Power, Racism, and Privilege Midterm 1
the contact situation
- the conditions under which groups first come into contact with each other determines the immediate fate of minority groups and intergroup relations in the future
from slavery to segregation
- the northern states industrialized first, while the southern states remained primarily agrarian (slaves brought economic power) - This economic diversity was an underlying cause of the regional conflict that led to the civil war - When slavery was abolished in 1865, black-white relations in the south entered a new era called reconstruction The period of reconstruction (1865-1880's) was a brief reformation in the long history of oppression and exploitation of blacks: - 15th amendment gave blacks the right to vote - Education became possible for blacks Land ownership and business ventures created a middle class *Reconstruction was too brief to overcome two centuries of poverty, illiteracy, and powerlessness of blacks - Even during reconstruction, the centuries of prejudice and racism was ingrained in southern culture
Gender and African-Americans
* Black women have had consistently higher unemployment rates and lower incomes than both black men and white women (intersectionality) - black women were combining work with family roles - Black women could not vote as suffrage did not include them
ideological racism
- A belief system or a set of ideas in society that assert that a particular group is inferior and used to legitimize or rationalize the inferior status of the group. - Incorporated into the culture of society and can be passed on from generation to generation. - Do not necessarily need prejudice to have ideological racism, occurs in socialization processes.
Growing importance of education
- Employability - College degree - Unequal distribution of education (property taxes) - Present-day inequalities (education is not equal) * Minority groups are systematically excluded from equal education that they need to become assimilated
discrimination
- Refers to behavior and may be defined as the unequal treatment of a person or persons based on group membership - Acting out ones prejudice - thinking/feeling = prejudice; doing= discrimination
Asian immigrants as model minorities?
- The model minority has been applied by people who have a variety of hidden political agendas, is not useful in predicting one's integration process - The view of Asian Americans as "model minorities" is exaggerated and stereotypical. Barriers to assimilate: -cultural and linguistic markers -racially-based discrimination from both employers and labor unions. - Lack of representation in political realm
Immigrants today
- the largest ancestry group is German American - White ethnics are close to being fully assimilated - Segmented assimilation - Minority status is governed by power and the distribution of resources
cultural pluralism
A condition in which many cultures/groups coexist within a society and maintain their cultural differences. - exists when groups have not yet acculturated and each maintain its own identity on purpose (ex. Native Americans)
Blauner Hypthesis
Blauner (1972) identifies two different initial relationships—colonization and immigration - The initial differences between colonized and immigrant minority groups have consequences that persist long after first contact.
structural pluralism
A situation in which groups have acculturated but is not integrated. - That is, they have adopted and recognize the Anglo-American culture but do not have equal access to the institutions of the larger society (Ex. African-Americans) - Cultural differences are minimal, but the groups occupy different locations in the social structure of society
Group relationships in Agrarian, Industrial, and Postindustrial society
*Changes in group relations have been presented as the results of the fundamental transformation of the U.S. economic institution ex. Agrarian society —> industrial society = more competition for jobs - changes didn't just happen by chance
Early Chinese Immigration and anti-chinese campiagn
- Chinese immigrants were "pushed" by the colonization of much of china - At the same time, immigrants were pulled to the West coast of the U.S for gold - 1882 Chinese exclusion act: banned immigration from China, made the number of Chinese in U.S decline - Mostly male Chinese immigrants were in U.S, so the scarcity of Chinese women delayed the second generation - ^ This created an absence of a more americanized, english-speaking generation for Chinese Americans and instead made them more isolated - The Chinese became increasingly urbanized as the Chinese campaign and rising racism took its toll - Enclaves called Chinatowns became the economic, cultural, and social centers of the community
Blauner hypothesis: Colonized minority groups
- Colonized minority groups, such as African Americans, are forced into minority status by the dominant groups's greater military and political power. - Colonized minority groups will experience more intense prejudice, racism, and discrimination than immigrants - The disadvantaged status of colonized groups persists longer and is more difficult to overcome than immigrant groups are subjected to massive inequalities and attacks on their cultures. - are assigned to positions from which any form of assimilation is extremely difficult and perhaps even forbidden. - are identified by highly visible racial or physical characteristics that maintain and reinforce the oppressive system.
shared victimhood (Andrea smith)
Smith says that people of color should not participate in any pillar of white supremacy, for example do not join the military - do not participate in the oppression
Paternalism
The U.S agrarian society, with a small elite class and a plantation-based economy, will often develop paternalism Key features of paternalism: - power differentials and huge inequalities between dominant and minority groups - Elaborate and repressive systems of control over minority groups caste-like barriers between groups - codes of behavior and communication between groups low rates of overt conflict because of oppression
Acculturation and immigration for Mexican-Americans
- Mexican Americans tended to work and live in rural areas - As Chicanos urbanized, they continued to serve as a colonized, exploited labor force limited to the less desirable, low-wage jobs, and split labor markets - mexican women are assigned to the lowest jobs and earn the lowest wages - Mexican Americans were excluded from political, educational, and legal institutions of the larger society by law and by custom. - Discrimination in the criminal justice system and civil rights violations have been continual grievances of Mexican Americans throughout the century. - Many Mexicans in prison system, disproportionate - The flow of immigration kept Mexican culture and the Spanish language alive. - *Although some Mexican Americans have acculturated and integrated, a large segment of the group continues to fill the same economic role as their ancestors.
