a society Definition of concepts of race and racism In fact, the matters revolving around the definition of race and racism are on their own product of racism in our society. Any study of race and racism should probably begin with definitions of the concepts involved, because of the overlap that exist between a numbers of terms. Race is defined as a socially build piece that group individuals on basis of their visual differences that are ascribed to show invisible distinctions. These groupings are vague and liquefied over time which indicates their social rather than physical origin (Fredrickson, 2002). Its importance occurs from the meaning particular societies allot to it and manner race is well thought-out in societies. Racism is described just as some policy, belief, attitude and action that individuals or group base on their race (Fredrickson, 2002). However when we factor in the social and historical point of view, Paula Rothenberg illustrate the definition of racism as “subordination of individuals on color by white people”. Given the fact that other people may show favoritism against the white on basis of color makes Rothenberg definition not qualify as racism. Since racism seems to be an ideology that is interwoven within the cultural ideology of society at large, at some point, each person is a cultural member of society that shares several elements of ideology of race. The beliefs systems play a role in our day to day interaction within the society and may encompass some hostilities and conflicts. Critical race theory The term “critical race theory” illustrates a specific set of practices and theories that were advanced by contemporary scholars of different origins, among them African American, Asian American and Latino. The theory strives to advance a social justice framework by making redress to social injustices among our societies, thus the word “critical”. The theory gives emphasize on materialist analyses of race and racism, especially in the ways in which societies are globalised in a racialised in terms of ethnicity and religion. The theory also focuses on structures of power through nationalist ideologies (Fredrickson, 2002). Awareness of race issues is integral to how individuals learn and perceives others around them, no matter how they may fail to confess it; for example the way we depict others – “an aged black man; a short Asian woman in her early twenties”. As such, making out an illustration of someone on basis of race and gender is common in Australia, especially if it’s someone else a part from a white (Von Hirchfeld & Downs, 2011). Racism continues to be a problem in Australia In his article, “Idea of a fair society taken for a ride”, Ross Gittens depicts how Australia is not a racist nation compared to other nations around the world, he suppose that Australia is less racist that some nations (Gitten, 2013). However, Gittens suppose that issues of race and racism are common and he can’t exclude Australia to be a perfect as it poses some combination of good and bad. Gittens worry is that whoever tries to depict Australia as racist country, should know that it is not, and no matter people perceive the terrible arrival of many uninvited boat people, as politician express harsh treatment of these interlopers because of fear of these foreigners getting to the head of the jobs queue-the main concern of Julia Gillard (Gitten, 2013). But this has nothing to do with issues of racism, as Gillard reassured his electorate in 2010 that they should not be swayed on matters of asylum seekers debate. Owing to the fact that many Australian are concerned about the border security does not make them to be racists. Racial discrimination has all along been the matter of concern by economists, on grounds of how it relates to labour market and economic growth. The global market may vary because of consumer behavior, language, legal system, technology infrastructure, business culture, educational system, labour relations, political ideology, fiscal regime and so forth (Von Hirchfeld & Downs, 2011). These issues have posed a great challenge to managers who are operating across borders businesses on how to adapt to the international diversity encountered or overcome the constraints imposed to their business by national systems, structures and behaviours. The issue of favourism on basis of race in Australia is depicted from study on buses from Brisbane, carried out by two economists from University of Queensland, Redzo Mujcic and Professor Paul Frijters, regarding the response drivers had on travelers whose card were not working. Given the testers of Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Chinese, Caucasians and Black drivers, about 6% of them favoured a person of his or her race (Gitten, 2013). On basis of dressing code, in business suits with briefcases, the success rate of whites rose by 21% points whereas the combined rate of blacks and Indian rose to 75%. While, on grounds of military clothes, the success rate of whites rose to 25% point whereas the combined rate of Blacks and Indian rose to 85%. The pictures of the same testers were presented to bus drivers at Brisbane and asked whether they would allow them with an empty travel card, where 80% of drivers said they would give free rides to Indians and Blacks, but in reality less than 50% were let on. Concerning the white testers, 5% points less than the black counterpart will be let on, whereas in reality, more than 40% of white testers were favoured than blacks. The main reason of not allowing someone on was that it was against the rules, whereas the reason behind letting someone on was that it was no burden to undertake this (Gitten, 2013). According to Gittens, it may seem confusing to understand all these but it go to do with economics. According to Gitten (2013), the reason behind the study of Frijters was to understand the economic theory of groups; different categories and how they form and work. Business and government agencies are groups with distinct characteristics, similar to workplace teams and football teams. As such, it reveals out the in-groups and the out-groups individuals will prefer to work with or not to work with. People form groups so as to work towards a common goals, thus why people will want to belong to groups that share same goals, so that when individual need arise, one may be supported accordingly. Thus, Frijters explain the results of his study on basis of group behavior, for example, in Australia, people with black or Indian complexions may be treated as an out-group and less worthy of help compared to Caucasians and