SOCL 1101 Lecture 15: Race and Racial Inequality
6 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Microaggressions
● Brief verbal or nonverbal behavioral or environmental indignities, whether intentional or
unintentional that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages and that
target people solely based on their membership in a marginalized group
Racial Categories are Historically Contingent
● 1790s census defines ‘free white men and women’
● 1850s ‘white’ means northern and european
Fluid Portrayals of Racial Threats
● ‘Threat’ race changes over time
● Varies globally, also regionally
Contemporary Scientific Systems of Racial Classification
● Ann Morning - NYU
● “The Nature of Race”
● Cultural anthropologist
○ Why race doesn’t exist
● Biology professor
○ Genes
● Physical Anthropologist
○ Look at skull - not black, look at teeth - yes
● Things that are socially constructed are still real because they have implications in the
real world
● The fact that they vary show that they are socially constructed
Race vs. Ethnicity
● System of categorization vs. system of identity
○ Resistance to categorization; reclaiming categories as matters of pride
● Systems of categorization make some groups of people invisible
● Racism
○ Institutional racism
○ Environmental injustice
Systems of Categorization
● Race
○ System of categorizing people based on physical traits
● Ethnicity
○ A system of categorizing people based on cultural similarities
● Racialization
○ Formation of a new racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries around a
formerly unnoticed group of people
Racism
● Belief that members of different races possess different and unequal trairs couples with
power to restrict freedoms based on those differences
○ Humans divided into bloodlines/physical types
○ Some groups just better than others
Race vs. Ethnicity
● Race
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Brief verbal or nonverbal behavioral or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages and that target people solely based on their membership in a marginalized group. 1790s census defines free white men and women". Look at skull - not black, look at teeth - yes. Things that are socially constructed are still real because they have implications in the real world. The fact that they vary show that they are socially constructed. System of categorization vs. system of identity. Resistance to categorization; reclaiming categories as matters of pride. Systems of categorization make some groups of people invisible. System of categorizing people based on physical traits. A system of categorizing people based on cultural similarities. Formation of a new racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries around a formerly unnoticed group of people. Belief that members of different races possess different and unequal trairs couples with power to restrict freedoms based on those differences.