What white privilege looks like in everyday life
- Privilege grants whites the cultural authority to make judgments about others and to have those judgments stick - Privilege allows people to define reality and have prevailing definitions of reality fit their experience. - Privilege means being able to decide who gets taken seriously, receives attention, etc - privilege allows those at the top certain social and political power
Multiculturalism
mutual respect between cultures and groups in the same place
The evolution of white ethnicity
whites with European immigrants in their ancestry want to claim their ancestry as being unique to them, once society became more accepting, yet it is only symbolic as they never understood life in the original country (ex. 3rd generation immigrants) - 2nd generation usually wanted to hide their unique ethnicity
Mexican-Americans and the Blauner Hypothesis
- Mexican Americans as a colonized group, forced into minority status - colonized by dominant group and used for labor - now, Mexican Americans are both a colonized and immigrant group
System of slavery
- Slavery was a caste system, or a closed stratification system, in which the social class you were born into was permanent - In a paternalistic system, rigid, strictly enforced codes of etiquette governed the interactions between dominant and minority group members - Slaves were expected to show humility to whites, or they would die - psuedotolerance: white elites believed they were helping/civilizing the slaves and showed positive emotions of affection - ^ slavery was based on a contradiction: whites believed they were helping slaves, but in reality they were treating them inhumanely - the powerlessness of slaves made it difficult for them to openly reject or resist the system, but they often tried (Ex. Haitian Revolution)
Intersectionality (Patricia Hill Collins)
- acknowledges that everyone has multiple group memberships ad that these criss cross or intersect to create different experiences for people with varying combinations of statuses. - the matrix of oppression - allows one to see how a person's different identities may impact one's life in society
Race relations in the north after the great migration
- after the great migration, white ethnic groups saw the newly arriving black migrants as a threat to their status - White ethnic groups responded by developing defensive strategies such as making labor unions that denied blacks from entering - This competition led to hostile relations, especially in the lower-class of immigrants -The newly arriving blacks actually helped white ethnic groups move upward socially and economically -Blacks helped poor whites move into better jobs, yet were still seen as a threat to jobs for poor whites
Variations in assimilation
different factors that shape one's assimilation process: - degree of similarity to dominant culture - Religion - Social class - Gender (easier for men to assimilate, women were in the house) - Sojourners (do not plan on staying in America forever, do not care to assimilate)
revolution
groups do not want to assimilate, want to change social order/dominant group
Types of Racism
individual prejudice, individual discrimination, ideological racism, institutional discrimination
The Noel Hypothesis
* if the contact situation involves ethnocentrism, competition, and a differential in power, then racial or ethnic stratification will occur and some dominant-minority group structure will develop Three features: - ethnocentrism —> establishes group boundaries based on differences they believes separates us (the dominant) from them (the minority) - established who to dominate - competition —> gives motivation to establish superiority - refers to a struggle over scare resources - victorious group is the dominant group - differential in power —> dominant group imposes its will on minority group - establishes how to dominate - three factors of group power: size, organization, and resources - gives ability for dominant group to achieve its goals despite opposition from minority groups
Acculturation and Integration of Asian-Americans
- Acculturation of Asian Americans is highly variable from group to group. - Asian Americans in general are highly urbanized - Asian American groups are generally less residentially segregated than either African American or Hispanic Americans. - A number of studies document the feelings of inadequacy and negative self images - Asian American women are pressured by the cultural message that physical beauty should be among their most important concerns, want to be more white (white=beauty in America) - As a whole, Asian Americans compare favorably with society-wide standards for educational achievement, and they are above those standards on many measures - Compared to whites, Chinese Americans are greatly overrepresented at both the highest and lowest levels of schooling (bi-polar) - Asian Americans have a higher median household income than non-hispanic whites - institutionalized discrimination still exists, but there is growing power for Asian immigrants
Blauner hypothesis: Immigrant minority groups
- Are at least in part voluntary participants in host society - Do not occupy such markedly inferior positions as colonized groups do - Commonly experience more rapid acceptance and easier movement to equality - Given a degree of choice and self-direction that, for the most part, was not offered to people of color - Less racially distinguishable than colonized groups - Most immigrant groups are europeans who identify with America now
Robert Park "Race Relations Cycle"
- Contact - Competition - Accommodation - Assimilation * Park assumes that assimilation is inevitable in a just, democratic society, yet U.S society is not fair and has injustices - also never has a timeframe for successful integration
the family insitution and the culture of poverty
- Employment and wage inequality. - White graduates have access to intraracial networks. The world of work is controlled by nepotism, cronyism, personal relationships, and networks of social relations that are decidedly not open to everyone. - Black urban poverty is a product of the complex forces of past and present institutional discrimination, American racism and prejudice, the precarious position of African American women in the labor force, and continuing urbanization and industrialization. - People born into a family with a parent with a college degree, most often are white, and exposed to advanced vocabulary from an early age - The nature of the African American family institution has been a continuing source of concern and controversy. - The solution to black urban poverty lies in fundamental changes in the urban-industrial economy and sweeping alterations in the distribution of resources and opportunities.
