Black people are shown more then the Asian minority but not as much as white people which have a much more greater number of pictures shown throughout the book. Black people are shown in a lower class state compared to the whites, which seem to be living a standard life in comparison to the other races.
This book will definitely have a negative effect on the reader simply because it shows and reflects the Asian minority as being lower standard compared to the white race.
I have not seen any serious forms of sexism through the book but however I have noticed that men are shown in greater number then women.
The book’s name is Understanding Sociology, which is obviously a fictional book from which useful information can be obtained.
The name of the author is John Andrews, which is male and most likely to be white dew to the fact that white people are highlighted in a high class way.
As outlined previously the Asian ethnic minority and the black race are shown in a low class manner. On the other hand the white are shown to be a more rich and wealthy race.
The table below shows an estimated value of pictures, showing how often black, Asians and whites are shown, also in which kind of condition (e.g. poor, rich, dirty etc.).
In terms of pictures, whites are presented as being very responsible, clean, posh etc. Most of the jobs they do are of high standards and they seem to be in an environment, which is dirt-free.
The black race is shown as being in a lower class family. The younger generation of blacks are mostly involved in anti-social behaviour and seem to be gangsters committing crime and restless drug abuse.
The Asian ethnic minority is shown to be very cheap, low class, violent and especially dirty. This fortunately is untrue, biased and in my opinion the book is an unreliable source of information.
In accordance to the text, whites are labelled very brave, men and woman of restless work and very reliable in some cases for example when baby sitting. In the chapter of “Family” it says, “woman working hard for family meal” under a picture of a white woman.
The black race are described as violent, thieves and very aggressive which is very biased. In the chapter of Sociological research it says, “Young boys drug dealing at late night” this is true in all races and ethnic minorities, not only within the black community itself.
A picture shown in the section of “Social stratification” shows “a board of directors”. All shown are white none shown to be woman. This represents as whites being more active and the ones who make the decisions.
Women are shown to do more and more practical work for example sewing, baking, cleaning etc. These are serious evidence of sexism through the book. They appear to be also wearing cloths, which consist of colours, which would direct to the female species for example a woman shown cooking in a pick dress.
There are allot of stereotype pictures throughout the book. Men are shown as being judges, police officers and builders while woman are mostly shown to be doing house work.
There have not been too many positive effects towards racism or sexism in the book.
The best that I can point out is a black man as a priest doing a presentation to the Christian audience. This is quite rare and is a very good encouragement for religious black people.
The book I have studied has a very influential touch to the reader, especially to the students. This is mainly for two reasons:
- It is Sociology book which is a book teaching the students mainly about the rules and regulations of the society.
- And also because of what the book contains towards black and ethnic minorities.
I definitely would not recommend this book to others because of it’s biased and unreliable sources of information and images it contains.
This book will have a negative impact on the reader and possibly make the reader have a different view of several topics for example towards black teenagers and Asian traditions.
In my opinion I think that it is very important for schools to supply positive books to students, which supply information which is reliable and clean from the forms of racism or sexism.
Masum Ahmed 10c
h/w 21/03/02
