Study Guide

Thursday, March 13, 2014

7:55 PM

STUDY GUIDE # 2
So Are You Guys Able To Write Stuff On Here? If possible please include what reading
is needed for the conceptual/essay questions.

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Terms to know:
Structural racism or institutionalized racism:
the differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of society
example: workforce...ethnic minorities work as middle/low income while the white
people hold the highest positions
Personally-mediated (or interpersonal) racism
- intentional or unintentional prejudice (differential assumptions about the abilities,
motives, and intentions of others) and discrimination (differential actions towards
others according to some characteristic)
- Interpersonal racism is when someone discriminates against a person or a group
simply because of their race. What makes racism different from discrimination and
oppression is power: racism is discrimination plus power. This means that racism
occurs when those with racial privilege (typically White folks) discriminate against or
oppress those with no racial power (typically People of Color).
Internalized racism
Acceptance by members of the stigmatized races of negative messages about their own
abilities and intrinsic worth. Generally accompanied by a belief in the greater value of
the dominant group, and the desirability of traits associated with them. Characterized by
not believing in themselves, and not valuing or believing in people who look like them
Racialization (racialized subject?)
This rejection of the notion of race as a marker of human biological and/or moral
superiority and inferiority has been crucial in allowing the concept to be understood
through sociological categories such as ideology, social construction or as set of
discourses. Seen in this way race becomes racialisation, through which meanings
become conferred on physical or cultural differences (Miles 2003).
- Taken from the Cowden and Singh reading
Stereotype threat
The experience of anxiety or concern in a situation where a person has the potential to
confirm a negative stereotype about their social group.
White privilege- The ability of white people to gain more positive opportunities than
other cultures because of their hegemony/dominance in culture. This is typically had at
the expense of subaltern racial groups. (Matt)
Cultural appropriation
the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group
(Ideology of) Meritocracy- The ideology and so called myth that Americans like to
believe that they are all equally capable of achieving financial success and that wealth
is a reflection of a persons merit. The belief is that people who succeed due to their
effort and hard work deserve corresponding financial and social benefits. (Matt)- Taken
from Diversity and Multiculturalism chapter 17 page 269.
Cultural capital (including embodied, objectified, and institutionalized, and be able to
give examples of each): Original sociologist who came up with the term: Pierre
Bourdieu.
Cultural capital: non-financial assets that provide social mobility.
Embodied cultural capital: Properties of ones self, both consciously acquired and
passively inherited over time. Example: upbringing and socialization; attitudes.
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passively inherited over time. Example: upbringing and socialization; attitudes.

Objectified cultural capital: physical objects that are owned, especially those that are
perceived as increasing social status. Example: owning fine works of art, nice car,
scientific instruments, etc.
Institutionalized cultural capital: Institutional recognition or praise to ones
name. Example: Degrees awarded, awards received.
Habitus
Lifestyles, values and the expectations of social groups acquired through activities and
experiences of everyday life
Social Mobility
Ability to move up in the society.
It may refer to classes, ethnic groups, or entire nations, and may measure health status,
literacy, or education - but more commonly it refers to individuals or families, and their
change in income.
Concerted cultivation
a style of parenting that is marked by a parent's attempts to foster their child's talents by
incorporating organized activities in their children's lives. (EB)
Heteronormativity- The hegemony/dominance of heterosexuality within all cultures.
Heterosexuality is viewed as the social norm because most of the population is
heterosexual. (Matt)

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Concepts and questions:

