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Violence and Social Control Essay

The society is influenced by many factors that include demographic variables which serve to shape events or patterns in the community. Violence is one of the main challenges in any social order with the issue being particularly pronounced in America, especially along racial lines. The book “The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality” by Tracy E. Ore offers valuable intuitions into the research focus on violence and social control in this study. It provides a refreshing outlook on social reconstruction in the community by analyzing the elements that influenced, shaped, formed, and maintained refurbishment of crime and victimization. The trend is captured through a general climate of fear which results in physiological distress among the affected victims. Broadly, social engagements in the society are defined by specific demographics that interact to reinforce and maintain the status quo in the shared community order.

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An analysis of the data presented in the book provides powerful comparisons and contrasts regarding violence, especially murder. To begin with, it is quite clear that most murder victims are from a lower class groups in terms of economic status in the society since the poor account for a sizable number of the victims (Ore, 2000). The killings are either orchestrated by individuals, groups, or the state due to the fact that the police also contribute to the violence in a bid to maintain the power structure in the community which nurtures a general climate of fear. Regarding race, most of the unlawful deaths are witnessed among minority communities including blacks which is representative of the general trends in the society. The social construction in the American society interacts to confine the minority communities in a perpetual state of violence. The problem can be attributed to a perpetual climate of fear in the American society, especially in minority communities that has been designed to place them on the edge which erodes any form of stability leading to negative outcomes (Ore, 2000). For instance, economic participation by minority groups is limited. The climate of fear is created by the interactions in the community which serve to protect particular interests in the society. Fundamentally, particular outcomes in the community are the products of social engagements that interact to achieve predetermined results in any social order. In other words, the oppression reinforces and relies on each other to maintain the status quo in the society. However, the rates of violence are high among men in comparison to women that capture gender relations in the community. In brief, violence witnessed in the country is influenced by social demographics that that hold the social nexus to interaction in perpetrating conflicts.

An in-depth evaluation of the data point to a structured reconstruction process in the US since the violence witnessed is as a result of social actions in the country. Notably, the economic policies of exclusion that seek to reinforce dominance of specific races in the said social order have forced minority communities to engage in violent action to survive. For instance, most criminals from the African American community link their actions to lack of economic opportunities in the country. Primarily, the black community is forced to identify with a negative construction of their collective identity which has adverse consequences on the said social order since they are not considered as white (Guess, 2006). To illustrate the point, the Jewish community fared badly since they were considered nonwhite, but their fortunes improved after the Second World War that demonstrates the social interactions at play. In essence, one can argue that the conflict is between the middle and low-income earners. Such struggles are defined by violence against one group either individually or through state-sanctioned action, for example, police repression. Ideally, power relationships have been shown to be determined by violence since the dominant party seeks to assert their will using physical force against the weaker party in the engagement. Further, bullying is another issue that has been addressed in the book since the vice is designed to instill fear in an individual to maintain control over the victim (Ore, 2000). Notably, bullying has transcended the physical realm and is now common on digital platforms leading to negative effects that include suicide. School bullying is a common occurrence in American schools which is a product of the wider society since the bullying has been institutionalized and has permeated the psyche of even ordinary school children. Physiological distress is witnessed widely in the country that can be attributed to social reconstruction in the country. On a general score, social exclusion defines the actions of particular communities that include a tendency to engage in violence to survive.

The argument can be transferred to gender debate in the society since specific social ideas have been developed to reinforce patriarchy in the community. The main aim of the social construction is to benefit men in the society by conferring specific paybacks to the recipient gender (Jarekvist, 2013). In this regard, economic and violence variables are employed to maintain the status quo. Most of the violence in the analysis is directed to minorities that include women which is not inadvertent but by design. Traditionally, force has been used as a tool of repression for many years that serves to protect the interests of those in power. The social violence is meant to subdue the weaker sex in a relationship to conform to the ideas of the dominant party. Gender is viewed through the dominant lens of a relationship between a man and a woman with those that go against the definition being frowned upon in the American society. Additionally, rape has been used as a tool of repression since it grants misplaced power on the perpetrator of the crime. The sexual abuse should not be viewed through legal perspectives only, but from a social standpoint since it is shaped by the interaction between a dominant and minor player in the community (Ore, 2000). Summarily, gender relations are defined by specific actions that include sexual relations, which are designed to reinforce the dominance of particular genders.

The community is shaped by particular demographic factors that interact to form the society fundamentally. The variables range from gender to ethnicity that is designed to ensure a specific group is dominant over the others in the said set-up. Notably, the violence analyzed in the book shows that most of the violence is witnessed among minority communities that include the African American community due to exclusion policies that limit their participation in the economy. The social reconstruction results in a physiological distress among the affected individuals or groups in the country. Equally, the violence is also seen among women, which can be attributed to the idea of patriarchy in the society. In summation, therefore, social dynamics are influenced by particular demographics that interact to achieve specific outcomes in the community.

References

Guess, Teresa. (2006). The social construction of whiteness: Racism by intent, racism by Consequence. Critical Sociology. Jarekvist, Anja. (2013). The social construction of gender: A comparison of Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Eugene O´Neill’s Long Day’s. Journey into Night.Diva Portal. Ore, Tracy. (2000). The social construction of difference and inequality: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality. Oxford University Press.

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