2 Ra Cc i a | CHAPTER OUTLINE Prejudice, Discrimination, o Institutional Racism 33 Ideologies am, Systemic Racism and Siructura Racism 40 an d Racial Ideologies 44 Racial Formation 50 White Supremacy and Setler : if lonialism 50 Sociological ase, Racism: O White Privilege 54 Theories of | "tite Zis nn as co ance cand Discussion 59 1 + Thinking about Racial Justice 60 Racism titesnrnst ne Talking about Race 63 AS YOU READ 2.1 How is individual racism linked to institutional inequalitye 2.2 How do systemic raci sm ond structural racism create racial disparities? ° 2.3 What are racial ideologies, and how have they functioned and changed over time’ ' 2.4 What is racial formation, or is Concept inform our understanding of racial inequaltye ry 2.5 What does the perspective of indigenous studies reveal about racism in he conlempor United States? 2.6 In what ways do race, class, 2.7 What is white privilege, ond ——— LLL LTT | ind how does thi aad gender oppression work logether? how does it function?Prejudice, Discrimination, and Institutional Ractam Re! ‘inequality is pervasive in the contemporary United States, We see it in the criminal justice system, where black and Latinx people are several times more likely to go to prison than whites, We can find racial inequality in employment as well: audit studies have shown that blacks are less likely than whites to be interviewed and, ‘once interviewed, to get a job, Once blacks have jobs, they are less likely to get promoted, Black business owners have more trouble get- ting contracts. In education, the picture is equally bleak, Many schools in the United States are racially segregated, and the quality of educa- tion is lower at primarily black and Latinx schools, Within schools, white students are given preferential treatment. When white parents visit schools, they get more attention from staff members, and teach- ers are more likely to recommend white students for gifted programs. Sociologists and other researchers have carried out study upon study demonstrating such inequality. Yet how do we explain it? ‘This is where sociological theories of racism come into play; they are lenses that help make sense of patterns such as the overrepresenta- tion of African Americans in the criminal justice system. Sociologists use evidence from their studies to develop explanations, known as the- ories, for how racial inequality is created and reproduced. Before we begin an examination of these theories, what do you think? How would you explain the racial disparities in the crim- inal justice system, for example? Do you think blacks commit more crimes? Do you think police officers spend more time policing black communities? Do you think police officers are biased against African ‘Americans? All of these questions can be translated into hypotheses that can be tested through scientific studies, First, let's look at how racism can be the basis of an explanation for racial inequality. PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM Racism encompasses both racial prejudice—the belief that people belong to distinct races and that these racial groups have innate hierarchical differences that can be measured and judged—and racial discrimination—the practice of treating people differently on the basis oftheir race, For example, an employer can think African Americans are less competent than whites; this belief constitutes racial prejudice. When| chopler 2. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIEs decides to hire a white person instead of an egy, ba Bea that decision may be considered racial. ares, ‘Wal. Both prejudice and discrimination are widespread in U.S, so, In one survey, Joe Feagin (2001) found that ‘three-quarters, Of hites agreed with prejudicial statements about blacks, such as “blacks hw less native intelligence” than whites (109). Eduardo Bonilla. siy, (2013) found that most whites use color-blind discourses that Tepro. duce and rationalize racial inequality. In 1995, researchers Conducted a study in which they asked participants to close their ees for g second and imagine a drug user. Fally 95 percent of respondents r< ported imagining a black drug user (Alexander 2010). The reality g that African Americans account for only 15 percent of, drug users in the United States and are just as likely as whites to use drugs, How. ever, Americans have an unconscious bias against blacks and imag. ine them to be more likely than other groups to use drugs (Alexands, 2010). These and other studies show the widespread nature of prejudice. Many Americans, even those who do not believe they ae racially prejudiced, have implicit biases that operate at the level of the sub. conscious. It is hard to avoid these biases because of the barrage of racialized messages we receive in the media and through our personal networks. Racial prejudice and implicit biases inevitably lead to racial discrimination. (Curious about your own implicit bias? Take the Implicit Association Test at htps://implicit harvard.edu/implicit) In this chapter, we will focus on theories