Transcript File - sociology 101

Unit 4: Race & Ethnicity
Aim: To what extent is the
concept of race a social
construct?
Do Now: fill out the 2010
census form?
Clockwise from top left: "AfroCaribbean", "Caucasian",
"East Asian", "West Asian".
Make some general
observations about the
way this handout is
formatted? What do
you notice?
does anything
strike you as
strange?
Discussion:
1. Did you feel that the available categories on this form lined
up with your own racial and ethnic identity? Why or why
not?
2. Do you think that having Hispanic as an ethnicity and not
a race makes sense? Why or why not?
3. What benefits do you see to having Hispanic listed as an
ethnicity? What drawbacks?
4. What might you change about this form if you could? Do
you believe there are better ways to classify people racially?
These 3 things are not the same! Try to define them:
1. Race:
A group that is set apart from others because of
physical differences that have social significance
2. Ethnicity:
3. Nationality:
A group set apart from others primarily due to
distinctive cultural patterns.
A group set apart because of national origin
Racial Formation (Omi & Winant, 1994): a sociohistorical process
whereby racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed,
and destroyed
Think of the arbitrary nature of race like
grades in school…
• On the scale of 1-100,
which numbers
correspond with the
following grades?
•A
•B
•C
•D
On the left, propaganda used to justify imperialist conquests. On
the right, German WWII propaganda promoting the idea of a
German ‘race’
An annotated reading of the
American Anthropological
Association’s “Statement on
Race” (1998)
Based on this reading, how would you now
define ‘race’
Twins: Are they the same race?
Two sets of identical twins, each with
racially specific features
Recognition of Multiple Identities
The ‘color line’ (Dubois)
Has blurred significantly in
The United States
“The One Drop Rule”
concept that even one
ounce of ‘black blood’
erased all whiteness
“It’s very interesting
because even though
your mother was white
she said to you ‘you’re
not half-white and halfblack, you’re black!”
---Barbara Walters PreOscar Special
Aabout her daughter Nahla:
“I feel like she's black. I'm black
and I'm her mother and I believe
in the one-drop theory.'She went
on:"What I think is that that's
something she's going to have to
decide. I'm not going to put a
label on it. I had to decide for
myself and that's what she's
going to have to decide - how she
identifies herself in the world.
And I think, largely, that will be
based on how the world identifies
her. That's how I identified
myself."And then she seemingly
DOES put a label on her:"But I
feel like she's black.
Recognition of Multiple Identities
OR..
“What are you???”
“What Kind of Sexy
Half-Asian Are You?” YouTube
• This mother in Brazil has 5 children (all shown
above), 3 of whom are considered albinos
1. If you had a mixedrace child, how
would you raise the
child to think of
themselves?
2. What good can
come from having
an increase in a
mixed-raced
population?
3. What bad can come
from it?
Kelly Williams II, 17,
Dallas, Texas
Self-ID: African American
and German/multiracial
Census Boxes Checked:
black
Sandra Williams, 46,
Chicago, Illinois
Self-ID: biracial/“human
being”
Census Boxes Checked:
black
Daisy Fencl, 3, San
Antonio, Texas
Parents’ ID for
her: Korean and
Hispanic
Census Boxes
Checked: has not
yet been counted
Jakara Hubbard, 28,
Monee, Illinois
Self-ID: mixed
Census Boxes Checked:
white/black
Gabriela Guizzo, 5,
Rockville Centre,
New York
Self-ID: “A little of
everything”
Census Boxes
Checked:
white/Japanese
Oona Wally, 25,
Brooklyn, New York
Self-ID: Chinese and
Jewish/Caucasian
Census Boxes
Checked:
white/Chinese
Hosanna Marshall, 32, New York,
New York
Self-ID: African American, Native
American, white, and Jewish
Census Boxes Checked: black
Adrian Adrid, 24,
Haleiwa, Hawaii
Self-ID: white
Census Boxes Checked:
white/Filipino
Helen Robertson, 54, Los Angeles,
California
Self-ID: English
Census Boxes Checked: white/Asian
Ariel Toole, 14, Chicago, Illinois
Self-ID: mixed race/multiracial
Census Boxes Checked:
white/black/Vietnamese
The Social Construction of Racial Behaviors
DRESS?
What are some
Stereotypical, cultural behaviors
That we (NOT NECESSARILY
YOU) associate with different
Racial/ethnic groups?
Think in terms of…
SPEECH?
FOOD?
BEHAVIOR?
NAMES…
Dr. Roland
Fryer,
Harvard
University
Fryer R, Levitt S. The Causes and Consequences of
Distinctively Black Names.
Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2004;119(3):767-805.
http://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/publications/caus
es-and-consequences-distinctively-black-names