Soc 1100 - Race and Ethnicity PDF

11. Race and ethnicity The extermination of Jews, of Armenians, Gypsies, homosexuals… Between 1989-1992: 80 armed conflicts. Only 3 of them between countries; the rest: internal wars… Racial and ethnic rifts -> violent confrontation; State massacres… Arabs and Jews; Blacks and Whites; Turkish state...

11. Race and ethnicity The extermination of Jews, of Armenians, Gypsies, homosexuals… Between 1989-1992: 80 armed conflicts. Only 3 of them between countries; the rest: internal wars… Racial and ethnic rifts -> violent confrontation; State massacres… Arabs and Jews; Blacks and Whites; Turkish state and Kurdish PKK; North Muslim Arabs and Southern Christian (and Animist) Blacks in Sudan; Hindu Tamils and Buddhist Sinhalese in Sri Lanka; Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda; Sunni and Shi’ite in Iraq… Ahmedabad (Gujarat – India): Hindu nationalists massacred thousands of Muslims (2002) Maraş (Turkey – 1978): 100 Alevi people killed by nationalists; Halabja (Iraq against Kurds- 1988); Hama (Syria against Muslims - 1982)… Ahmedabad massacres (Gujarat – India) February 28, 2002 Racism in USA Ku Klux Klan Fair and lovely cream 1. Racial, Ethnic, and Minority Groups The social construction of race is a more sociological way of understanding racial categories. Problems of terminology Race and ethnicity -> used imprecisely and interchangeably Race and racialisation Race: muddled (even dangerous) concept (came into use in 18th and mid- 19th -> A. de Gobineau “Essay on the inequality of the human races”); a modern idea. Races… Colours? Race: A category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of society deem socially significant (and essential) -> skin colour, facial features, hair texture and body shape. …but bewildering array of racial traits -> intermarriages, migration over the course of human history -> genetic mixture, racial blending. Looking for race: misleading (no society is composed of biologically pure individuals) and politically dangerous in fuelling the fires of racism. Racialisation: The process of ranking people on the basis of their presumed race. -> at the heart of the system of inequality and social exclusion -> social hierarchy -> assertions that one category is “inherently better” or more intelligent (or “worse” or “stupid”). Ethnicity and diaspora A shared cultural and historical heritage. Members of an ethnic category have common ancestors, a language or a religion that together, confer a distinctive social identity… “Memory”. Race (a firm sense of biological difference, but very muddled) and ethnicity (understanding cultural heritage) may overlap. Ethnicity involves even more variability and mixtures than race does, for most people identify with more than one ethnic background. Ethnicity is about varying cultures which are themselves changeable and fluid. Migration patterns, hybridities and diasporas. Diaspora: dispersal of a population from the “homeland” into other areas. Racial or ethnic minority: A category of people distinguished by physical or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged. -> Subordinate group Distinct from the dominant majority (dominant group), set apart and subordinated. The breadth of the term expanded, including people with physical disabilities, or women, LGBTT… Maraş 1978 War for God ? For a better world ? “Nationalist” Hindu people burning Muslim houses (2002) Ahmadabad or Maraş? Ahmadabad or Maraş? Minority: 2 major characteristics - A distinctive identity; keen awareness of their physical distinctiveness, - Subordination; less income, lower occupational prestige, limited schooling. Class, race, ethnicity, gender are not mutually exclusive issues, but overlapping and reinforcing dimensions of social stratification.  2. Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination Prejudice: beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. Negative views of others on their race, ethnicity -> Prejudice, stereotyping and racism. A rigid and irrational generalisation about an entire category of people. -> An attitude –prejudgment- applied indiscriminately and inflexibly -> little regard for the facts. -> Negative or positive (exaggerating the virtues of people like us). -> Continuum: ranging from mild aversion to outright hostility. Prejudice and Racism While prejudice not necessarily specific to race, racism is a stronger type of prejudice used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow (innately) superior or inferior to others. Institutional racism the way in which racism is embedded in the fabric of society (who is arrested bt-y the police?). Colorism: belief on the superiority or inferiority of one type of skin tone to another.  Esenyurt (Istanbul) - Two Nigerian students couldn’t move to the house they have rent. The “neighbors”: ‘We don’t want foreigners here!’ What can be the relationship between two photos? Stereotypes (stereo: hard, solid) Prejudices combine to form a stereotype. -> a prejudicial, exaggerated description applied to every person in a category of people. -> involve emotions: -love and loyalty (members of in-group) -hate and fear (towards out-groups) -> hard to change; even in the face of contradictory evidence. -> Stereotype distorts reality (“poor and lazy persons are irresponsible spongers”) -> “social disadvantage is a matter of personal deficiency”. -> May become deeply rooted in a society’s culture. Discrimination Closely related to prejudice -> any action that involves treating various categories of people unequally. Prejudice refers to attitudes; Discrimination to behaviour; -> can be positive (providing social advantages) or negative (placing obstacles). Prejudice and discrimination (often) occur together. Not all kinds of discriminations are wrong. Individuals discriminate all the time -> “making distinctions” (preferring some personalities) -> necessary in everyday life… …or; universities systematically favouring applicants with greater abilities… Institutional discrimination Schools, hospitals, the police, military, the workplace, the parliament… Ex: In US, until 1954 -> “separate but equal” was a practice -> legal justification of institutional discrimination of black and white children. -> racism -> educational caste system -> relatively little has changed. “Jews and Armenians cannot enter” “Entry is free for dogs” Ordinary / banal racisms "Help Wanted: No Irish Need Apply”, "Whites Only” Racial steering Racist attitudes and beliefs are often more insidious and harder to pin down than specific racist practices. Institutional discrimination - white privilege, being part of the dominant group. Sedimentation of racial inequality and identifying redlining in (unbalanced racial composition in the community) -> the intergenerational impact of both practical and legalized racism that limits the abilities of the minorities. Redlining -> the practice of routinely refusing mortgages for households and businesses to minorities. -> De facto segregation Irrationalities… A social media message from a Turkish woman to Syrians who are complaining about the racism they face in Turkey Irrational approach to social facts (comfort zone of being unaware) “If we were in the same situation and we came to Syria, you would do every bad thing to us. With you, neither women nor children were safe even in our country. In our country, you had all the opportunities for free. You were privileged even more than Turkish citizens. No one tried to kill you on the street. But you did. Now go back to your country. Let our economy be relieved from the increasing rents, cheapening labour, increasing taxes because of you... Live the dark and backward lifestyle of the Middle East in Syria. You are an invading and harmful society.” 3. Theories of Race and Ethnicity Prejudice: not rational… Its origins: frustration, personality, culture, social conflict… Theoretical Perspectives: Functionalism Racial and ethnic inequalities “important function” in order to exist (of course problematic). How can racism and discrimination contribute positively to society? “Functions” and “dysfunctions” caused by racial inequality; racism is functional for the dominant group; racism morally justifies a racially unequal society. Conflict Theory Applied to inequalities of gender, social class, education, race, and ethnicity. The numerous past and current struggles between the white ruling class and racial and ethnic minorities, specific conflicts arisen when the dominant group perceived a threat from the minority group. Intersection theory, which suggests we cannot separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes. Racism and rape (From a press release of a Turkish NGO) An Ugandan refugee textile worker has been killed subsequent to group rape. The Ugandan Jesca Nankabirwa had been living in Turkey for one year, working in a textile plant in Sultangazi for a monthly ill pay, which she sent back home to Uganda for her children. Having been lost for four days after vanishing on September 6, 2014, she’d been found by her friends in the Yenibosna Hospital’s mortuary. She’s been recorded in the public prosecution’s report as a case of ‘suspicious death.’ The suspect caught in connection to her death has been released due to lack of evidence. Jesca’s is one of the gravest cases in which the refugee women have been exposed to discrimination practices. Forced into flight by poverty and war, refugee women who incidentally find themselves in Turkey are condemned to discrimination, maltreatment, cheap and unsafe working conditions and ridiculously high amounts of house rent for the most secluded abodes. To make matters worse yet, they are exposed to sexual harassment and violence by men. Refugee women who live in this country without official identification dare not complain about the sexual harassment and rapes they go through lest they are deported out of Turkey. Jesca has also been killed in that vein as a woman rendered nonvalent and unprotected by the laws of this country. Authoritarian personality theory (Theodore W. Adorno, 1950) Extreme prejudice – a personality trait of particular individuals. People who display strong prejudice towards one minority are usually intolerant of all minorities. Authoritarian personalities -> rigidly conforming to conventional cultural values, envisaging moral issues as clear-cut matters of right and wrong and advocating strongly ethnocentric views. People with little education, harsh and demanding parents, raised by cold and insistent authority figures, frustration and unstable situations. -> Angry and anxious people seek out scapegoats (defined as social inferiors). Oppression of minorities Powerful people utilise prejudice as a strategy to oppress minorities (Turkish workers in Germany, Syian workers in Turkish labour market). -> low wages for hard work -> elites benefit from prejudice that divides workers along racial and ethnic lines. Racism and social domination -> powerful justification for subjecting the targets of the taunts to social inferiority. -> European nations -> vast empires -> ruthlessly and brutally subjugated foreign peoples with the callous claim that they were less human than the explorers who enslaved them. -> Nazi proclamation: Aryan super-race destined to rule the world -> encouraging systematic slaughter of anyone deemed inferior (Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled people…) Interactionism Race and ethnicity provide strong symbols as sources of identity. The symbols of race, not race itself, are what lead to racism. Racial prejudice is formed through interactions between members of the dominant group. Cultural theory of prejudice (Emory Bogardus, 1968) Some prejudice is common to everyone (attitude embedded in culture). -> social distance: how close or distant people feel in relation to members of various racial and ethnic categories. -> Adjusting to a “culture of prejudice”, some bigotry is within us all. Symbols and power together Scapegoat theory of prejudice -> prejudice springs from frustration. Common among people who are themselves disadvantaged -> Safe way to vent anger -> comforting feeling that at least one is superior to someone else. A scapegoat: a person or category of people, typically with little power, whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles. Safe targets: minorities (Jewish, Pakistanis, Turks, Kurds…) Prejudice and discrimination: The vicious circle Thomas theorem: If the situations are defined as real, they are real in their consequences. Social construction of reality -> stereotypes become real to those who believe them and even for those who are victimised by them. The role of power. Prejudice of powerful people producing social inferiority (not innate). Consigning minorities to poverty, low- prestige occupations, poor housing, racially segregated neighbourhoods.  Vicious circle Stage 1 Prejudice and discrimination Stage 3 Stage 2 Belief in minority’s Social innate inferiority disadvantage 4. Intergroup relationships of majority and minority: 4 models (continuum from tolerance to intolerance) Pluralism: “salad bowl”: a great mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the flavor of the whole. True pluralism is characterized by mutual respect on the part of all cultures, both dominant and subordinate, creating a multicultural environment of acceptance True pluralism -> difficult goal to reach. Past pluralist model of a “melting pot” posits a society where cultural differences aren’t Assimilation: the process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture favoured by elites -So-called “melting-pot -> various nationalities have fused into an entirely new way of life; => The problem -> “minorities who have to change” (not the elites, and the dominant groups). Amalgamation is the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group. The classic “melting pot” analogy; unlike the “salad bowl,” in which each culture retains its individuality, the “melting pot” ideal sees the combination of cultures that results in a new culture entirely. Miscegenation -> biological reproduction by partners of different racial categories ( intermarriage between races) American Indian children taken from their families and placed in boarding schools with the goal of making them into “Americans.” Segregation -> physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions. De jure segregation (segregation that is enforced by law) - -> apartheid movement of South Africa (1948 to 1994). Palestinians in Israel / Kurds in Esad’s Syria De facto segregation (segregation that occurs without laws but because of other factors), Biduns in Kuwait / Roma in Turkey and Balkans…. “Separate but ‘equal’ ” facilities constitutional in US (1896 – 1954). Genocide: the systematic annihilation of one category of people by another. Hitler’s attempt to exterminate the Jewish people (people with disabilities, and homosexuals) Holocaust, “Final Solution”). The treatment of aboriginal Australians Murderous ethnic “cleansing” is found throughout history but distinctly modern… => legal definition, human aspects? -> Ethnic cleansing (more recent term); -> Democide -> the mass murders by governments. European colonization of North America. Native American populations dwindled from approximately 12 million people in the year 1500 to barely 237,000 by the year 1900 (Lewy 2004). European settlers coerced American Indians off their own lands, often causing thousands of deaths in forced removals. Darfur region of Sudan have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Expulsion (deportation) a subordinate group forced, by a dominant group, to leave a certain area or country. Over 120,000 legal Japanese residents and Japanese U.S. citizens, many of them children, were held in these camps for up to four years (1942 Pearl Harbor) 5. Race and Ethnicity in Turkey Who are the “natives”? Hittites, Byzantines, Greeks, Ionians, Armenians, Kurds, Persians? How and why they came? Turks (Central Asia), Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Kurds, Arabs, Bosnians, Circassians, Albanians, Pomaks, Romans? History of intergroup relations… Invention of nationalities, exchange of populations, deportations, ethnic cleansings, massacres, conversion of religions, exiles, insurrections, loyalties… Copy – paste racisms 6-7 September 1955 Hrant Dink was an Armenian and killed by a young boy who was seeing Armenians as a source of “evil” … After the crime the boy said: “I killed an Armenian” Multiple Identities - Hyphenated (intercultural) identities Asian-British, German-Turks, European Muslims, Afro-Caribbean, Black-American, Punjabi Muslims, Gujarati Muslims, Bengali Muslims… Swahili language; shared in different countries (Indian Ocean coastline: from Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Mozambique) Serbs, Croats, Bosnians: Serbo-Croatian.. Turkish language in Turkey, in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan? Many people taking a renewed interest in their traditional ethnicity, enhancing this dimension of their identity – Why? The basis of what to do…