Project Prepare

1. Project Prepare 1. Ethnic Group 2. Racial Group • Social construction 3. Census 2000

2. Race & Ethnicity…Defining our Terms • Ethnicity? • a group set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns(D) • Examples of ethnic groups that are important to your identity? • Irish, Polish, Italian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Japanese, Kenyan, Nigerian…

3. Top 5 Nations of Origin for American Ethnic Groups

4. German 15.2% Irish 10.8% English 8.7% Mexican 6.5% Italian 5.6% Top 5 Nations of Origin for American Ethnic Groups (Census 2000)

5. Racial Group? • a group set apart from others based primarily on inherited physical characteristics such as skin color, hair form, and facial form. (D) • Examples?

6. Racial Group? • a group set apart from others based primarily on inherited physical characteristics such as skin color, hair form, and facial form. (D) • Races listed on 1990 US Census • White • Black • Asian & Pacific Islander • American Indian and Alaskan Native • Other • Note that Hispanic is not considered a race … • Points to interesting questions of regarding how a society decides what is and is not a race …draws attention to how racial boundaries are fluid and fuzzy….

7. Irish were once considered an “Inferior” non-white race

8. “Inferior” Irish & Black Races… “smoked Irish” & “negroes turned inside out”

9. The Inferior “Jewish” Race

10. Race as a Social Construction • Irish, Jews, Mexicans, Filipinos and Hindus have all been regarded as races in America…but now they are not….what does this say about the idea of race? • It is a social construction… • Anyone know what this term means?

11. Race as a Social Construction Race as a SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION • races are created, lived & transformed by social actors embedded in certain historical circumstances (D) • We make them up…Society makes them up.. • They are not rooted in nature…but in our culture • Red hair could just have easily become a racial marker…

12. One Race…the “Human Race” • “Scientists Call Race Insignificant” • Race as a human category, has no biological significance at all • Too much shared evolutionary biology • Mountains of evidence for this… • Within group variance swamps between group variance • Select 2 random Blacks & compare genes • Select 2 random Whites & compare genes • Likely to find more variation between 2 whites than between 1 black and 1 white

13. No genetic basis for race… So how have different societies and/or scientists tried to group people by race? • Skin color- shade of pigmentation • What to do with dark skinned Italians, Iraqis, Indians? • Color Gradient used in some countries (Brazil, Cuba) • Dental patterns- presence of shovel shaped incisors • Creates a race of that lumps Asians, Swedes & Native Americans together • Facial Features- measure contours of the skull • Indians from Asia have Caucasian features, but dark skin

14. No genetic basis for race… So how have different societies and/or scientists tried to group people by race? • Skin color- shade of pigmentation • What to do with dark skinned Italians, Iraqis, Indians? • Color Gradient used in some countries (Brazil, Cuba) • Dental patterns- presence of shovel shaped incisors • Creates a race of that lumps Asians, Swedes & Native Americans together • Facial Features- measure contours of the skull • Indians from Asia have Caucasian features, but dark skin • Add up ancestry & calculate: Common in US…We determined slaves this way…and currently determine Native American ancestry this way • Interesting results…note next slide • Bottom line: Each strategy gets different

15. What Race?

16. What Race? Asian by math…Black by skin color… Race is a social construction

17. Race as a social construction… • Race is a social construction • Racial Classifications are arbitrary & depend on criteria used by person grouping people together • Might as Well just have a vote… • Putting to a Vote the Question ‘Who Is Cherokee?

18. No Biological Basis…So why not vote? • Who is a Cherokee??? • Officially, the election will ask voters whether to amend the Cherokee Nation Constitution. Overriding the 1866 treaty, it would limit citizenship to those who can trace their heritage to “Cherokee by blood” rolls, part of a census known as the Dawes Rolls of 1906. The Freedmen would automatically be denied citizenship because the Dawes Rolls, a census commissioned by Congress to distribute land to tribal members, put the Freedmen on a separate roll that made no mention of Indian blood.