enclave and middleman minority groups
- Enclave minority groups: establishes its own neighborhood and relies on interconnected businesses, usually small in scope, for economic survival - Middleman minority group: also relies on small shops and retail firms, but the businesses are more dispersed throughout a large area rather than concentrated in a specific locale - Enclave minority groups and middleman minority groups are examples of integration without acculturation: - Often originate as immigrant groups and thus have more opportunities than colonized groups - Are also racially distinguishable, certain opportunities may be closed to them - Share characteristics with both immigrant and colonized groups; in the middle of them in Blauner Hypothesis
contemporary issues: hate crimes
- Hate crimes are violent attacks or other acts on intimidation motivated by the group membership of the victim or victims. - Two main types of hate crimes: 1) those motivated by "thrill-seeking" or the quest for excitement 2)and those that are "defensive" - Race/ethnicity is the main bias for hate crimes Most hate crimes occur to LGBTQ people and people color, or trans people of color
Primary structural assimilation for blacks
- Interracial contact in the more public areas of society is certainly more common today, which has led to increases in more intimate contacts across racial lines. - On the other hand, further increases in this area are limited by continuing structural pluralism and separate black and white institutional and organizational structures. - There is evidence that the percentage of whites that included African Americans as intimate contacts increased slightly. - Additionally, approval of interracial dating and marriage appears to be especially high among younger people.
The creation of minority status for Native Americans
- Native American societies were NOT homogeneous, they were highly variable in culture language, size, and technology - women were not subordinate in native american society - In 1607, they were 1 to 10 million native Americans - By 1890, the number fell to less than 250,000 due more to diseases and the destruction of food resources than warfare - The result of the contact situation: native Americans were very near to genocide - Native Americans are a colonized group (Blauner Hypothesis)
secondary structural assimilation for blacks
- Residential segregation between blacks and whites peaked toward the end of the Jim Crow era, in the 1960s and 1970s, and has decreased in recent decades - Residential segregation continues to be the norm and that blacks are much more segregated from whites than are the other two groups. - These patterns reflect the social class differences between the races and are reinforced by a variety of discriminatory practices—racial steering, redlining, white flight. - Racial steering: real estate agents would not allow blacks to view houses in white neighborhoods, forcing them to settle in black neighborhoods - School integration was one of the most important goals of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and, aided by pressure from the courts and the federal government - Brown v. Board of Education (1954): reversed separate but equal claim, ended segregation in public schools, overturned the principle of segregation (separate but equal) -In recent decades, school integration is slowing down. -Overall, black American political power has tended to increase over the past several decades on the national, state, and local levels. - The number of black elected officials at all levels of government increased from virtually zero at the turn of the century to almost 9,000 in 2010 ´ - A potentially ominous threat to this trend is the growth of restrictions on voting in many states by saying that there are fraudulent voters, but this is not true; it is racial
Contemporary Hispanic-White relations
- The American tradition of prejudice against Latinos was born in the 19th century conflicts that created minority group status for Mexican Americans. - The level of Latino prejudice has declined, but racist ideas tend to increase during times of high immigration and competition for jobs and other resources. - Research shows that Hispanic groups' rates of acculturation increase with length of residence and are higher for the native born Regional concentrations of Latinos in 2000 reflect the legacies of their varied patterns of entry and settlement. - Within each of these regions, Latino groups are highly urbanized. - Hispanics are generally less residentially segregated than African Americans - Levels of education for Hispanic Americans have risen in recent years but still lag behind national standards. - Assimilation will be segmented and levels of assimilation vary by group within Hispanics, not like European immigrants as they became a part of the dominant group - More political resources for hispanics, still underrepresented though - More hispanic voters Primary structural integration: - More intimate contact between hispanic and dominant group than other minority groups - Higher rate of interracial marriage for Hispanics secondary structural integration: - many have entered the mainstream economy, others face exclusion and poverty
labor supply problem
- The primary business of the colonies was agriculture - The plantation system in the south needed labor, did not have machines - The supply of white indentured servants was running out as they became free - Attempts to solve the labor supply problem with native Americans failed, they refused to be enslaved - The colonists came to see slaves brought from Africa as a logical and cost-effective solution to the labor shortage - Slaves were needed to cultivate the crops for economic profit
Second generation japanese and anti-japanese campaign
- The second generation established organization that reflected their high levels of americanization - The second generation achieved high levels of eduction, yet faced discrimination and racism in the 1930's that prevented them from getting jobs - After Pearl Harbor, an executive order from Roosevelt forced Japanese Americans into relocation camps in 1942 - Many of the Japanese were American citizens, and no one was given the opportunity to refute the implicit charge of disloyalty - Government gave families little notice - many escaped by joining the military - in 1944, the supreme court ruled the detention was unconstitutional in a case brought by Japanese Americans - After the war, the second generation of Japanese were already prepared to take advantage of the of job opportunities rather than rebuilding Japanese community - By 1960, Japanese Americans had an occupational profile very similar to that of whites except that they were actually overrepresented among professionals, and there was a tendency to choose safe, well-paying careers Japanese Americans After WWII: Model minority? - Japanese had no choice in some points - Recent Japanese immigrants tend to be highly educated professional people whose socioeconomic characteristics add to the perception of success and affluence. - In any case, the 3rd generation is highly integrated into the occupational structure of the larger society.
