ANTHRCUL 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Hypodescent, Stereotype

• School: U of M
• Department: Anthropology, Cultural
• Course: ANTHRCUL 101
• Professor: Thomas Chivens

Document Summary

Inventing whiteness as a way to maintain political control. Racism is rooted in things like political control, religion, social control. Some statuses are given to us at birth and are usually mutually exclusive. Being identified with one may negate the possibility of being identified with the other. The rule of hypodescent says that if your parents are of different racial statues, you will be assigned the status of the less privileged parent. Some statuses are more contextual, flexible, changeable, or achievable than others. Example : status shifting (situational negotiation of identity) Kottak definition : an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis. Sources and practices of discrimination and prejudice: traditions and beliefs, laws and policies o, everyday microaggressions. What counts as meaningful racial or ethnic difference varies across cultures.