Narrative on Social Diversity and Multiculturalism

Social diversity can be defined as a society that lives together as different but equal units. Social class, race, gender, sexuality and others are what make people different but in that society they bring their own unique and special qualities that in some respects, bring us all together. Of course not everything is so positive; with differences in people come hatred for those differences and hatred based on those different but equal units can be very dangerous to a society. I said before that these different units bring unique and special qualities to the society as a whole; this can be defined as multiculturalism. Two or more cultures living together can be positive and negative as can hatred based on social class and sexuality. Social diversity has taught me how to live along with other people that are different than me and this is a very important thing for me. I think altogether that I haven't face many diversity issues being a middle-class white male, there is really nothing to complain about. I grew up in a town that had a few bad apples who tended to be racist in their everyday lives and watching things they do made me believe that I never wanted to be like that.

There has been one person who has been influential in shaping the ideas of social diversity and multiculturalism in my life and she is my mother. She was always tolerant of everybody in situations that some people would not be so tolerant. She taught me that everyone's the same and it's ridiculous to assume that skin color is a difference. I remember the first time I ever watched "American History X," it was and still is my favorite movie because it really delves into an important social issue at hand...hate groups. The movie depicted the life of a family sickened by Neo-Nazi ideals and the antisocial life of the other individuals in those groups. The most memorable part of the movie is the "curb-stomp" scene where the main character, a neo-nazi, comes out of his home to find a group of black gang members and proceeds to kill one by curb stomping him. This scene showed me the unreasonable brutality that some hate groups use all for the reason of diversity. This, to me, is the darkest side of social diversity. The side that I can't wrap my head around as to why people pursue those ideals and actions.

Being a Criminal Justice major, the social justice issues I am interested in investigating this semester are police racism and classism. More importantly, I want to look at what situations police use racism and why they do it. Whether it's to stereotype race and enforce law more efficiently but unethically or if it comes from hatred for another group or class of people. I think this is a very important topic to pursue because it is and has been one of the biggest social issues of the century and beyond. I believe it's important to understand why racism still exists and more importantly why it still exists in the police force.

Social Action Research Thoughts 1

Reading and writing in my personal life is huge because with it I can communicate and learn. Without these processes, I would not be able to function very well in life. Academically, it is very important not only to read and write but to do it well. Grades aren't everything but I have to be able to read and learn to get through school. Other writings that I do outside of class include facebook messaging and texting. I don't like texting although women do.

The most difficult part of academic writing is getting your thoughts together for the introduction and then putting them down with satisfaction. That is the hardest part for me; once I get through that, academic writing is pretty easy for the most part. The area of writing that I really need to improve is with research and informative papers. Research, to me, is a hassle and always a terrible experience for me but the biggest problem is not being able to go in-depth into the research and subsequently going in-depth into my research paper.

I read non-fiction novels about crime and outlaws since I am very interested in those areas. It's no surprise that I am a criminal justice major I suppose. I don't think reading those kinds of books has facilitated anything important into my own writing. I believe that reading and writing are very connected, although with me it's not a very important connection because I do not facilitate personal readings into personal writings.

I have taken a course like this last semester where the whole research paper was in sections throughout the semester and I enjoyed it. I have experienced a lot of research so there is really nothing to assume but for this course I am assuming that I can do well since I did well in that similar course last semester.

I want to research about something in my field of study (criminal justice)...preferably enforcing gangs or something that has to do with classism and racism. I think that there are reasons why police officers enforce gangs harshly but I want to know when the police go too far and why they do that.

I think with that topic in mind, the majority of researching would be in the library and looking at online articles since there is history with police and racism, it shouldn't be too hard to find interesting articles and books on that subject.

About Me

My name is Mark and I'm a criminal justice major who wants to be a police officer in the near future. I'm in a band called Oh Well and I might be missing class a couple times this semester to go tour with them east coast style. I like to skateboard and I just recently built a mini-ramp in my garage. Every tattoo I have gotten, I regretted the next day so I'm gonna keep getting them until I'm happy. Hot Tub Time Machine is the greatest movie ever made.