Race and ethnicity are two terms that are constantly used in today's society. Understanding these terms can help people recognize that skin color or hair color does not define a person. These terms connect to a person's history, social interaction, and overall structure. Yet America is constantly obsessed with labeling people based on how they look or how they behave. America seems to encourage the terms race and ethnicity and continues to divide people into categories. It is interesting to understand these terms because they are not going away anytime soon. Race and ethnicity are part of America's history and will be part of the future. Race is a term that refers to differences such as facial features, skin color, and other related characteristics. Race is not about genetic heritage. One characteristic of race as a social construct is that it minimizes the extent to which sectors of the population can form a distinct ethnic group. Based on specific characteristics, race constitutes a person and differs within groups. In other words, race is a large group of people distinguished from others based on a common heritage or physical trait. Ethnicity is generally used to refer to different and unequal abilities of social groups with a specific culture. Different languages, religions and dresses help group different ethnicities. These ethnic groups develop due to history and social experiences. The ethnic group tends to maintain a cultural bond. People can relate to others essentially with their parents when it comes to ethnic beliefs and customs. This brings attention to why race and ethnicity exist so predominantly in society. There are numerous theories that look at why racism, prejudice and discrimination...... center of paper......s. These inequalities attack the culture of the people they are subjected to. Conflict theory is a theory derived from the works of Karl Marx. It exalts the role of cruelty and power in the production of social order. It is control theory which believes that inequality exists because those who control an unequal share of society's resources actively defend their advantages. This is social control. Determine that one class or social group is more privileged than another. Control theory generally consists of four points: conflict is inherent in society, one group becomes dominant, agreement is false, and conflict in society is desirable. Control theory suggests that every class is unequal. Lower social classes are believed to have less ability. The theory starts from the belief that people with a high level of competence will receive a higher performance and people with a lower level of competence will achieve less..