RACE
In what ways is race a meaningful category and in which ways is it not?(agung)
- In biological way, they are meaningless. Why?
1) Because there are literally no genes or phenotypic features that are shared by all
members of a racial group
2) There are none that are seen only within a single race category
3) There is as much or more genetic variation within a racial category that between
categories
- However, race categories are very meaningful in social life. Because:
1) How we perceive, and are perceived by others
2) How we perceive ourselves
3) Our expectations (of selves and others)
4) Our access to resources
5) Our opportunities for education and employment
6) Our experiences out in the world
7) Our health
8) Our categories are ridiculously broad, and do not capture the great diversity within
What are some of the effects of racism in terms of educational opportunities &
outcomes, employment opportunities, health outcomes, policing & criminal justice
practices, incarceration rates, etc.?
-Racism can be an obstacle towards a person of a certain ethnic group or race. For
example, if an African American man is applying for a job, and is just as educated and
qualified as a White male counterpart, chances are the White man will get the job,
simply because he is of the dominant racial group. The same concept could be applied
more broadly to the ideas of education, health and criminal justice practices.
What are the levels of racism and what are some of the ways they manifest (more
benevolent to more vicious expressions)?(agung)
Morgan: These ideas (Levels of racism) are by Camara Phyllis Jones in her article:
http://www.fordham.edu/images/mission/racism%20and%20health%20camara%
20jones.pdf. This example of Joness Gardeners Tale was given to us in lecture.
Levels of racism:
1) Institutional Racism
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1) Institutional Racism
They way it manifests:
a) Material conditions, e.g., differential access to:
Quality education
sound housing
gainful employment
appropriate medical facilities
a clean environment
b) Access to power, e.g., differential access to:
Information
resources ( including wealth and organizational infrastructure)
voice ( including voting rights, representation in government and control of media)
2) Personally mediated racism
Can be intentional and unintentional
a) Prejudice
Differential assumptions about the abilities, motives, and intentions of others,
according to some characteristic (e.g., race)
b) Discrimination
Differential actions towards others according to some characteristic (e.g.,race)
Examples:
Lack of respect (poor or no service, failure to communicate options)
suspicion ( shopkeepers vigilance, everyday avoidance, e.g., street crossing,
purse clutching, standing on subway when there are empty seats to avoid sitting
next to someone of color)
Devaluation (surprise at competence , stifling of aspirations)
scapegoating (think of ways that economic anxieties and fear of changing world
are translated to threat narratives: Latino invasion, terrorist attack)
Dehumanization ( Police brutality, sterilization abuse, hate crimes)
3) Internalized racism
Acceptance by members of the stigmatized races of negative messages about their own
abilities and intrinsic worth
generally accompanied by a belief in the greater value of the dominant group, and
the desirability of traits associated with them
characterized by not believing in themselves, and not valuing or believing in people
who look like them
Examples:
Embracing whiteness ( use of hair straighteners, skin bleach, eye fold strategies,
colored contacts, stratification by skin tone within communities of color);
self - devaluation ( racial slurs as nicknames, rejection of ancestral culture,
fratricide);
Resignation, helplessness, hopelessness (dropping out of school, failing to vote,
engaging in risky health practices)
What does it mean to say, I dont see race or I dont see you as _____ (e.g., black)?
What does racism mean? (remember: people often think that racism equates to
groups and individuals that are blatantly hate-filled and prejudiced, spewing racist
epithets, but these people are part of a larger system of structural inequality based on
race, in which white people-to varying degrees, of course, based on their location in the
socioeconomic matrix and other factors-have multiple advantages (unearned
privileges) while people of color face multiple disadvantages (though no fault of their
own). The system is kept in place in part by the stereotypes and narratives of race that
we hear, see, and read all around us)
Morgan: I dont see race is another way of implying that one is colorblind, or that
one does not discriminate based on race. This is a cursory solution that some people
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employ for a deeper problem; being colorblind implies that one sees all people as the
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employ for a deeper problem; being colorblind implies that one sees all people as the
same, which is not true. It implies that all people are born with equal rights and
privileges, which is also not true; and it disowns the fact that different cultures, beliefs
and ideologies exist. It also turns a blind eye to the institutionalized racism we have
built into our society by denying the presence of race and thus, racial issues. Basically, it
says to someone of color, You, in your entirety, dont exist to me as you really are.
(Sorry, dont quite understand the first part of the question :( )
Racism does not only mean angry, hateful language, acts, or people. It is an ideology/
belief in the superiority or inferiority of a given group of people where the source of that
superiority/inferiority is deemed to be the race of the group (biological,genetic, more
recently, cultural). It is a system of inequality based on race, perpetuated by
institutional structures. It doesnt not necessarily to be blatant, but can also be
more hidden, coded, nuanced, even-benevolent-seeming.
What is white privilege why is there such strong resistance to acknowledging privilege
of any form (based on race, class, gender, etc)? (Maryiam) An example of white
privilege: I got into Stanford without having my peers suspect that I only got in because
of my race. This is basically saying you earned this on your own without your cultural
background giving you an advantage/disadvantage. With white privilege, you assume
no one is going to harass you if you shop at night by yourself and if you were to move to
a new neighborhood than your neighbors would be pleasant to you.
http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html ( I would go over this short article we had
to read- explains white privilege very well).
why is there such strong resistance to acknowledging privilege of any form (based on
race, class, gender, etc.)? (Maryiam)
Difficult for two reasons:
1)Challenges cultural ideals and myths to which we are deeply attached: of meritocracy,
fairness, equality
2) Challenges individuals perceptions of themselves as (entirely) molders of their own
fate, of their success as being a result of hard work and cleverness.
*Facing that there were advantages along the way is hard to swallow
what is Michelle Alexanders basic argument in her book? what myths about race
crime and imprisonment does she debunk? (Maryiam)

