sociology learning objectives - miterm 1

Human cognitive bias

Confirmation bias: our tendency to ignore evidence/observations that contradict our beliefs (ex: climate change)

Attribution error: our tendency to attribute people's behavior/life outcomes to innate character or personality traits rather than to external.situational factors (ex:homeless people/external - dont value working/situational - mental health)

Implicit bias: subconscious biases toward outside groups (and subconscious preferences towards one's own group)

The sociological perspective

We live in a very individualists society
However our individual lives are deeply entangled with and shaped by our social environments
Our social environments greatly influence our identities, beliefs, values and behavior
Our social environments also greatly influence our experiences, opportunities and life outcomes

The sociological perspective - 2 levels

Structural level of society (macro)
EX: our culture, health care systems, uw madison, legal system
Symbolic level of society (micro)
Ex: Individual interactions, thoughts. Perceptions, etc

The social and cultural construction of reality (missing cultural)

Social structure: a system of organized activity, durable relationships, and routine practices (ex: economic, educational, legal, family, media, religion etc)

race/ethnicity as a structural phenomenon

- There is an organized, durable race/ethnic hierarchy in our society
- race/ethnic groups at the top of the hierarchy (on average) have greater access to values resources than those at the bottom
- race/ethnic groups at the top of the hierarchy (on average) have greater access to values resources than those at the bottom
---Ex: Schools often put such students on the academic or AP “track”; blacks and hispanics more likely to be put on a lower vocational “track” (structural practice)
---Ex: This contributes to the achievement gap (structural outcome)

race/ethnicity as a symbolic phenomenon

- racial groups are typically defined according to arbitrary physical (external) traits (why did we choose to differentiate among racial groups? Why skin color? Why not eyes, height, feet? It was a social decision)
---Ex: Common stereotype: white and asian-american students are more academically skilled (symbolic)
---Ex: Reinforced and reproduced the stereotype (symbolic)

How the structural and the symbolic dimension are closely connected to and reinforce one another

Ex: standardized testing, charter/private schools chose who attends to school, biases in tests, AP/non AP

Why race is not a meaningful biological category (why it is a social construct)

- here is no biological reality to racial groupings
---Genetically, all human being are 99.9% identical to each other
---There is as much genetic diversity WITHIN race/ethinic groups as ACROSS race/ethinc groups
---There can be meaningful genetic differences between some geographic populations (ex: basketball and football mostly black but its not from a genetic advantage) (runners from western africa dominating a certain race)
---Populations are often (mistakenly) equated with racial groups
- So race is not a biological category of people (not objectively real or “natural”)

How the definition of ethnicity formally differs from the definition of race

- Race: a socially constructed category of people who share arbitrarily selected physical traits

- Ethnicity: a socially constructed category of people who share a common identity based on culture, language, and (typically) nationality (Ex: irish: Kenyan; Vietnamese; brazilian; seminole; etc)

The concept of “pan” ethnicity and some examples

Definition: Some racial/ethinic categories encompass numerous distinct ethnic groups/nationalities
examples:
Latin americans (geography) and hispanic (language): Mexico; cuba; puerto rico; honduras; panama; guatemala; venezuela; argentina; chile, etc
Asian american and pacific islander: China; india; korea; philippines; syria; iraq; indonesia; vietnam; japan; hmong; samoan; etc
Native americans: Encompasses many distinct tribes/nations

The current and projected race/ethnic makeup of the U.S.

census?

Racial formation and racialization

Definition of
Racial formation: the historical processes by which social, economic, and political forces determine the content and meaning of racial [and ethnic] categories
Racialization: process by which a group is assigned a racial identity and place within a social hierarchy

Early formation/racialization in the U.S. (what historical and social focus was it built upon?)

Slavery
war/conquest
Demand for cheap labor

Racial projects - discussed in class

Scientific racism (early 1900s): Darwin's theory of evolution used to “prove” that some racial groups were genetically superior
Salvery and the invention of “white” and “black”
U.S. conquest of native americans and mexico
Chinese immigration and demand for cheap labor

Conceptualizing racism as a continuum (See figures presented in lecture)

...

