Race and Ethnicity
Defining Race and Ethnicity
The Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity:
Definitions:
Race: Social construction based on (a select few) physical traits. ("phenotypic expression")
- People who share physical traits that society considers important.
- E.g., In the U.S.: African American, Asian American, White, Native American
- These physical traits often only constitute a small percentage of our entire genetic make-up.
*Ethnicity: Social construction based on cultural traits
- People who have common ancestors, language, or religion that society consider important. E.g., In the U.S.: Hispanic/Latino (speak Spanish, but ...)
- Often race and ethnicity go hand in hand. E.g., South Asian Americans
Power and Social Construction:
- How does "race" become a hierarchical category?
- Throughout history, race has been used as a means by which to dehumanize and exploit individuals and groups
- Narratives; storytelling; institutionalization
- How do we come up with rankings?
- Ranking comes from relations of power in society.
- Groups in power define "others" as different: "They look different, so they must BE different"
- Define this difference as inferior.
- Use their power to coerce these racial or ethnic groups into subordinate positions
- Example: Race: The Power of Illusion 1; Race: The Power of Illusion 2
- Skin color is only one component of genetic make-up.
- **Race isn't biological, but racism - and the experience of race - is still real.
- How does "race" become a hierarchical category?
Racial Formation - solidifying social constructions:
Racial Formation is the process by which a group comes to be defined as a race.
The informal categories that arise from those in power (dominant social groups) become institutionalized
- "uncivilized" people
- "more athletic," "better at math," etc.
- Policies - E.g., Jim Crow and Racial Segregation
The categories become supported through official institutions such as the law, the schools, or medicine. Think: immigration, admissions, disease
Social institutions produce and maintain the meaning of race.
Major U.S. Racial/Ethnic Groups:
Racial and ethnic classifications are legally determined by the Office of Management and Budget
O.M.B. statistical directive 15 (1977 and revisions)
Controls racial and ethnic standards on all federal forms and statistics
Note: legal definitions of race vary by country.
Prejudice and Discrimination
Some definitions:
Prejudice = Attitudes
Prejudice: Rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people (attitudes).
- Thinking badly about someone simply because they are part of a particular group.
Discrimination = Behavior
Discrimination: Treating various categories of people unequally.
- Unequal treatment of the members of a social group solely because of their membership in that group.
Example: Discrimination in Public Places: Jeo Feagin, "The Continuing Significance of Race: Antiblack Discrimination in Public Places (1991)"
Background: 1964 Civil Rights Act, Title II
- Outlawed discrimination in "any place of public accommodation.
- Public accommodation = restaurants, hotels, etc.
Research Question:
- Do middle-class black Americans still face discrimination in public accommodations and other public places?
Methods:
- In-depth interviews with 37 middle-class blacks in major cities.
- Interviewers were black.
Discriminatory Actions - Overview
- Discrimination is more likely in public places:
- Public accommodations - more discrimination
- Public streets - most discrimination
- Range of Discriminatory Actions:
- From avoidance to physical attacks
- Range of Black Responses to Discrimination:
- From withdrawal to physical counterattack
- Summary of results (pp. 104-105)
- Discriminatory Actions - Table 1
- Responses to Discrimination - Table 2
- Discrimination is more likely in public places:
Discrimination in Public Accommodations (pp. 105-110)
- Types of discrimination:
- What is the form of discrimination here?
- Examples?
- Black responses to discrimination:
- What is the most common responses?
- Examples?
- What "resources" do middle class blacks use in their responses?
- Types of discrimination:
Discrimination on The Street (pp. 110-114)
- Types of discrimination
- What is the form of discrimination here?
- Examples?
- Black responses to discrimination
- What is the most common response?
- Examples?
- Types of discrimination
Decisions about responses: How do blacks decide about their response?
- Careful situation assessments:
- Always start with careful assessment of situation.
- Determine if action is discrimination
- Then, what are the options?
- Can they change or stop the discrimination?
- How badly do they want what they are there for?
- This assessment process shows: The cumulative aspect of public discrimination.
- If this only happened once, would not have such well-throughout strategies.
- Careful situation assessments:
Conclusion:
- Middle class blacks still face discrimination in public places
- These are NOT isolated incidents - they happen daily.