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Alexander describes how mass incarceration today serves the same

purpose as pre-Civil War slavery and the post-Civil War Jim Crow
laws: to maintain a racial caste system. Alexander defines racial
caste as a racial group locked into an inferior position by law and
custom. She asserts that Jim Crow and slavery were caste systems,
and that our current system of mass incarceration is also a caste
system: The New Jim Crow.
Here is a nice summary: http://www.cflj.org/new-jim-crow/

CLASS
Is the U.S. a classless society? Do we see ourselves this way? Though we do like to
see ourselves as classless, in truth, the U.S. is not. Though it does have a diverse
array of classes, they are classes nonetheless. From what we have read, we can see
that there is much division between the subclass (felons) and the rest of the classes
as well. There seems to be a pretty well defined division between the lower, working,
middle, upper-middle, and upper classes. (Matt)
What are the realities of class and socioeconomic status (SES) in this country? Are we
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all middle class? Is it a fairly level playing field out there, where everyone gets a pretty
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all middle class? Is it a fairly level playing field out there, where everyone gets a pretty
equal shot at success? How easy is it to move up in terms of wealth (i.e., do we have
high social mobility in the U.S.?) (Maryiam)
2/3rd working class so no
Wealthy class is extremely wealthy
Poor is very poor
VERy big gap

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What impact does class have on educational opportunities and success, life chances,
health, etc.? (Angel+Allen)
- the rich tend to stay rich
o because of the resources they are able to access
o rich people have more money than poor people and they use that money to buy
advantages for themselves and their children
o the wealthier you are, the healthier you will be. Genes, diet, and exercise are
important but a poor smoker still stands a greater chance at getting ill than a rich
smoker
- poor people tend to stay poor
o the poor and homeless are not only helpless but bullied by the police where they get
arrested for loitering
o these homeless people have poor health because of their lack of money and support,
and their increased stress
What are the narratives we have about class, e.g., stories we tell ourselves about
people living on low incomes and/or in poverty? What stories are told about class in the
media?
We: Working class are looked down upon. They are lazy and incapable people. They are
takers rather than contributors.
Media: As long as you work hard, you will achieve the upward mobility. People who
dont get it not only because their background, but more importantly, because they dont
work hard.
Fail to succeed due to their inferior qualities, such as bad taste, lack of intelligence,
reactionary politics, poor work ethic, and dysfunctional family values. (Class Dismissed
film) It is a personal choice since the American society provides equal opportunity to
everyone in the society.
-bad taste: working class are from the junk culture. They are obsessed with bad habits
such as drinking and gambling.
-lack of intelligence: especially true of the fathers role. Even the females and the kids
are of more intelligence than they are. Their incapability of taking the leading role in the
family gives women some power, though this may not be true in real life.
-reactionary politics: working class are disinterested in politics and are close-minded
people.
-poor work ethic: working class are perceived as lazy, incompetent workers. Theyre not
interested in improving their modern life, they dont have leadership skills, or the
capability of improving their productivity.
-dysfunctional family values: working class are bad at parenting. They dont care much
about their childrens education since they all go out to work. (EB) But in reality, the
working class actually focus more on education
From Powerpoint Comman Narratives (Maryiam)
-Heavier alcohol and substance abuse
-Not as Invested in their children and their schooling
-Not organized/lazy
-sense of entitlement
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-sense of entitlement
-Taking from social programs/not contributing
For People living in Poverty
-Stress (always feeling on the edge)
-Bad Health

