5: Indigenous Settler relations - contact & racism

key features of group position theory

• belief in group superiority

• sense of entitlement to status & resources

• perceived threat from those who challenge power & privileges

racial prejudice, according to Blumer

not just about irrational individual feelings & beliefs, but about defending one’s (sense of) group position

laissez-fair racism

ideology that blames marginalized groups for their social problems & rejects concrete policies/actions designed to alleviate them; therefore, perpetuating structural inequalities

describe history of indigenous-settle relations in the Rainy River District

• early contact

• doctrine of discovery, disease, declining fur trade

• treaty #3: surrendering vs sharing the land

• followed by treaty violations, forced relocations, Indian Act, pass system, residential schools

impact of colonization in Rainy River district

• colonization had created an inequitable structure where white people enjoy advantages over indigenous peoples, often at their expense

• dramatic shift in local balance of power & entrenchment of racialized structure that bolsters whites’ sense of group superiority & entitlement

Denis (2015): method of study

1. participant-observation in local volunteer groups & community events (ethnography)

2. in depth interviews & surveys w/ First Nations, Metis & white residents

• theoretical sampling using snowball technique

• questions about identity, values, intergroup friendships, residential schools, etc.

3. photovoice project: 12 residents take & discuss pictures on 2 themes (identity + intergroup boundaries & bridges)

4. analytic approach

what was the paradox in Fort Frances

widespread intergroup marriage & friendship coexist w/ pervasive prejudice & discrimination

• contradicts contact hypothesis

what is the contact hypothesis

intergroup contact breaks down stereotypes & prejudice (by increasing info about & familiarity with the “other”

• optimal conditions: face to face, equal status in the setting, goal interdependence, support from relevant authorities, laws, or customs

• supported even when optimal conditions were not met

criticisms of contact hypothesis

• over-relying on lab experiments

• using abstract decontexualized measures

• reducing prejudice to individual pathology

what does group position suggest about contact

contact w/ out-groups, esp under conditions or resource competition, can be perceived as threatening, thereby exacerbating prejudice

Jackmann & Crane (1986)

contact maybe more effective at reducing some aspects of prejudice, and not others

Durrheim & Dixon (2005)

benefits of contact often fail to generalize

• Denis supports this

Denis (2015) argument

• contact reduces old-fashioned prejudice (overt categorical hostility) w/o necessarily eliminating whites’ sense of group superiority & entitlement (laissez-faire racist ideology)

• 3 mutually reinforcing social processes work together to sustain whites’ sense of group position & justifications for racial inequity - despite frequent positive contact w/ Indigenous people

• structural conditions (ie. historical & ongoing colonial policies, small-town dynamics) facilitate these processes & make it more likely

3 social processes that interact to maintain white group position superiority

1. subtyping

2. ideology-based homophily

3. political avoidance norm

evidence that close contact exists w/ racism

1. Intermarriage:

2. friendship

3. bridges

evidence of group position prejudice

how did white residents exemplify laissez-faire racism

how does group positioning & laissez faire racism work together

findings on racial discrimination experiences in Fort Frances

how does contact coexist w/ prejudice

how does the case of Frankie confirm contact hypothesis & group position theory

subtyping def + ex

ideology-based homophily def + ex

political avoidance norm + ex

Fort High incident + significance

Conclusions of Denis’ (2015) research