of race and racism. There is another set of scholars whose work focuses more on ethnicity, often through the lens of assimilation—understood asthe incorporation of ethnic minority groups into the mainstream. This body of work con- siders how cultural characteristics, the labor market, and U.S. immi gration policies shape the incorporation patterns of ethnic minorities (Portes and Rumbaut 2006), These scholars explain ethnic minority incorporation primarily as the result of the ethnic features and traits of group and that group's unique “context of reception” (Portes nd Rumbaut 2006; Valder 2011), As Howard Winant (2000) explains in an article on race theory there are clear limits to approaches that focus on ethnicity. These in- clude obstacles to integration and the undesirability of assimilation Aswe will see in this chapter, ‘approaches that place race and racism at the center of their analyses allow us to perceive these obstacles more clearly and to understand how and why racial hierarchies persist. ‘mination, racial 7Prejudice, Discrimination, and Institutional Racism ‘Assimilation theories can be further distinguished from race the- ries in that they tend to focus on group-level factors, whereas race theories look primarily at the individual or the social structure. Most theories of race and racism emphasize the social structure. However, swe will see in the nest section, understanding racial discrimination atthe individual level continues to be crucial. Individual Racism Discrimination can occur at the individual level when one person discriminates against another. Audit studies have consistently shown that blacks are less likely to be interviewed for jobs than whites and that black and Latinx people face housing discrimination on a regular basis (Feagin 2001; Pager, Western, and Bonikowski 2009). Racially discriminatory actions by individuals such as not calling back an in- terviewee for a job because of his race or telling a person on the phone that the apartment is taken because he or she has a Spanish accent or lives on a reservation constitute individual racism. Individual acts of racial discrimination and bigotry are commonplace in our society and help to reproduce racial inequalities. How widespread is individual racism? Researchers have consis- tently found that racial discrimination is pervasive. One study of Department of Defense employees revealed that nearly half of the black employees had heard racist jokes in the previous year (Feagin 2001). Another survey conducted by Feagin and McKinney (2003) revealed that 80 percent of black respondents had encountered racial hostility in public places. One African American secretary detailed the consequences of constant discrimination as follows: “I had to see several doctors because of the discrimination, and I went through a lot of stress. And, then, my blood pressure . .. went on the rise” (82). ‘This woman, like many other African Americans interviewed in this study, displayed high levels of stress as a result of her mistreatment in the workplace and consequently developed health issues. In another study, Dwanna Robertson (2015) found that Native Americans con- stantly face the consequences of negative stereotypes about them. One ofher participants told her, “Thear things like: ‘Show mean Indian, rl show you a drunk Indian.’ ‘Indians are lazy” (130). Itis remarkable that individual racism is widespread in a society that usually condemns overt acts of racism. Ifa television announcer were to make a racially charged or overtly racist statement such as “African ‘Americansare inherently more violent than whites,” we can be sure that3. an chapter 2. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES the following day, critics would forcefully condemn the racist statement, Ifracial discrimination is frowned upon, how canit be so ‘widespread? One way that individual racism persists, even in a society that decries racism, is through racial microaggressions— daily, com. monplace insults and racial slights that cumulatively affect qh. Psychological well-being of people of color. The consequences of theng microaggressions can be severe, and studies of African Americans, Latinx Americans, and Asian Americans have uncovered the con, tinued prevalence of microaggressions. One study of African Amey, ‘cans on college campuses, for example, found that white students and professors consistently doubted the academic: Potential of African Americans. One black student was presumed to have cheated after Betting an “A” on a difficult math quiz. Another black student found that people assumed his scholarship was for sports, when, in fact, it was for his academic achievements, These students reported that the cumulative effect of these slights was to make them tired, discour. aged, and frustrated —especially since they had expected more from their professors and peers (Solorzano, Ceja, and Yosso 2000). These Imicroagressions can have severe consequences: a recent study among African American college students found that certain types of racial