Comparing Asian-Americans to other minority groups
- Unlike the situation of African Americans in the 1600s and Mexican Americans in the 1800s, the dominant group had no desire to control the labor of Asian-Americans - Unlike Native Americans, Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans in the early 20th century presented no military danger to the larger society so there was little concern with their activities once the economic threat had been eliminated. - Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans had the ingredients and experiences necessary to form enclaves and survive in them isolated. *comparison with other minority groups is problematic as they faced different experiences
The creation of minority status for Mexican-Americans:
- White Southern anglo-americas cotton growers began to immigrate to Texas - by 1835, southern anglo-americans outnumbered local Tejanos by 6 to 1 - Competition for the land led to the U.S annexation of Texas - In the 1840's, full-scale war broke out and ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago in 1848 This treaty and the Gadsen purchase of 1853 gave the U.S all of Texas and southwestern United States, where Mexican Americans were - In the early 1800s, Mexican settlement had developed based on farming and herding in the Southwestern United States - these areas were well-organized socially and politically around family and catholic church - the California gold rush in 1849 sparked a massive population movement of Americans from the east to the west - * Early relations were cordial, but once Anglo-Americans became the majority, they dominated the mexican-americans through violence, biased laws, discrimination, and other means to exploit and repress Mexicans - Only in new mexico did some Mexicans retain some political and economic power due to their size thus, the contact situation for * Mexican Americans experience was highly-variable; But the ultimate result was the creation of minority group status for Mexican Americans
Asian-Americans: model minorities?
- a variety of groups from Asia and the Pacific Islands are becoming increasingly prominent in the U.S - Group variation, Asians are not homogenous, labels are important -"othering" : Americans tend to see asian-americas as more asian than American, thus being "other" than american - model minorities: Asian Americans are a model for what minority groups should be like or how they should integrate - However, not all asian groups are model minorities and levels of integration vary greatly - Not all asian-americans fit this model minority mold; unreal expectation - Chinese make up the majority of Asian-Americans, followed by India - Asian-Americans = 7 % of the population - Asian cultures predate the founding of the United States by centuries or even millennia. - *Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders speak many different languages and practice a diversity of religions. - *Although no two of these cultures are the same, some general similarities can be identified: - Asian cultures tend to stress group membership over individual self interest. - Asian cultures stress sensitivity to the opinions and judgments of others and to the importance of avoiding public embarrassment and not giving offense—saving face. - Traditional Asian cultures were male dominated, and women were consigned to subordinate roles. - The experiences of Asian Americans in the United States modified these patriarchal values and traditional traits. - The cultural and religious differences among the Asian American groups also reflect the recent histories of each of the sending nations.
Early immigration to U.S
- because of the industrial revolution and famine in Europe, a massive immigration from Europe to America began in the 1820's - They came as immigrants, became minority groups among arrival - Chains of immigration: people come from the same area or they know someone in America to help ease their transition - Early immigrants were from Northern and Western Europe such as Irish - Industrialization and immigration are correlated - the relative ease of assimilation for Northern and Western Europeans contrasts sharply with the experiences of the non-protestant, less-education, and less-skilled Southern and Eastern European immigrants in the 1880's.
Hispanic-Americans
- before Jamestown was founded, the ancestors of some hispanic groups were already in north America - Hispanic Americans are 18 % of the total population - By 2060, 29 % of Americans will be hispanic - Hispanics are partly an ethnic group and partly a racial group -Race = shared physical characteristics - Ethnicity = shared culture, values, origin - Both are social constructs - label and group names are important for hispanic Americans - Mexican-americans make up the majority of hispanic Americans, yet most are not foreign born
Black-white relations since the 1960's
- blacks who moved north lived better than in Jim Crow, but still faced unemployment and poverty - Without denying the progress toward integration, African Americans and white Americans continue to live in worlds that are indeed separate and unequal. - * Continuing Separation: The Social Construction of Race, difference, and eventually danger (whites feel threatened) - Protests, Riots, and Activism: Black Lives Matter Civil War monuments and objections to them
Success and limitations of civil rights movement
- changing subsistence technology, allows for more job competition but more discrimination - An era of prosperity for the economy during civil rights, helped blacks integrate - Increasing resources in the black community - Coalitions: different groups coming together to help - Mass media: the media helped show the bad sides of segregation - urban unrest (blacks started attacking injustice with riots, occurred outside the south) - black power movement
Inequality
- characteristic of a minority group - exploitation, slavery, and genocide - have less of what society values (ex. political power) - Pattern of inequality is a result of actions by the core or dominant group - Stratification, or the unequal distribution of valued goods and services, is a basic feature of society. - Societies are divided into horizontal layers (or strata), often called social classes - social classes have different access to property, prestige, and power
Native Americans and the Noel Hypothesis
- contact: europeans saw native Americans as different and thus inferior (ethnocentrism) - Europeans wanted natives land and food (competition) - Native Americans were fragmented, so europeans imposed their will (differential in power)
The Great Migration
- due to the harsh rules of Jim crow in the South, many freed slaves moved North during the great migration - Great migration allowed freedom of movement - Great migration meant blacks voted against Jim Crow by using their feet - This was the start of black political power that fueled the civil rights movement - yet, the north was not a utopia as blacks still faced discrimination and racial tensions because of job competition
Mexican-Americans and the Noel Hypothesis
- ethnocentrism once majority is there, ango-americans - competition over gold and land, - differential in power (used biased laws and force to impose will)
human capital theory
- if an immigrant comes with a high level of human capital, it will be easier for them to assimilate into society (Ex. If they are educated and already speak english) -yet, skin color and other factors can trump human capitol theory (ex. Even highly-educated muslims may have trouble assimilating because of their religion) - More of a status attainment theory then an assimilation theory - assumes fairness in U.S society
Contemporary immigration from Asia
- immigration from Asia has increased since the 1960's, averaging close to 30% of all immigrants - The primary motivation for Asian immigrants is economic - Many asian immigrants come highly-educated and trained - Many Asian immigrants are married to military personnel
privilege as a paradox
- individuals receive privilege, not something that one chooses to have or not -Being privileged without feeling privilege - Privilege is not only about wealth - Poor whites can still have privilege, but not realize it - Privilege does not make you happy or feel better
types of assimilation
- melting pot: each group contributes equally to the common culture - Americanization or Anglo-conformity: the way to assimilate in America is to subscribe to dominant Anglo-Saxon ideals (ex. English proficiency) * U.S assimilation has NOT followed the melting pot model, but rather the Anglo conformity is the dominant model
User's guide to white privilege
- move away from the ideology of individualism - Understand racism can be covert and unintentional - Do not deny the reality of others - acknowledge one's particular position in the racial structure; become responsible - Challenge the racist structures of society - Transform our consciousness: Read, Listen, Be humble - work actively to undermine the political systems that perpetuate racism - Advocate affirmative actions - Work in your community to challenge institutionalized racism
What is a minority group?
- pattern of disadvantage - share a visible trait or characteristic (that the dominant group holds in low-esteem) - a self-conscience social unit (aware of minority status) - determined at birth - marry within group
Immigration of Mexicans to America
- push and pull factors: Push factor = conflicts in own country Pull factor = opportunities in new country - conditions in Mexico, fluctuating demand for labor, and federal immigration policy, control immigration flow from Mexico - Barcero program: gave visas to Mexicans to fill labor void during WWII then deport them after - Operation Wetback: the deportation of Many Mexican immigrants who came via the Barcero program - Immigration is stimulated and sustained by powerful political and economic interests in the United States. * Mexican immigrants enter a social system in which a colonized status for the group had already been established. * Mexican immigration should serve as a reminder that levels of prejudice, racism, and discrimination increase as competition and the sense of threat between groups increases.
Slavery and assimilation
- some argue that British-American slavery operated as a "school for civilization" - At the opposite extreme, slavery has been likened to a "perverted patriarchy" and Nazi concentration camps - A third view: through all the horror and abuse of enslavement, slaves established a culture and retained a sense of self and a firm anchor in their African traditions In terms of gender relations, the constraints were triple for black female slaves - Black female salves = triple jeopardy: - slave in free world - woman in man's world - black in white world
white privilege
- talking about white privilege is hard for dominant group - Understanding how to bring dominant group into the conversation is the hard part - The privilege itself is not an issue, but how this is manifested is an issue -The "luxury of obliviousness" - James Baldwin: "To be white in America means not having to think about it" - Two types of privilege: 1) "unlearned entitlements" Things that all people should have like feeling safe in public, being accepted, valued for what they can contribute 2) "conferred dominance" Giving one group power over another
First generation Japanese immigrants and Anti-Japanese campaign
- the contact situation for Japanese is similar to Chinese; pushed by colonization/war in Japan, pulled by economic opportunity - A gentleman's agreement in 1907 stopped Japanese men from immigrating to U.S, but allowed women - Japanese Americans were thus able to develop a second generation without much delay that numbered about half of the group by 1930 - Early Japanese immigrants were engaged in agriculture in California - Their success with agriculture led to the Alien Land Act, which stopped Japanese from buying land - Many were able to doge this rule by buying land under kids name - By WWII, the first generation dominated a segment of agriculture, while others were in domestic service or gardening *Japanese often did business within Japanese-owned business, maximizing their economic power *First generation Japanese community survived on mutual assistance between other Japanese and networks in America
Patterns of assimilation
- the importance of generations, 2nd gen is very acculturated and integrated, 3rd gen finished the acculturation process (European immigrants achieved this) - Ethnic succession: the immigrant groups in America were pushed into higher social classes by those that come after it - Continuing industrialization and structural mobility; gave European immigrants access to higher-lever jobs and education - Jewish immigrants created ethnic enclaves, but eventually left them
Jim Crow
- the system of race relations that replaced slavery in the south was de cure segregation, or JIM CROW - Under Jim crow, the minority group is physically and socially separated from the dominant group Jim Crow has its origins in the system of sharecropping: - Elite whites owned most sharecropping land, so black sharecroppers lacked political and civil rights - populism, an anti-elitist movement, attempted to unite poor whites and blacks in the south, but ended as elites told poor whites to divide from blacks and conquer them - This system of legally mandated racial privilege was approved by the U.S supreme court Separate but equal —> not the reality - * elitists codified their beliefs/attitudes into law - Jim crow justified by the supreme court in Plessy v. Ferguson - Blacks were still forced into a racial etiquette that they faced in slavery - Blacks were expected to be humble towards whites death by lynching were the consequences of not following proper etiquette - Secret organizations such as the ku klux klan were the perpetrators of violence against lacks to punish transgressors and maintain white superiority
prejudice
- to think (cognitive) about other groups in a particular manner and to attach usually negative emotions (affective) to those groups - The two dimensions of prejudice (cognitive and affective) are distinct yet correlated - prejudice is a result of competition between groups, and is reinforced by socialization in children - Socialization is not a neutral process - Prejudice is passed from generation to generation, yet this theory has limitations such as no two people develop the same prejudices nor experience the same socialization - Prejudice is used to justify and rationalize societal inequality that becomes part of a cultural heritage.
Mexican-Americans
- were conquered and colonized in the 19th century and used as cheap labor (Noel Hypothesis and Blauner hypothesis) - By the 20th centurty, Mexican Americans resembled native Americans in some ways, African Americans in other ways * The biggest difference of Mexicans is their proximity to their sovereign nation of Mexico Allows them to stay attached to their home and home culture -majority are catholic -Place more value on family relations and obligations ^ These cultural differences have served as the basis for excluding Mexican Americans from the larger society
origins of black protest
- with the increased freedom after the great migration, a national black leadership developed black protest movements were diverse and incorporated a variety of viewpoints and leaders: - Booker T Washington: believed in accommodating slowly, integration will happen eventually - W.E.B Dubois: wanted immediate change, led the NAACP and civil rights movement, wanted integration into dominant group with activism and force - Marcus Garvey: believed into separatism, blacks will never have equality with whites, so why want to integrate? Wanted blacks to maintain their own identity
the origins of slavery
-in 1619, a dutch ship arrived in Colonial Jamestown, Virginia. The ship had 20 African slaves on it - In 1619, England and its colonies did not practice slavery but indentured servants in which at the end of indenture, the servant could become a free citizen - this led to a labor supply problem
Milton Gordon's Stages of Assimilation
1) acculturation: the minority group learns the culture of the dominant group, including language and values 2) Integration (structural assimilation) a) At the secondary level: minority group members enter the public institutions and organizations of the dominant society (occurs before primary structural assimilation) b) At the primary level: minority group members enter the cliques, clubs, and friendship groups the dominant society 3) Intermarraige (marital assimilation): minority group members marry members of the dominant group on a large scale *Gordon's structure shows how minority groups merge into a pre-existing dominant culture for gordon, integration was the most important stage
Three pillars of white supremacy:
1) slavery/capitalism: -Racial hierarchy - Black people as inherently slaveable - Workers become commodities - - Slaves cannot escape the grasp of capitalism 2) genocide/capitalism - Indigenous people must disappear to allow non-indigenous people to claim the land - Allows non-natives to feel the right to take over indigenous land - "Indian hating" (Native Americans) 3) orientalism/war - West defining itself as superior, anyone inferior poses a threat - This justifies the U.S being in a constant war with its enemies, who are seen as inferior - People are seen as civilizations - Anchor for war - Racial profiling
Chinese-Americans in enclaves
In the enclave: - The social structure was based on a variety of types of organizations, including families, clans. - There were numerous disputes over control of resources and the organizational infrastructure—Tong Wars. -Despite internal conflicts, American Chinatowns evolved into highly organized, largely self-contained communities complete with their own leadership and decision-making structures—CCBA. - Growth of China towns led to Chinese being an "invisible minority group," isolated from mainstream U.S - The enclave economy was sometimes not enough, and immigrants became trapped in the enclave - The second generation tended to look beyond the enclave to fill their needs and founded their own organizations that was compatible with american lifestyle - Women in second generation pursued education - WWII brought more opportunities—jobs, military service, GI Bill, socioeconomic mobility - In 1965, the immigration act allowed Chinese to immigrate to U.S *Many Chinese Americans who stayed in the Chinatowns and the immigrants who began arriving after 1965, rely for survival on low-wage jobs in the garment industry, the service sector, and the small businesses of the enclave economy. * Thus, Chinese Americans are often said to be bipolar in their occupational structure; either really high or really low, depending on their level of integration and human capital
Campaign against immigration
Included prejudice, racism, and discrimination - anti-catholicism - Anti-semitism - The national origins act of 1924: decreased number of eastern and southern immigrants and Asian and African immigrants
Industrialization (move away from agrarian society)
Industrialization involves a rigid competitive system - Agrarian paternalism tends to give way to more rigid competitive group relations - Under a rigid, competitive system, minority group members are freerer to compete for jobs - As competition increases, the threatened members of the dominant group become defensive and attack minority groups - The threatened dominant group seeks to minimize or eliminate minority group encroachment on jobs, housing, or other valued goods or services through modern institutional discrimination
the criminal justice system and african-americans
No area of race relations is more volatile and controversial than the relationship between the black community and the criminal justice system. - Numerous examples of excessive force Racial profiling is an ongoing debate, codified after 9/11 = The disproportional involvement of African American males within the criminal justice system is largely the result of national "get tough" policies that have the "unintended" effects of targeting certain populations—institutional discrimination. - More drug use arrests for black juveniles than whites throughout history, leading to more blacks in prison industrial compex
