SOC 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Institutional Racism, Physiognomy, Claude Steele
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The tho(cid:289)as theo(cid:325)e(cid:289): (cid:907)if (cid:289)e(cid:290) defi(cid:290)e situatio(cid:290)s as (cid:325)eal, the(cid:369) a(cid:325)e (cid:325)eal i(cid:290) thei(cid:325) co(cid:290)se(cid:324)ue(cid:290)ces(cid:908) Race: a group of people who share a set of characteristics-typically but not always physical ones-and are said to share a common bloodline. There are biological human differences, but these are gradational not categorical. Race as we know it is a social construction. Constructivist understandings of race: see racial groups as socially constructed categories, see boundaries as structure by history and power relations. Essentialist understandings of race: see racial groups as naturally occurring, see boundaries as clear and obvious (we fit into certain groups easily, but this cannot really hold up modern day races) The (cid:289)ai(cid:290) p(cid:325)oble(cid:289) is(cid:290)"t the data, but that people te(cid:290)d to fo(cid:325)get that we are asking about a socially constructed category, not an essential one. See racial groups as socially constructed categories. See boundaries as structured by history and power relations. Us said (cid:290)o, because (cid:290)ot a (cid:907)f(cid:325)ee (cid:363)hite pe(cid:325)so(cid:290)(cid:908)
