SOC 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: One-Drop Rule, Caucasian Race, White Supremacy
23 Sep 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
M. May
Intro to Sociology
Sociology 1
College of the Sequoias
L. Notes
Race is a recent invention
● Race emerged around the beginning of the 18th century to refer to different groups of
people
● Supported by science
● Blumenbach’s classification (the farther you get away from the equator the lighter your
skin gets)
o Caucasoid, mongoloid, Negroid (also Malay and American)
o PROBLEM: Caucasoid was clearly the best—this is called ethnocentrism
(imprecise way to classify humans—there is no such thing as race, humans
invented it)
▪ Led to scientific racism
▪ Involved hierarchy—linking physical features with character and culture
▪ Swedes = “gentle, acute, inventive” vs. Africans = “crafty, indolent,
negligent”
▪ Science was used to justify racists ideology and rationalize racial beliefs
(led to justification of slavery in US)
▪ Put the “Best” group on top (whites)
● Western civilization as the measuring stick
Race and Essentialism
● Essentialists believe that boundaries which divide people are true and real distinctions of
who someone is
○ Differences between people are universal and inherent
■ Example: Hitler
■ A person IS white and a person IS female
Boundaries
● Ozawa v. United States (1917(
○ Japanese are not white
● US supreme Court v. Ting (1923)
○ Middle Easterners are not white
● Rationalization for slavery
● Beliefs and theories
○ One drop rule (Susan Phipps example)—labeled colored because she had a great
great grandmother who was black
● Concern with integration, miscegenation, and interracial sexuality
● White supremacy
Constructionist Perspective
Document Summary
Race emerged around the beginning of the 18th century to refer to different groups of people. Involved hierarchy linking physical features with character and culture negligent : science was used to justify racists ideology and rationalize racial beliefs (led to justification of slavery in us, put the best group on top (whites) Essentialists believe that boundaries which divide people are true and real distinctions of who someone is. Differences between people are universal and inherent. A person is white and a person is female. One drop rule (susan phipps example) labeled colored because she had a great great grandmother who was black. Concern with integration, miscegenation, and interracial sexuality. What we know about ourselves and others is a product of culture and history (social phenomenon subject to change) Race, class, gender and sexuality are matter of definition and collective agreement. Racial formation (omni and winnant) explore how race comes to be and how the race system continues to persist.