Puerto Ricans: both a colonized group and immigrant group
Puerto Rico became a U.S territory after the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American war - U.S firms began to invest and develop the sugarcane industry in Puerto Rico - Puerto Ricans became U.S citizens in 1917, and allowed movement to the U.S - Unemployment = push factor - Low wage jobs needed to be filled in U.S = pull factor - Puerto ricans are overwhelmingly catholic - In the racially dichotomized U.S culture, many Puerto Ricans had no clear place - Puerto ricans share many problems with other urban minority groups of color * Puerto Ricans on the mainland combine elements of both an immigrant and a colonized minority experience
African-American experience
The centuries of cultural domination and separate development have created a unique black experience in America. - As the institution of slavery developed, a distinct African American experience accumulated and traditions of resistance and accommodation developed side by side - An African American culture was forged in response to the realities of slavery and was manifested in folklore, music, religion, family and kinship structures, and other aspects of everyday life
Cuban Americans: enclave minority
The contact period for Cuban Americans dates back to the Spanish-American War. - The conditions for a mass immigration were created in the late 1950s when a Marxist revolution brought Fidel Castro to power in Cuba. - Immigration from Cuba was popular until 1980, when a wave of immigrants generated a great deal of anti-communist controversy - Due to communist regime in Cuba, they were often granted visas quickly - Today, Cuban Americans remain one of the most spatially concentrated minority groups in the United States (ex. Little Havana) Cuban Americans are an enclave minority, and hold on to their culture - Despite being concentrated, Cuban Americans rank higher than other Latino groups on a number of dimensions involving integration and success - Cubans also come with high human capital, education, and wealth - Higher-status Cuban Americans have been stereotyped as "too successful," "too clannish," and "too ambitious. - Cubans have a lower rate of poverty than Puerto Ricans
Prejudice and discrimination against blacks since Jim Crow Era
There has been a dramatic decline in support for prejudiced statements since World War II. - In the early 1940s, a large majority of white Americans supported prejudiced views; In recent years, only a small minority expresses such views. - A number of scholars reject the idea that prejudice in the United States has declined and argue that it is simply changing into more subtle forms - They have been investigating symbolic or modern racism, a more subtle, complex, and indirect way to express negative feelings toward minority groups and opposition to change in dominant-minority relations - A percentage of the white population continues to endorse highly prejudicial sentiments and opinions.
Increasing class inequality
Urbanization and industrialization have brought increased class differentiation - past-in-present institutional discrimination - No matter what their level of success, occupation, or professional accomplishments, race continues to be seen as their primary defining characteristic in the eyes of the larger society - Automation and mechanization in the workplace have eliminated many of the manual labor jobs that sustained city dwellers (and minority groups) in earlier decades - Industrialists have been moving their businesses to areas where labor is cheaper, unions have less power, and taxes are lower. - As the jobs migrate, so do more affluent segments of the population. - These increasingly isolated neighborhoods are fertile grounds for the development of oppositional cultures, which reject or invert the values of the larger society (less economic opportunities = more crime) *The dilemma facing many African Americans is not only due to racism or discrimination; the economic forces of evolving industrialization and social class structures contribute in some part as well. - Any progress against inequality that might have been made since the civil rights era seems to have been wiped out by the downturn in the American economy that began in 2007.
modern racism
assumes that: 1) There is no longer any serious or important racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination in U.S society 2) any remaining racial or ethnic inequality is the fault of members of the minority group, 3) demands for preferential treatment or affirmative action for minorities are unjustified. -Although the traditional, more overt forms of prejudice have certainly not disappeared, contemporary expressions of prejudice are often amorphous and indirect—modern racism. - The clarity of Jim Crow has yielded to the ambiguity of modern institutional discrimination and the continuing legacy of past discrimination in the present. racism that is not codified or seen overtly, but rather institutionalized in society - When compared to Jim crow, modern racism does not seem like a real issue, but the data shows that it does exist in the institutions in society and has real consequences * modern racism is less dramatic and more difficult to measure than an overseerʼs whip, a lynch mob, or a sign that says "Whites Only," but they can be just as real and just as deadly in their consequences.