microaggressions were associated with elevated levels of suicide ide- ation (Hollingsworth et al. 2016). African Americans are not the only group to experience microag- Sressions. In a study of Asian Americans’ experiences of discrimina- tion, Derald Wing Sue and his colleagues found that Asian Americans experienced a wide variety of microaggressions, ranging from the as- sumption offoreignness to exoticization of Asian women to invisibility. For example, Asian Americans reported that white Americans consis- tently asked them questions such as “Where are you from?" or made comments such as “You speak good English,” when the only indication that they might not be from the ‘United States was their Asian appear- ance. Other Asian Americans pointed out that people presumed they were good at math and that men Presumed Asian women would be submissive lovers. Asian Americans also teported that people pre- sumed that they didn't face discrimination, The Asian Americans in this study recounted that the constant barrage of microaggressions angered them but that they also felt disempowered to respond, as any single event could seem inconsequential by itself (Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, and Torino. 2007). These experiences are commonplace: # recent study of 182 Asian Americans found that 78 percent of themPrejudice, Discrimination, and Institutional Racism jenced microagressions during a two-week period (Ong, Burrow, Fuller-Rowell, Ja, and Sue 2013). Kevin Nadal and his colleagues conducted a study of multiracial Je’s experiences of microaggressions and found them to be per- vasive (Nadal et al. 2011). Their studies of both Asian ‘Americans and multiracial individuals reveal that well-intentioned whites often deliver microaggressions because of their insensitivity toward and ignorance about nonwhites. This can be seen, for example, when 2 white person speaks Japanese to a Chinese American or tells a bira- al woman with a black mother and a white father that being half white makes it easier to get along with her. In the first instance, the white person may be trying to show a cultural interestin Asian people, although her act simultaneously tries to erase the differences between Japanese and Chinese people and reasserts the presumed foreignness of Asian Americans. In the second instance, this assertion reinforces white supremacy by implying that the biracial woman is better than other blacks because she has a white parent. Microaggressions and other forms of individual racism continue to pose a problem on college campuses. Studies have consistently found that individual acts of bigotry are commonplace in institu- tions of higher learning (Harper and Hurtado 2007). In a recent study (Harper et al. 2011), higher education researchers interviewed. fifty-two African American male resident assistants (RAs) on five college campuses and found that many of the participants reported that supervisors and fellow students consistently doubted their com- petence and stereotyped them as potential thugs or gangsters. The frequency of individual acts of racism on college campuses has led a number of scholars to argue that many primarily white campuses have hostile climates that are not conducive to learning for nonwhite stu- dents (Harper and Hurtado 2007). These issues came to a head at the University of Missouri amid a series of overtly racist incidents begin- ning in 2014, In April that year, freshman Bradley Becker inscribed a swastika and the word “heil” on a dormitory wall. In September, a group of young people near campus yelled the N-word at the student body president. When the administration did not respond to these incidents in a meaningful way, black students and allies organized and demanded the president's resignation. As student protests mounted, racist incidents continued, including another swastika drawing, Finally, following the football teams threatened boycott, President ‘Tim Wolfe resigned in November 2015 (Izadi 2015).38 chapler 2. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES oices| Microaggressions fe Individuals who have had the folowing experiences and consider them tobe racial micro, aggressions posted these reports on the website microaggressions.com. How do you feel ag you read these reports? What would you say if you overheard such comments? What would you say if someone directed one of these comments at you? + Often when Ihave dinner at people’s houses, they ask me if would prefer chopsticks, regardless of the meal! + Lama registered nurse and always get told that I speak English so well. [was born in Australia and I am of Fil- ipino background. I don’t think about my appearance until a patient or their family member points it out, and they are quite amazed/baffled that someone who ap- pears Asian “speaks so well” and could be considered a “real Australian.” The presumption that Asian «always get asked to be an interpreter for patients who Americans use chopsticks are not native English speakers, specifically for those of at every meal is based on