sociology 36 hours

Lecture 3

SOC 1020 Lecture Three

Prof. D. Fasenfest Race and Ethnicity are often used interchangeably, though they refer to different things. Race is a biological classification. Humans are divided into three categories, Mongoloid, Negroid and Caucasoid. Mongoloids are identified as having reddish or yellowish complexions, dark, straight course hair and no eyelid fold, and a broad flat nasal bridge (descendents of the Asian territories). Negroids are identified as having dark complexions, curly dark course hair and a broad flat nasal bridge (descendents of the African territories). Caucasians are identified as having lighter, thinner hair, lighter skin and a high nasal bridge (descendents of Europe). Much social significance is attached to this biological distinction, but the significance is not warranted. In fact, the evolution of the races was driven by the climate where the race evolved. If you lived in a cold climate, like northern Europe, you needed to develop light skin and thinner hair to absorb the warmth of the sun. The high nasal bridge allowed air to be warmed before it hit the sinus cavity…think of it as a built-in protection from brain freezes. Compare the coloring on Scandinavians (blonde hair, very fair skin) to Greeks (Dark hair, olive complexion). Both groups are Caucasian by biological classification, but their coloring is different due to the climate where they evolved. The farther south we move, the darker the complexions become out of necessity. The bridge of the nose gets broader because the air is warmer. The hair gets courser, and the skin gets darker to provide protection from the sun. If we look at Australia, we see the native Australians (the group that evolved there) have dark skin. The fair Australians (Russell Crow, Nicole Kidman) are of British descent. These are the only biological differences that exist between the races. Recent genetic research has revealed how basically identical all humans really are! No race is biologically superior or inferior to another. We are identical under the skin. We have the same organs, the same circulatory system, and the same intellectual and emotional capabilities. Society has used these outward biological differences as a means of discriminating against groups if diverse groups have intermingled. W.E.B. DuBois, an early black sociologist, was the first to identify the social construction of race, and he was correct. He argued that it was social discrimination that made the social outcomes for blacks in America so devastating. Ethnicity refers to our cultural affiliation and nationality refers to the country where we are a citizen. Prejudice refers to the belief that one group is superior to another. Racism refers to the intolerance towards a socially defined race that is not your own. We can take as an example of social construction a comment made by the then President for Life “Papa Doc” Duvalier of Haiti. When, in the 1960s, he was asked what percent of Haitians are white he replied 95%. The interviewer was concerned that he had not spoken French properly and repeated the questions, to which the Dictator repeated the same answer. Asked how this was possible since any casual look at Haiti’s population reveals its roots as the first successful nation created by a slave revolt the Dictator explained. How do you determine race in the US, he asked…one is Black if there is some small percentage of Black ancestry back a few generations? Well, in Haiti you are white if you have any white ancestry and only about 5% of Haitians come directly from Africa—so, the rest are all “white”! Discrimination refers to the unequal treatment of one group by another.

Lecture 3

There are four categories that each of us can fall into around prejudice and discrimination.

Level of Discrimination

Degree of Prejudice

prejudiced non-discriminator

prejudiced discriminator

non-prejudiced non-discriminator

non-prejudiced discriminator

The prejudiced discriminator is someone who not only believes that another group is inferior, but also treats that group unjustly. For example, prior to the late 60s in the south, it was socially common for white business owners to refuse service to non-whites. It was also a prevalent belief that non-whites were inferior to whites. So, the shop owner who believed in white superiority and who discriminated against non-whites would fall into this category. Early Spanish conquerors of the Central Americas believed that the indigenous population had no souls and were therefore not human. This belief allowed them to treat those people as badly as they treated livestock and beasts of burden, with the blessings of the Church present on these explorations. It was not “inhuman” behavior if you classify them as non-human. A similar approach justified the treatment of Jews, Gypsies and other “undesirables” including mass extermination during the German Nazi era in the middle of the last century. Both take discrimination to the extreme. The prejudiced non-discriminator is an individual who believes that another group is inferior but does not discriminate against that group. Today it is illegal to refuse service to anyone based on their race. That does mean though that the store owner who refused service in the 60s is no longer prejudiced. It just means that this store owner now waits on everyone to avoid prosecution, but still believes that the other group is inferior. However, there still may be differences in the kind of service you provide. Non-whites may not be excluded from the store but may be more likely to have to wait a long time for help or are kept under surveillance because of their skin color (we will return to this in a moment). The non-prejudiced discriminator is someone who does not believe that the other group is inferior but discriminates anyway. Imagine that you are a white shop keeper in the 60s south. You don’t believe that whites are superior to non-whites. However, if you serve non-whites in your shop, whites won’t shop there. So, you discriminate against non-whites for economic reasons, even though you are not prejudiced. A less obvious form of this is a belief by shopkeepers that being non-white they have less money to spend so non-whites get ignored as a potential customer—in this case the skin color is a signal about economic status. The non-prejudiced non-discriminator is the last category. This is the person who believes that all people are equal and treats everyone equally.