19. No Biological Basis…So why not vote? • Who is a Cherokee??? • “When the Dawes Rolls were created, those with any African blood were put on the Freedmen roll, even if they were half Cherokee. Those with mixed-white and Cherokee ancestry, even if they were seven-eighths white and one-eighth Cherokee, were put on the Cherokee by blood roll. More than 75 percent of those enrolled in the Cherokee Nation have less than one-quarter Cherokee blood, the vast majority of them of European ancestry.”

20. Race as a social construction… • Race is a social construction • Racial Classifications are arbitrary & depend on criteria used by person grouping people together • Might as Well just have a vote… • Or maybe a draft… • Video Clip: Chapelle Show

21. Race as a Social Construction Race as a SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION • races are created, lived & transformed by social actors embedded in certain historical circumstances (D) • We make them up…Society makes them up.. • They arenot rooted in nature… but in our culture • Red hair could just have easily become a racial marker…

22. Big debate has emerged… Why try to record something we know doesn’t exist? If society insists on recording… Where do children of inter-racial marriages fit? Latinos? Asian Indians? Middle Easterners? Anyone? If don’t record race, how would we notice discrimination? Phily Inquirer: Approximately 50% of Philadelphia residents are minority, but “minorities today account for only“ 8 percent to 20 percent of construction workers on large-scale city projects.” So…a BIG DEBATE…What were some of the proposed solutions?????? Government Recognized Races in the US

23. Races don’t exist, so stop asking the question Don’t count them and perpetuate myth that races exist Canada has done this Don’t mess with it …races may not exist, but discrimination does… Not counting eliminates ability to identify discrimination Philly Building Trades DWB Add Multi-Racial Box Add new races Some Hispanics wanted to become a race Allow people to check multiple boxes What should be done? Why? The Paradox of Race

24. 1990 Census White Black Asian & Pacific Islander American Indian and Alaskan Native Other 2000 Census White Black or African American American Indian and Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Some other race Two or more races Government Recognized Races in the US

25. Race/Ethnicity, 2000

26. Projections for 2050

27. Next…Prejudice and Discrimination

28. Project Prepare I. Racism II.Prejudice III. Discrimination IV. Institutional/Structural Discrimination • Assignment For Tuesday • Power Point slides will be posted to website by early next week; http://www2.widener.edu/~spe0001/

29. Race as a Social Construction Race as a SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION • races are created, lived & transformed by social actors embedded in certain historical circumstances (D) • We make them up…Society makes them up.. • They are not rooted in nature…but in our culture • Red hair could just have easily become a racial marker…

30. Races may not exist in nature …but society has acted as if they do… Scientific Racism (D)…Core Belief in White Supremacy 1) racial and ethnic groups form a natural hierarchy of superiors and inferiors 2) White race is superior to the non-White races

31. White Supremacy in America • Alabama Constitutional Convention president John B. Knox of Anniston: • the foremost objective of the convention was "to establish white supremacy in this State."

32. White Supremacy • “Were the Chinese to amalgamate at all with our people, it would be the lowest, most vile and degraded of our race, and the result of that amalgamation would be a hybrid of the most despicable , a mongrel of the most detestable that has ever afflicted the earth…” • California Legislator, 1870s

33. White Supremacy • “These people must die out- there is no help for them. God has given this earth to those will subdue it, and it is vain to struggle against righteous decree. • Journalist Horace Greeley, 1859

34. White Supremacy • The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void. Mississippi • Education: The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. Florida • Circus Tickets All circuses, shows, and tent exhibitions, to which the attendance of...more than one race is invited or expected to attend shall provide for the convenience of its patrons not less than two ticket offices with individual ticket sellers, and not less than two entrances to the said performance, with individual ticket takers and receivers, and in the case of outside or tent performances, the said ticket offices shall not be less than twenty-five (25) feet apart. Louisiana