Minority groups

A race/ethnic group that receives (on average) significantly less of society's values resources and outcomes

Prejudice (including two specific hypotheses about prejudice)

definition: Negative feelings/attitudes towards other groups

Examples
Group threat hypothesis of prejudice: prejudice derives from the relative position of different racial groups in society (dominant groups feel entitled to social advantage and fear losing that advantage to “outsiders”) {ex: group prejudice toward immigrants - taking our jobs}

Contact hypothesis: more proximity between race/ethnic groups reduces prejudice (key argument of cultural diversity)

Stereotypes

Cultural and behavioral generalizations (positive or negative, but typically incorrect) about an entire group of people
Minority groups are likely to be perceived according to negative generalizations
Prejudice and stereotypes align with the symbolic dimension of race/ethnicity

Discrimination (two types of discrimination presented in class)

Definition: Unequal treatment of an individual or group because of race/ethnicity

Discriminatory INTENT
Discrimination occurs when an individual or institution PURPOSELY treat members of one group different from those of another


Discriminatory OUTCOMES or CONSEQUENCES
Discrimination is defines not by its motivation but by the RESULTS of normal routine social practices (republican doesnt mean racsit reading)
Formally neutral (or “color-blind”) practices can reinforce stable patterns of race/ethnic inequality (Ex: property taxes to fund schools)

Definition of racism as a social system of advantage and disadvantage

An organized social system of practices, relationships, and ideas in which some groups are systematically advantages or disadvantages on account of race/ethnic characteristics (Has both STRUCTURAL and SYMBOLIC components )

Two racial social system in U.S. history

traditional/hard racism
color blind/soft racism

traditional/hard racism

Ex:
Dislike, hate, prejudice towards another group
White supremacy (kkk)
racial/ethnic violence/hate crimes; racial/ethnic slurs
Slavery; segregation; lynchings
Employer refusing to hire; landlord refusing to rent
Store employee calling security; police harassment

Things in common: 1. Racism is overt, intentional 2. Racism is rooted in “bad” or mean beliefs/attitudes 3. Bad beliefs/ attitudes lead to bad/discriminatory behavior

Color blind/soft racism

Color blindness is the dominant racial project of the past 50 years
Racial preferences for any group is wrong and should be prohibited
We should just stop talking about race

White privilege

The UNEARNED and UNACKNOWLEDGED advantages that came from being a member of the dominant racial/ethnic group (colorblind ideology)

False equivalencies

Reverse racism
Answer: the equivalency of power, hierarchy and inequality
Minority groups are structurally located at lower positions in the race/ethnic hierarchy
These practices do not systematically oppress/disadvateg whites (sociologically speaking)

The several conditions that contributed to emergence of the Civil rights movement

Economic restructuring and demographic changes
Political changes
Legal reforms
Cold war politics (non shooting war with soviet union)
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The civil rights movement

non violent direct action as the main tactic
NAACP; SNCC;SCLC
American Indian activism

Key protest events (several discussed in lecture; rely on textbook for further details)
Montgomery bus boycott (1955)
Student sit ins (1960)
Freedom rights (1961)
Burgingham campaign (1963)
March on washington (1964)
March on selma for voting rights (1965)

Civil rights legislation (3)

civil rights act of 1964
voting rights act of 1965
fair housing act of 1968

Civil rights act of 1964 - what did the new laws do?

Illegal to discriminate in public accommodations (title 2)
Federal fund cut off for discrimination (title VI)
Illegal to discriminate in employment (title VII)

Voting rights act of 1965 - what did the new laws do?)

Eliminated barriers to black registration and voting
No more poll taxes; literacy tests, etc

Fair housing act of 1968 - what did the new laws do?

Illegal to discriminate in the sale or rental of housing

Black power movement - How did it differ from the civil rights movement?

Coincided with the civil rights movement
Far less popular (particularly among whites) then the civil rights movement (Malcolm X vs MLK Jr)
Seen as threatening to white society
--Emphasis on racial difference: black pride and culture
--Militancy vs. conciliation
--Willingness to use violence in self defense
--Rhetoric of separation rather than integration

The american indian movement (AIM-video documentary)

Grievances, tactics, objectives (Notes from video that I took - might need to add more)
What were some of the tactics/forms of activism that AIM used?
Press release
Taking over national monument
“Sue indian power” on george washington's head
Taking over bureau
Protests

What were some of their major grievances?
Someone mudered and tortured by red necks
Gov didn't take them seriously
Man not charged for murder
Getting hunted

What were some of their demands?
Strive to correct and change
to control their own community and contribute to city planning
Hire people of indian descent
20 point program (established within the law based on treaties and agreements

Racial projects

Black slavery
War and conquer (manifest destiny)
Exploration of cheap labor
Melting pot
But can also be positive (civil rights movement, Asian American and American Indian separatist movements)

Several foundational principles

○ Several foundational principles:
■ Racism is built into race/ethnic hierarchies
■ Racism plays out at the individual and institutional levels
■ Racism can exist even in the absence of hatred and intentional acts of discrimination (exists along a continuum)
■ The ideology of “color blindness” is NOT racially neutral
● Absence of overt discrimination but still not racially
neutral

Sociological perspective vs. biological determinism

….

Current US census race/ethnic categories

White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander