Sociology of Race Discrimination Introduction to Sociology Hunter

Sociology of Race & Discrimination Introduction to Sociology | Hunter College Jessie Daniels, Ph. D

Today • Race & Discrimination • Ch. 11 + Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations” • KEY CONCEPTS: – What difference does race make? – How do sociologists measure race? – What is the difference between prejudice, discrimination and systemic racism? – What difference does “whiteness” make? – How do sociological theories explain racial inequality? – How has the U. S. approached race & reparations?

TO REVIEW

W. E. B. Du. Bois (1868 -1963)

Key Ideas

Double-Consciousness

what difference does race make?

Median Net Worth Varies by Race

Share of All Net Worth Varies by Race

Infant Mortality Varies by Race

Incarceration Rates Vary by Race

Marijuana Use about the Same by Race

Marijuana Arrest Rates Vary by Race

How do sociologists measure “race”?

How does the U. S. Census measure “race”?

Census Categories Then & Now Previous racial categories included: 2010 Census, Race Section 1790: Free white males Free white females All other free persons (included Native Americans who paid taxes and free blacks) Slaves 1890: ‘Mulattos’, Quadroons, Octoroons, Chinese, Japanese, 20 th century: “Hindu”, “South Americans” Census categories from other nations 21

22

Does the U. S. Census create “race”?

Some “racial” identities only exist in U. S.

Chinese, Korean, Japanese become “Asian”

Mexican, Cuban become “Hispanic”

So does the U. S. Census create “race”?

Only partially.

People demand changes to U. S. Census.

To reflect changing identities.

Key Idea: “racial identities” are fluid & change over time

But who can “declare themselves” white?

U. S. Supreme Court Rules on Race

who gets to be “white” & a “citizen”

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

“no one of African ancestry could claim citizenship in the U. S. ”

The People v. Hall (1854)

“no one of the Chinese race can give evidence against a white man”

Ozawa v. U. S. (1922) Petitioned the court: have “Japanese” declared “white, ” and thus eligible for citizenship.

Ozawa v. U. S. (1922) Court ruled: the Japanese were “not free white persons" for purposes of naturalization

U. S. vs. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) Court ruled: all Indian. Americans born abroad not eligible for citizenship because they are not a White person "in accordance with the understanding of the common man”

Exercise: Question why do people want to claim “whiteness”?

Prejudice, Discrimination, & Racism Term Definition Related Concepts Systemic Racism Set of laws, knowledge systems, everyday practices that are used to ensure the dominance of one racial/ethnic group over all others. White racial frame Institutionalized racism Discrimination Actions or practices of dominant group members that have a harmful impact on a subordinate group Covert vs. Overt Indirect vs. Direct Microaggressions Prejudice Negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of specific ethnic, racial, or other groups Stereotypes Ethnocentrism 50

How do sociological theories explain racial inequality?

Symbolic Interactionism • how do people define themselves along racial & ethnic lines? 52

Symbolic Interactionism • how do people define themselves along racial & ethnic lines? • how do daily encounters between people of different races make a difference? 53

Symbolic Interactionism • how do people define themselves along racial & ethnic lines? • how do everyday encounters between people of different races make a difference? 54

Symbolic Interactionism • contact thesis: more contact between people of different racial backgrounds increases tolerance 55

Functionalism • racism is merely a dysfunction (but the whole system is good)

Functionalism • racism is merely a dysfunction • assimilation: process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture, through language, norms, customs and intermarriage. 57

Functionalism • racism is merely a dysfunction • assimilation: process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture. • ethnic pluralism: coexistence of a variety of distinct racial and ethnic groups within one society. 58

assimilation < ---- > ethnic pluralism 59

Conflict Theory: Racism Persistent Feature

Resistance also a Persistent Feature

Conflict Theory • all of U. S. history is about the struggle of racial inequality, tied to global colonialsm. • caste perspective: views racial and ethnic inequality as a permanent feature of U. S. society. • class perspectives: emphasize the role of the capitalist class in racial exploitation. 62

Conflict Theory • all of U. S. history is about the struggle of racial inequality, tied to global colonialsm. • caste perspective: because racism is permanent, little progress is possible. • class perspectives: progress is only possible by eliminating class exploitation. 63

#Black. Lives. Matter

#Hashtag become a Movement

#Black. Lives. Matter

#Black. Lives. Matter

<3 stories about race & reparations>

<first story>

California Land Law (1913)

Anti-Japanese Racism during WWII

Systematic Displacement

Internment Camps, 1942 -1946

U. S. Reparations for Internment (1988)

<second story>

Centuries of Chattel Slavery

Decades of Lynching

Great Migration North: Fleeing Racial Terror

Tulsa, Oklahoma (1900 -1921)

U. S. Bombed Tulsa: Hundreds Killed, Displaced

<third story>

Native Americans Dispossessed of Lands

Exercise: Question why reparations for Japanese Americans but not others?

What should you do before next class?

1. COMPLETE MISSING ASSIGNMENTS! 2. Be sure you’ve read Ch. 11 in your text and the article by Ta-Nehisi Coates. 3. Reflect on this lecture and your notes. 4. Print the video worksheet for “The House We Live In” and bring it to class on Thursday.