History of Racism & Risk for Poverty

History of Racism & Risk for Poverty

Learning Outcomes

• Explore the racial caste system of the United States.

• Examine historical processes that created the caste system and increased the risk for being in poverty today.

What is Race?

• Race is a concept that was created by people, not a biological fact.

• Sometimes associated with physical characteristics of a group.

• Although it is a made-up idea, it is a potent social reality and an enduring component of identity.

• Ethnicity:

  • Describes a group of people based on shared culture, which includes:

  • Language

  • Food

  • Music

  • Dress

  • Values

  • Beliefs

  • Involves common ancestry and shared history.

• Panethnicity:

  • Refers to the situation in which different ethnic or tribal groups, living within a multiethnic society, cooperate and organize.

  • Involves building institutions and identities across ethnic lines (e.g., Asian, Hispanic/Latino, or Native American).

What is Racism? (CDC Definition)

• Racism is a complex social system consisting of:

  • Policies

  • Laws

  • Everyday practices

  • Norms

  • Beliefs

• It assigns value and determines opportunity based on the way people look or the color of their skin.

• Involves a hierarchical and socially consequential valuation of racial groups.

Racial Discrimination

• Discrimination: Refers to the unequal treatment of individuals and groups based on an ideology of racial superiority of some groups over others.

Racial Inequality

• Racial inequality is defined as the outcomes of racism that manifest in various societal dimensions.

What is Caste?

• Caste is described as:

  • An artificial construction that creates a fixed and embedded ranking of human value.

  • Sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits.

  • These traits would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed significant meaning in a hierarchy, favoring the dominant caste whose ancestors designed it.

  • A caste system uses rigid, often arbitrary boundaries to keep ranked groups distinct and in their assigned places.

  • Quote from Wilkerson (2020): "…an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry…"

How are Castes Built?

• Key components involved in creating and sustaining castes include:

  • Divine Will & the Laws of Nature: Belief that a higher power dictates social order.

  • Heritability: The transmission of caste through generations.

  • Endogamy & the Control of Marriage & Mating: Marriages restricted within specific caste groups.

  • Purity versus Pollution: Beliefs regarding the cleanliness or purity of certain castes.

  • Occupational Hierarchy: Different jobs are assigned to different castes, maintaining social order.

  • Dehumanization & Stigma: Discrimination practices that devalue certain groups.

  • Terror & Cruelty: Enforcement of caste through violence and fear.

  • Inherent Superiority & Inferiority: Ideologies that justify the caste system.

Racism Over Time

• Examination of racism throughout history involves multiple groups and significant events.

Native Americans or Indigenous People

• Affected by:

  • Slavery

  • Disease & War

  • Forced Migration & the Indian Removal Act

  • Creation of Reservations

  • Eradication of food sources, such as bison

  • Assimilation practices, such as Indian Residential Schools

Black or African Americans

• Experienced:

  • Slavery

  • Sharecropping

  • Great Northern Migration

  • Segregation & Redlining

  • Civil Rights Movement

Irish Americans

• Faced:

  • Fleeing English oppression

  • Famine in Ireland

  • Pulled to the U.S. for jobs

  • Labeling as a “Race of Savages”

  • Position at the bottom rungs of employment

  • Antagonism against and competition with other groups for jobs

  • Development of Irish “ethnic” strategy

Mexican Americans

• Key events include:

  • U.S. annexation of Mexican territory in 1848

  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

  • Participation in the Bracero Program

  • Impact of immigration policies

Asian Americans

• Significant historical events impact groups such as:

  • Chinese:

  • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

  • 1870 Civil Rights Act

  • Issues faced by Chinese women in America

  • Page Law affecting immigration

  • Japanese:

  • 1907 Gentleman’s Agreement

  • Practice of picture brides

  • Japanese farming and 1913 Alien Land Law

  • Internment camps during World War II

  • Civil Liberties Act of 1988

Jewish Americans

• Historical experiences include:

  • History in the Pale of Settlement

  • Experience of Pogroms leading to emigration

  • Contributions to the garment industry

  • Enduring Antisemitism in the U.S.

Outcomes of Racism

Wealth Comparisons

• About 1 in 10 U.S. households have no wealth or are in debt, whereas 1 in 4 Black households face this situation.

• Percentage of households with no wealth or who owe more than the combined value of their assets:

  • Dec. 2021

  • Dec. 2019

• Wealth variations among racial and ethnic households:

  • White and Asian households tend to have considerably more wealth than others.

  • Median wealth figures reported for households:

  • All households: Median wealth = 250,400 (Dec. 2021)

  • White households: Median wealth = 203,200 (Dec. 2021)

  • Black households: Median wealth = 15,300 (Dec. 2021)

  • Hispanic households median wealth changes reported as well in the years mentioned.

  • Asian households median wealth = 320,900 (Dec. 2021)

  • Multiracial households also reported in various categories.

• Note on the median: The median divides households into halves, half with more wealth than the median and the other half with less. Values are rounded.

• Source of data: Pew Research Center based on U.S. Census Bureau's Surveys.

Race & Poverty

• Distribution of Total Population and Poverty by Race Using the Official Poverty Measure: 2022

• Key racial and ethnic groups:

  • White, not Hispanic: 19.3% of total population, 6.5% in poverty.

  • Hispanic (of any race): 28.4% of population, 13.5% in poverty.

  • Black: 20.1% of population, 4.9% in poverty.

  • Asian: 2.6% in poverty.

  • American Indian and Alaska Native at a 1.2% poverty level.

• Ratios of poverty population to total population:

  • White, not Hispanic: Ratio = 0.8* (where asterisk denotes a ratio significance at the 90% confidence level)

  • Hispanic: Ratio = 1.5*

  • Black: Ratio = 1.5*

  • Asian: Ratio = 0.8*

  • Other categories with varying ratios as well.

• Source of data: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2023 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).

References

• Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2015). Sociology of racism. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, 19,857-863. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.32122-5

• Greenspan, N. S. (2022). Genes, heritability, ‘race,’ and Intelligence: Misapprehensions and implications. Genes, 13(2), doi: 10.3390/genes13020346

• Okamoto, D., & Mora, G. C. (2014) Panethnicity. Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 219-239.

• Rese’ndez, A. (2017). The other slavery: The uncovered story of Indian enslavement in America. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

• Takaki, R. (2008). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America (rev). Back Bay Books.

• Wilkerson, I. (2020). Caste: The origins of our discontents. New York: Random House.