GWST 1501 Lecture 6: GWST 1501 - Week 6

• School: York University
• Department: Gender and Women's Studies
• Course: GWST 1501
• Professor: Kristine Klement

Document Summary

The social construction approach to race and racism: summary. Race was a category that was invented by white europeans to distinguish themselves from the people who they enslaved and whose lands they colonized. Race was invested to establish a moral and scientific justification for white supremacy. Racist stereotypes work to dehumanize racialized people to justify their mistreatment by a white dominated social order. Racism today is systematic: it is embedded in the social institutions that structure and organize our societies. Racism and sexism in canada are systematic meaning that they are: embedded in the institutions that structure and shape our lives, embedded in the media representations, scientific discourses, and stereotypes that dehumanize people of colour and women. Inequalities in wealth and power are embedded in the policies and practices of institutions. Institutions include: state institutions, education, healthcare, social assistance, criminal justice system, immigration, military, marriage, taxation, private institutions, media, family, workplaces, economy, arts and culture, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues.