Lecture 1 The Sociology of Race 03 18 2014 RACE group of people who share a set of characteristic usually physical ones and are said to share a common bloodline Race varies socially and by implication historically It is malleable it s a construction so it can be changed o E g One Drop one drop of African American blood in your body then you are therefore black What was once dominant in the United States in the 19th century The legacy still evident that Obama is claimed as the first black president of the US It is also demonstrated in the movie Rabbit Proof Fence Scientific racism 19th century theories of race that tried to provide a scientific basis for the origins of and difference between races o E g skin color blood shape of skulls Social Darwinism some races are superior than other races rooted from Darwin s survival of the fittest idea Fueled Anglo Saxon Europeans elitism Eugenics theory tried to fix races not in terms of evolution but through genes and hereditary Some races had inferior genetics demonstrating degenerate characteristics like being dumber more criminal more insane o E g the Nazi s tried to fix the inferiority of Jewish people What Sociology of Race is NOT Biological Approach skin color genetic composition Individual Approach racism psychology attitudes Sociology of race is a combination of two concepts Social construct and social marker race as a category that has been constructed by people in society that distinguishes one group from another Social consequences race as a social phenomenon that has social dynamics that then has a social outcome Larger social consequences above and beyond the individual o Race as a social construction that has consequences Racializalization the formation of a new racial identity in which new ideological boundaries of difference are drawn around a formerly unnoticed group of people E g Irish in a sense became white Anglo Saxons said that they were one of them becoming a member of their particular race In addition after the even to 9 11 Arabic Muslims dark hair and skin people are categorized into one race Lecture 2 The Sociology of Race II 03 18 2014 Race vs Ethnicity Race imposed usually based on physical differences hierarchical exclusive and unequal Ethnicity voluntary self defined nonhierarchical fluid cultural and not so closely linked with power differences i e more cultural than biological o Arab or Amish or Jewish not a race but more an ethnicity About language religion common heritage experience and culture Distinct ethnic groups in American society Nazi s racialized Jews American s racialized Arabs after 9 11 o Symbolic ethnicity ethnicity that is individualistic in nature and without real social cost for the individual kind of a performance that people can pick and choose from There is a process of commodification exaggeration and appropriation often completely far of the mark of the what the real ethnicity is For example Irish on Saint Patrick s Day celebrated once a year which becomes something that you can put on and take off White guys who pretend like they are from the hood they wear the clothes and they adopt the language and mannerism J Pop American Fun Time Now Show parody of white Americans emulating Japanese culture Whiteness becomes a race and ethnicity stuff white people like camping o Ethnic Stereotypes E g Dylan Moran s interpretation of French not racist but nationalist people from France have a common way of talking having sex affinity with visual arts o National Identity to be part of a nation it is usually more associated with citizenship but there could still be overlaps between race and ethnicity Tending to be tied to states Race as a construction can be malleable and constructed arbitrarily Does not mean that it is inconsequential It is relevant because it can take on powerful meaning in society and its effects Thinking about Racial Consequences Inter Group Relations o Straight line assimilation by Robert Park and Gordon s Stages of Assimilation everybody can assimilate despite the differences between groups one overarching culture can be adopted by all o Pluralism the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society with one group being the majority Everybody coexisting in peace and harmony idea that all cultures and differences thrive o Segregation the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of and are embraced their race or ethnicity E g official segregation in the United States where they separate the black from the whites in the 1900 s 1940 residential segregation increased 2000 official desegregation through the Civil Rights Movement not by much Nowadays most sociologist agree that US is neither a pluralistic nor an assimilated society but an unofficially and socially segregated society Group Responses to Domination Four ways that groups respond to oppression are withdrawal passing acceptance and resistance o Withdrawal you get out of the dominant group area o Passing they adopt the culture of dominant group o Acceptance submit to the rules accept your subordinate status o Resistance minority groups that are seemingly accepting but behind the scenes they conspire to resist But this can give way to pure revolt Prejudice vs Discrimination group o Prejudice refers to negative thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial o Discrimination refers to harmful or negative acts against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category Merton s types of racism Prejudice discriminator active bigotry Prejudice not discriminatory timid bigotry Not prejudice discriminatory fair weather liberal Not prejudice not discriminatory all weather liberal Race Class o Race and class stratification has been intertwined distribution of wealth income assets total debt Research shows that it pays to be a certain race white families are 10 times more wealth than non whites Latinos and Blacks have less than whites Disparity has increased since the 1960 s Civil Rights Movement o The Declining Significance of Race W J Wilson Thesis since 1960 s the economic situation of Black Americans have worsened If racism causes economic difficulty then Civil Right s Movement should have increased economic situation of Blacks but it did NOT Therefore the disparity is not caused due to racism RACIST ARGUMENT Whites have more wealth because whites are superior they are smarter and work harder Biologically or culturally LIBERAL ARGUMENT Legacy of slavery even though officially