Week 12 Race and Racialization PDF

Week 12 Race and Racialization Sociology 1210 Dr. Elisabeth Rondinelli Learning Objectives Define race and various forms of racism Define settler society and colonialism Understand how racism is embedded in: Social structure Culture Social interaction What is r...

Week 12 Race and Racialization Sociology 1210 Dr. Elisabeth Rondinelli Learning Objectives Define race and various forms of racism Define settler society and colonialism Understand how racism is embedded in: Social structure Culture Social interaction What is race and racism? Race: a system that humans created to classify groups of people based mostly on skin tone and physical appearance Ethnicity: common culture, religion, history, or ancestry shared by a group of people  Racism: beliefs, processes, and practices that have the effect of enacting, enforcing, or perpetuating a system of privilege and disadvantage based on race There is no gene that science can find that determines which racial category someone falls into or that clearly separates members of one race from members of another Sociologists think of race as a social construct, race is a concept that humans invented to help understand or justify some aspect of the social world. Racialization has great consequences for people Individual Racism - Bias, prejudice, or discrimination based on race Institutional Racism - Policies & practices that benefit some (often white people) and disadvantage others (often people of colour) Structural Racism - Racism that is built into structures and across institutions, creating a system of racialized privilege and disadvantage; distribution of resources is organized along racialized lines  Chinese ‘Head Tax’ (1885–1923) Instances of Japanese Internment and Relocation structural (1942-1949) racism in Indian Act (1876) Canada Residential School System: 1883-1997  What does it mean that Canada is spoken of as a settler society? settler society: is one based on colonization through foreign settlement and displacement and destruction of Indigenous inhabitants (plus emergence of the term settler colonialism) colonialism: an international system of policies and practices that establish control of one territory by another territory. Colonialism establishes an unequal and exploitative relationship between the colonizer (who benefits) and the colonized (who is harmed) How does race and racialization show up in culture? ‘We begin with the long history of the British struggle to conquer Ireland and subjugate its people. This structural relation of domination along with British frustration in the face of stubborn resistance gave rise to a cultural belief that the Irish were an inferior and savage people, not merely in the organization of their societies but in their nature as human beings. The British came to see the Irish as something like a separate species altogether, possessing inferior traits that were biologically passed from one generation to the next. In perceiving the Irish in this way, the British were changing their worldview by creating a concept of race that encouraged them to see other peoples as subhuman if not inhuman. By not seeing them as members of their own kind, they saw them instead as objects to be controlled through any means necessary, not as human beings whose suffering might be an occasion for empathy and restraint. Using such a worldview, it would seem to the British both reasonable and right that they would assert control through the use of force, much as they would over the land or nonhuman animals. When the British came to North America in the 17th century, they brought with them a worldview that included the idea of race and a view of themselves as a people destined to dominate any land in which they might choose to establish themselves’ (Johnson 2014: 150).’ The category of and knowledge about “race” coincides with the need to justify enslavement, subjugation, and exploitation Watch the video: where do you see justifications? Take notes on link between race and capitalism Take notes on role of science How does race and racialization show up in social interaction? White fragility: a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress- inducing situation (DiAngelo 57) Implicit and explicit forms of racism and privilege – where do you see white fragility? Week 12 Key Concepts Race and ethnicity Racism and racialization Structural racism White privilege Settler society Colonialism White fragility