Ethnic group Essay Example for Free

Ethnic group EssayIn this section, we will discuss race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism and how they are interpret in the denominate. These concepts are somehow illustrated in this television series. Race, in the American society, has been typified by black skin color. The unique cultural traits and the signified of community African-Americans appropriate reflect their ethnicity. On the other hand, Kady, the youngest child in the Kyle family, represents multiculturalism through her knowledge of multiple languages. The following section will define, operationalize, and describe these concepts and how they are evident in the show.Race is a category of people used to differentiate people in terms of physical appearance, particularly skin color. People who have the said(prenominal) physical characteristics are from the similar race. The concept that is used to operationalize race is skin color. In this show, the rife race is black notwithstanding there are a few characte rs that are white. People who have a dark skin color are considered non-Caucasians. In this series, the racial minority is the Caucasian because the non-Caucasians are the dominant group that makes up most of the characters.Therefore, race is largely unmenti nonpareilnessd during the show because most of the characters are from the same race. However, there is one episode in season twain where there was an argument between two different races, the Caucasians and the non-Caucasian. At the beginning of this episode, Michael is forced to take his family out for a meal. He is annoyed when he recognize that the restaurant is expensive and the service isnt good enough. Michaels evening worsens as he gets to sit next to Stuart Tylers family, a guy whom he got angry at in the gas station for taking to long to gas up his tank.A few minutes later, Stuart starts insulting Michaels kids, citing their smell, bandage Michael insults Stuarts kids by telling Stuart that they look like squirrel s. Afterwards, Michael apologizes to Stuart but seconds later they argue again on whos the bigger man. They make amends again but then argue cause Stuart held Michaels lobster without washing his hands after urinating. When they starting singing Happy Birthday for Stuarts wife, Stuart interrupts in the mediate and is irritated by the fact that Michael isnt singing.The arguing just keeps going and going and things never got any better. They leave the restaurant at odds with one another. Michael and Stuarts altercation evidenced friction between Caucasian and non-Caucasians but apart from this episode, race is not a point of reference throughout the grasp of the show. Consequently, race is insignificant in this show and is instaln to be unimportant within the Kyle family. An ethnic group is a group of people who have mutual national or cultural characteristics.An ethnic group has five main characteristics (1) unique cultural traits such as language, clothing, holiday, or religio us practices (2) a sense of community (3) a feeling of ethnocentrism (4) ascribed membership from birth and (5) tendency to occupy a distinct geographic area (Caron 269). The amicable structures ethnicity groups strengthen social solidarity. friendly structures are the stable pattern of social relationships that exist within a group or society (Soci1002E, Lect. 5, 2012). The main ethnic group in the show is the African-Americans.The unique cultural traits and the sense of belonging is what will be used to operationalize ethnicity. The sense of belonging within the African-Americans in the show is what empowers this ethnic group. A social structure is the stable pattern of social relationships that exists within a particular group or society (Soci 1002E, Lecture 6, 2012). The African-Americans in the show share the same language, and a sense of belonging. The language that the African-Americans use is English as it is their first language in their country and state.Michaels younges t daughter is learning Spanish and Swahili but her mother tongue is English. Throughout the show, the Kyle family develops relationships with other African-Americans individuals. Michael married an African-American woman. Junior impregnated an African-American woman Vanessa. Claire and Kady retain African-American boyfriends. Also, Junior has many African-Americans friends. All these relationships prove that the African-American community shares a sense of belonging. The language and the sense of community is what make the African-Americans a powerful ethnic group in the show.Multiculturalism is a philosophy that respects ethnic diversity within a community that encourages people to learn about other endings. A multicultural person acknowledges and accepts diverse cultures other than his or her own and tries to learn from them. The way this concept is measured is by understanding and learning other cultures, especially through its language. Kady Kyle, Michaels youngest child, is t he precocious one out of Michaels sons and daughters. She is referred to as the cute one because she is the youngest one in the family.The cute one strongly supports the idea of multiculturalism through her musical talent. In the end Making the Grade, the Kyle family are sitting at a table while Michael Kylie checks out his sons report card. After they are done celebrating Claires outstanding report card, Michael calls on Kady to come and sit on his lap. Kady innocently says, I dont have a report card. Yes, but you do go to school, right? You go to music class. How are you doing there? replies her father. Well, I learned a new song called Itsy Bitsy Spider she answered.Her father then claims that he never heard this song before and asks her to sing it for him. She starts singing the song until he father interrupts her and tells her to sing the song in Spanish. So she starts singing in Spanish until her father tell hers to sing it in Swahili, a language spoken by several countries in East Africa. Kady is learning about other cultures through their language at a very young age. She is willing to learn more about other languages and is doing so through an artistic way. She show an interesting way to connect music and culture together which is very smart for someone her age.By choosing this concept, we concentrated on the cultural diversity persuasion of the television show. This scene allowed us to demonstrate my knowledge in understanding the sociological concept, multiculturalism. The scene depicts a multicultural young girl who is eager to better other cultures, especially its language. To conclude, these three concepts are demonstrated in a way or the other. After operationalizing, analyzing these sociological concepts, and applying them in My Wife and Kids, we discovered that ethnicity and multiculturalism are clearly portrayed, while race isnt really significant in the show.Race isnt really depicted in the show but the eonian disagreement between Mic hael and Stuart reveals a slight conflict between the non-Caucasians and the Caucasians. The African-Americans have proven that they are a strong ethnic group through their culture and sense of community. In the show, they all speak the same language and have several relationships between each other. Kady Kyles comprehension of other cultures is what ascertains that multiculturalism is evident in the show.