Asians; which is attributed from the reason that made bus drivers to be reluctant in offering blacks and Indian help-seekers a free ride, was owing to the fact that they didn’t relate to them (Gitten, 2013). Regarding their in-group, drivers favoured the testers in business dress which shows the “aspirational groups” whom drivers wanted to associate with because of richer being. This trial also sound more of sociological than economics, which is true, but emphasizes on issue of behavioral economics which borrows concepts of social sciences. Bauman (1989) argues that the issues of racism also are marked from the industrial revolution era which many historians believe also instigated this concept of racism within societies. The revolution is believed to have in a straight line liable for cultural effects where vast component was social change both in Australia, Europe and other part of the world. The interaction of different groups of people with different levels of income and standard of living posed a great division of people in terms of classes, upper class, middle class and lower or poor class (Fredrickson, 2002, p. 36). The upper class also known as rich class was driven by materialism and formed social status to identify themselves with their wealth, and viewed the poor as their servants who worked for them, especially of different complexions. Historians reveal that London and New York were the most horrible hit cities with these cultural and social differences compared to a nation like Australia (Fredrickson, 2002, p. 43). However, the contention in Australia started with the arrival of the whites, making the Aboriginal, minors to be slaved out in provision of free and cheap labour to the rich, leading to expansion of the gap between the rich and poor. The widening of the gap between the two has continued to increase even in present times, making the rich people richer while depriving the poor opportunities to recover and hence remaining poorer. Diversity management in Australia In a model world it’s perceived that one would be accorded a fair consideration during any employment or career development opportunity. The compositions of diversity consist of but are not limited to age, customs, sex, human characteristics, race, tribe, sexual orientation, educational history, location, earnings, marital status, life experience, parental status, religion, and job level. However, the matter of unfairness as a result of diversity remains to be a major concern in a contemporary world. Discrimination based on several dimensions of diversity: like race, gender, education background and so on still plays a core position in the appointing, dismissal, and promoting of persons. Most individuals or organizations do not distinguish and examine the bigger picture of diversity (Fredrickson, 2002). Valuing diversity entails build a place of work that respects and encompasses different social characteristics. More recently, under the microeconomic reforms, the Australian Government has been promoting diversity in all sectors of the economy, for example in educational sector, the promotion has been en route for a “unified national system” of higher education that embrace diverse social characteristics. These days, places of work in Australia have turned into gradually more diverse with employees of varied genders, races, religion backgrounds, customs, education levels and lifestyles. Thus why, Australia is experiencing influx of asylum seekers, who come by boat who come to seek job opportunities. The diversity issues and employment relations in Australia have greatly been influenced by the National Employment Standards as stipulated in the Fair Work Act 2009, which have contributed to greater success in enhancing equity at workplace. The changing cultural structures of organizations have turned out to be massive and essential for management to recognize cultural diversity and find out how it impact on their organization. According to Thomas and Robertshaw (2005), being aware of how diversity impact on their organization, management would take sound measures to guarantee a conflict-free workplace and help to advance constructive results for the company, and its employees. Diversity nowadays is being picked out as a fundamental tool of reinforcing workforce of an organization and develops general performance. Conclusion The present society now expect the companies operating in their system to behave in a manner that minimizes the abusive use of power and reasonably assists their stakeholders with the negative impact of chance. It is clearly not the only thing that an ethical society would do, but it is one factor of particular importance to business and business ethics. However, since few, if any, human social systems work perfectly well where an ethical society would also want to minimize the abuse of the ‘‘imperfect’’ economic system selected, while still attempting to maintain the creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness of that system. Common business practice would dictate ethics and corporate social responsibilities to be overlooked due to the firm’s drives to increase sales and revenue. The labour market and employment relations in Australia have greatly been influenced by the National Employment Standards as stipulated in the Fair Work Act 2009. NES have tried to minimize the disputes that were frequently exhibited in the labour market before the enactment of these statutes by Rudd government. The standards have also eliminated some interference on the labour market allowing the forces at the market to take their course, that is, supply and demand of labour to prevail. References Bauman, Z. 1989. Modernity and the Holocaust. Cornell: Cornell University Press. Chow, R. 2002. The Protestant Ethnic & the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Columbia University Press. Collins, PH. 2004. Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. New York: Routledge. Fredrickson, GM. 2002. Racism: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Gitten, R. 2013, March 20. Idea of a fair society taken for a ride. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 19/04/2013 from http://www.smh.com.au/comment/idea-of-a-fair-society-taken-for-a-ride-20130319-2gddf.html#ixzz2PCInth9a Goldberg, DT. 2002. The Racial State. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. Thomas, A. & Robertshaw, D. (2005). Achieving employment equity: A guide to effective strategies. Randburg: Knowledge Resources. Von Hirchfeld, S. & Downs, S. (2011). Change through understanding. People Dynamics, Vol. 10, pp.28-37 Read More

