Racial/Ethnic Prejudice & Discrimination: Crash Course Sociology #35

Summary

This video explores the complex issue of racism, delving into its definitions, forms, and underlying theories. It differentiates between prejudice, discrimination, and racism, highlighting the roles of explicit and implicit biases. Various theories explaining prejudice are discussed, including scapegoat, authoritarian personality, and culture theory. The video also addresses institutional racism and its pervasive impact on society. Different patterns of racial interaction, such as pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide, are examined, providing a comprehensive understanding of how racism manifests and affects individuals and communities.

Takeaways

• 😀 Racism is a loaded and hotly debated topic in American society.
• 📚 Sociology helps us understand racism but can't make it go away.
• 🔍 Prejudice is an unfair generalization about an entire category of people, often taking the form of stereotypes.
• 🚫 Discrimination is unequal treatment of different groups of people and can be explicit or implicit.
• 🏫 Institutional racism is built into societal institutions and harder to identify.
• 🔄 Prejudice and discrimination form a vicious cycle that entrenches social disadvantages.
• ⚖️ Different theories explain why prejudice exists, including scapegoat theory, authoritarian personality theory, and culture theory.
• 📝 Social distance measures how closely people are willing to interact with different races and ethnicities.
• 🗂️ Sociologists describe racial interactions in terms of pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide.
• 💔 Racism can lead to severe consequences like segregation, inequality, and genocide.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the discussion on racism in American society?

The primary focus is on the debate surrounding what constitutes racism, who can be considered racist, and the distinction between beliefs and behaviors towards other races.

How is prejudice defined in the script?

Prejudice is defined as a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people, often taking the form of stereotypes applied to every person in a category without evidence.

What is the difference between explicit and implicit bias as discussed in the script?

Explicit bias refers to attitudes or beliefs about a group that one is consciously aware of, while implicit bias consists of unconscious biases that affect interactions without one's conscious recognition.

Can you provide an example of racial prejudice from the script?

An example given is the stereotype that people who use government assistance are predominantly African-American and are 'gaming the system,' which is factually incorrect as the majority of welfare recipients are White.

What is the role of sociology in understanding racism?

Sociology cannot eliminate racism, but it can help us understand it by providing definitions, exploring its roots, and examining its manifestations in society, which is an important starting point for addressing the issue.

What is the difference between individual racism and institutional racism?

Individual racism involves discriminatory actions or beliefs by a person, while institutional racism refers to biases embedded within the operations of societal institutions like schools, banking systems, and the labor force.

According to the script, what is the relationship between prejudice and discrimination?

Prejudice, which is about what people believe, often motivates discrimination, which is about unequal treatment of different groups. They form a vicious cycle that entrenches social disadvantages.

What is the scapegoat theory and how does it relate to prejudice?

The scapegoat theory, also known as frustration-aggression theory, frames prejudice as a defense mechanism where frustrated individuals blame a more disadvantaged group for their troubles, even when those troubles stem from structural changes.

What does the authoritarian personality theory suggest about the link between personality and prejudice?

The authoritarian personality theory suggests that prejudice is an outgrowth of a personality profile associated with authoritarianism, characterized by a desire for order, tradition, and strong leaders, and a tendency to see society as hierarchical.

How does the script describe the concept of institutional racism?

Institutional racism is described as the biases built into the operation of society's institutions, which can be harder to identify and less often condemned by society, leading to structural disadvantages that result in discrimination on the basis of race.

What are the four broad patterns of racial interaction discussed in the script?

The four patterns are pluralism, where all races have equal social standing; assimilation, where minorities adopt the dominant culture; segregation, which involves

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding Racism and Its Societal Impacts

This paragraph introduces the complex and sensitive topic of racism, exploring its definitions and the debate surrounding it in American society. It delves into the nuances between racism, discrimination, and prejudice, emphasizing the unfair generalizations inherent in prejudice and the role of stereotypes. The paragraph discusses the concept of racial prejudice and racism, including both explicit and implicit biases, using a study by Joshua Correll to illustrate how implicit biases can unconsciously affect judgments, even among those trained to recognize them. It also touches on institutional racism, a systemic form of discrimination embedded within societal institutions, and how it can be harder to identify and address.

