Freund addresses race as a “biological
fiction” because race is a social construct created to signify social identity,
power, and meaning and to establish groups or categories of people to denote
either superiority or subordination. Race has nothing to do with biological
factors even though scientists have used fake evidence to support this claim in
the past with eugenics and Social Darwinism. Although race is this “biological
fiction,” to society it is a fact of identity. According to HoSang and LaBennett,
race and identity overlap because racialization is a process of social and
political ascription. Haney-Lopez would agree with calling race a “biological
fiction,” and he even establishes in his article “Social Construction of Race”
that racist laws are “prime [instruments] in the construction and reinforcement
of racial subordination.” Ideas about race do “carry tremendous political, economic,
and cultural power” in regards to issues of health and medicine. Minorities in the
health professions feel invisible and isolated because they are assumed to be
subordinate to their equals, and they are shown disrespect by their equals.
Some groups are taking it upon themselves to make up for the paucity of
diversity in the industry of healthcare like the Sullivan Commission on
Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce. People from diverse backgrounds bring
different approaches and solutions to problems, and in the healthcare workforce,
these solutions can mean the difference between life and death for their
patients. Minority healthcare professionals are subjected to more time with patients
and less time for research. Some of these professionals feel that they should
support other minorities to join them in the healthcare world much like what
the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce is attempting
to achieve. How can some healthcare professionals treat their equals with
disrespect and assume that because their colleagues are minorities, that they
are subordinate?
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