Global Immigration

Immigration involves the movement of individuals to a country in which they do not possess any native ties. Accordingly, immigrants move from one region to another for purposes of settlements solely. In addition to this, immigration arises from a range of factors, comprising both political and economic reasons, which influence these regional and global movements. However, most immigrants never get to experience fair and gratifying situations in the foreign countries. Worse than this, the proliferation of these immigrant communities into respective foreign territories influences the indigenous populations to exude resentment in the form of prejudice, racism and discrimination against the émigrés due to the consequences that arise from the immigrant populaces. Some of these factors comprise increases in crime, decrease in vocational vacancies and employment opportunities as well as rapid population increases.

In definition, prejudice refers to an uncorroborated negative preconception of people or cohorts, typically because of aspects such as race, nationality or religion (Schaefer, 2010). However, the stated factors are not the only entities that delineate prejudice. Accordingly, aspects such as gender, physical appearance, age or disability as well as any other quality can also create unsubstantiated and unconstructive views of individuals and factions. Discrimination, similarly, possesses similar characteristics with prejudice. Nonetheless, it refers to the segregation of people or groups from participating completely in the society due to prejudice (Schaefer, 2010). Based on both definitions, it is clear that prejudice comprises an attitude while discrimination is the behavior. Consequently, racism is the action that arises from discrimination based on race. Accordingly, it involves the distinction, limitation, preference or exclusion of communities or individuals based on descent, nationality or ethnicity, color or race.

Accordingly, these three concepts pose a negative impact on immigrants. Naturally, immigrants are usually persons possessing different racial and ethnic predispositions. Based on the physical differences they have with the indigenous population, it is relatively easy for them to face instances of prejudice, racism and discrimination from the native populaces. With respect to prejudice, such an attitude possesses the ability to create significant discriminatory behavior against the minorities. Additionally, discrimination and racism may also underline or even institute economic and social inequalities. Because of this impact, the cycle begins since such inequalities create prejudice against the minorities within the respective societies they occupy. In addition, these problems arise based on the perception and resulting behavior that indigenous population have against the immigrant population.

It is possible to assert that prejudice, racism and discrimination are nuances that arise from social stratification (Schaefer, 2010). Accordingly, the society already undergoes stratification based on factors such as status, wealth, type of job and power. However, for race, in general, is also a significant basis for the disparate forms of categorization that take place within the society. Indeed, even though race is a social construction, it is able to illustrate social disparities between immigrant and native populations. For instance, there is uneven distribution of resources in areas occupied by these populaces. The communities existing in the United States usually note substantial differences based on the distribution of polluting facilities. In societies constituted of racial minorities, pollution levels are likely to be high than in indigenously populated areas. The results of such disparities, as an outcome of race, create prejudicial attitudes that may extend to discriminatory behaviors.

In conclusion, the concepts of prejudice, racism and immigration possess a significant correlation with the issue of global immigration. Accordingly, immigrant populations usually face these problems irrespective of the benefits that they may offer to a country. For instance, the increased proliferation of the Chinese community in Canada influenced considerable resentments from the Canadian native population regardless of the economic benefits they brought to the country. In general, based on race or not, the concepts of prejudice, racism and discrimination comprise factors that should not be part of the contemporary society due to the advent of globalization.

References

Schaefer, R. T. (2010). Sociology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.