midterm- race and racisms

Question 1

define biological reductionism

Answer 1

Scientific legitimization- treating complex phenomenon (behavior, culture, cognition) as caused only by the biological condition

Question 2

“becoming white”

Answer 2

concept of the “savage”

Story of the Irish illustrates how whiteness
is a status marker. In a system based
purely on skin color, Irish people would
obviously be considered white.
This image illustrates the fusion of racial
and pre-racial divisions: “The Iberians are
believed to have been originally an
African race…”
English and later American policies
concerning American Indians came directly
from policies against the Irish.

Question 3

define race as a social construction (Looping effect)

Answer 3

social constructionism: we make race real for people even though it is a social construction (not a legal policy)

Question 4

DeJure racism

Answer 4

(of the law) racism: racism was legally enforced, from slavery to Jim Crow laws
Most racism today isn’t explicitly legally enforced. It can still wind up having a legal basis, but is DeFacto (of societal culture) racism- meaning it emerges out of other practices and isn’t necessarily enforced by law
It may or may not have racial intentions but it still has racial effects.
Color blind racism
Biases and stereotypes

Question 5

DeFacto racism

Answer 5

Disparities in policing and sentencing
Racial profiling in the “Stop and Frisk” policy
Crack vs. cocaine sentence (drug that black vs. white people used)
Different sentence based on which form of cocaine used and therefore based on black or white ways
Algorithm screening of patients
Algorithm based on past health insurance expenditures

Question 6

racial paradoxes

Answer 6

• The rise of capitalism: the concept of chattel slavery (people as property) emerged in the new colonies as a way to secure a free labor source
• The rise of egalitarian values: enlightenment Europeans were in the middle of a revolution in which everyone should be treated equally and society based on Reason, the Rule of law and the “rights of man”

This was paradoxical because their very society was actively engaged in slave trade

Question 7

precursors to racism today

Answer 7

1.Civilized versus uncivilized (culture as a way to divide)
2.Religious versus Heathen (religious belief as a way to divide)
3.Native versus Stranger (locality and belongingness as a way to divide; us vs. them)

*the concept of race was a result of the domination of one group over another (racism was made to justify slavery and not the other way around)
*race and racism are only the newest manifestations of an Us/Them process. This doesn’t mean that racism itself is natural or inevitable

Question 8

Roy’s definition of race

Answer 8

races are defined as groups of people who are
assumed to:
1. Have particular physical characteristics in common,
especially skin color;
2. Fall into distinct and sharply bounded groups;
3. Inherit their racial status biologically;
4. Share behavioral characteristics that are imputed to
their physical qualities; and
5. Are ranked hierarchically

Question 9

chattel slavery

Answer 9

new mode of slavery where slaves had absolutely no rights and were treated as property; they were stripped of their culture and history

Question 10

what’s the algorithmic screening of patients?

Answer 10

Algorithm based on past health insurance
expenditures to predict future health needs

Question 11

what’s wrong with the algorithmic screening of patients’ past health insurance expenditures?

Answer 11

• at every point in the risk assessment, black patients were sicker than white patients but had utilized less care
• many algorithms are black boxed, meaning we don’t know how they work or how they arrive at their decisions