Asian background, Because I am of Asian background an idea of inherent cultural as well, there is this assumption that I speak every lan- differences. We don't see guage in Asia or that there is only one language/coun- these same presumptions tryin Asia. Unbelievable. opplied to third-generation. “Sorry, that must be my black coming out.” [Said by] Italian Americans or Irish my biracial friend (African American and Mexican). Americans. ‘Whenever she does or says something negative she blames it on the “Black” side of her. Makes me feel angry, belittled, resentful. Lexpress that my brother attends a private university. Immediately a girl in the car responds in a very sure voice “Oh, he plays football?” This is the second time this has happened. As ifa young black male can only attend a prestigious private college on a football scholarship. “You're really unintimidating for a black guy.” Said by white male. I am a freshman in college. Made me feel as though I should be intimidating because I'm black. Obmygavd. You're totally not what people think of when they think of Muslim ‘women. You're so cool. ‘Wow. Don’t get the Muslim mad, guys. We don’t want. a blown-up school tomorrow. + Substitute teacher: ‘Quiet down! You're acting like a bunch of wild Indians!Prejudice, Discrimination, and Institutional Racism 39 TOG IE continued. Microaggressions + Oh, but you're Latin, so you must love the heat! While discussing the summer weather. I'm from Bogoti—the average temperature is 60°F. I feel like nobody in the States bothers to understand that Latinos are not just one monolithic entity. Souce: The Microoggressions Project. Institutional Racism In the late 1960s and 1970s, sociological thinking on racism moved away from a focus solely on prejudice and individual acts of racism toward an institutional approach. Carmichael and Hamilton (1967) introduced the idea of institutional racism—the policies, laws, and institutions that reproduce racial inequalities—in their book Black Power. They explained that the high rates of black infant mortality in Birmingham, Alabama, and the prevalence of black families in slums are best understood through an analysis of institutional racism. Inanessay publishedin 1979, Carol Camp Yeakey posited thatresearch on institutional racism in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s repre- sentedamarked departure from previousresearch, whichhadnotfocused on “the attributes of the majority group and the institutional mecha- nisms by which majority and minority relations are created, sustained, and changed” (Yeakey 1979, 200). Yeakey then argued that racism oper- ates on both a covert and an overt level and takes two related forms: “The firstis on an individual level. The second is on an institutional level where racism as a normative, societal ideology operates within and among the organizations, institutions, and processes of the larger society. And the overt acts of individual racism and the more covert acts of institutional racism have a mutually reinforcing effect” (200). Understanding the framework of institutional racism is essential for understanding racism in the United States, as racism amounts to more than individual acts of discrimination. An individual police officer may have prejudicial beliefs that blacks are more likely to be violent than whites. Based on this prejudice, the officer may be more likely to racially discriminate against blacks and more likely to use more phys- ical force against blacks than whites. What do we call it, though, whenchopter 2. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES this kind of discrimination happens repeatedly? An analysis of th 1,217 US. police shootings between 2010 and 2012 found that youn, black males are twenty-one times more likely to be killed by poi than are their white counterparts (Gabrielson, Grochowski Jones 4" Sagara 2014). How do we explain this statistic? In overwhelmingly black neighbothoods in Washington, D.C, ang Chicago, nearly three-quarters of black men have been incarcerstey In some states, lack men go to jail on drug charges a fifty times enc rate of white men. In seven states, blacks constitute over 89 Percent of drug offenders sent to prison (Alexander 2010). These extraordi. nary disparities cannot be explained by individual acts of discrimi, nation alone. Instead, it makes sense to argue that racial discrimination has become institutionalized in the criminal justice system. This is be. cause racial discrimination happens at every level of this system. The laws are written in ways that discriminate against blacks—the dis. Parities in sentences for possession of crack and possession of cocaine are one example (Alexander 2010). Police officers are consistently more likely to pull over and arrest black men than they are white men, Blacks are more likely to get harsher sentences or even the death pen- alty (Gottschalk 2015). When we look at the system as a whole and see that the criminal justice apparatus more harshly affects blacks than whites, and when we can see that racial discrimination is consistent and systematic, we can say that the criminal justice system is a prime example of institutional racism. Institutional racism also exists in other institutions, including the educational system, housing, and the labor market. 