Race and ethnicity in the United States Census Essay

The media is an industry where the competition is exquisite and it has been used by the government individuals, organizations, institutions, society, and family etc. for non-homogeneous purposes. However, due to the change magnitude competition in the industry, legion(predicate) at times the functions and duties which the media owes to the society argon significantly overlooked. at that place ar various functions of the media some will be discussed later on in this paper.The aim of the media has to a fearfully bounteous extent shifted from fulfilling its roles to the society, rather their emphasis is very much on how much recreation they can offer to their listening and how much money they can find and how quickly they can make it. Entertainment and money making is unimpeachably key in the existence, survival and growth of this industry, nevertheless, this should non be achieved by inappropriately portraying a pigeonholings identity in any form. DEFINITION OF KEY TERM S Construction To make or create, by putting together ideas, components or arguments. Group Identity This refers to a persons sense of give waying to a group.Media- Are confabulation channels through which news, entertainment, education, data or promotional messages be disseminated. Media includes every broadcasting and narrow casting medium much(prenominal) as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, take aim mail, telephone, fax and internet (business dictionary, 2015). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK tender IDENTITY possibleness BY TAJFEL & TURNER (1979) This theory was propounded in order to understand the mental reasons and basis for inter- group discrimi do master(prenominal). The components of this theory goes thus Categorization- This is the work on of putting ourselves and opposites into categories, our self- prototype is associated with the categories we belong to.Identification This is the process by which we associate ourselves with certain groups of people. Neve rtheless in that location ar some groups we dont want to be place with (out groups) and there atomic number 18 some we would want to be identified with (in groups). Comparison- This is the process through which we compare our groups with another(prenominal) groups, thereby creating a positive bend towards the groups in which we are members of. This aspect of this work will focus on two salient functions of the media amidst the various ones there are.Social heritage function- The core lies on the media to transmit positive racial and ethnic values well-nigh every living execute and ethnic group. The act of highlighting and spotlighting the various negativities of feeds and ethnic groups should be avoided. Surveillance function- This is the duty the media owes to the society in circulate news and information when necessary, the media is responsible for providing information about fifty-fiftyts. THE CONSTRUCTION OF chemical group IDENTITY BY HOLLYWOOD (A STUDY OF THE LATI NO RACE) There are five acclaimed races in the world 1) Mongoloid (Asian and the Statesn Indian) 2) Caucasoid (European) 3) Australoid (Australian and oceanic) 4) pitch blackness (East African black).5) Capoid (South African black) The Latinos could be said to belong to the Mongoloid race and most of the 315 million people who live in the united States of America are either immigrants or chip in ancestry to another country. In actual fact, the only truly American people are the congenital ones. This country is based on the idea of migration in pursuit of a better social and economic life. According to U. S. Census Bureau (2012), there are roughly 52 million Latinos/Latinos living in the United States, representing approximately 16.7% of the total population of United States of America, and making them the nations largest ethnic minority. Among Hispanic subgroups, Mexicans rated as the largest at 63%, followed by Puerto Ricans (9. 2%), Cubans (3. 5%), Salvadorans (3. 3%), Domin icans (2. 8%), and the remaining 18. 2% were Colombians, Guatemalans, Portuguese, Honduras, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Brazilian. The main reason for their migration has been either that they are politically endangered or have financial problems. For instance the Cubans who ended up in America wanted to escape from the political conditions in their country.Escaping from the communist government practiced in Cuba, they were considered as political refugees in America for three and a half(prenominal) decades until 1995. As a result of Americas opposition to the Cuban government, they were treated in America better than almost any other ethnic group. This has also been burstly because of their high level of education and professionalism in the first place migration (Martins, 2006 as seen in Mousavi & Sadeghi, 2013). Latinos, Mexicans in particular, mostly live in the southwest almost half in California and Texas. Puerto Ricans are mostly in the East and Cubans are in Florida.Accordin g to the U. S. Census Bureau, legal Hispanic household income is only 75 percent of White American income. There is also a high rate of poverty and unemployment among them, and their socio economic position is at a low level. The cause for this situation is partially their jobs universe the lowest paid ones, their low education level, and employment discrimination (Camarillo and Bonilla, 2001). They are present in the news, advertisements, election campaigns, political debates, goggle box and films.The common major feature that is present in all of these portrayals is the problems related to them that should be solve and not to be glorified, exaggerated or wreaked by Hollywood. forward now African Americans were more promising to be pictured as domestic workers in Hollywood. African Americans campaigned major roles in television sitcoms such as Beulah in the 1950s and Gone with the wind in 1939. In recent times Latinos have increasingly replaced African Americans as Hollywo od domestics. Hollywood has presented an incorrect reality of the Latino people to the American people and to the world at large, it has exaggerated a poor image of this particular race.Although the Latinos who live in America get more roles to play in Hollywood, most of these roles are mentioned in the next paragraph. The Latino pistillate is often presented as a temptress, vamp, lustful, promiscuous, unfaithful, manipulative, of loose morals or amenable at times in relation to a white antheral fantasy, low class, serving the whites. A list of Ten Latino distaff artists who have played the role of a maid in Hollywood Movies/series. Jennifer Lopez Maid in Manhattan, 2002 Aida Linares- Clueless, 1995 Lupe Ontiveros- As good as it gets, 1997 (She has played an count of 150 maid roles on television).Consuela-Family Guy, 2005-till present Nadine Valesquez-My name is Earl, 2005-2009 Paz Vega- Spanglish, 2004 Kate Del Castillo- La misma Luna, 2007 Adriana Barraza- Babel, 2006 Catal ina Saavedra, The maid, 2009 Roselyn Sanchez, shifty Maids, 2013- till present Pania Ramirez Devious Maids, 2013 till present THE MEDIA, DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE INITIATIVE (MDSCI)S SIX YEAR STUDY REVEALS many STATISTICS. Among the racial and ethnic groups studied in the Media, Diversity, and Social Change possible actions report, released August 2014, Latinos made up only 4.9% of impression characters across 100 of 2013s top-grossing films. According to the U. S. Census Bureaus estimates, there are roughly 52 million Latinos in the U. S. as of July 1, 2011, or just over 16% of the current U. S. population. That number is on track to reach 132. 8 million or about 30% of the U. S. population by July 1, 2050. LATINOS THAT ARE DEPICTED IN TOP-GROSSING MOVIES ARE in the main NAKED. While the study does note that Hispanic females (37. 3%) were more apt(predicate) to be featured in popular films than were white females (29. 6%) or Asian females (32%), Latinas are also more th e likely than females among any of the other groups studied (37. 5%, to be precise) to be shown partially dressed or nude on the big screen.LATINOS ARE ALSO HIGHLY believably TO BE SEXUALIZED. The sexualization of Latinos does not stop with women. Latino men were the most likely among the studied groups (16. 5%) to be portrayed wearing tight, alluring or revealing clothing. DANGERS OF THE NEGATIVE PORTRAYAL OF RACE & ETHNICITY BY THE MEDIA ?Since there is a tendency to believe what is represented or depicted by the media as particular races or ethnic groups are often minusly portrayed, others who are not acquainted with such group of people are articled to believe they are in reality the way the media has presented them. ?Another danger of negative portrayals of race/ethnic groups by the media is that the younger ones from such groups may not be able to see themselves better than the way the media has portrayed them. For eccentric if a race is continually depicted as a maid o r as vulgar murderer the younger generation of such groups may not see anything wrong with universe that way and could actually end up as same. ?This particular race have existing challenges of employment, poor education the continuous depictions as such does not benefactor solve these problems, but only worsens them. ?It could be difficult for people who are negatively portrayed to keep relationships with or amongst other races who are depicted as superior to them. THE NOLLYWOOD CONSTRUCT OF ETHNICITY (A STUDY OF THE YORUBA, AND NORTHERN NIGERIANS)The founding fathers of Yoruba films in Nigeria i. e. Herbert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) Based their works on the constructive values of the Yoruba ethnic group without leaving their audience entertained. In recent times Nollywood has neglected the take out of social heritage function in the production of Yoruba films.More often than necessary abusive statements, raining of curses and the invention of such and rascality has been alike with Yoruba films. The very rich Yoruba culture which the world could learn from is often being tarnished by our film industry. However there are various Yoruba producers who focus on spreading the positivity of the Yoruba culture i. e. Tunde Kelani, Tade Ogidan, Yinka Afolayan. Men from the Northern part of Nigeria are also often times portrayed as either a gateman or the security man of a well-established family.The character who could actually be Yoruba speaks like a man from the north to convince the audience that the gateman is a man from the Northern part of the Country. Little does Nollywood know that many of the gatemen in Lagos which I can speak for are not even Nigerians. I have observed that most of the gatemen/security men in reality are actually from Niger Republic many of them look like Nigerian Northerners, are able to speak Hausa language but they are not Nigerians. RECOMMENDATIONS ?Every race has some sort of value and norms that could be positive, the media should hereby try out out such and spread them. ?The media needs to adore the fact that every human person has dignity and should be portrayed as such. ?They never should never assume that a particular race or ethnicity is less than the other, regardless of the socio economic status of such groups. ?The media should seek to solve the challenges faced by some races and ethnic groups rather than exploit them. ?The media should be reminded that they are socially responsible to the society, thus they should be cognizant of what they feed the society with.