SOC 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Air Jordan, Elijah Anderson, Cornel West
28 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 5
Race anf Rasism in Pop Culture
Race —-> according to Cornel West:
1) historically specific in meaning different things ti different people in different placed
at different times
2) act as a base for the formation of social groups as they have shaped the formation
of real or imagined communities of people
3) represent the lived experiences of individuals and groups and reveal clear and real
dimensions of social in/equality
Semiotics:
Critics race theory has used a classical sociological approach when examine PC but used
semiotics as well
Semiotics:
•Sings are made up of a) signifiers - the word or image from which the sing takes ex: a
word lit and a fire and b) signified - the concepts and ideas they represent ex: lit -
something cool or fun
•Together: a) and b) created a complete sing
•Semiotics examines how meaning is constructed, interpreted and understood through
sings we create, including cinematic and televisual words and images
Socially Conducted Racism
—-> within the Pop Culture exist images and representations of race that have become
hegemonic wishing the PC as it take cues and clues from the social world (west)
1) Violent assault: hates crimes such as physical assault or hate speech
2) Institutionalized Racism: exercised vie unequal access to education, healthcare, housing
and/or discrimination on the workplace. also, when advantages are given to one group
over another
3) Overt racism:
a) when open and favourable coverage is given to arguments, positions and
spokespersons who are i the business of elaborating an openly racist argument or dancing a
racist ideology
b) group formation reflects existent practices of inclusion/exclusion : sets clear
boundaries over time between those who belong (self) and those who don’t (other)
c) Produces and maintains ideologies addressing social status, economic political
power, equality, human rights, self-determination and autonomy
Racism in the entertainment industry
1) Common sense (or passive-positive) racism:
a)revealed vie the expression of common sense or casual attitudes based on
stereotype, prejudice and often explained away through humour or camaraderie
b) Appearing to make a positive statement:
for example: PC has employed three common radicalized identities: black kids are good
dancers / asian kids are good at math / indians are good engineers
2) Inferential Racism: (setting us and but then going back right into what stereotype says)
apparently naturalized representations of event and situations relating to race which have
racist premises inscribed in them as unquestioned assumptions
—-> an episode or event i which a problem in race relations is represented and confronted in
which what remains in “the unstated and unrecognized assumption that the present other is/
are confirmed as the source of the problem” (west)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Critics race theory has used a classical sociological approach when examine pc but used semiotics as well. Race: - a constructed category. wildly used to distinguish among various groups of human beings based on inherited biological or physical characteristics - such as skin colour or facial features. >restrictions in access to mobility re ect social strati cation: opportunity and prillivage are both prone to be determined by class, race and gender et al and both legal and cultural institutions can enforce this restrictions: Sets boundaries between those belong (delf or dominant and those who don"t belong (the other and non dominant) Result: regulations re ecting different levels of social status, economic and political power, equality, self-determination and autonomy determined by dominant groups. We have the right to construct someones identity . 2 de nitions and examinations of crime : (1) Why does crime occur: because people choose to engage i criminal behaviour.