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How are working class people portrayed and what do these portrayals achieve? Do
representations in the media reinforce our ideology of meritocracy (and of individualism,
and of choice, e.g., presenting being working class as a choice, rather than showing
how class standing is powerfully structured and reproduced)
Reading (Elinson):
- people of working class are looked down upon.
for example, a police would arrest a man who looked suspicious because of his
ragged clothes
there was a Penal Code section that required an individual to provide credible
and reliable identification to a police officer who has reason to be suspicious
o This law was used disproportionately against poor people and gave police wide
discretion to arrest whomever they deemed undesirable.
Lecture:
working class on TV is portrayed as stupid, lazy (sitting around, drinking beer),
dim-witted
those who made it, worked hard to get there
those who arent so successful are there not only because of their background,
but also due to their poor decisions --> individual responsibility

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How does class intersect with gender in how different kinds of women are portrayed
and seen? (Mary)
Taken from Week 7 slides (FRI: Narratives of class, meritocracy)
Different kinds of sexuality are markers for class. This can create a tension between
classes. It can even create a class within class conflict, where there is tension within a
specific class community. This can affect how women are portrayed because when
women are gendering upwardly mobile orientations, women are seen as pushing, and
men resisting, this way of life.
How are Gay Lesbian Bisexual characters on television classed in order to make them
palatable to a TV audience?
Similarly, how are people of color (those living in poor neighborhoods, and those who
have made it) represented on TV, and how does this bolster existing ideas about race
and class?
-People of color, or those living in poor neighborhoods, are presented in almost a
comical manner, such as in shows like Fat Albert and the Gang(Mark)
-This bolsters the existing ideas about race and class to present the lower class
members in negative view, while heightening the dominance of the upper class(Mark)
-Cosby Show: example of African American family who is already there and doesnt
need welfare (shows that they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps); it also
erases the struggles of black people (by normalizing them) (Jacky)
- Fresh Prince: happy black families rescue the poor black kid from the ghetto
How do students at St. Pauls Academy come to embody class privilege, and how does
this help to obfuscate structural inequalities? (Abdur)
-There is a difference between privilege and entitlement. Priviledge can be achieved
and entitilement is based of family history, background etc.
Morgan: Taken from Shamus Khans text on privilege in St Pauls school (intro).
What students cultivate is a sense of how to carry themselves, and at its core this
practice of privilege is ease: feeling comfortable in just about any social situation . . .
Embracing the open society, they display a kind of radical egalitarianism in their
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Embracing the open society, they display a kind of radical egalitarianism in their
tastes. . . In being embodied, privilege is not seen as a product of differences in
opportunities but instead as a skill, talent, capacity who you are. Students from St.
Pauls appear to naturally have what it takes to be successful. This helps hide durable
inequality by naturalizing socially produced distinctions. . . The elite adoption of the
American Dream, however well-intentioned, happens against a backdrop of increasing
social inequality. In embracing an open society and embodying privilege, elites have
obscured the persistence of social closure in our world. . . Twenty-first-century America
is increasingly open yet relentlessly unequal.
In general, does our educational system help students become upwardly mobile, or
does it reinforce and reproduce class divisions? (hint: it does both, so think about how)
Morgan: Paraphrased from St. Pauls school:
The reality of college is that it is a place dominated by the rich. Khan argues that top
universities promote the admission of legacy students (students whose parents or family
are alumni of the school), athletes, and minorities, but not the most needy group: poor
students. This entrenches the college system as a producer of predominantly rich,
successful students, and contributes to the widening gap between the elite and the
poor.
From lecture and lecture slides:
However, students who do receive an education tend to reach higher levels of income
and success, which promotes social mobility in the population of students who can
attain that education in the first place (typically the richer students).
CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM/SCHOOLS
In the U.S., every child is guaranteed the right to an education through 12th grade. Is
the quality of that education the same for all children? What are the differences between
& among elite private schools vs. public schools in well-resourced neighborhoods vs.
public schools in middle, working class or poor neighborhoods? What effect do these
differences have on the opportunities and likelihood of success of students? (Maryiamdid not answer all of it)
Four Sections:
Elite Private schools
Public schools in wealthy, well resourced areas (higher tax base + parents with more to
contribute
Public schools in working to middle class areas (moderate tax base, parents contribute a little)
Public schools in very poor, low rescourced urban (inner city) or rural areas

