Need it today 5PM Central time

Hi everyone. Welcome to SS-310. Throughout this semester, we are going to be discussing race and ethnicity both within the United States and other countries. In recent, years racial/ethnic conflict have become a hot topic in the media. Such events call into question popular beliefs that the Civil Rights Movement ushered in the post-race era. This course is intended to provide historical context and conceptual tools to interpret contemporary race relations. To this end, the lectures are going cover material both included and excluded from the textbook and required videos. Thus, I highly encourage all students to regularly watch these presentations as the assignments and quizzes will be based upon them. That said, I also recommend reading the announcement board. I will consistently use that forum to post directions.

Every week, the course readings, videos, lectures, and assignments are designed to meet weekly objectives that correspond with general course objectives. The relationship between the weekly and course objectives is specified under each week in the classroom folder. This week will be achieving the following learning objectives:

1. Distinguish ethnicity from race

2. Explain race as a social construct

3. Apply the social construction of race to real world examples

4. Conceptualize racism

5. Identify different forms of racism

6. Define ethnic stratification system

7. Delineate different modes of power exercised by dominant ethnic groups

8. Conceptualize the formation of ethnic stratification

9. Differentiate minority responses to subordination

Each week, there are three assignments that you must complete: discussion post, writing assignment, and quiz. The discussion post directions are attached to each discussion prompt in the discussion folder. Likewise, the writing assignment directions are attached to each writing assignment. Note, every student is required complete a final paper based on an original research question. This means that you will need to devise a thesis question related to the course material and develop a seven page essay response that includes a title and reference page. In week four, your writing assignment will require the submission of an outline that includes a thesis question, statement, essay outline, and reference section. In week six, your writing assignment will require the submission of a rough draft of your final paper. This rough draft should be near completion; only requiring limited modification in response to the instructor’s comments. The final draft will be submitted as the week seven writing assignment. I highly recommend all students to begin brainstorming at the beginning of the semester and email the instructor with any questions.

In regards to quiz, the questions are directly related to course concepts. You will not need to memorize dates, demographic trends, etc. These examinations are intended to measure your understanding of the key course concepts.

This is particular lecture we will address the first three learning objectives:

1. Distinguish ethnicity from race

2. Explain race as a social construct

3. Apply the social construction of race to real world examples

Ethnicity and race are a complex terms that are often utilized interchangeably in popular discourse; however, scholars make a sharp distinction between these concepts while recognizing their relationship. Ethnic group denotes a collectivity possessing common unique cultural traits, a sense of community, ethnocentrism, ascribed membership, and territoriality. This means ethnic groups are demarcated in accordance with common language, traditions, beliefs, values, collective identity, involuntary group membership, and geographic origin. The existence of an ethnic group assumes a dominant out-group that embodies the normative standards used to define the ethnic other. For example, in the grocery stores located in the United States, European food is not distinguished with qualifying labels whereas ingredients used to make Indian, Mexican, and Chinese food are almost always found in the ethnic aisle.

Closely related to ethnicity is the concept of race. Throughout intellectual history, two general theoretical approaches have been used to conceptualize “race.” The textbook provides a very brief outline of the racial categorization in European history. Long story short, racial categories were developed by colonialists to dehumanize native populations occupying desired land and justify theft, rape, murder, and genocide. Over time, European colonizers, scientists, and social theorists constructed an ideology (shared understanding created to advance the political interests of a dominant group) that pitted “civilized” Europeans against “uncivilized” non-Europeans. These supposed differences were attributed to biological traits expressed through visible anatomic and invisible genetic dissimilarities that rendered Europeans superior to their deficient counterparts. Despite years of research, no biological differences have been found. Instead, greater within group variations have been observed than between group variations.

This led sociologists to question biological theories of race. If race isn’t inherent and specification of racial categories evolves over time and across contexts, race must be a cultural phenomenon negotiated through social interaction. Understanding this approach is difficult for some because it challenges taken-for-granted assumptions about reality. People commonly assume meaning is inherent in objects. For instance, Americans often presume a tree is a lifeless organic object lacking rights and, therefore, intended to meet the needs of human beings. In contrast, Pagans may view trees as consciousness organisms connected to a universal spirit that endows it with rights and value apart from human utility. These definitions lead to dissimilar orientations to nature and compel divergent social policies regarding economic development. Likewise, human beings attribute meanings to the human body that affect social relations and organization. For example, European colonialists attributed value on the basis of skin color and ethnicity that was utilized to designed oppressive social institutions that exploited nonwhite groups to the advantage of whites.

This lecture will address the following learning objectives:

1. Conceptualize racism

2. Identify different forms of racism

3. Describe the five fallacies of racism

Previously mentioned, colonialists utilized racial categories to develop an ideology that justified the violent oppression and exploitation of nonwhite people. Such ideologies are labeled “racism” and based on the assumption “that humans are subdivided into distinct hereditary groups that are intimately different in their social behavior and mental capacities and that can therefore be ranked as superior or inferior.”

These ideologies become hegemonic when they related to predominate cultural vales, accepted by subgroups, taken-for-granted, and utilized by actors to navigate everyday interactions. Racist ideologies transform over time in response to various social contexts. During the early- to mid-20th century, scientific racism was popularly used to organize social relations. This worldview attributed racial differences to biological origins that reflected a natural, white dominated hierarchy. Such sense making was used to justify colonialism, slavery, genocide, and ethnic cleansing for several hundred years.

Scientific racism drew heavy criticism in response to WWII and was soon replaced by a structural ideology that reinterpreted racial difference. The civil rights movement asserted racial disparities were produced by social organization rather than biological predispositions. Coopting liberal ideology, racial justice activists successfully argued that the U.S. failed to live up to its own values with respect to its black population. This strategic frame rendered popular support and positive institutional change.

White supremacists, however, did not give up. Stealing a play from the civil rights playbook, opponents created a new colorblind ideology that perpetuated racial stratification by negating the existence of race. More specifically, white power activists redefined themselves as post-race and insisted racial progress would only transpire if state policy was race neutral. This ideological framework enabled reactionaries to delegitimize racial justice leaders, efforts to forge racial consciousness amongst minority group members, and advancement of race-based claims in the public arena. The adoption of this ideology by mainstream society has permitted the continuation and exacerbation of racial inequality despite legal reforms.

Bonilla-Silva (2006) distinguished between four expressions of colorblind racism. First, abstract liberalism “regards each person as an individual with choices and uses the liberal principles for whites having the right of choosing to live in segregated neighborhood or sending their children to segregated schools. This claim requires ignoring the multiple institutional and state-sponsored practices behind segregation, and being unconcerned about these practices’ negative consequences.” In other words, the abstract liberal frame reduces racism to individual choose while ignoring the manner in which state and non-state policies generate racial inequality. Second, naturalization is a frame that allows whites to explain away racial phenomena by suggestion they are natural occurrences. For example, whites can claims segregation is natural because people from all backgrounds gravitate towards likeness. Although, the above statement can be interpreted as ‘racist’ and as contradicting the colorblind logic – they are used to reinforce the myth of non-racialism by suggesting these preferences are almost biologically driven and typical of all groups in society, preferences for primary associations with members of one’s race rationalized as non-racial because “they (racial minorities) do it too.” Third, cultural racism “is a frame that relies on culturally based arguments.” Most often, this frame is used to explain racial difference in terms of cultural deficiencies that prevent certain nonwhite groups from experiencing social mobility. Fourth, minimization of racism “is a frame that suggest discrimination is no longer a central factor affecting minorities life changes. ‘It’s better now than in the past’ or ‘There is discrimination, but there are plenty of jobs out there.’ This frame enables white people to accept contemporary racial inequality because it is compared to an extreme.

Hegemonic racism is expressed at different levels of analysis with dissimilar consequences. First, internalized racism denotes the adoption of derogatory racial categories by minority group member. The internalization of such schemas can induce psychological distress and/or self-fulfilling prophesies that motivate individuals to express the very behaviors assumed by their imposed category. Second, interpersonal racism refers to discrimination experienced during face-to-face interaction such as racial slurs or race-based physical violence. This type of racism is envisioned when people discuss racist acts. Finally, institutional racism addresses the policies adopted by employers, universities, governments, etc. that systematically discriminate against racial minorities. Many might think such policies died in response to the civil rights movement; however, such practices have persisted with coded language that produces the same effects without explicitly using race-based language. For instance, how many night clubs have you visited that have an unusual dress code that magically included attire commonly worn by African American men?

Many contemporary commentators utilize hegemonic ideologies that declare racism is dead. How often to do we hear people complain about the “race card” or denigrate black leaders as “race pimps”? These claims are often based on one or more fallacies (Desmond and Emirbayer 2010). The individualistic fallacy limits racism to individual stereotypes and prejudices while ignoring the systemic processes that disadvantage minority groups. For example, actors employing this fallacy might conclude that racism is anachronistic because the n-word has been largely extricated from face-to-face interactions. Meanwhile, these speakers ignore the fact that income, wealth, and educational gaps continue to distinguish white people from brown and black people.

Next, the legalistic fallacy assumes legal reforms outlawing racial discrimination mark the end of racism. This approach ignores the use of coded language to institute discriminatory practices within the law and the continued use of institutional discretion to exclude racial minorities from positions of power.

Third, the tokenistic fallacy assumes the occupation of powerful positions by nonwhite people means the glass ceiling has been destroyed. For example, many pundits argued liberals could no longer claim racism existed by we elected a black president. This perspective overlooks the dramatic underrepresentation of racial minorities in positions of power and ignores the structural barriers that decrease the probability that black and brown people will experience social mobility relative to whites.

Fourth, the ahistorical fallacy negates the accumulated effects of institutional racism and, consequently, overlooks the problems inherited by nonwhite communities from past discrimination. For instance, years of racial segregation, employment discrimination, and economic inequality have created unequal material starting points that negate the existence of an equal playing field. Instead, a racial caste system is reproduced in the absence of overt institutional racism that significantly determines life outcomes rather than merit.

Fifth, the fixed fallacy assumes racism remains constant across time/space. This apology ignores the methods adopted by racists to defend racial stratification by manipulating cultural symbols and, therefore, reframing inequities/discriminatory practices with new language that does not offend normative standards.

This lecture will address the following learning objectives:

1. Define ethnic stratification system

2. Delineate different modes of power exercised by dominant ethnic groups

3. Conceptualize the formation of ethnic stratification

4. Differentiate minority responses to subordination

Ethnic stratification is defined by the textbook authors as “a rank order of groups, each made up of people with presumed common cultural or physical characteristics interacting in patterns of dominance and subordination.” This means, power is unequally distributed amongst ethnic groups that possess dissimilar opportunity structures. In other words, dominant groups control social institutions (i.e. governmental entities, businesses, non-profit orgs, etc.) that wield decision-making authority and disseminate economic resources throughout the population.

These data illustrate the racial/ethnic stratification system includes dominant and subordinate groups. The dominant group is located at the top of the ethnic hierarchy, which receives a disproportionate share of wealth, exercises predominant political authority, dominates the society’s cultural system, and has inordinate influence on the future ethnic makeup of the society. In contrast, minority group members occupy few decision-making roles (governmental and economic), posses less economic, social, and cultural capital, and experience stigmatization/social isolation from dominant group members. Consequently, minority group members are often confronted with incredible obstacles that significantly shape their life outcomes. This dynamic is expressed through several social indicators. We will consider two: residential segregation and wealth inequality.

For example, the dissimilarity index measures the degree of segregation in a city or metropolitan area. “The figure indicates the percentage of white people that would need to move to another neighborhood to make whites and blacks evenly distributed across all neighborhoods.” This data is collected from the U.S. Census and measures white-black segregation; however, the formula can be used to measure segregation between any group.

In addition, the effects of racial/ethnic stratification can be observed in household wealth. The above table demonstrates extreme racial disparities with white possessing wealth approximately 1000% greater than black and Hispanic populations. These are just two examples that demonstrate how racial/ethnic stratification generate measurable social inequities.

How did this stratification emerge? White society has provided a variety of responses to this question. Some have argued racial/ethnic stratification reflects cultural differences that produce unfortunate disparities that should be address through cultural reeducation. This imperialistic mentality employs a racist cultural framework utilized by European imperialists to justify Indian boarding schools that ripped children from their homes and conditioned them to reject their cultural practices (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJ2_g_sJKg). Moreover, this perspective commits the ahistorical fallacy in that it ignores the accumulation of disadvantage imposed by white supremacy that has created deprivation inherited across generations. Others have argued that racial/ethnic stratification reflect inherited genetic traits that make dominant actors more intelligent than subordinate group members; however, the key contemporary publication (“The Bell Curve”) was not submitted for peer review and received overwhelming rejection by social scientists (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve).

The textbook author rejects these claims and explains the formation of the racial/ethnic stratification system as a function of socio-historical processes extending several hundred years. While the course will delineate some of these component parts, chapter two discusses the colonialist origins of racial/ethnic stratification in the U.S. Briefly, this stratification system began when European colonizers (voluntary immigrants) dominated America through a long, brutal process that resulted in the forced annexation of land and institution of state apparatuses that imposed white rule upon Native tribes and African slaves. This reflects of the foundation of the U.S. racial ethnic stratification system. Some students will claim, that was a long time ago and social reforms have been implemented that have produced racial egalitarianism. This is a half truth. While, yes, reforms have been instituted that have allayed some of the egregious forms of institutional racism, the cultural meaning that dehumanize nonwhite people while humanizing white people persist and, consequently, continue to produce internal, interpersonal, and institutional forms of racism that perpetuate the inequalities previously mentioned. Throughout this course, I expound upon this claim with more examples and evidence.

Finally, minority group members have adopted dissimilar responses to racial/ethnic stratification. Pluralistic strategists seek to maintain their cultural practices at the same time as they participate in the society’s major political and economic institutions. Pluralists will practice cultural habits performed in white society while respecting their heritage at home or in their respective minority community. Assimilationists seek full integration into dominant society by rejecting their cultural heritage and adopting mainstream practices. For instance, assimilationists will sometimes identify as white when their skin tone permits or convert to Christianity in effort to fit into white society. Secessionists seek complete political independence from dominant society. For example, many black separatist organizations have advocated black people return to Africa to exercise self-determination. Militants seek to become a dominant racial/ethnic group. For instance, the Nation of Islam and New Black Panther Party are black supremacist organizations that incorporate ideologies that demonize whites and advocate for black domination.

Lecture 2 learning objectives

• Conceptualize racism

• Idenfy different forms of racism

• Describe the five fallacies of racism

Racism

Racism: the belief that humans are subdivided into disnct

hereditary groups that are inmately different in in their

social behavior and mental capacies and that can

therefore be ranked as superior or inferior.

Hegemony: an instuonalized ideology that synthesizes

ideological elements advanced by subgroups into a

coherent framework that bolsters an instuonal

framework that advantages a dominant group by

disadvantaging subgroups.

Types of racism

Internalized racism – the adopon of

derogatory racial categories by racial minority

group members.

Interpersonal racism – racial discriminaon

that transpires during face-to-face interacon.

Instuonal racism – racial discriminaon

embedded in organizaonal or social policy.

Five fallacies about racism

• Individualisc fallacy

• Legalisc fallacy

• Tokenisc fallacy

• Ahistorical fallacy

• Fixed fallacy

Lecture 3 – Ethnic Straficaiton

Lecture 3 learning objectives

• Define ethnic straficaon system

• Delineate different modes of power exercised by

dominant ethnic groups

• Conceptualize the formaon of ethnic straficaon

• Differenate minority responses to subordinaon

Ethnic stratiication

Definion: a rank order of groups, each

made up of people with presumed common

cultural or physical characteriscs

interacng in paerns of dominance and

subordinaon.

Ethnic relations

Dominant ethnic group – group at the top of the ethnic

hierarchy, which receives a disproporonate share of wealth,

exercises predominant polical authority, dominates the

society’s cultural system, and has inordinate influence on the

future ethnic makeup of the society.

Minority groups characterized by:

• Differenal treatment

• Social definion

• Differenal power

• Categorical treatment

• Sociological and numerical meanings

Ethnic stratiication:

residential segregation

City, State

Black

Population

White

Population

Total

Population

Dissimilarity

Index

Milwaukee,

WI 232,247 1,116,150 1,500,741 84.4

Chicago, IL 1,541,641 4,798,533 8,272,768 83.6

St. Louis, MO 474,549 2,014,776 2,603,607 78

Atlanta, GA 1,178,872 2,460,740 4,112,198 68.8

Iowa City, IA 3,148 98,619 111,006 42.4

hp://www.censusscope.org/us/

rank_dissimilarity_white_black.html

Ethnic stratiication:

household wealth

Race 2007 2010 2013

All

households

$135,700 $82,300 $81,400

White $192,500 $138,600 $141,900

Black $19,200 $16,600 $11,000

Hispanic $23,600 $16,000 $13,700

hp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/

racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession/

Origins of ethnic stratiication

Forms of contact

• Conquest

• Annexaon

• Voluntary immigraon

• Involuntary immigraon

Minority responses to

subordination

• Pluralisc minories

• Assimilaon minories

• Secessionist minories

• Militant minories

Week 1 Slides

Weekly learning objectives

1. Disnguish ethnicity from race

2. Explain race as a social construct

3. Apply the social construcon of race to real world

examples

4. Conceptualize racism

5. Idenfy different forms of racism

6. Describe the five fallacies of racism

7. Define ethnic straficaon system

8. Delineate different modes of power exercised by

dominant ethnic groups

9. Conceptualize the formaon of ethnic

straficaon

10. Differenate minority responses to subordinaon

Lecture 1 learning objectives

• Disnguish ethnicity from race

• Explain race as a social construct

• Apply the social construcon of race to real

world examples

Ethnic groups

Key characteriscs:

• Unique cultural traits

• Sense of community

• Ethnocentrism

• Ascribed membership

• Territoriality

Race

Compeng definions

• Biological accounts

• Essenalism

• Phenotypes

• Genotypes

• Social construcon

• Construcvism

• Ambiguous conceptual boundaries

• Evolving conceptual boundaries

Lecture 2 – Defining Racism