Race: Concept and Reality

1
Race Concept and Reality

• Race in USA
• The Concept of Race (Appiah, Frederickson)
• Questions

2
Does Race Structure Social Reality in the United
States?

• Are Blacks Losing Political Clout?
• Is Discrimination still a problem in the U.S.A.?
• Are Blacks still economically disadvantaged due
  to racism?
• Is the criminal justice system racially biased?

3
Dimensions of Racism in Contemporary USA

• Political Marginalization (1 Black Senator)
• Gaps in economic indicators, especially wealth,
  homeownership, unemployment. Gaps in wages even
  when we hold education/skills constant
• Residential racial segregation
• Causes poverty Limits opportunity
• Criminal justice system-

4
The Concept of Race

• What is race?
• Appiah Race as a term does not refer to
  anything that actually exists
• Two types of meaning
• Ideational
• referential
• Frederickson It is experienced as real, though,
  and people talk as though it is real- it is a
  social construction

5
Social Construction

• Doesnt deny that there are real elements the
  key is the social meaning with which these
  elements are imbued are these meanings
  necessary, transhistorical, etc.?
• Is there a difference between race and
  ethnicity? (See p. 334 defn of racism 335)
• Ethnicity determined by descent Ethnic status
  emerges when a group of people with a real or
  fictive common ancestry assert their dominance
  over those who are believed to be of a different
  and inferior ancestry
• One drop rule
• Racism varies over time and place (p.336)
• How do different forms of stratification
  conflict? P.338
• Race and class in US (p.341)