Race, Ethnicity & Inequality Flashcards
(27 cards)
What is the general concept of race?
A concept that tends to focus on physical differences e.g. skin colour, hair.
It draws divisions between human groups.
What is Van den Berghe’s (1967) definition of race?
Race is socially defined but on the basis of physical criteria.
What is Van den Berghe’s (1967) definition of ethnicity?
Ethnicity is socially defined but on the basis of cultural criteria.
What is the general concept of ethnicity?
An embodied material identity shared by a group and generated by shared lived experience.
What are the problems with the definition of race?
The term ‘race’ relates to disproven categories based on biological differences e.g. skin colour, hair texture or shape of eyes supposedly separating populations.
Evidence suggests the overall genetic characteristics of one white person and one black person may be more similar than those of two white people - hence race is not considered to be a meaningful concept.
Why is the concept of race dangerous?
Race is a dangerous concept which can lead to the persecution of one race by another.
Racism is real even if ‘race’ is a construct.
What does Bell (1987) say about critical race theory and racism?
Critical race theory views racism as endemic, institutional and an ingrained feature of society - it is a central way of organising society.
What does Walvin say about race-making serving a purpose?
The British don’t become slave traders because they are racists - they become racist because they use slaves for great profit in America.
Devise a set of attitudes about black peoples that justifies what they have done.
The real engine behind the space system is economics.
Why is capitalism dependent on racism?
Capitalism is dependent on racism as a source of profiteering and also a means to divide and rule.
Racism is necessary to drive a wedge between workers who otherwise have everything in common and every reason to ally and organise together - but are driven apart to the benefit of the ruling class.
What do Marxists say about race?
For Marxists race is not a primary category for analysis. Race can be seen as a mask which serves to obscure true relations of power in a society which are, in fact, class based.
What does Lu-in Wang (2006) say about white privilege?
Whiteness has become the default race in our society.
People are presumed to be white unless otherwise stated.
The standard judge, teacher, student or customer, the standard person is imagined to be white.
How is the up-surge in hate crimes related to the brexit vote?
Racist attacks directed against Muslims, including young children, suggest the Brexit vote has “legitimised the prejudice of some people” as the number of hate crimes reported to police soar by 57%. - The Guardian (2018)
What is individual racism?
Individual acts that overtly reflect racist attitudes/beliefs e.g. racial slurs, jokes.
What is systematic/institutional racism?
Organisational policies and practices at the structural level that indirectly targets communities of colour and maintain white privilege.
E.g. racism in the criminal justice system (police profiling) and education system (all white lecturers)
According to Health and McMahon (1997) what is an ethnic penalty?
All the sources of disadvantage that might lead an ethnic group to fare less well in the labour market than similarly qualified whites.
How is marketisation linked with education and race?
Critical race theorists believe marketisation within the education system gives schools more scope to select pupils.
Leads to schools admissions being influenced by negative stereotypes.
What does Tomlinson (1997) say about about racial advantages in education?
In school interviews, minority parents can be disadvantaged, mainly those who are second language speakers and unfamiliar with educational processes.
What does Ball et al (1996) say about white parents being favoured within the education system?
White parents can be ‘racially informed’ in making their selection of school and this has an effect on the way schools interact with minority parents.
What does Palmer (2007) say about poverty and ethnicity?
For all ages, people from ethnic minority’s are on average much more likely to be in income poverty than white British people.
Almost half of all children from ethnic minority’s are in poverty.
What was the Grenfell Tower fire?
In June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in Kensington.
It caused 72 deaths - more than 70 others were injured and 223 people escaped.
Before this occurred, tenants had warned, repeatedly that the building they lived it was a death trap.
What did the Grenfell tower fire suggest about race and social housing allocation according to Hanley (2017)?
Black and minority ethnic people in social housing are disproportionately housed in flats.
Ethnic minority’s are more likely to be working class by wage and occupation leading to the false perception that tower blocks are for ‘poor people’.
The perception allows the maltreatment of tort block residents to carry on without serious protest.
What is Hanley’s (2017) quote about the privilege buying their safety?
The privileged can buy their safety and security, while the materially and economically deprived are left to suffer.
What is Anthias’ (1992) critique of how Marxists interpret race?
Marxists theories are not fully adequate. Ethnicity has much more to say about the ways people live and communicate and interact with one another. Since the 300 years of slave labour are central to the development of capitalism, the Marxist interpretation of history in terms of the dialectic of capitalists class struggle is inadequate.
Define racism
An underlying belief in the superiority of one race over another and it’s right to dominate.
Generalising one group of people by believing in simplistic stereotypes of that group.
Affects every aspect of the lives of communities of colour: social, economic, political, health.
