1.

Model Minority Stereotype / Readings: Zhou, Woo, Kurashige

Politics of racism in the 1960s

What is the culture of poverty thesis?
 CULTURE OF POVERY THESIS:- social theory that explains the cycle of
poverty (why indiv. tend to persist in state of poverty)
o in terms of: distinct beliefs, values, and behavior (CULTURE) that are
incompatible w. economic success
 vs. SITUATIONAL THEORY:- which argues poverty is due
to: economic & social structures of society
o 1960s/70s; Oscar Lewis, Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the
Culture of Poverty
o http://sociologyindex.com/culture_of_poverty_thesis.htm
o http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-
social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/culture
o http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-
social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/moynihan
What other lines of analysis were proposed to explain the continuing poverty
among African Americans? How did these lines of analysis differ in their policy
recommendations?
 MURRAY:- Gov. welfare reduces incentive to be financially independent,
∴ supports poverty
 GLASGOW:- INSTITUTIONAL RACISM:- racism that emerges in any
institutions in society bc. of how its rules/norms/practices are understood.
 MASSEY & DENTON (in American Apartheid):- RESIDENTIAL
SEGREGATION:- affects resources ∴ available opportunities

Define and contrast prejudice, stereotype and discrimination.

 PREJUDICE:- attitude that judges person on his/her group’s real or imagined
characteristics
o Draws on STEREOTYPES:- simplified generalizations about a group
 DISCRIMINATION:- unfair treatment of people bc of their group membership
o (acting on prejudice)
o
When did the Asian-origin population in the U.S. begin to grow?
 1850s
o 1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act
o 1924 – National Quota System
o 1965 – Hart-Celler Immigration & Neutralization Act

What is the model minority stereotype? What are some main critiques of the stereotype?
 MODEL MINORITY:- image of Asian Americans
 CRITIQUES:-
o reinforces myth that US is devoid of racism, &
o supports myth of Am. Dream (equal opportunity to all)
 o pits minorities against each other (held to higher standards)
o sets Asian Am. as distinct
o places expectations/label on all [Asian Am] –(Railroads to certain careers)

What is urban renewal?

 Land redevelopment in cities; often where there is urban decay.
 e.g. @ Fillmore  plan to clear slums

What were some major events and processes by which the ethnic composition of the
Fillmore district changed over the twentieth century?
 1906 – Earthquake  Fillmore unaffected ∴ influx of immigrants (Jap/Af.Am)
 1941 – War breaks out (Pearl Harbor)  Jap asked to relocate
 1942 – JAP-AM INTERNMENT:-
o What is Japanese-American internment? When and why did it happen?
 Forced relocation & incarceration in camps in US West of people
of Japanese ancestry (during WW2)
 African-Am replace Japanese @ Fillmore
 After War, Japanese return;
o overepop./unemploym.
o People move to suburbs, ‘newer’ areas develop
 1960s/70s – Urban Renewal @ Fillmore
o Af.-Am. forced to relocate
o Af.Am. see redevelopment as “Negro Removal” – Product of Racism
o Neighborhood activism grows (WACO)
2. Families, Education / Readings: Lareau, Najera, Harris, Gonzalez

According to lecture,
Why is Jane Collier’s book subtitled: “From Duty to Desire”?
 Book – Accounts family changes observed upon revisiting a village in
Andalusia.
 In 60s, villagers stressed importance of meeting social obligations,
 In 80s, villagers emphasized need to think for oneself.
1960s: 1980s:
 Status-based marriage  Romantic Love
 Patriarchal authority  Marriage as partnership
 Parental demands for  Parental hopes of earning children’s
obedience affection
 Status through inheritance  Status through employment
“success/failure depends more on indiv”