35. White Supremacy and Work…Legal until 1964…practiced through 1970s…

36. Races may not exist in nature …but society has acted as if they do… Scientific Racism (D)…Core Beliefs: 1) racial and ethnic groups form a natural hierarchy of superiors and inferiors 2) White race is superior to the non-White races 3) within the White race the “Nordic” segment is superior to other segments Note the next slide

37. The immigrants are ruining the country • “The American nation was founded by and developed by the Nordic race, but if a few more million members of the Alpine, Mediterranean and Semitic races (Italians, Jews etc.) are poured among us, the result will inevitably be a hybrid race of people as worthless and futile as the good for nothing mongrels of Central America and southeastern Europe.” • Kenneth Roberts, prominent Journalist.”p. 92 Feagin

38. Races may not exist in nature …but society has acted as if they do… Scientific Racism (D)…Core Beliefs: 1) racial and ethnic groups form a natural hierarchy of superiors and inferiors 2) White race is superior to the non-White races 3) within the White race the “Nordic” segment is superior to other segments A small minority still believe this despite lack of evidence…

39. Racism • To study, Sociologists Break into 3 parts • Part 1: • Prejudice (D) • a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, such as a racial or ethnic minority • Prejudice often based on the following… • Video Clip

40. Stereotypes (D) • unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not take into account individual differences within the group. • Exaggerated over simplifications • Dumb Blondes & Poles, Smart Germans & Asians, Cheap Jews, Drunken Irish, Nasty French, Criminal Italians & on and on and on… • Often acquired second hand…and just don’t hold • Become substitutes for facts • Can lead to wrong headed actions… • Pre-judging using stereotypes undermines the very that people should be judged on individual merit

41. Note Slide US Illicit Drug Use by Race…pattern? Rate of Illicit Drug Use…pattern? The NJ Turnpike…

42. DWB…meaning? NJ State Police Searches…trend Found with contraband… The NJ Turnpike…

43. Racism • Next Video Clip moves beyond prejudice… • From TV Nation • Michael Moore series that ran on Fox

44. Racism • Black people often have trouble getting cabs in NYC • Became big issue when Danny Glover experienced this… • Mayor Guiliani Got Involved • Placed Undercover police on streets • Cabbies risked loss of medallion • Anyone know the term we use to refer to the cabbies refusal to pick up Black men…

45. Part 2. Discrimination • the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reason (D) • Not just an attitude, but an action • Cabbies won’t pick up Black men • Denny’s refuses to seat Black secret servicemen • Landlords refuse to rent to minority residents

46. Is this allowed? • If Archie Bunker wants to be prejudiced, we may judge him, but that’s his business… • Can Archie Bunker refuse to hire a Black,a woman, or a Puerto Rican?

47. Is this allowed? • 1964 Civil Rights Act (D)- banned discrimination in most areas of society. • Employment • Public accommodations • Education • Discrimination in employment, housing and other spheres of society is illegal… • Does that mean it no longer occurs?

48. What does evidences suggest with regard to discrimination & work? • Hiring Audits (Social Audits)…Anyone remember what these are?

49. What does evidences suggest with regard to discrimination & work? • Urban Institute Study • “entrenched and widespread” discrimination at every step in the process. • Whites were 3 times more likely as blacks to advance in the hiring process to the point of being offered a job • U.S General Accounting Office • “uncovered significant discrimination against black and Latino testers.” p. 15 • 25% fewer interviews, 34% fewer offers

50. Discrimination Today • MIT and U of Chicago Professors • 5,000 resumes sent in response to ads in Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune • Some with “White names”: Neil, Brett, Greg, Emily • Some with “Black names”: Tamika, Eboney, Aisha, Kareem • White names elicited 50% more responses • Clearly subverts idea of hiring based on merit… • Notion that we are all judged based on individual characteristics is undermined by the evidence