HRTS/SOCI 2520- White Racism

Midterm Study Guide

Why Study White Racism: Why focus specifically on White
Racism? Four reasons given in
class.

1. European Americans are the majority population wise 

2. European Americans are most likely to discriminate (Perpetrators)

3. People of color have experienced centuries of racial oppression in the U.S, not E.A.

4. The focus of this course is social phenomenon, ie. Systemic racism, not racially bigoted individuals. E. A hold racist stereotypes against POC.

Defending the White Race article

1. White supremacists and far right movements frame their ideology around the idea of defending the white race

2. Racial defense- colonialism, slavery, segregation, eugenics: protect whiteness from “threats”, keep whites @ the top of hierarchal/patriarchal society

3. Activism masked as defense (not aggression), whites see themselves as victims of progressive movements, immigration etc.

4. White women = Racial purity (need protection), white men = defenders (reinforce hierarchy)

Who Opposed the Course? Why?

White faculty members, and students; the panel had no POC. Intense Denial of WR; racial privilege. The title is insulting to white race.

Arguments against the course

1. Racially divisive/offensive title  

2. Prof Caz has  a racial and political agenda

3. White people are not the only racist group

4. Personal attacks against other professors

Arguments for the course

1. Address WR- it exists and the course/title addresses the problem effectively. Address and overcome the tendency to deny the existence of White Racism

2. Existing courses don’t address the topic adequately (racism blindness/invasiveness in sociology classes and textbooks; color blindness). Focusing on racial (minorities) differences is a cop out and makes African Americans the focus of studies instead of treating them as victims.  Students are for the course, it is needed at UCONN. 

3. Essential for sociology- course is academically supported by research, credibility and qualifications.

Why The Course is Not Offensive to “White” People

Focus is not on individuals, but dominant-subordinated “race” group relations. The concept of race is a social construct, therefore there is no race to defend/offend. Racism as a systemic phenomenon cannot be reduced to an individual person (bigotry), racism is institutional (systemic), societal. The course focuses on systemic WR not individual white people. (not individuals but dominant- subordinated race group relations )

Myths About the Course

1. Personal attacks against white people

2. Presumes no other form of racial bigotry exists 

3. Only non-whites benefit

4. Racially divisive 

Reasons to Teach a Course on White Racism

1. Race is embedded into the social structure (how society is organized), Nation is built on group superiority.

2. White racism is a permanent feature of American society

3. Need sufficient material: Teaching Race+ Ethics textbook was published after the intro of the WR course. When it comes to acknowledging racial injustice the US acts as an ostrich - puts head down, and avoids what is going on - thinks it’s safe. Steven Steinberg. 1/34 course mention the word racism, and it was this course

4. WR exists and is evident in all societies. Collectively compromised-> media, political system, families, institutions, education etc. American social structure is organized around white supremacy. 

How Many African Americans Head Fortune 500 Copies?

8 ~1.6 %

How is White Racism Structured

Highly Structured: As a structured (i.e., highly organized) feature of U.S. society, we can expect white racism to continue indefinitely, unless there is fundamental change. Persistence and pervasiveness of WR suggests that it’s highly organized (systemic).

key subject areas of sociology

1. Theory of Institutional Racism- quietly, invisible routines of society (non-marxist). Ex: job posting; flyer given out to put in neighborhoods where African Americans won’t see it. (racial inequality)

2. Ricardo Delgado's Procedural Racism

3. Structure functionalist: seeks to explain society as a complex system whose parts work together for stability and to promote solidarity. (Economic (Wealth), Social Status (Prestige), Political (Power))

social structure

“What a society consists of and how it is held together". Structures can change

social facts

explain phenomena that cannot be explained by attitudes, individualism. (reduced to individual prejudice + acts)

ideology

Why is there no “Black” racism?

Theories and Basic Concepts

definition of racism (Feagin and Sykes)

“The theory of systemic racism accounts for individual, institutional, and structural forms of racism. Systemic here means that the core racist realities are manifested in each of society’s major parts [...] each major part of U.S. society—the economy, politics, education, religion, the family—reflects the fundamental reality of systemic racism.”

definition of white racism (Feagin, Vera and Batur)

“The socially organized set of attitudes, ideas, and practices that deny African Americans and other people of color the dignity, opportunities, freedoms, and rewards that this nation offers white Americans.”

difference between white racism and racial bigotry given in class

Racism is a Systemic- not simply an Individual level phenomenon. Racist systems, Racially Bigoted Individuals 

definitions of white racism given in class

1. “a color/’race’ based system of group privilege… white racism is systemic. Therefore, white racism is systemic racism or systemic white racism”.

“The organization of “white” racial identity in the acquisition and sustenance of white racial privilege.”

White Racism= White racial identity + white racial privilege 

Sociological Theories of Social Structure

structure-functionalist approach, functions of white racism

conflict approach (e.g., institutional racism, procedural racism

Symbolic Interaction

What conclusion can we draw about the future of white racism in the U.S.

The Historical Construction of “Race

According to the Smedleys Who Developed the First Arguments of Black Inferiority in the U.S.?

Thomas Jefferson

According to the Smedleys Who Developed the First Arguments of Black Inferiority in the U.S.?

How does Audrey Smedley conceptualize “race” and its origins?

Smedley

How do the Smedley’s Define “Race”?

The History of Race in North Americ

English: Spanish:

The influence of the English conflict w/ the Irish. Similarities in the English treatment of Native Americans and Africans as “Savages

According to the Smedleys, Why Is Race an Inherently Racist Concept

Monogenesis, Polygenesis

Bonilla-Silva article discussed in class. Features of contemporary racist practices in the U.S

Increasingly covert, -embedded in the normal operations of institutions- avoid direct racial terminology-, invisible to most “whites”

characteristics of American society that justify saying America is racist to its core.

Killing African Americans

Categories and Types of Theories

What is Oppression?

Social Dominance Theory

Feagin and Feagin Types of Discrimination

Systemic Racism

Study’s Main Argument

Racial Control System

Racial Control Mechanisms

Feagin’s Racist America

Multi-dimensional: attitudes (racist), emotions, institutions, practices 

Concepts

Systemic Racism 2

social reproduction

Social Darwinism

Racist Ideology

genocide

racism

cultural racism

types of racist emotions

Race Essentialism

 Race is a biological reality, a physical fact