05:02

🤔 Theories of Prejudice and Patterns of Racial Interaction

The second paragraph examines various theories that attempt to explain the existence of prejudice in society. It covers the scapegoat theory, which views prejudice as a defense mechanism for frustrated individuals, the authoritarian personality theory linking prejudice with a desire for order and hierarchy, and the culture theory suggesting that everyone is influenced by a prejudiced culture. Additionally, it discusses the social distance scale as a measure of prejudice and introduces the Race-Conflict Theory, which sees prejudice as a tool for maintaining majority power. The paragraph concludes with an overview of four societal patterns of racial interaction: pluralism, where all races have equal standing; assimilation, where minorities adopt the dominant culture; segregation, the separation of racial groups.

Keywords

💡Racism

Racism is a belief that one race is superior to others, often manifesting in discrimination and prejudice. In the video, racism is discussed as a complex and loaded issue in American society, involving both explicit and implicit biases. The script uses the term to explore the difference between racism and prejudice, and how racism can be both an individual belief and a structural power dynamic.

💡Prejudice

Prejudice refers to rigid and unfair generalizations about a category of people, often based on stereotypes. The video defines prejudice as 'unfair' when it assumes something to be true for an entire group without evidence. It is central to the theme as the script delves into how prejudice can lead to discrimination and perpetuates social disadvantages.

💡Stereotypes

Stereotypes are simplified and often exaggerated descriptions applied to every member of a group. The script mentions stereotypes as a form that prejudice often takes, using the example of negative stereotypes associated with people who use government assistance, illustrating how these can lead to harmful assumptions about individuals.

💡Racial Prejudice

Racial prejudice is a specific type of prejudice based on race. The video describes it as beliefs, thoughts, and actions that assume one race is innately superior to another. The script uses racial prejudice to discuss the broader concept of racism and its impact on societal structures and individual interactions.

💡Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is the bias built into the operation of societal institutions, such as schools and the labor force. The video explains this concept through the work of civil rights activists Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton, who argued that institutional racism is harder to identify and often goes unnoticed, despite its pervasive impact on society.

💡Discrimination

Discrimination is the unequal treatment of different groups of people, often based on prejudice. The script distinguishes discrimination from prejudice by focusing on actions rather than beliefs. It provides examples of specific discriminatory actions and discusses institutional discrimination as part of the broader societal issues.

💡Implicit Bias

Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes or beliefs about a group that affect behavior without conscious awareness. The video uses a study by Joshua Correll to illustrate how implicit bias can influence judgments, even among those who consciously reject stereotypes, highlighting the insidious nature of these biases.

💡Explicit Bias

Explicit bias is the consciously held attitude or belief about a group. The video contrasts explicit bias with implicit bias, noting that while explicit acts of racism, such as using a racial slur, are more easily recognized, implicit biases are more difficult to detect and address.

💡Scapegoat Theory

Scapegoat theory, also known as frustration-aggression theory, frames prejudice as a defense mechanism where frustrated individuals blame a more disadvantaged group for their problems. The video uses this theory to explain how economic anxiety can lead to scapegoating, such as blaming immigrants for job loss.

💡Authoritarian Personality Theory

Authoritarian personality theory suggests that prejudice is an outgrowth of a personality profile associated with authoritarianism. The video explains that people with such personalities tend to see society as hierarchical and may exhibit heightened racial prejudice when they perceive a threat to their way of life.

💡Social Distance

Social distance is a measure of how willing people are to interact with those from different races and ethnicities. The video discusses Emory Bogardus's social distance scale and how social distance can increase the likelihood of holding stereotypical or prejudiced views, relating it to the broader theme of racial interaction and prejudice.

Highlights

Racism is a loaded topic with debates on what constitutes racism and who can be labeled as racist.

Prejudice involves rigid and unfair generalizations about an entire category of people, often leading to stereotypes.

Stereotypes are exaggerated and simplified descriptions applied to every person in a category, often unfairly.

Racial prejudice assumes that characteristics thought true for a group apply to every individual, often with no evidence.

Negative stereotypes are more commonly directed at minority groups.

Racism includes beliefs and actions based on the idea that one race is innately superior to another.

Implicit bias involves unconscious attitudes and beliefs about other groups that can influence actions.

Studies show that implicit bias can lead to different treatment of people based on race, even in simulated scenarios like video games.

Institutional racism refers to biases embedded in the operation of societal institutions, affecting minorities' access to resources.

The concept of institutional racism highlights systemic inequalities that are not attributed to individual prejudice but to societal structures.

Prejudice and discrimination form a cycle that reinforces social disadvantages and justifies ongoing prejudice.

Scapegoat theory suggests that prejudice arises as a defense mechanism when people blame disadvantaged groups for their problems.

Authoritarian personality theory links prejudice to a personality type that values order and hierarchical structures.