According to Bourdieu,
What is habitus? What is capital?
 HABITUS:- deeply ingrained habits, skills, dispositions that we possess
due to our life experiences;
o allows us to successfully navigate social environments.
 CAPITAL:- means of production. Like Marx, Bourdieu argued that:
Capital formed foundation of social life & dictated one’s position w/in
social order.
o (more capital = more powerful position in social life)
o However, Bourdieu extended Marx’s idea of capital beyond
ECONOMIC
 & into CULTURE (collection of symbolic elements—i.e.
skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, credentials—
acquired by being part of particular social class)
What are different forms of capital? (economic, cultural, social, symbolic)
 ECONOMIC CAPITAL:- money, property, and other assets
 CULTURAL CAPITAL:- knowledge, educational credentials, skills
o (knowing what you need to know to succeed in set social environ.)
 SOCIAL CAPITAL:- networks of influence
 SYMBOLIC CAPITAL:- socially recognized legitimization (i.e. prestige,
honor); accumulated respect
What role do educational institutions play in legitimizing modern stratification?
 Education  reproduces INEQUALITIES  legitimizing modern stratif.
 State [educational] institutions  create NOBILITY.
o Thus, stratification not only based on economic capital.

How did Lareau study the effects of social class on interactions inside the home?
 demonstrates that CLASS POSITION influences critical ASPECTS of FAMILY LIFE:
 Time use / Daily life
 Language use
 Kin ties / Connections

What are the childrearing approaches that Lareau identifies? How are these
different?
How do these differences shape children’s life trajectories?
MIDDLE-CLASS child-parent interactions WORKING-CLASS/POOR child-parent
interactions
 CONCERTED CULTIVATION:-  NATURAL GROWTH:- provide
attempt to foster children’s talents conditions under which children can
through organized leisure activ. & grow but leave leisure activ. to children
extensive reasoning themselves
 ENTITLEMENT  CONSTRAINT; subordination
∴ succeed in society ∴ lag in society
 Little time allocated to relatives  Frequent interactions w. relatives
 Diff. in family dynamics & logic of childbearing (across SOCIAL classes)
 LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES:
o give parents & their children differential resources to draw on in their
interactions w. professionals/other adults outside home.
o (explains: entitlement vs. constraint)
How do class and race shape childrearing?
√ Class
x Race

How does Najera study the schooling of Mexican-origin children in La Feria in the early
20 century?
th

What is formal education? What is informal education?

 Formal Education: traditional classroom setting
 Informal Education: outside classroom
Describe and discuss the debates around Mexican schools in La Feria.
 Mexican children placed in segregated school (The Mexican School,1926)
 w. White (American, English-only) curriculum
 (irony) Although Mexicans were ingrained w. “American” ideals,
morals, etc., they were not granted same access to resources
as their Anglo counterparts
 Continual funneling of Mexican students into working class
 As resistance + as econ/cultural survival mechanism  Mexican peoples
reinforced Mexican cultural identity through:
 Establishment of multi-aid societies
 Participation in Mexican historical/cultural celebrations

 Escuelitas
According to Harris and Allen,
How should we explain the differential representation of Black and Latino youth
in California higher education and juvenile justice institutions?
 Youth of color are:
 UNDER-represented in: CA higher ed. Institutions
 OVER-represented in: CA juvenile justice system
 REASON:- How society creates & allocates positions/resources:
 MACRO-level (Structure) – Structural Analysis
 Political climate that establishes legal & econ. context
 i.e. BUDGETARY PRIORITIES favor
criminal justice system > educational system
 discriminatory state policies
 MICRO-level (Interaction) – Symbolic Interactionism
 Indiv. assessment of young people by gatekeepers
 (i.e. school teachers, administrators, police, prosecutors,
judges…)
 EDUCATION-to-PRISON PIPELINE:
 Failure in one institution contributes to failure in the other:
 Poor performance in SCHOOL  indicator of need for supervision
 Youth involved in JUSTICE SYSTEM  interrupts school years

How does Gonzales study undocumented youth in the United States?