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What are some common stereotypes of poor families, particularly with respect to
parenting, how they view education, and how they support their children to learn and do
well in school? How accurate are the stereotypes? What is the danger of negative
stereotyping, and how does stereotype threat affect childrens performance in school?
(Mary)
Taken from the slides from Week 8 (continuing with class, privilege, etc.)
Stereotypes and whether they are accurate:
1) Poor families do not value education
a. Multiple studies show that poor families (and esp poor single mothers) are as
invested in supporting their childrens education as their wealthy counterparts (and
against much greater odds and barriers).
2) Poor people are lazy
a. All indications are that poor people work just as hard as, perhaps HARDER than,
people from higher SES brackets. And they have more difficult situations.
3) Poor people are substance abusers
a. Low-income people in the U.S. are less likely to use or abuse alcohol than their
wealthier counterparts. Drug use in the U.S. is distributed fairly evenly across income
levels, regardless of age and other factors.
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4) Poor people are linguistically deficient, and poor communicators
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4) Poor people are linguistically deficient, and poor communicators

a. Although low-income and working class children do tend to start school with lessdeveloped reading skills on average than their wealthier counterparts, there is no
evidence that this discrepancy in reading skills is connected to a language use
deficiency, or that it reflects parental disinterest in education.
5) Poor people are ineffective and inattentive parents
a. Researchers have routinely found that low-income parents and guardians are
extremely attentive to their childrens needs despite the many barriers they must
overcome to provide for their families.
Dangers of stereotypes:
-Shape the attitudes and expectations of teachers, administrators, employers, the public
-Stereotype threat: knowing what people could think and knowing that at any given
time, one might do or say something that would, in the eyes of the other person, seem
to confirm the stereotype about ones own race/group.
-Criticizing a persons linguistic deficiency is a particularly dangerous stereotype given
the extent to which students (all of our) identities are associated with their (our)
languages. Criticizing a persons language is felt a criticism her/his deepest self.
-Robust and growing collection of studies show that stereotype threat has a negative
effect on performance: kids not performing to their full capacities
How is heteronormativity reinforced by school practices?
What are some of the model practices w.r.t. pedagogy and the institutional culture of
schools highlighted in D&M chapters, and in the film clip from Schools That Change
Communities?
COMPETING RIGHTS
What are Okins critiques of group rights? (youll need to be able to articulate Taylor and
Kymlicka on identity, politics of recognition, and the importance of group rights in order
to understand and explain her response)
The politics of recognition according to Charles Taylor deals with the recognition,
misrecognition, or absence of recognition of a persons identity. Taylor proposes
that a persons identity is partially shaped by social recognition, or lack thereof.
The formation of a persons identity is dialogical; this means that a persons sense
of self-worth and their identity are derived based off of whether or not that persons
identity can be recognized properly by others. It can be misrecognized if that
person is told on a regular basis something inaccurate about their identity. (Mary)
this can be tied to Okins critique of group rights in that women/children are
misrecognized for their identities within discriminatory groups. The
acceptance of ones culture/group as a whole is just as important for a
persons identity as it is for the recognition for their role within that group. With
discriminatory practices, a persons identity is misrecognized.
Heres a good website that has a summary of Kymlickas main points (scroll to the
bottom to find the chapter 8 stuff): (Mary)
http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~simoncu/269/kymlicka.htm
Okin and Kymlicka both agree that self-esteem and self-respect are critical to
a persons development and well-being, and they agree that a person needs
a rich and secure cultural environment to attain these attributes. They also
agree that a group needs to be internally liberal to earn group rights, and they
agree that groups that are overtly discriminatory should not have special
rights. But Okins problem lays where there are groups that practice
discrimination to women in the private sphere, where no one can see it being
done in an overt manner.
Okins critiques: (VL)
In protecting the rights of different minority cultures and religious groups, we
tend to treat them as monolithic, focusing on differences between groups
rather than within groups
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rather than within groups

Cultural defenses are used as excuses for acts of harm (usually targeted

towards women)
Be ready to present and critique perspectives on a real (e.g., headscarf debate in
France) or hypothetical (e.g., Triton Unity policy) multicultural debate, i.e., a proposed
policy change.

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For anyone that wants it, here is an article explaining the point of the How Did Jews Become
White Folks article and tying it to race in America in a short way:
http://www.aaanet.org/sections/afa/?book-review=how-jews-became-white-folks-what-thatsays-about-race-in-america

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