SOCI 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Reverse Discrimination
3 May 2018
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Lecture 10: Prejudice and Discrimination (continued)
February 6th, 2018
RACISM, PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, AND REVERSE RACISM/REVERSE
DISCRIMINATION: LAY VS. SOCIOLOGICAL DISTINCTIONS
! Racism (Webster’s dictionary)
•!1) Racism = a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and
that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
o!Ideology
•!2) Racism = racial prejudice or discrimination
o!Prejudice has 2 components: affects (emotions/feelings) and cognitive component
(stereotypes)
•!So racism has 3 parts:
o!Doctrine in ideology
o!Racial affect
o!Discrimination
! Reverse racism (Oxford dictionary)
•!“Prejudice or antagonism directed towards a majority or (formerly) dominant ethnic group;
perceived discrimination by or in favor of a minority or (formerly) oppressed ethnic group”
•!Involves prejudice and antagonism
•!Emphasis on behavior discrimination or affects/cognitive component
! Reverse discrimination (Webster’s dictionary)
•!The practice of making it more difficult for a certain type of person (such as a white man) to
get a job, to go to a school, etc., because other people who were treated unfairly in the past
are now being given an advantage
•!Emphasis on discrimination – differential treatment
•!Reverse racism and reverse discrimination are used almost interchangeably
! Racism: a contested and confusing term
•!“In practice, the difference between the terms prejudice, discrimination, and racism is often
difficult to discern. In everyday usage, the term racist is often used to describe a prejudiced
attitude or an action that is discriminatory. The main difference between the three terms in
this usage is that racism carries a stronger implied moral condemnation than prejudice or
discrimination.” (Quillian, 2006)
•!“There is perhaps no term that provokes the level of confusion, consternation, and conflict
that the term ‘racism’ does” (Hoyte, 2012).
! William Julius Wilson (1973; 1999)
•!1973: racism = “practices (behavior) and beliefs (racial ideology) that…contribute to
upholding racial domination and are tied to belief in the subordinate group’s inferiority”
o!Racial ideology about which group is better or worst than others
Document Summary
Reverse racism (oxford dictionary: prejudice or antagonism directed towards a majority or (formerly) dominant ethnic group; perceived discrimination by or in favor of a minority or (formerly) oppressed ethnic group . Involves prejudice and antagonism: emphasis on behavior discrimination or affects/cognitive component. Racism: a contested and confusing term: in practice, the difference between the terms prejudice, discrimination, and racism is often difficult to discern. In everyday usage, the term racist is often used to describe a prejudiced attitude or an action that is discriminatory. And this is the normative understanding of racism. Hence why charges of reverse racism" or reverse discrimination" are a perennial phenomenon: prejudice and discrimination are different components of racism. Under the fourth amendment in the us, police officers can legally stop and detain a person only when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a crime.