How has the number of undocumented immigrants increased in the United States?
 Increase is Result of: Unintended consequence of policies designed to curb
undocumented migration & tighten US-Mexican border,
 Which: transformed once-circular migratory flows into
 permanent settlement.
How do undocumented youth transition into adulthood?
o EXITing legally protected status of K-12 students
o ENTERing adult roles that require legal status as basis 4 participation
( protected  unprotected )
( inclusion  exclusion )
( de facto legal  illegal )
 Learning to be illegal:- a transformation that involves almost complete
retooling of: daily routines, survival skills, aspirations, & social patterns.
3. Labor Market & Criminal Justice System / Readings: Bertrand,
Pager, Wacquant, Davis

According to lecture,
How has incarceration rate in the U.S. risen? Why?
 7-fold (> 700% increase)
 WHY? Rise in certain types of conviction:
 War on drugs
 3-strikes law  mandatory life sentence
 Thus, INCARCERATION rose, even after CRIME fell
How does the incarceration rate vary for different groups?
 Black Male – highest incarceration rate
 Latino Male
 White Male
 Black Woman
 Latina Woman
 White Woman – lowest incarceration rate

What is a field experiment?

 ‘Experiment’ conducted in a natural setting instead of laboratory.
 Real world study by observation and intervention.
What did Bertrand & Mullainathan find in their field experiment? How did they
explain their findings?
 Af.-Am. face differential treatment when searching for jobs
o Applicants w. af.-am. names  fewer callbacks
o improving credentials ≠ no effect
 & this may be a factor in why they do poorly in labor market.

What is audit methodology?

 Auditors (trained employers of researcher who qualify w certain characteristics)
apply for a service to test for existence of discrimination
According to Pager, how do race and criminal record impact the ability to find
work?
o Criminal record affects Blacks > Whites (for employment opportunities)
o Race is more important than > having criminal record
 Black non-offenders falls behind Whites w. prior felony
convictions in employment outcomes.

According to Wacquant,
Why are slavery and mass imprisonment to be understood as linked?
o They are among the ‘peculiar institutions’ that have successively operated
to define/confine/control Af.-Am. in history of US.

What is restorative justice? Explain with reference to a restorative juvenile justice

program.
Notion of justice that seeks to restore harm that was done. Instead of punishing
perpetrator, helping wrongdoer understand what he/she has done thus reintegrate that
person in the community in a fair way. (on pg. 2 of reading)
4. Everyday Interactions & Health / Readings: Bonilla-Silva, McIntosh,
Sue, White

According to Bonilla-Silva,
Why has the end of Jim Crow racism not meant the end of racism?
o Despite ceasing de jure segregation with end of Jim Crow Laws,
De Facto Racist Ideology persists: Color Blind Racism—which ignores
the racial disparities that pervade, (since Whites are better off this way)
What is ideology?
o IDEOLOGY:- the descriptive vocab. of day-to-day existence through
which people make rough sense of the SOCIAL REALITY that they live
& create from day-to-day.
What are the main frames of color-blind racism?
1. ABSTRACT LIBERALISM:- involves using ideas associated w.
POLITICAL LIBERALISM (i.e. equal opportunity, meritocracy) and
ECONOMIC LIBERALISM (i.e. indiv. choice, opposes gov.
interven.) in an abstract manner to explain racial matters.
2. NATURALIZATION:- allows whites to explain away racial
phenomenon by suggesting they are NATURAL OCCURRENCES.
 e.g. “I like you bc you are like me”
3. CULTURAL RACISM:- attributes certain factors to CULTURE,
rather than BIOLOGY
 e.g. “Mexicans don’t put much emphasis on education”
4. MINIMIZATION OF RACISM:- suggests discrimination is no longer
a central factor affecting minorities’ life chances.
 Race as ‘excuse’ = exaggeration

Define white privilege, microagressions and types of microaggresions

 WHITE PRIVILEGE:- unearned advantage & conferred dominance from being
born white  which reinforce our present hierarchies.
 MICROAGRESSIONS: Commonplace verbal/behavioral indignities—intentional
or unintentional—which communicate negative racial insults.
o MICROINSULT: comments that demean one’s racial heritage/identity
o MICROASSAULT:- explicit racial derogations by attack
o MICROINVALIDATION:- comments that ignore psychological state
What kind of dilemmas arise in the event of a microaggression?
 Racial legacies of past continue to haunt current policies & practices that 
create unfair disparities between minority & majority groups.
o i.e. Racial Microagg. as BARRIER to CLINICAL PRACTICE (therapy)

What is a food desert?