Lecture 3

Now that we have anti-discrimination laws, racism and discrimination have become more covert. As I mentioned above shop employees sometimes follow non-white customers and monitor them for potential shoplifting. While it is illegal, there are subtle employment differences. For example, in many restaurants the wait staff that deal with customers are white and the kitchen staff likely to be hidden are non-white. Recently there is much made of racial profiling that is manifest through the high likelihood of black commuters being pulled over in white neighborhoods even though they have not broken a traffic law—other than the crime of “driving while black”. These examples are well documented, and in the case of the DWB phenomenon, are under investigation by the federal government. A recent study of traffic stops on 8-Mile here in Detroit found that non-whites driving east (and therefore technically within the City of Detroit) were stopped much less often than those driving west (and therefore technically in Eastpointe). The NAACP sued the City of Carmel, Indiana for discriminatory ticketing of non- whites—and what won the suit for them was evidence that non-white workers, on their way to a call center (a low-wage employer hiring poor non-whites from Indianapolis) had a tag on their license plates signifying they worked in Carmel, we hardly ever stopped by the police. These are all examples Institutional racism, where discrimination gets woven into the fabric of our social institutions making inequality the norm for society. Scapegoat theory argues that when things are not going well in your life, you look for someone else to blame. If you are poor and struggling to get and hold a job, you are likely to blame another group for your failures. The example of Vincent Chen applies here. The Detroit autoworkers were looking for a scapegoat to blame for the failing auto industry. Rather than blaming the quality of their product (Japanese cars were better built) or the government for not controlling imports, they blamed the Vietnamese man that they believed to be Japanese. It is easier to blame a scapegoat who outwardly looks different or acts different than you. In his case he paid for it with his life. Another form of this can be seen in studies of union versus non-union counties in the coal mining regions of West Virginia. When there was no union, white workers saw the problem as one of cheap Black workers looking to “steal” jobs—but the outcome was that even though whites earned much more than Blacks, overall wages were low. In strong union counties, workers all understood that the problem was with the mine owner so overall wages were higher, even though because of discrimination Black workers still earned less money (though closer to parity). Minority groups are often the target for discrimination. A minority group is not necessarily the group with the smallest numbers. It is always the group with the least social power. Minority group status changes over time as well. For example, during the Great Immigration the newest immigrant group was the targeted minority, and each group took its turn. The Irish, the Germans, the Polish, the Italians, the Puerto Ricans all took their turn as the minority group of the day until they assimilated. Assimilation is easier if you are distinguished by language and culture only, and not also by race. Today, no northern European group is classified as a minority. And yet, like most social problems we revisit the same issues repeatedly. Pat Buchannan, a presidential candidate for the Republican Party in the 90s, argued that it was time to close our borders…a sentiment that is felt by many since the World Trade Center bombings and has become a focus in the current political

Lecture 3

climate among many. In an ironic twist of fate racial profiling now refers to type-casting Arabs (ironically Arabs are classified as white in the US Census) and there has been less attention to traditional DWB type of racial profiling. Buchanan argued that immigrants were taking jobs, overtaxing our resources and could be a danger to our communities. Lou Dobb even accused illegal immigrants of bringing disease into the country even though there is no evidence of this, and the claim was refuted by the Center for Disease Control. This is the same argument that the nativists used during the Great Immigration. We have a movement to deport all illegal immigrants from Mexico as well, using the identical arguments. For the past year or two thee is renewed focus on the experiences of African-Americans (George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement) and less concern over Muslims and people from the Middle East. Most recently, there is an increase of attacks on Asian-Americans (since COVID and our disagreements with China) and a reminder of the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit (see https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/us/vincent-chin-death-40-anniversary-cec/index.html). We should remember that “racial” categories are social categories, invented by society to “explain” or “label” one group as being substantively different than the rest of society. Sometimes the consequences are more or less benign, sometimes that can cost people their lives, but never is it justified by “science” and is always artificially motivated—and hence clearly a social problem.