Political Science Paper Essays Examples

In modern times, it is still unbelievable that society still sees issues pertaining to white supremacy and sexism. However, these issues absolutely still do exist. Many political theorists have tried to ascertain where these theories originated that are embedded in our modern society today. Pertaining to white supremacy, it has been theorized that these tendencies began in the colonial era during the triangular slave trade that was orchestrated by the “whites of Europe.” Additionally, it has been hypothesized that women were oppressed originally as a result of Christianity rising after Jesus Christ spread the ideology of Christianity. The question today is how prevalent these deep seeded ideologies are within modern society? This paper will explore Charles Mill’s “Racial Contract” and Carole Pateman’s “Sexual Contract” in order to assess the prevalence of these two ideologies in the society that we live in today.
Beginning with “Racial Contract,” Charles Mills starts off his book with a drastic theory. His theory postulates that racism was essentially predesigned by “white Europeans” as he calls them. He explains that they planned racism in order promote white supremacy and power in the colonial era. While Mill’s theory is quite extreme, his theory does have some historical validity. It is no doubt that Europeans wanted to be the colonial superpower and have holdings all over the world. Once they discovered that there were in fact other races, it is not that far fetched to imagine that they wanted to find a way to differentiate who they were enslaving. Additionally, Mills looks to philosophers such as Locke and Hobbes to ascertain how Europeans originally formed their thinking of white supremacy when they were embarking upon the colonial era.
“Sexual Contract,” by Carole Pateman is a fascinating analysis that actively challenges both American and British embedded political thought that men in fact have a patriarchal right over women. Pateman takes on the social contract as debated by Locke Hobbes, and Rousseau that firmly established the founding father’s view within the United States and Britain. Pateman presents a unique view that there is no foundation in the social contract for the patriarchal aspect that men are said to have women in prior political thought. In fact, Pateman takes the approach that there is more harm caused when women are excluded from the social contract because their viewpoints balance out the extreme views of men. Pateman essentially takes the viewpoint that “behind every successful man, there is an intelligent woman.” While this is an extreme view to many patriarchal men, it is a hypothesis that has some validity. The revolutionary thinkers of Europe, according to Pateman, took a stance that they wanted to find a way to devalue women and put them second to men in their writings. Their timing was carefully crafted as well due to the nature of texts just being translated at that time and being placed into the hands of common folks rather than just the aristocracy. As a result of this, Pateman’s theory is absolutely plausible.
A modern example of the “Racial Contract” can be seen from the debate that we have regarding Affirmative Action. Since the 1960’s and 1970’s in the United States, Affirmative Action has become a great debate amongst whites and blacks because it has essentially established hiring quotas or admission quotas for universities based on race. It is essentially the backlash of the “Racial Contract” because in trying to include blacks, the United States has fostered a new kind of discrimination. This new kind of discrimination is that whites are being rejected that are equally as qualified based on the need to hire a minority instead. As a result of this, there have been a plethora of lawsuits that are accusing reverse discrimination, which makes the “Racial Contract” debate even more complex in the modern era.
An example of the “Sexual Contract” can be seen in the great disparity in salaries that exist between women and men in the workplace. Additionally, this can be seen by the ratio of women CEO’s to male CEO’s. Even though the women’s rights movement has come a long way, the workplace is still not free from discrimination. The generation that truly saw the brunt of this was the baby boomer generation that built their careers between the late 1960’s and 1980’s. The brunt of discrimination and men being promoted over equally qualified women transpired during this time. Additionally, the frequency of sexual harassment lawsuits additionally fueled the fire to this problem given many employer’s unwanted advances towards women with the promise of a promotion for sexual favors. The unfortunate reality about the “Sexual Contract” is that it is seen in workplaces all over the world. Even though the United States and Britain are definitely more progressive on this issue, the discrimination still exists pertaining to men’s supposed patriarchal right over women.
In the coming years, it shall be fascinating to see how the “Racial Contract Theory” and the “Sexual Contract Theory” develop in the next generation. Granted, society overall has come quite far since these initial principles were arguably implemented into political thought and writings; however, society has a long way to go in order to completely eradicate this problem all together. Many have theorized that these ideals did not exist in ancient times to the extreme that we see today. Additionally, scholars have made a comparison that other countries that participated in slavery, for example, do not possess the same amount of racism as the United States. Given that each country has its own history pertaining to both slavery and women’s rights, it is fascinating to watch how these principles presented in these contract theories have developed over generations. In the next decade as the younger generation enters the workforce, it will be interesting to see what they make of these theories and what they decide to practice in their everyday lives.