 FOOD DESERT:- area—esp. low-income & minority—that has limited access to
affordable & nutritious food
Why does White argue urban farming is a strategy of resistance and agency?
 Bc. it ends relationship of dependency + brings together Af.Am. to:
o Farm food sustainably & self-sufficiently & educate cultural community
5. Political Struggles / Readings: Voss, Chernega, Kivel
According to lecture,
What is a social movement?
 SOCIAL MOVEMENT:- conscious, concerted & sustained efforts by ordinary
people to change (or preserve) some aspect of their society by using
extrainstitutional means,
o that is, collective action undertaken outside institutions (ie.courts, legislat.)
How do resources, opportunities, networks and frames shape social movements?
 Three foundation stones of behavioral political science (political engagement):
o MOTIVATION:
 Solidarity (developed by frames)
o MEANS:
 Resources
 Time
 Money
 Civic skills:- having civic knowledge & social networks
o Incl. role of institutions (i.e. churches, unions, etc)
 “group-based” – most notably related to race/gender
o MOBILIZATION:
 Opening in political opportunities structures

According to Bloemraad et al.
Why were the 2006 protests for immigration rights important and puzzling?
 IMPORTANT  repealed H.R.4437
 PUZZLING  most of participants were undocumented imm., who face cost of
exposure & deportation
o Also, lack of national centralization (as a mobilizing structure) is puzzling
Which mobilizing structures, political opportunity structures and frames informed these
protests?
 MOBILIZING STRUCTURES:
o No set of national organizations
 But yes-Local Groups
o Unions, Ethnic media, Catholic Church
o Families, schools
 POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY:
o Threat of H.R.4437 – endangered livelihoods of millions of undoc. imm.
o Very local: strong partnerships between immigrants & sympathetic allies
(i.e. police forces)
 FRAMES:
o Family unity
o Work
 (economic contribution as workers + consumers in US economy)
 live up to American Dream
 (successful bc. resonated both w. participants/sympathizers + opponents/uncommitted)
 o (American values)

According to Chernega,
What are some of the defining characteristics of the “Black Lives Matter” movement?
 SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY:- posits that movements develop:
o in relation to particular circumstances, and
o around coalescing moments of cultural awareness that allow others to
understand & really behind the message of a social movement.
 BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT:-
o Aim: disrupt insecurity that police activ. has caused in black communities
o Triggered by death of Black men by White cops:
 Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner
o Started w. hashtag (#blacklivesmatter)
 SOCIAL MEDIA – key tool for: organizing + informing
 BLM DEFIES social movement theory – by following characteristics:
o Highly inclusive
 Strong role of Women & Transgender Activists
 Rejection of religious orientation
o Use of general guidelines, rather than specific policy initiatives
o Lack of central organisation
 BLM FITS social movement theory – comparison to Civil Rights Movement, 60s:
o Protest tactics
 Nonviolence; but provoking anger/violence from authorities
o Attempts to capitalise on coalescing moments
o Emphasis on black identity
o Emphasis on econ. inequality
Black Lives Matter Movement Civil Rights Movement
Role of Women Activist celebrated Male-centered
Inclusive for LGBTQ identities
Lack of religious component, Rooted in Black Christian churches,
[MLK Jr.] Worked closely w. politicians to
plan/craft legislation & plan protests
Lack of central organisation Operated w. leader (e.g. MLK, Malcolm X)
[COPY & PASTED FROM PP]

How can white people serve as allies to people of color?

Ally is not identity, it is a practice.

What are some key elements of this practice?
- Recognizing white power or privilege
- Listening
- (An ally need not believe or accept as true everything people of color say, but needs to give credence to their
experience)
- Taking a stand against injustice
- Build support
6. Recent Developments / Readings: Cainkar, Kivisto
According to Cainkar,
How is the racialization of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans similar to and
different from that of other groups?
According to lecture,
What is Marshall’s theory of citizenship rights?
How does Kivisto define multiculturalism, racial democracy and color-blind society?
What are the promises of a racial democracy?
What are some obstacles to building a racial democracy?