SOCI 122 FINAL EXAM STDUY

Racial wage Gap

Wages vary depending on the race of the person, whites out earn POC with the exception of Asian Americans.

Racial Wealth Gap

the gap of wealth between whites and people of color

Median income by race (2020); also over time, 1967-2020

Asians, White, Hispanics, Natives, blacks

Stays the in the same order from 1959- 2020 (PAGE 236)

Bifurcated nature of income and wealth for Asian Americans

Some asians are doing really well and others are in poverty

Asians american poverty rates are higher than whites

Unemployment Rate, How is it calculated

Counts people who are looking for work and those who can not find any.

Limitations of official unemployment stats

Does not count discouraged workers and underemployed persons

Underemployment

part time and temp workers, who have a job but not one that provides it fully.

Working Poor

individuals and families who work regularly but still have incomes below the official poverty level

Discouraged Workers

people who would like to be employed but have given up the search

Deindustrialization

Manufacturing jobs moved from the north and midwest cities, to non-unionized south or third world locations, to take advantage of cheaper labor.

Statistical Discrimination

Individual applicants are disregarded based upon employer assumptions of a group.

Poverty line

An income threshold based on household size.

Effects of Deindustrialization

deindustrialization hit blacks and latinos the hardest because of their likelihood of living in cities.

Spatial mismatch hypothesis

the idea that job opportunities and the residential locations of workers, particularly for racial minorities, are physically separated, leading to employment disparities

Feminization of poverty

single parent households led by women are disproportionately impoverished.

Black middle class

• 3 waves of black middle class

  • Post reconstruction

    • Jim crow era

      • Post WW2

  • Black middle class neighborhoods still face proximity to poverty, higher crime rates, and poorer schools.

Racial realism

a management strategy in many industries today that consists of 2 practices, racial abilities and signaling.

Racial Abilities

making assumptions about the work ethic and capabilities of people based on race.

Racial Signaling

when business owners hire minority group members because they think customers will reward them with their loyalty

Opportunity hoarding

Ways a group restricts access to scarce resources.

Racial apathy

Ways that racial prejudice manifests itself among whites in the post-civil rights era.

Mutual aid societies

Formal organizations that provide aid to their members and serve as safety nets for said members.

Welfare state

Collection of programs designed to assure economic security to all citizens by guaranteeing the fundamental needs of life: food, shelter, medical care, etc etc.

Social Polices

Government policies and programs that are meant to help people meet their needs

FDR and the New Deal

• Agricultural and domestic laborers were excluded, which at the time was mostly black people working these jobs. Latinos were also part of this.

• Wagner act of 1935, black unions were not covered by the act's protection.

• They could not get social security or union protections

GI Bill

• Servicemen's regiment Act of 1944

• Provides returning GI’s access to higher education, low-intest loans, etc

• Black veterans were discouraged, and even denied their benefits from the bill in the south.

Federal Tax Code

Helps whites accumulate wealth while inhibiting black wealth accumelation.

Rewarded the white household (working man, stay at home woman)

Single parent households are discriminated against with higher tax rates

Race Baiting

Usage of racially derisive language in order to influence the actions or attitudes of a group of people

Percentage of Americans Without Health Insurance by Race (2021)

White (7.2%)

Black (10.9%)

Asian (6.4%)

Hispanic (19%)

Native (21%)

Population Control

Government attempts to alter the rate of a nation's population growth

Forced Sterilization

By 1970, 20% of all married black women were permanently sterilized.

“Mississippi-appendectomies”, unnecessary hysterectomies on black women

Affirmative Action

Policies that are designed to promote equal employment opportunities for women and racial minorities.

History of Affirmative action

• JFK first used the term in 1961, and LBJ passed Executive order 11246. Which made it so firms that wanted a federal contract could not discriminate.

• Nixon expanded it with “goals and timetables”, which were plans to diversify the labor force

Myths surrounding Affirmative Action

• Employer quotas (laws prohibit the quotas)

• White males are now the victims  (No statistical evidence)

• Racism is a thing of the past (it is not and is still going on)

Effects of Affirmative Action

White women have been the best beneficiaries

More beneficial to middle class blacks, and other minorities

Stigma associated with Affirmative Action?

perception that beneficiaries are less qualified and received unfair advantages (google)

Puerto Rican debt Crisis

• The US restricted the debt but made policies that would keep the population impoverished. Leaving Puerto rico in a state where it can not dictate its own economic agenda.

Four proposed solutions to the racial wealth gap (Oliver and Shapiro 2019)

• Baby bonds, giving every baby born in the US between 500 to 50000 to level the field.

