There have been ethnic conflicts that arise from the difference in the groups. The conflicts may be racial while others may be due to the difference in the origin. The ethnic conflicts if not will resolve may grow to become wars conflicts (Krueger, DiDonato, 2008). There have been prolonged ethnic conflicts between the Latin American and the Native Americans. The Latin Americans include the Mexicans the Hispanics and other Spanish speaking Americans. The Native Americans discriminate against these American, as they are not English native language speakers. The Mexicans are the largest Latino population in America and have experienced racial discrimination as other Latinos that have re to an ethical conflict over the years.
The good wage rate in America after the Mexican America war led more and more Mexican to migrate into the north in such of better wages. The numbers of immigrants have increased but most Mexican of those born in America after their parents migrated. The Latino groups are different from the Native American as their language is Spanish and share a Spanish culture (Shiraev & Levy, 2010).. They are seen as poor in learning and assimilation. Most Mexican as seen as immigrants by the natives and their lows education status makes them.
Cultural conformity is one aspect that stands out in every ethnic group and it has an influence on the social perception of such an ethnic group (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The Mexican s and the Native Americans have a different heritage and difference in cultural conformity. The Mexicans and the Native American also have a difference in their religion practices. This is also contributing to the prolonged conflict between the two ethnic groups. Conformity takes a form of social influence on personal characteristics that are modified by the social norm. Due to the diff the cultural heritage, there are Mexicans and the Latin Americans.
The main difference in cultural conformity between the Mexican and the Native Americans include family set up, education and personal attributes. The Mexican treasures their families and they become the priority. The Americans, on the other hand, place the families as the second priority. The Mexicans education is all about memorization and broad concepts while the Native Americans believe in analytical approach and specialization. The Mexicans are nationalist while the native Americans are patriotic. The Americans have a good separation between work and personal relationships while the Mexicans have difficulty in separating work with their personal relationships.
Social perception is the process by which individual come to understand who they are. Social cognition, on the other hand, is how people interpret, internalize and use information about the society and the world in general (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Everyone person no matter his or her cultural affiliation has to make a decision in a particular juncture in life on a situation or experience that comes up. Under the culture that one conforms to, there are certain beliefs, judgment, attitudes and socialization experience that one adhere to (Krueger, DiDonato, 2008). Under social perception, people tend to make similar judgment and reasoning as they are raised in similar environments. When such people are experience, the different worldview they tend to have different view of the world. The relationship between social cognition and social perception can be described by explaining social perception, as a function of social cognition.
The divergent perspective between the Latin Mexican and the Native Americans has resulted to their conflicting view of each other. Their complex worldview also support their perspectives in these cases the two warring factions, engage in conflicts between each other because of their respective view of one another which is attributed by the bias traditional held stereotypes of their nature (Shiraev & Levy, 2010).
Social perception that need to be a change includes; education where the American view the Mexicans as slow learners and under achievers. The Mexicans have the same ability to learn like the Americans. The fact that they have a lower assimilation level does not mean that they lack ability. The other issue is racial discrimination. The Mexicans being Spanish are not a weak race; they can learn English as the Native Americans. The social believe and the cultural heritage is the cause of ethnic conflict and, therefore, there is a need for better modern standards to avoid the extreme contention that results to ethnic conflicts (Krueger, DiDonato, 2008).
As long as the two warring groups instill cultural perceptions to their children then the conflict will not cease any time soon. Unless the Mexicans and the native America undertake and instill new perceptions, there will be continued conflict between the two groups in Latin America. The only way to improving the world and eliminating ethnical conflicts is by appreciating each other and developing intercultural understanding (Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, 2010).
In conclusion, it would not be certain to say that there is a permanent solution to ethnic group conflicts but one thing that stands out is that an ethical conflict can be reduced or eliminated by coming up with better social perceptions that promotes equality and tolerance of one another. Creating an even social perception will reduce ethnic conflicts significantly.
References
Krueger, J. I., & DiDonato, T. E. (2008). Social categorization and the perception of groups and
group differences. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(2), 733-750. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00083.x
Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A. (2010). Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and
contemporary applications (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn Bacon.
