Race 10 15 15 12 00 AM Argument that all humans share common origins Europeans traveled encountered different people o Concept of race Racial classifications became elaborate Confused race with nationality Classifications ignored overlap The ideas of race racial inferiority etc became a justification for colonialism and slavery Race was the product of the rise of slavery Race justified defining people as property to be sold bought and owned o Legal system defined slaves as property Justified this by saying they weren t real people they were different Race becomes an explanation for this system Children born into slavery were slaves This slave family suggests that race was not simply a biological quality Being freed civil war did not lead to much change Without the law whites used system of domestic terrorism Blacks began fleeing the south The great migration W E B Du Bois First African American to receive doctorate at Harvard Most important American sociologist Founded leading civil rights union of US Book The Philadelphia Negro o Survey of African American life in philly Congregated in certain parts of the city the negro quarter Separate black institutions emerged Hospitals magazines newspapers Meanwhile new populations of poor white immigrants arrived Religiously different Social services established to help them Got a lot of sympathy Different treatment could be justified by eugenics Eugenics good genetics good breed Encourage the right sorts of people to breed Justified the Nazi policies Eugenic ideas in popular culture o Movie idiocracy Hispanic is not a race The census asks a race question and then a separate Hispanic Latin question Hispanic is treated as a sort of race in official data Ethnic composition of US is changing Culture social structure Culture what we know what we ve learned Social structures ways we arrange things Race ethnicity has consequences Cycle reinforces importance of race ethnicity o Stage 1 prejudice and discrimination Expression of ethnocentrism or an attempt to justify economic exploitation o Stage 2 social disadvantage As a result of stage 1 Occupying a low position in the system of social stratification o Stage 3 belief in minorities innate inferiority White black differences in graduating having children within marriage and having jobs Whites graduate high school slightly more Blacks have about half as more children young or out of wedlock Whites have more full time workers in the family But racial differences remain after controlling for education marriage and employment More low income blacks If you do these three things it is still the case that African Americans are more likely to end up in low income situations What is equality Affirmative action does it promote or violate equality People for it say it promotes equality People against it say it violates Gender We socially construct gender o Roles qualities Gender reveals social patterns Wage gap as result to starting families Campaigns to challenge gender roles Bottom line natural differences are often social differences Race As Class 17 21 Scientifically no human races scientists say a race is a subspecies that cannot interbreed Use definition of race to decide whether strangers should be treated superior inferior or equal or threatening Whites consider dark skinned strangers threatening until proven otherwise High levels of melanin protected people living outside Reinforced by millennial interbreeding when lived in small groups Climatic adaptation DNA most people are of racially mixed origins and they didn t even know it Height weight hairlines ear lobes finger hand size skin texture vary too randomly and frequently to be useful for categorizing Skin colors facial features commonly define race because they resemble the countrys class and status hierarchy White indentured servants were available but blacks were cheaper more plentiful and more easily controlled and physically more able to survive in the working conditions After slavery ended blacks became farm laborers sharecroppers Because skin color is socially constructed it can be reconstructed Race as indicator of both class and status All races can be found at every level of socioeconomic order Cultural differences in language dress etc also used Can still use race for generalized ranking Aka staying in bottom SES Declining noticability Often darker than African Americans but only noticed economic Descendants of European immigrants began to move up socially Those as educated affluent remain just as black as did before Suffer from far harsher and more pervasive discrimination and Began to look visibly like middle class Biologically skin did not change but it socially looked whiter Became known as white ethnic economically skins apparently began looking lighter to the whites South Asians best example of how race correlates with class success so never been seen as nonwhites The only populations whose racial features aren t automatically perceived differently with mobility African Americans segregation than nonwhite immigrants of equivalent SES Still perceived as ex slaves Daily life in a white dominated society reminds many that they are perceived as inferiors and these are louder and more relentless for the poor and young men Use African Americans to anchor the American class structure If class hierarchy disappears people will probably stop judging differences in skin color other features The Changing Face of Black America 62 63 Migration from Caribbean and Africa has been changing the face of black America immigration laws passed in 1986 Hart Cellar Act immigration from the carribean First generation African immigrants have more education per capita than both first generation carribean immigrants and US born African Americans they still make less money than both of them Disparities due to racial discrimination Native African Americans and immigrant blacks are bridging social distances First generation carribean and African immigrants are facilitated by the ease of communication and money transfers keep in close contact with kin 17 of the non Hispanic black population increase dominated in major metropolitan areas amnesty to undocumented immigrants increased visas employment visas available Toys 10 15 15 12 00 AM Ethnically Correct Dolls Toying with the Race Industry p305 321 Changed Barbie o Integrated toy world while fixing racial boundaries more firmly features Boundaries upon racial markers hair skin color Black girls playing with