Culture theory posits that everyone has some prejudice because cultural osmosis transmits societal biases.

Social distance measures how closely people are willing to interact with others from different racial and ethnic groups.

Conflict theory views prejudice as a tool for maintaining power dynamics and justifying inequality.

Pluralism is a societal state where different races maintain distinct identities but have equal social standing.

Assimilation involves minorities adopting the dominant culture's patterns to reduce prejudice and discrimination.

Segregation is the physical and social separation of different racial or ethnic groups, which still persists in various forms today.

Genocide represents extreme racism, where one group systematically kills another based on racial or ethnic differences.

Transcripts

I think you’ll all agree with me that racism is a...loaded topic.

What is or isn’t racist – or who is or isn’t racist – is one of the most hotly debated issues in American society.

Is racism about what you believe?

Or is it about how you behave toward other races?

What is prejudice? And why does it exist?

Sociology can’t make racism go away.

And it can’t make it any less disturbing.

It probably can’t even make the issue of race and racism less loaded than it already is.

But it can help us understand racism, and understanding is an important start.

[Theme Music]

As always, let’s start by defining our terms.

For one thing, what’s the difference between racism, discrimination and prejudice?

Prejudice is a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people.

So, what exactly do I mean by unfair?

Well, a prejudice assumes that something you think to be true for a whole group applies to every individual member of that group, too, with little or no evidence.

Prejudice often takes the form of stereotypes, or exaggerated and simplified descriptions that are applied to every person in a category.

Negative stereotypes are often directed at people who are different from yourself,

which means that people who are a minority in a population are more likely to be negatively stereotyped.

For example, two common stereotypes of people who use government assistance are that they’re

A) African-American -and- B) gaming the system.

But both of these ideas are demonstrably false.

The majority of people on welfare are White, and people who use social services like welfare are also likely to need the extra help.

But these stereotypes lead people to claim that Black Americans, particularly single mothers, are lazy or untrustworthy.

This example is a specific type of prejudice: racial prejudice.

Racism includes beliefs, thoughts, and actions based on the idea that one race is innately superior to another race.

Some take this definition further and argue that racism is inherently tied up in structures of power,

meaning that racism specifically refers to the belief that a race with less societal power is inferior to other races.

And, of course, racism can be explicit or implicit.

Explicit bias refers to the attitudes or beliefs we have about a group that we’re consciously aware of.

But implicit biases are a little bit more insidious.

These are the unconscious biases that we have about other groups.

While we might easily recognize an explicit act of racism, like calling someone a racial slur,

we often don’t consciously recognize how implicit biases affect how we interact with each other.

For example, a 2007 study by University of Colorado social psychologist Joshua Correll and colleagues

found that people’s implicit bias comes into play when making judgments about how likely it is that a person is holding a gun.

Participants in the study played a videogame in which the goal was to shoot people who had a gun, but not shoot unarmed people.

Participants were more likely to mistakenly shoot an unarmed Black man than an unarmed White man.

This was true whether the participants in the study were White or Black, and it didn’t change, regardless of what explicit biases the subjects said they had.

What did seem to matter was if the subjects said he or she was aware of stereotypes about Black men and gun violence –

even if the subjects adamantly disagreed with those stereotypes.

That said, it does seem like training can make a difference.

The sample for this study contained both a sample of adult community members from Denver and a sample of police officers.

The study found that police officers – who are trained to recognize when someone has a gun or not –

were less susceptible to racial bias in who they shot than a community member was.

Also, we should note that like many studies in psychology, this is a small sample design:

about 130 members of the community and 230 police officers participated in the study.

So, prejudice is about what people believe.

But discrimination is a matter of action.

Discrimination is simply described as any unequal treatment of different groups of people.

Most of us think about discrimination in terms of specific actions, like calling someone a racial slur, or refusing to do business with a certain type of person.

But racism can be bigger than one individual.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble to talk about institutional racism.

Institutional prejudice and discrimination are the biases that are built into the operation of society’s institutions, like schools, banking systems, and the labor force.

The concept of institutional racism was highlighted by civil rights activists Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton in the 1960s,

who argued that institutional racism is harder to identify and therefore less often condemned by society.

Carmichael and Hamilton compared society’s response to the suffering caused by white terrorists bombing black churches,

to the lack of attention given to thousands of black children who suffered for different reasons

– like from the lack of access to quality housing, food, healthcare, or schooling.

Bombing black churches is an overt act of racism, motivated by racial hatred, so it’s easy to understand as racism.

