Political Group and Identities
The central point of the reading features politics of the race. Many countries have always run their politics in terms of race. This normally causes division, as a party will always constitute of a particular racial representation (Cabrera & Holliday, 2017). In American politics, racial politics emerged frontline during the 2016 elections. In these elections, Donald Trump won the election based on racial prejudice than ideology basis. Racial politics also played a big role during the election of the first African American president. Even after a decline in Obama’s ratings, you find that the majority of African Americans approved his performance. When it comes to Obama’s approval, race played a bigger role compared to his political ideology. During the 2008 election, Obama won with the highest points of black Americans.
The other central point that jumped and is also relevant is politics of gender. Politics is also shaped by social norms of gender. In the past, up to around 19th century, political affairs were left for men and family laws in many places had always favored men. Men dominated all affairs of life, for example, decision making, right to property, and he had maximum authority in the family (Karen et al, 2013). While men had all the power in any form of life, women were abused since they had no place of defense. This led to the emergence of feminine activists who agitated for women rights as well. As a result of this activism, in many parts of the world, there are dramatic changes in attitudes of gender. This has changed policies on many issues pertaining women for instance, family law violence against women, denial of political rights, and issues of maternity leaves for women. Women in every part of the world have virtually come out to demand for their rights. This has eventually increased the number of women who are famous politicians in Africa, Europe, Latin America and many other parts of the world (Karen et al, 2013). There are also many women involved in the study of politics. However, despite all the efforts put to increase women representation in politics, men are still dominating the legislature with the highest percentage compared to women.
Politics is identified based on various social groups. People are shaped by their own identities hence forming political identities. For instance, these identities may include religion, race, gender, political party, social class, occupation, and many others. Each of these identities has its own aspects that describe it; hence every group, belonging to any of these political identities will always support a politician who favors their aspects of life. However, these political identities are not healthy in a nation because they form divisions (Terry, 2016). Therefore, politics should not be based on political identities, but it should be based on who shall help in the wellbeing of people in a nation.
We can conclude that Obama’s presidency brought a transformation in American politics. It showed that the white house is not meant for white men but instead, it opened the door for a wider array of people. It also portrayed a changing demography in American politics (Terry, 2016). It is now believable that non-white Americans are capable of winning American presidency as Obama did. However, the issue of identity emerged again in 2016 campaign. Therefore, the only way to have healthy politics is eradicating political identities and running politics basing on ideologies.
References
Cabrera, N. L., & Holliday, M. R. (2017). Racial Politics and Racial Self-Identification: A Case Study of Arizona, 2010-2011. Hispanic Journal Of Behavioral Sciences, 39(2), 131-149.
Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, Georgina Waylen, and S. Laurel Weldon. 2013. Introduction: Gender and Politics: A Gendered World, a Gendered Discipline. Edited by Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and S. Laurel Weldon.
Terry, B. (2016). Racial Politics After Obama. Dissent (00123846), 63(3), 47-54.
