Help me! I am taking sociology this semester and feel like I'm becoming racist now!?

[broke college kid]

I've always been raised to "look the other way" on skin color, poverty levels, ect. and to believe everyone is equal. In sociology class, we are forced to see things as they are in America and every other nation. There are people who are so poor they created a "community" inside the city dump in Cambodia. I know longer am seeing everyone as equal, but by the economic classes they are in. I wasn't raised this way, and feel like I am becoming a racist. Anyone else feel this way after sociology class?

[rayham1978]

You are not becoming racist but you are actually seeing the world the way it really is. If you see peoplle by economic class and your opinion of them has not changed it is no problem.

A racist judges people by their race not social standing.

You are becoming a snob!

After the course you will start to go back to yourself. It has a way of making you see thing in a different way. Do not act on your new view!

[Eric]

College is broadening your view of the world, and it is a lot to take in as you are exposed to new ideas and facts about the world you did not know or ignored before. Try to ride it out and keep an open mind - people are still people and they do the best they can given the situation they are in (or not, there are poor people who are greedy, lazy, selfish, and dispicable too, because they are people). But really realising that a lot of who I am and how much I have was due to the random good fortune of being born in a wealthy country is very humbling.

You'll take other classes and get other experiences that will round ot your thinking... try not to be too much of a know it all with the new knowlege ywou've gained and work to address in some meaningful way the problems you are seeing.

[Sandy Sandals]

no no no.

First I have to get on my soapbox and say that the word "racist" is thrown out everytime a racial issue is brought up, out of context of the actual definition. Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another. You are forming a belief based on a person's lifestyle or economic background. But is it an unfavorable one, or is it reality?

[Alvin Stardust]

Doubt is normal when you are exposed to multiple arguments. This will not be the only time in your life that your views will undergo a change or crisis. The important thing is to make sure your views can be supported by evidence, rather than gut feelings and rhetoric.