• Universal Basic Income, would give every American a set  amount of monthly income

• Reducing student debt, POC has more debt.

• Federal job guarantee,

Racialization of space

The differential treatment of places and people in places according to race.

Home ownership rates by race

• Asian Americans 59.0%

• White  74.1%

• Black 44.2%

• Hispanic 48.4

• Native 55.1%

• All races 65.5%

Home ownership and the racial wealth gap – key explanatory factors

Years of home ownership

Household income

Unemployment

Inheritance, family support

Education levels

History of American home ownership

• Wilson administration (1912-1920), “own you own home”, (moderate success)

• FDR, made the federal housing administration, insured bank mortgages for 80% of the purchase price of the home, plus a 20 year repayment window

  • They were racist and deemed neighborhoods that had colored persons too risky.

Subprime loans

Offered to persons who had low credit scores. The majority of which were POC. On average leaving them to pay $327 more per month for their mortgages.

Gentrification

The process of renovating deteriorating urban neighborhoods by means of an influx of more affluent residents, results in fewer low-income housing units.

Sociology of displacement (Matthew Desmond)

Studies the prevalence, causes, and consequences of evections 

Sundown town

Named that because locals used violence to run Blacks out and keep them out by placing signs at their city limits "Don't let the sun go down on you N-word????”

Whitopias

 towns that are much whiter than the nation as a whole

Blockbusting

When unscrupulous realtors play on the fears of whites and the limited housing options of blacks to make more money by encouraging the rapid turnover of a neighborhood from all white to all black.

racial steering

the illegal practice of guiding housing and real estate clients toward or away from neighborhoods based on their race or national origin

Personal preferences on housing and race

All races say they want integrated neighborhoods, but do not want their race to be outnumbered.

People prefer to live with the same race

Whites do not want to live with POC’s because it “lowers property values”

Social Structural Sorting Processes

Certain areas of a city are excluded from consideration throughout the decision making process.

Segregation index

a statistical measure used to quantify the extent of segregation, most commonly in neighborhoods and schools, based on the relative distribution of different racial, ethnic, or income groups

Hyper-segregation

Extreme segregation in which black people are so isolated that they only rarely share neighborhoods with whites and are concentrated in very small areas.

It amplifies other social problems like: crime, drugs, schools, joblessness, and isolation.

Ghettos

refers to an urban section of a city that populated by a minority group

Public Housing

Housing stock that is owned by the government.

Originally designed for white working class people, then in the 60s moved towards more colored people.

Predatory inclusion

African American home buyers “were granted access to conventional real estate practices and mortgage financing, but on more expensive and comparatively unequal terms.

Environmental racism

• Whereby an industry policy or practice differentially negatively affects a group based upon its race or color, shifting industry costs onto communities of color.

  • E.g. Flint, Michigan and their water issue. 

  • Latinos are exposed to harmful chemicals. 

  • Natives and radioactive contamination b/c of the gov.

Climate Refugees

People who are forced to leave their community of origin due to environmental destruction such as, soil erosion, droughts, floods, or climate change, which results in the land’s inability to support them,

Unconscious Racism

the idea, attitudes, and beliefs about race that help create and perpetuate negative feelings and options about people of color in our culture

Racial Profiling

when race is primary reason for a person to come under police suspicion

Conflict Perspective on race and crime

Law serves two functions, one as a form of social control of subordinate groups, and another as to maintain power of the dominant group.

Critical Race Theory perspective on race and crime

• Law operates to disadvantage minorities, and advantage whites

• Racism is the very foundation of the law.

White Racial Frame

The ways beliefs, perspectives, and stereotypes about people of color that are pervasive in our culture help legitimize forms of systemic racism.

• E.g. white woman locking her car door at an intersection because a black man is walking along.

Criminogenic condition

a condition that contributes to the occurrence and perpetuation of deviance. (example: poverty leads to higher crime)

Street Crime

crimes such as: homicide, robbery, auto theft, rape, and aggravated assault.

White Collar Crime

crimes such as, embezzlement, tax evasion, forgery, stock manipulation, usually committed by middle-high class people.

Moral panic

a widespread feeling of fear, often exaggerated by mass media, that some person, group, or behavior is a threat to society's values and interests . Often results in irrational responses, such as increased racial profiling.

Pretextual traffic stops

police usage of minor traffic violations as reasons to stop someone and search for drugs.

Police Brutality

instances in which police use force beyond what is necessary to make an arrest or address a situation.

Tennessee v. Garner (1983)

Ruled that in certain situations police officers are allowed to use deadly force if the offender poses an imminent threat to the officer or bystanders.

Social Dominance Orientation

people's belief that their group is the dominant group in society and their perception of this dominance as legit.

War on cops?

Emerged from the BLM movement, when the FBI viewed them as a violent threat. Argued that such activism resulted in a “Ferguson effect”, in which murder rates rise because the increased scrutiny of police officers results in their being hesitant to do their jobs. No evidence to support this narrative.

The variables most likely to result in a prosecutor seeking a death sentence

Race of the victim, race of the defendant, and the racial make up of the jury

Furman V. Georgia (1972)

The use of the death penalty is unconstitutional because of its arbitrary and capricious use (erratic)

Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

Declared the death penalty constitutional, provided states established proper procedures to prevent arbitrary application

mcClesky v. Kemp (1987)

McClesky was a white police officer, and Kemp shot the officer. The goal is to not free him, but to overturn the death sentence. Analyzed over 2000 crimes, and concluded that race of the victim is the strongest predictor of whether or not the prosecutors saw the death penalty.

Convict leasing programs

Forced labor, prisoners were hired out to the highest bidder

Chain gangs

A group of convicts chained together while working outside the prison.

Vagabond laws

made a long list of behaviors such as: beggin, loitering, panhandling, and looking for work, illegal.

Mass incarceration

1970s, 2008.

2008 was the first year that the prison population did not grow

2.4 million, men, women, and children in custody in 2008

Emergence of Mass incarceration

• Rising crime rates (accounts for 12% of why)

• Emergence of “law and order” politicians, in the 70s politicians were running on the “get tough on crime”. (changes in sentencing policies)

  • Got rid of parole

  • 3 strikes law (after 3rd felony you in jail for life)

• War on drugs and Nixon

Racialized Nature of Mass incarceration

1 out of 6 black men and 1 out of 13 latino men have spent some time in prison

Together they make up 66% of the prison population.

War on drugs

Rapid increase in the number of people incarcerated for drug related crimes.

Disproportionate targeting of black and latino communities

Tough on crime policies

Politicians adopted this police to appear strong on public safety

Rise of zero tolerance

Expansion of the prison system and normalization of incarceration as a response to social problems

Mandatory Sentencing and 3 strikes laws

• Imposed fixed prison terms for certain crimes

• Extremely long sentences, even for minor or nonviolent crimes

• Three strikes and its a life sentence

Racial and Economic inequality of mass incarceration

• Systemic racism and poverty have deeply influenced who gets arrested, charged, and sentenced.

• Black and latinos are far more likely to be incarcerated

Prison Privatization

states contract their correctional services to private business

Prison industrial complex

• refers to the interconnectedness of politicians, government, and private industry and the incentives associated with a commitment to increasing spending on the prison industry, even as crime rates decrease.

Effects of mass incarceration (collateral damage)

Significant barriers to employment, housing, and public benefits that trap individuals in a cycle of poverty and recidivism.

Global effects of mass incarceration and the war on drugs

Increased use of solitary confinement

Criminalization of poverty, and drug-crop production

Female offenders

• US incarcerates more women than the whole world

• Up 400% since the start of the war on drugs

• +75% women are black or latinas in prison

• They receive more lenient sentences

religious discrimination in prisons

• Native Americans and the Religious Freedoms Act of 1978

• Since 9/11 muslims have seen more constraints on their religious expressions

  • Diets etc

E-carcerations

cost saving measures, like ankle monitors or other electronic tracking devices.

13th amendment loophole

…. is its clause, "except as punishment for a crime," which allows for involuntary servitude for convicted individuals.

Racial battle fatigue

Physiological and psychological symptoms, associated with the constant exposure to racial slights, indignities, and irritations, unfair treatment, and both subtle and overt racial hostilities.

Racial Hoax

when someone blames a crime on person because of the color of their skin

Racial Terror

When a POC is being chased by a white person who has a gun because they are falsely accused of being criminals.

Criminal justice reform and examples

• Marijuana legalization (medical, recreational)

• More of a public health approach to the opioid epidemic.

• Attempts to reverse mass incarceration

• Labor department enforcing laws that require health insurance providers to cover addiction treatment.

Criminal justice reforms and what we are not doing.

• Large scale programs focused on restorative justices

• Realistic reentry programs

• Investing more in treatment

• Investing more in equity 

Post-apartheid police accountability in South Africa

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission

  • provided amnesty for political crimes committed from 60s to 1994

• No new South Africa could be made unless they acknowledge the past