5, and SYSTEMIC RACISM AND STRUCTURAL RACISM Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton (1967) developed the idea of institutional racism in the 1970s. Since that time, many thinkers have enhanced their conceptual models and developed more complex and integrative ways of thinking about institutional racism. In 1968, Samuel Robert Friedman (1969, 20) defined structural racism as a “pat tern of action in which one or more of the institutions of society has the power to throw on more burdens and give less benefits to the mem bers of one race than another on an on-going basis.” In 1979, Cat Camp Yeakey wrote about “the interrelated and cumulative nature _ waSystemic Racism and Structural Racism systemic or institutional discrimination and racism,” the way racism works in “social systems” (203), and explained: ‘The resource allocation of city schools; residential segregation and housing quality; the location, structure, and placement of transport systems; hiring and promotion practices; academic underachieve- ment of racial and ethnic minority youth; availability of decent health care; behavior of policemen and judges; a legal order that incarcerates more minorities than majorities; stereotypical images prevalent in the media and school curricula; price gouging in ghetto stores; morbidity, mortality, and longevity rates; lack of political clout and effective legislative representation—these and a myriad of other forms of social, political, and economic discrimination concur- rently interlock to determine the status, welfare, and income of the racial and ethnic minorities of color. Unfortunately, nearly forty years later, we can make the same assess- ment with regard to institutional racism. Fortunately, scholars of race and racism continue to refine these theories and approaches. In this section, we explore some of these current approaches. Systemic Racism Sociologist Joe Feagin defines systemic racism as “a diverse as- sortment of racist practices; the unjustly gained economic and po- litical power of whites, the continuing resource inequalities; and ‘the white-racist ideologies, attitudes, and institutions created to preserve white advantage and power” (2001, 16). He explains that systemic racism encompasses daily microaggressions, deep-seated in- equalities, and antiblack ideologies. Taken together, systemic racism includes: «+ Patterns of unjust impoverishment of nonwhites «+ Vested group interests of whites to maintain racism + Omnipresent and routinized discrimination against nonwhites + The rationalization of racial oppression + An imbalance of power whereby whites are able to reproduce in- equality through control of major political and economic resources Systemic racism theory gives primacy to history and to antiblack- ness: Feagin explains that systemic racism exists because ofthe history Al42 nn chapter 2. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES, of the United States as a slaveholding nation. Racial oppression way foundational to and is deeply ingrained in our nation’s history, The legal system of the United States—based on the Constitution and Su Preme Court cases—is rife with examples of entrenched racism, Sy. temic racism in history and the present day has created a “white racial frame” that shapes individuals and institutions in the United States, Feagin emphasizes that racism and racial inequality were created whites and continue to be perpetuated by white individuals and white. ‘owned institutions (2001). ‘The unjust enrichment of whites through slavery and Privileged access to resources since the beginning of the United States is at the core of an understanding of systemic racism. This unjust enrichment has led to unjust impoverishment of African Americans. Past and con. tinuing discrimination has created a situation in which African Amer. icans have been denied resources many whites have come to take for granted, including good jobs, great schools, and nice neighborhoods (Feagin and McKinney 2003; Feagin 2001). The pervasiveness of everyday acts of discrimination, combined with a legacy of unequal distribution of resources throughout every aspect of U.S. society, con- stitutes systemic racism, Structural Racism Proponents of the idea of structural racism take a slightly different approach in their analysis of racial inequality. As we have seen, in- stitutional racism focuses on practices within institutions, and sys- temic racism focuses on accumulated acts of racism across history and throughout one’s lifetime. Structural racism differs by pointing to interinstitutional interactions across time and space. For example, racial inequality in housing leads to racial inequality in schooling, which in turns leads to racial inequality in the labor market, Across generations, this chain of events becomes a