There are different forms of discrimination deeply debated and expressed through practices, social interactions and political systems in the world since the ancient times. These types include sexism, nationalism, sexual discrimination, religious discrimination, linguistic discrimination, neurological discrimination, and racism. Racial discrimination is a form of prejudice which leads to the hierarchical classification of people based on their social life, skin color and other cultural traits. Racism builds on the conception that certain groups of people are superior to others since they are perceived to possess desired physical characteristics which determine their cultural traits. Ancient researchers and theorists embraced the concept of dividing human population into races. For instance, ancient scholars believed in the theory of natural slavery where the enslaved individuals in the society were described as servants to their masters by nature or law. However, today’s researchers suggest that the existence of ethnicity can be useful in human genetic classification. Biologists, sociologists, and other experts reject the notion of a taxonomy of races which favors specific groups of people. Globally, many countries have passed laws against all forms of discrimination, and the United Nations have declared a universal respect for human rights for all the people regardless of their sex, color, language, political setting or other divisive traits. This paper analyses the theories on which racial discrimination is founded, and the theoretical approaches which define the concept of racism and ethnicity.
The existence of racism is explained by use of symbolic interaction theory, functionalist theory and the theory of conflict in sociology. An argument for assimilation of minorities in the society, to contribute to its stability and harmony, is derived from the functionalist theory. This involves social, cultural and economic absorption of minorities into a dominant society. Symbolic interaction methods look at how social interaction reduces racial hostility, as well as how race and ethnicity are developed in a social setting. This practice leads to the study of how people from different races interact; and how their interaction can reduce hostility between them. A conflict theorist, on the other hand, links racial and ethnic disputes to class conflict and suggests elimination of class conflict for a peaceful coexistence of different races.