ES 101 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - White Privilege, White People, Racism
12 Oct 2018
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Department
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Professor
ES 101
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1-
Racialization:
• A verb; the act of constructing racial categories and the value we ascribe to them in
different historical moments
• How we define people
• The racial category black evolved with the consolidation of slavery. Africans who
identified with specific ethnic groups, such as Ibo, Yoruba, Fon, were constructed by
Europeans as ‘blacks’ (pg 13)
Race is a social construction:
• In the US, the principle of hypodescent has turned any racial intermixture into non-
whiteness. If one has a black ancestor, among many white ancestors, one is deemed
black, for instance. (pg 11)
• In Brazil, that is not the case. People in the same family can be identify racially as black,
white, mestizo, or a series of other intermediate racial categories non-existent in the US.
• In 1980’s, “British politics the term ‘black’ is used to refer to all non-whites” including
Asians. (pg 12)
• Asian and Afro-Caribbean youth began adopting the use of the term black to politically
mobilize themselves and identify themselves.
• Becoming white
• Many Southern Europeans, Irish and Jews were considered non-white until the mid-
twentieth century
• To be understood as white workers, and therefore, be able to claim workers rights, “the
Irish on the West Coast… Engaged in vicious anti-CHinese race-baiting” and enabled
the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882 (pg 14).
Race:
• Race is a social construction, NOT a biological fact
• “Race is indeed a pre-eminently socio-historical concept. Racial categories and the
meaning of race are given concrete expression by the specific social relations and
historical context in which they are embedded” (pg 11)
Racial Formation:
• “Refer to the process by which social, economic, and political forces determine the
content and importance of racial categories, and by which they are in turn shaped by
racial meanings” (pg 12)
• For instance, racial stereotypes (some examples)- who is assumed to be good in
school? In math? In sports? In classical music? In pop music? Those re “racial
meanings” we have constructed.
Video Notes: Race: The Power of an Illusion
• We use visual differences to qualify people into groups (races)
• Unchanged, distinct categories of people
• No genetic markers that define race
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Lecture 2 –
The Seven Principles (steps towards equity and inclusion):
Listen, Respect, Reflect, Transform Ourselves, Keep Ourselves Accountable, Create, Evaluate
Privilege:
• A special entitlement or immunity granted by a government or other authority to a
restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis
• People with privilege feel entitled to it
• Privilege provides immunity (Ex: weed plant in dorm with out getting in trouble)
• Privilege and oppression can intersect
• How does Ethnic Studies define white privilege? (See Lipsitz)
The Possessive Investment in Whiteness (Lipsitz):
• New Deal Era - reforms due to the Great Depression, public works to employ people,
financial aid to citizens, work benefits, social security
• Lipsitz discusses how its implementation discriminated on the basis of race
• 1964 Civil Rights Act
• Attempt to discuss racial discrimination
• Gains for people of color
• 1973 = Worldwide economic recession
• Outsourcing = when operations of a company are located in other countries
• People of color hit the hardest by recession and outsourcing
• 1980s-1990s
• Dismantling of welfare state
• Neoliberal economic policies
Argument 1:
• White Privilege is connected to black disadvantages
• Ex: state-subsidized mortgage loans that financed suburban homes 1930s-1960s
Argument 2:
• Whiteness secures its power through invisibility
• “There isn’t a Negro problem; there is only a white problem” Richard Wright
Argument 3:
• Class doesn’t erase race
• About environmental racism:
• “Racial disparities outnumbered disparities by income” (73)
Argument 4:
• Cultural explanations for structural inequality masquerades how the possessive
investment in whiteness shapes the advantages of some and limitations of others
• Ex: Laziness
• Both liberals and conservatives have sustained the possessive investment in whiteness
Argument 5:
• Minorities are economically disadvantaged due to a history of discrimination. They have
not been able to accumulate economic assets or social capital (Ex: Snowball)
• Property, access to loans, stocks, retirement funds, social capital, education
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Racialization: a verb; the act of constructing racial categories and the value we ascribe to them in different historical moments, how we define people, the racial category black evolved with the consolidation of slavery. Africans who identified with specific ethnic groups, such as ibo, yoruba, fon, were constructed by. In the us, the principle of hypodescent has turned any racial intermixture into non- whiteness. If one has a black ancestor, among many white ancestors, one is deemed black, for instance. (pg 11) People in the same family can be identify racially as black, white, mestizo, or a series of other intermediate racial categories non-existent in the us. In 1980"s, british politics the term black" is used to refer to all non-whites including. Irish on the west coast engaged in vicious anti-chinese race-baiting and enabled the chinese exclusion act passed in 1882 (pg 14). Race: race is a social construction, not a biological fact.