mixed race and new racial identities
border identity: those who do not consider themselves either black or white, but as a third identity that has characteristics of both singular identity: mixed people who identify as only 1 race transcendant identity: not wanting to subscribe to any 1 race; "raceless" protean identity: fluid racial identity that changes based on the circumstance/situation
segmented assimilation
describes the recent outcome of immigrants and their descendants moving in to different classes of the host society - assimilation is segmented by the original place of the immigrant - different immigrant groups assimilate into different segments of society
pluralism
exists when groups maintain their individual identities - in a pluralistic society, groups remain distinct and their cultural and social differences persist over time - increased U.S diversity - pluralism is evidence that full integration for groups has not yet materialized
Gender
gender is the performance of sex in society --> social construct of gender - what is thought to be appropriate gender behavior varies over time - rather than women as a separate group, it is important to see the differences between men and women in minority groups
laissez-faire racism
maintaining the status quo of racial groups by persistent stereotyping and blaming of minorities themselves for lack of achievement and socioeconomic gaps between groups - idea that we should just let race be in society, do not talk about race as a significant component of inequality, do not try to change racism, blame it on the individual
modern institutional discrimination
modern institutional discrimination is a more subtle but still powerful: - Hiring solely on educational criteria - No loans to blacks (redlining) - Standardized testing (not fair, for white culture) - past-in-present institutional discrimination - It is much more difficult to identify, measure, and eliminate - Because it is more subtle and not codified, whites don't feel like racism exists and its hard to change whats already embedded - affirmative action programs are most controversial because they are meant to undo segregation (They help white women the most though)
separatism
no mixing of cultures, groups do not want to subscribe to the ideals of the dominant group
enigma of race
race is a social construct, so it is fabricated and always changing (ex. Italian immigrants were not considered white originally) - despite race being a social construct, it has real consequences in society - racial structure leads to a racial hierarchy in which those at the top have certain powers and privileges
Creation of slavery
the key concepts for understanding the creation of slavery are power, inequality, and institutional discrimination - The legal and political institutions of colonies and elites benefited landowners and gave them control over their slaves and how to punish them - Prejudice and racism help to mobilize support to stabilize the slavery system as it emerges - Once created, dominant group prejudice and racism become widespread and common ways of thinking about the minority group (especially for slaves) - slaves were defined as chattel, meaning they were private property rather than human beings - slaves had no civil or political power and could not own land or read or write - Slaves marriages were not legally recognized and masters often separated families to avoid risk
assimilation
the process where formerly distinct and separate groups merge socially and come to share a common culture As a society undergoes assimilation, group differences decrease
acculturation and integration for African-Americans
unique black experience: - for blacks, race relations are better described as a system of structural pluralism combined with great inequality - Structural pluralism means that blacks have acculturated, but not integrated and do not have equal access to the institutions of the larger society - excluded from the mainstream, blacks constructed a separate sub society and subculture - Blacks developed their own institutions and organizations, like immigrants from Europe - African Americans share language, religion, values, beliefs, and norms with the dominant society but have developed distinct variations on the general themes. - The acculturation process may have been slowed (or even reversed) by the Black Power movement (effort to maintain distinct black pride)
Mydral's vicious cycle
Inferior status leads to prejudice which leads to discrimination which leads back to inferior status
Resistance of Mexican-Americans
Organized local resistance and protest stretch back to the original contact period in the 19th century. - League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). - Mid-20th century labor organizing and WWII brought about new organizations that changed the focus from assimilation - The 1960s Chicano movement was guided by Chicanismo. - The movement questioned the value of assimilation and increased awareness of the continuing exploitation of Mexican Americans, illustrated through adoption of Chicano as the group name. ` - produced leaders
Racial attitudes after Jim Crow
fewer whites subscribe to the views of inferiority - racial optimists: truly believe that race doesn't matter - racial pesoptimists: balanced view of racism, but against making it a reality - symbolic racism: don't look at institutional racism, only imagined individual racism - sense of group position: don't want to talk about racism
Postindustrial society
- postindustrial society is marked by fluid competitive relations in which formal or legal barriers to competition, such as Jim Crow, do NOT exist - yet, your status is still correlated to the group you are in - The fear of competition from minority groups becomes more widespread for the dominant group, and intergroup conflict increases - Stratification is not a caste system - Division of labor is complex, as it is not determined by birth
End of De Jure Segregation
- social, economic, legal, and political processes occur - Growing black vote - Weakening white resistance to racial change - Wartime developments - The civil rights movement
white investments in anti-racism
Being an antiracist begins with understanding the institutional nature of racial matters and accepting that all actors in a racialized society are affected materially (receive benefits or disadvantages) and ideologically by the racial structure. - Whites as "friends of people pf color" - Student and faculty investments in "good white identity" - The notion of exceptionalism; they are somehow different and not racist or priveliged - Invoke narratives that attempt to prove that the speaker has always been connected to people of color
Continuing debate over immigration policy
Immigration has become a hotly debated issue in the United States. - Asylum seekers, granted entry by constitution, but does not always work - Unaccompanied children, left without their families - These issues should not be political, yet are driven by attitudes and politics - actually, the majority of Americans think immigration is a good thing - There is no data that shows immigrants are criminals or likely to be on welfare, and many immigrants do not accept welfare as you need documents