- This discrimination is cumulative in two ways:
- The individual's experiences with discrimination: An isolated act brings to mind ALL the PAST acts an individual has experienced.
- The historical experiences of the group: Each act brings to mind the HISTORICAL experiences of the entire group.
"One older respondent spoke of having to put on her ‘shield’ just before she leaves the house each morning. For more than six decades, as she leaves her home, she has tried to be prepared for insults and discrimination in public places, even if nothing happens that day."
Race/Ethnicity and Culture
Minority Groups and Assimilation:
Assimilation:
Assimilation: The process by which individuals from one cultural group merge, or "blend," into a second group,
- Full assimilation: abandon native cultural ways.
- Classical assimilation model:
- Sometimes, integration is voluntary, in that immigrants ASPIRe to become part of the dominant culture.
- E.g., immigrant groups that learn how the dominant culture works, and try to "fit-in"
- In contrast to CLASSIC ASSIMILATION is SEGMENTED ASSIMILATION, which talks about three different paths of adaptation to the dominant culture (most often seen with immigrants of color).
Model of Segmented Assimilation: three paths of assimilation for immigrants of color:
- White middle class - try to fully assimilate to this group ("American dream")
- Black underclass - frustrations (inability to become middle class) lead to identification with this group.
- Ethnic enclaves - some assimilation + own identity
- Deliberately retain culture and values of their own immigrant community
- Rely on their ethnic community for social capital, employment leads, relief from discrimination.
- Here, ethnic identity is a valuable resource, not a liability.
- LACY proposes a variant of the Ethnic Enclaves -> "Strategic Assimilation": Black middle-class path
"Strategic Assimilation" and Middle-Class Black: Karyn Lacy, Black Spaces, Black Places: Strategic Assimilation and Identity Construction in Middle Class Suburbia
- Middle class blacks are like those in ethnic enclaves:
- Have access to majority white colleges, workplaces, and neighborhoods.
- BUT consciously maintain connections to Black community, culture and identity
- Maintain black racial identities
- Black racial identity is seen as a valuable resource: can benefit from the culture, resources, and social connections of own racial group.
- Lacy's focus: Process of negotiating two racial worlds:
- How do Blacks deal with White world?
- "Racial integration" or assimilation
- How do Blacks construct/maintain own identity?
- By creating "racially-distinct spaces"
- How do Blacks deal with White world?
- Methods:
- Data collected in 1997-1998
- In-depth interviews with 30 black couples
- Ethnographic study in two middle class suburbs in DC area (Lacy refers to this demographic as "middle-class" instead of "upper-middle-class" because that's how they defined themselves)
- Riverton - 65% black: median family income $66K
- Lakeview - 4% black: median family income $79K
- Background:
- Representative surveys on middle-class blacks' attitudes
- Majority believe that discrimination has increased
- Affluent blacks less optimistic (than poor blacks) about racial progress.
- So, willingness to assimilate is tempered by belief that discrimination still abounds.
- Results:
- Assimilation with white word: "Desirability of Racial Integration"
- Riverton and Lakeview Blacks are similar in the degree of social integration they desire with Whites.
- What are their views about their children integrating into white world?
- Marrying whites?
- Joining white sororities/fraternities?
- Attending white colleges?
- How would they react to each of these things?
- What is important or not about this integration?
- Maintaining black identity: black social and cultural world - "Racially-Distinct Spaces"
- Among Lacy's participants (all), how is racial identity built, in general? What is common among them?
- How are "black spaces" different in the two suburbs**?
- Riverton (majority black suburb):
- Where does black identity develop for kids?
- How does black identity develop>
- What is black identity for them and their kids?
- Lakeview (majority white suburb):
- Where does black identity develop for kids?
- How does black identity develop?
- What is black identity for them and their kids?
- Assimilation with white word: "Desirability of Racial Integration"
- Conclusions:
- Strategic Assimilation: Both groups of middle-class blacks:
- Assimilate in terms of economic achievement
- Maintain black cultural identity
- Negotiating transition from black to white world (Varies by suburban context):
- Riverton (black majority suburb) -> Why do they choose this type of suburb?
- Lakeview (black minority suburb) -> Why do they choose this type of suburb?
- Black racial identity - liability or not? Why is black racial identity important?
- Strategic Assimilation: Both groups of middle-class blacks:
- Middle class blacks are like those in ethnic enclaves: