White Dominance and the Weight of the West

1
White Dominance and the Weight of the West

• Chapter 2

2
Minimal Group Paradigm

• Suggests that human beings tend to demonstrate
  discriminatory in-group and out-group dynamics
  even when there is a limited basis for drawing
  distinctions between members of groups.

3
Two Basic Lessons of Minimal Group Theory

• Even when distinctions are meaningless people
  still draw them between themselves and groups.
• They then ascribe values of superiority and
  inferiority to the various groups they created.

4
Social Personality

• Subjective Dimensions
• How you see yourself and how you see others
• Objective Dimensions
• Relates to social position in terms of
  quantitative and observable measures
• Example Education Level or Job Title

5
Social Dominance Theory

• Human social systems are predisposed to form
  social hierarchies, with hegemonic groups at the
  top and negative reference groups at the bottom.
• Hegemonic groups tend to be disproportionately
  male, a phenomenon that social dominance theorist
  call the iron law of andrancy.

6
Social Dominance Theory

• Most forms of social oppression, such as racism,
  sexism, and classism, can be viewed as
  manifestations of group-based social hierarchy.
• Social hierarchy is a survival strategy that has
  been selected by many species of primates,
  including Homo sapiens.

7
Privilege and Penalty

• Certain groups receive privileges whether or not
  they are earned, while other groups receive
  penalties by no fault of their own.

8
The Lens of Indigenous Experience

• The Methodologies of Dominance
• Disease
• Warfare
• Land Theft
• Religion
• Missionaries and Bureaucrats
• Education
• Alienation and Alcohol

9
The Possibility of Change

• The beasts of dominance comes in many colors and
  guises and whites alone do not hold a monopoly on
  the imposition of human suffering. (pg. 50)