SOCI 142gm Lecture Notes - Lecture 40: Los Angeles Stadium At Hollywood Park, Cultural Assimilation, White Privilege
Final Study Guide Outline
Practice Exam
Simplified SOCI 142 Study Guide
Rodriguez and Cordero-Guzman, Lipsitz, Saito Chapt 2
Explain and discuss the view of race as a biological category versus a social
construction. Explain the social construction of racial categories, and how these
categories have social, political, and economic consequences. Define whiteness.
Explain the view of racism and inequality as the result of structural discrimination
versus the result of individual prejudice and actions. Discuss the development of
Atlantic Square – and the themes of restaurants and architecture - in terms of
whiteness.
● Race as a biological category
○ No genes that determine race
● Race as a social construct
○ How other people perceive each other based on physical appearance
○ Culture
● How social construct and biological categories have an impact on social,
political and economic consequences
○ Freeways
○ White privilege
○ Opportunities and schooling (social infrastructure) for different races
● Structural discrimination (above)
● Individual prejudice and actions (?)
● Atlantic Square
○ Development of theme: wanted anything non-Asian or anything White
○ Decided on a Mediterranean theme because Mexican looked too poor
and, again, didn’t want Asian
○ Wanted good restaurants
■ Didn’t matter the quality of the restaurants. By good they meant
fast food or white/American restaurants
Siegfried and Zimbalist, Chema, Stadium 07252011 PartA, Lipsitz
Discuss what Siegfried/Zimbalist and Chema say about the positive and negative
aspects of sports facilities for communities. Discuss the positive and negative aspects
of the Los Angeles NFL Stadium proposal. Discuss what Lipsitz says about the use of
public funds to build a football stadium and the impact on public schools in St. Louis.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Positive aspects of sports facilities for communities
○ Brings morale to the community
○ Creates jobs
○ Brings more tourists or out of city/state to the city to buy more things,
tax revenue
● Negative aspects of sports facilities for communities
○ Huge tax burden on the city
○ Does create jobs but it’s only temporary, seasonal jobs at minimum wage
level
○ They don’t really make a profit
○ They have to displace minorities and force them to more elsewhere
● Positive aspects of LA NFL Stadium proposal
○ Economic boost for LA
○ LA can become a known city where the NFL will be hosted
● Negative Impacts of LA NFL Stadium proposal
○ Took private funds
○ Built them in an area where minorities lived and forced them out
○ Took money from schooling to build it
● Use of public funds to build football stadium
○ Used funds to build the stadium rather than spending it on the
community because the community was comprised mainly of black
people
○ They thought that black people were the cause of their own problems so
they didn’t want to invest in anything for them
○ Rather, they spent it on the stadium versus education which can get St.
Louis out of its crime-ridden area
● Impact on public schools in St. Louis
○ African Americans were displaced to another area because of the
building of the stadium
Gordon
Define and explain the theory of assimilation. Define and explain: the core group,
cultural assimilation, and structural assimilation. Explain the situation of African
Americans according to Gordon and his assimilation theory.
● Theory of assimilation
○ People assimilate to their host countries at a steady increasing rate
○ They adapt the culture and the language most of the time
○ Everyone will assimilate eventually to a host country in one way or
another
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○ Depends on the person but assimilation can take a short or long amount
of time
● Core group
○ Refers to the people of the host country, typically referring to White
people who dominate in terms of their culture
○ Immigrants who are assimilating follow this dominant group in terms of
their actions and culture and refer to it
● Cultural assimilation
○ Usually the first to happen
○ When immigrants pick up the habits, language of their host country
○ Can talk about assimilation in fragmentation and unity if the other
question isn’t here
○ How easy or hard it is for people to assimilate to the culture depends on
who they’re around
● Structural assimilation
○ Refers to the opportunities around the community in which they
migrated
○ Not as easy to assimilate to
○ Assimilation to law enforcement and school and taking advantage of it
● African Americans
○ African Americans never really assimilated to the White culture, which
means that they are an exception to Gordon’s theory of assimilation
○ They assimilated culturally but not structurally
○ This proves that his theory is correct in that it is easier to assimilate
culturally and usually people assimilate that way rather than structurally
Schlesinger
Describe and discuss what Schlesinger says about factors leading to unity versus the
fragmentation of society. What does Schlesinger say about organizations based on
race/ethnicity and how they contribute to assimilation or the fragmentation of society?
● Unity of society
○ When a similar group of people are together, they tend to not want to
assimilate to the culture around them or the culture of their host country
○ It’s harder for them to assimilate this way
○ They always stay with each other and never break out from their norm to
their host country’s norm
● Fragmentation of society
○ When members of a culture are dispersed in society, they are more likely
to assimilate to their culture faster
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Explain and discuss the view of race as a biological category versus a social construction. Explain the social construction of racial categories, and how these categories have social, political, and economic consequences. Explain the view of racism and inequality as the result of structural discrimination versus the result of individual prejudice and actions. Atlantic square and the themes of restaurants and architecture - in terms of whiteness. How other people perceive each other based on physical appearance. How social construct and biological categories have an impact on social, political and economic consequences. Opportunities and schooling (social infrastructure) for different races. Development of theme: wanted anything non-asian or anything white. Decided on a mediterranean theme because mexican looked too poor and, again, didn"t want asian. Didn"t matter the quality of the restaurants. By (cid:685)good(cid:686) they meant fast food or white/american restaurants. Siegfried and zimbalist, chema, stadium 07252011 parta, lipsitz.
