Abstract

Race is a socially constructed concept that is in the society that people use to place importance on certain priorities based on skin color or eye shapes. According to Nyborg (2019), racism is a social construct that people use to decide who matters in the society. In this paper, I documented two interviewees from minority groups who are classified as low class people. They speak on behalf of many low class people who have been segregated due to social stratification factors.

Subjects’ Classes, Races and Gender

My first interviewee was a woman from Mexico that was working in IT firm in Texas. She is a female and a black Mexican with colored skin. She was born and raised in Mexico City and moved to United States 12 years ago.  She has been working in various companies across the State of Texas for the last 10 years. She cited that she has been moving from one company to another and no single company has ever promoted her from professional entry level. She regards herself as one of the minority groups in the United States. Her skin color, race and gender have greatly contributed to her tribulations she faces both in the neighborhood and her work place. The existing social stigma against people of color has made her discriminated in all possible well paying positions of her career. Being a woman she was given little chance to speak in company meetings and even if she was given a chance, the moderator of the meeting would brush-off her suggestions. She lives in a community where neighbors doubted whether she was a resident in her first 3 months of stay in her current home.  She added that was once stopped from parking in her parking spot in front of her door because one of the neighbors mistook her a burglar.  She was said that she was planning to move and work in Iowa because houses are affordable compared to Texas. This shows the struggles of people of the minority groups who do not regard the quality of life as a priority in their lives but how to survive at the minimal cost.

My second interviewee was a Bengali Indian man who was working as a taxi driver in Miami. His Bengali race is one of the cast races in India. He said he ran away from India and entered the United States as a refugee. He has encountered many cases of discrimination but none of them can be compared to what he encountered in India under the cast system. While in India his race was not allowed to interact with others freely in the public. This social seclusion drove him to be an introvert who hardly speaks of his problems. In the United States, clients especially young white females are fond of accusing him of being in the United States illegally. “Go back to your country” is one of the commonest phrases he is told often. However, he keeps quiet because “he knows where he belongs”; the minority class.

Role of Social stratifiers

Social stratifiers play a major role in deciding whom to promote in a place of work. My first interviewee works with white majority staff and is among the few people of color who hold minor positions in the company. She was once told to stop complaining of harassment every time because the company is not a “charity” organization. This means her social stratification was not allowed to report any form of harassment because their value was not worth to be taken serious. According to Salah (2016), both social environment and rewards motivate workers to pursue occupational positions at higher levels. However, my interviewee does not see the point struggling to reach higher managerial positions in the company because no one will even notice her effort. Being one of the minorities in the company they are disregarded by the majority whites whose decisions matter in the company.

My second responded who works as a taxi driver says that social stratification determines the attitude of a client towards him as the driver. Some clients leave the car without paying. He is hardly listened when he reports confrontational matters to the police. Some tell him that there is little they can do if he cannot properly identify the client and his/her residence. In some cases, he ends up getting no money in a whole day, a situation that drives him more to edges of poverty.  

Applied a sociological Perspective to each subject

One of the most common sociological perspectives among the black minorities is social-conflict perspective. According to Savur & Fradue (2015), conflict theory is a tendency where people of a stratified community develop a perpetual conflict across social classes due to competition for the limited resources. I chose this perspective because it encompasses the struggles the minority groups in the society go through as they try to gain a recognizable position in the society. My interviewee pointed out that the only way to become competitive in higher positions in the job was to exceptionally excel in education. This will narrow down the reasons that are often cited by the top managers of why she does not qualify for certain job positions.

Social-conflict perspective is also a sociological perspective in the case of the second respondent. Now that he has to compete for the limited opportunities within the city, the interviewee revealed that his white counterparts are likely to be earning twice as he does because clients prefer white drivers to non- American drivers. During the interview session, he revealed that the police force sometimes falsely accuse them of conniving with wrong doers to break the law. Even though the accusations are not always true, they are left with little chance to fight for their rights because the systemic discrimination always views them as “second citizens”. He added that the minority groups in the transport industry have little chance to rise financially and become more independent. “We are easily associated with crime because the society thinks there is little we can do to earn decent wages”.

Benefits and Limitations of Interview as a Research Methodology

Interview is one of the commonest research methodology used by many researchers to collect data. The first benefit of using interviews is allowing participants to express their own ideas at length (Jick & Todd, 2019). Contrary to other research methodologies like questionnaires that would have had predefined range of answers, I gave my respondents a chance to explain their thoughts about the subject, which eventually helped me to collect more information from them. Secondly, interview is flexible. In this case, I was able to adjust my questions based on the prevailing environment so that the interview remains relevant to the subject matter of what I was trying to find out. For instance, my first interviewee seemed professional, so I changed my tone to appear more serious. The second interviewee who was a taxi driver did not need many forms of professionalism.  Thirdly, it allows the researchers to reveal hidden behaviors through talking and observations. Through talking, I was able to determine whether or not the respondent was honest with her answers.

One of the limitations of interview as a research methodology is small sample size because of time and costs involved to carry out an interview with an individual. The results of a research with small sample size are likely to yield skewed results (Vasileiou, et al., 2018). In my interview, the first respondent spoke ill of the company she was working for and said there is joy of being in America. As a researcher, I needed someone in the company to substantiate her claims so that I come up with credible findings. Secondly, it is difficult to organize results, especially when more than one person has been interviewed. In my case it was difficult to organize conflicting responses of the same questions from both respondents.

Components of Culture in Relation to Stratified Positions in the Society

The specific components of the first respondent include her Mexican-American behavior and her good command in English language. The interviewee still admires the Mexican culture like dressing in sombrero clothing with bright colored ribbons to show modesty. However, she has completely transformed to American dressing culture to conform to the Company dressing code. She revealed that keeping time was one of the challenges she encountered in her early days in United States. Spanish is her first language while English is her second. She is now eloquent in English language that gives her advantage to integrate with other staff members. In my assessment, she feels there is no reason why she should be denied promotional opportunities. She concluded that all her tribulations are associated with her skin color. This proves that she is still struggling to have equal opportunities with the majority in her place of work.  

The second respondent has also mastered English language which gives him a good opportunity to serve many clients within the city. However, his Indian pronunciation is still a reason why many clients quickly realize he is not a Native American. As a result, many clients, especially whites handle him with little respect. Since he belongs to the lower class, those who bully him understand he has a little chance of building a case against them because the systemic racism that is embedded in laws and regulations in American society gives the minority a little chance of merit.

Conclusion

Systemic racism is still undeniable problem that has divided the American society in to social classes. People of low class struggle to access basic services like education, which those of high class find easy to access. The first responded concluded that all her tribulations are associated with her skin color. This proves that she is still struggling to have equal opportunities with the majority in her place of work.  The second interviewee said his working environment has been reduced to fight for survival. They are not heard by authorities because they do not matter in the society.

References

Jick, A & Todd, J . (2019). Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Triangulation in Action. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(4), 602-611. doi:10.2307/2392366.

Nyborg, H. (2019). Race as Social Construct. Psych. 1. 139-165. 10.3390/psych1010011.

Salah, M. (2016). The Influence of Rewards on Employees Performance. British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade. 13. 1-25. 10.9734/BJEMT/2016/25822.

Savur, M & Fradue, P. (2015). Sociology of Conflict Theory. Social Scientist, 3(12), 29-42. doi:10.2307/3516428.

Vasileiou, K., Barnett, J., Thorpe, S., & Young, T. (2018). Characterising and justifying sample size sufficiency in interview-based studies: systematic analysis of qualitative health research over a 15-year period. BMC medical research methodology, 18(1), 148. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0594-7

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