cycle because parents who are less well positioned in the labor market cannot afford hous- ing in the better neighborhoods, which means that their children will be less likely to attend better schools. A structural understanding of racism underscores the “structural relationships that produce ra cialized outcomes” (powell 2008, 798). This emphasis on the rela- tionships among structures of institutional inequality provides new insights into how racial inequality is reproduced across generations.Eduardo Bonilla-Silva proposes the concept of racialized social systems. By this term, he means societiesin which economic, political, social, and ideological levels are partially structured by the placement of actors in racial categories” (1997, 469). Bonilla-Silva places particu- Jar emphasis on racial hierarchies and points to how these hierarchies influence all social relations. Societies that have racialized social sys- tems differentially allocate “economic, political, social, and even psy- chological rewards to groups along racial lines” (442). Bonilla-Silva’s framework reflects a structural racism perspective because he focuses on structures of inequality, hierarchies, and social relations and prac- tices that reproduce and rationalize racial disparities. Melvin Oliver and ‘Thomas Shapiro (2006) offer a keen analysis of the role of structural racism in reproducing wealth inequalities. They explain that wealth inequality “has been structured over many gener- ations through the same systemic barriers that have hampered blacks throughout their history in American society: slavery, Jim Crow, so- called de jure discrimination, and institutionalized racism” (12-13). Oliver and Shapiro (2006) point to three instances of structural inequalities that work together: (1) blacks’ transition from slavery to freedom without a material base, (2) the suburbanization of whites and the ghettoization of blacks, and (3) contemporary institutional racism in the lending and real estate markets. These three inequalities work together to create a situation in which the median net worth of one white household is ten times that of a Hispanic or Latinx house- hold and thirteen times that of a black household (Kochhar and Fry 2014) (Figure 2-1). CURE 21 (MEDIAN NET WORTH OF WHITE, HISPANIC/LATINX, AND BLACK HOUSEHOLDS, 2013chapter 2. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES Oliverand Shapiro (2006) explain how laws and policies, even those that do not mention race, can still work to enhance racial inequality, Our tax policies provide one example. In the United States, capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than income, and tax deductions are offered for home mortgages. These policies are ostensibly designed to help the middle class and encourage economic growth. However, they provide many more advantages to whites than to blacks because blacks rarely have capital gains income, are less likely to own a home, and, when they do own ahome, have houses that are worth less than whites’ houses (Shapiro 2004). These state policies work to widen the wealth gap between blacks and whites by providing advantages to those who are already wealthier and who are more likely to be white. RACIAL IDEOLOGIES ‘The work of Patricia Hill Collins (2004) is useful for understand. ing ideological shifts. As she explains: “When ideologies that defend racism become taken-for-granted and appear to be natural and inevitable, they become hegemonic. Few question them and the social hierarchies they defend” (96). When Collins explains that racial ideol- ogies are hegemonic, she means they become so widely accepted that they become common sense. An ideology is more than an individual Prejudice: itis a set of principles and ideas that embodies the interests of a societal group. A racial ideology, then, is a set of principles and ideas that (1) divides people into different racial groups and (2) serves the interests of one group. Ideologies are usually created by the domi- nant group and reflect the interests of that group. Both historically and today, the dominant racial group in the United States includes whites (Feagin 2001). Our individual prejudices and acts of discrimination are directly related to our acceptance (conscious or unconscious) of racial ideologies. Many scholars make a distinction between old racism—which per- mitted the internment ofthe Japanese and the enslavement of Africans, for example—and a new but related ideology that perpetuates racism without such practices, In new racism, it is no longer acceptable to make overtly racist statements or to have overtly racist laws (P. H- Collins 2004; Bonilla-Silva 2013; Logan 2011; Wingfield and Feagin 2010). Racism did not disappear with the dismantling of slavery and Jim Crow laws, nor did the civil rights era mark the end of racism. RaceRacial Ideologies scholars generally agree that the post-196S era is distinct. Theorists ‘Michael Omi and Howard Winant (1994) explain that whereas the government could once be overtly violent toward nonwhites, “in the post-