Critical race theory The term “critical race theory” illustrates a specific set of practices and theories that were advanced by contemporary scholars of different origins, among them African American, Asian American and Latino. The theory strives to advance a social justice framework by making redress to social injustices among our societies, thus the word “critical”. The theory gives emphasize on materialist analyses of race and racism, especially in the ways in which societies are globalised in a racialised in terms of ethnicity and religion.

The theory also focuses on structures of power through nationalist ideologies (Fredrickson, 2002). Awareness of race issues is integral to how individuals learn and perceives others around them, no matter how they may fail to confess it; for example the way we depict others – “an aged black man; a short Asian woman in her early twenties”. As such, making out an illustration of someone on basis of race and gender is common in Australia, especially if it’s someone else a part from a white (Von Hirchfeld & Downs, 2011).

Racism continues to be a problem in Australia In his article, “Idea of a fair society taken for a ride”, Ross Gittens depicts how Australia is not a racist nation compared to other nations around the world, he suppose that Australia is less racist that some nations (Gitten, 2013). However, Gittens suppose that issues of race and racism are common and he can’t exclude Australia to be a perfect as it poses some combination of good and bad. Gittens worry is that whoever tries to depict Australia as racist country, should know that it is not, and no matter people perceive the terrible arrival of many uninvited boat people, as politician express harsh treatment of these interlopers because of fear of these foreigners getting to the head of the jobs queue-the main concern of Julia Gillard (Gitten, 2013).

But this has nothing to do with issues of racism, as Gillard reassured his electorate in 2010 that they should not be swayed on matters of asylum seekers debate. Owing to the fact that many Australian are concerned about the border security does not make them to be racists. Racial discrimination has all along been the matter of concern by economists, on grounds of how it relates to labour market and economic growth. The global market may vary because of consumer behavior, language, legal system, technology infrastructure, business culture, educational system, labour relations, political ideology, fiscal regime and so forth (Von Hirchfeld & Downs, 2011).

These issues have posed a great challenge to managers who are operating across borders businesses on how to adapt to the international diversity encountered or overcome the constraints imposed to their business by national systems, structures and behaviours. The issue of favourism on basis of race in Australia is depicted from study on buses from Brisbane, carried out by two economists from University of Queensland, Redzo Mujcic and Professor Paul Frijters, regarding the response drivers had on travelers whose card were not working.

Given the testers of Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Chinese, Caucasians and Black drivers, about 6% of them favoured a person of his or her race (Gitten, 2013). On basis of dressing code, in business suits with briefcases, the success rate of whites rose by 21% points whereas the combined rate of blacks and Indian rose to 75%. While, on grounds of military clothes, the success rate of whites rose to 25% point whereas the combined rate of Blacks and Indian rose to 85%. The pictures of the same testers were presented to bus drivers at Brisbane and asked whether they would allow them with an empty travel card, where 80% of drivers said they would give free rides to Indians and Blacks, but in reality less than 50% were let on.

Concerning the white testers, 5% points less than the black counterpart will be let on, whereas in reality, more than 40% of white testers were favoured than blacks.

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