By contrast, elevated rates of sickness and death – which stem from structural disadvantages – aren’t the fault of any one individual’s racial animus.

But it still results in discrimination on the basis of race.

And it’s much more likely to go unnoticed, because there’s no single person to blame.

Together, prejudice and discrimination form a vicious cycle that entrench social disadvantages.

The cycle starts with prejudice taking hold in a society, often as a strategy for consolidating economic or social power for a certain group.

This prejudice then motivates discrimination against the minority group, both at an individual and institutional level, which forces the group into a lower position in society.

Then, this social disadvantage means that the minority group is seen as less successful and therefore inferior to the majority group,

seemingly justifying the original prejudice – and the cycle continues.

Thanks Thought Bubble.

So that’s what racism is.

Now, why does it exist?

One theory of prejudice is known as scapegoat theory, also known as frustration-aggression theory.

Scapegoat theory frames prejudice as a defense mechanism on the part of frustrated people

who blame another, more disadvantaged group for the troubles that they face, even when those troubles stem from structural changes.

Economic anxiety is seen as a common trigger for scapegoating –

fear of losing jobs leads to blaming immigrants for taking jobs, rather than looking at how globalization and automation have changed the economy.

A second theory was proposed in the 1950s by German sociologist Theodor Adorno and his colleagues,

who were trying to understand how fascism and anti-semitism took hold in Germany before and during World War II.

The authoritarian personality theory sees prejudice as the outgrowth of a certain personality profile –

one that’s associated with authoritarianism, or the desire for order, tradition, and strong leaders who will maintain the status quo.

People with authoritarian personalities tend to see society as hierarchical, with people who are naturally superior having the right to power over others.

So according to this theory, racial prejudice is heightened when an authoritarian personality feels there’s some moral or physical threat to their way of life.

Both this theory and the scapegoat theory see prejudice as a reaction that certain types of people have –

people who are frustrated or people who have a certain personality type.

A third theory of prejudice takes a different tack.

Culture theory claims some prejudice can be found in everyone, because people are products of the culture they live in – and we live in a prejudiced culture.

This is what some people mean when they say “everyone’s a little bit racist.”

That, or, they just like quoting Avenue Q.

We learn racial prejudice and stereotypes through a kind of cultural osmosis.

For example, history textbooks tend to be written from a Euro-caucasian perspective and focus mainly on the contributions of White people, rather than other cultures.

And this relates to yet another approach, which measures prejudice in terms of social distance.

In the 1920s, American sociologist Emory Bogardus developed the social distance scale,

which measures how closely people are willing to interact with people from different races and ethnicities.

Social distance is a kind of proxy for how much of an ‘other’ you see members of another race.

Just like how geographic distance makes you more likely to generalize about a group of people who are different from yourself,

social distance increases the likelihood that you might hold stereotypical or prejudiced views about another racial group.

And the final theory of prejudice is one we’ve talked about before: conflict theory.

Race-Conflict Theory focuses on how social inequality develops as the result of power conflicts between different racial and ethnic groups.

Under this theory, prejudice is a tool for maintaining the power of the majority.

For example, the argument that Whites are a superior race was used as a justification for slavery and the racial discrimination that continued long after slavery ended.

So, people may think about and treat each other differently, based on their race or ethnicity, in many different ways.

But the ways in which racial groups interact within a society are often described by sociologists in terms of four broad patterns:

pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide.

Pluralism is a state in which all races and ethnicities are distinct, but have equal social standing.

This isn’t a society that’s color blind per se – because people still have different racial heritages that are recognized in society.

But in terms of how social and economic resources are distributed, the color of one’s skin plays no role.

So, is the US pluralistic?

Ehh… not exactly.

The United States is pluralistic by the letter of the law.

But in a practical sense, there’s still a lot of racial and ethnic stratification, and despite having equal legal standing, all races do not have equal social standing.

Now, in contrast to pluralism, in which different races remain distinct,

assimilation describes the process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture.

By adopting the modes of dress, values, religion, language, and lifestyles of the majority culture, minorities are sometimes able to avoid prejudice or discrimination.

But assimilation is much easier for some groups than others.

And it’s easier if you look and sound like the group that you’re trying to assimilate to.

A third pattern of racial interaction is to just…not interact.

Segregation is the physical and social separation of categories of people.

Racial segregation has a long history in the United States,

with racial minorities historically being segregated into lower quality neighborhoods, occupations, and schools.

Much of the segregation under the law – also known as De Jure Segregation –

has since been prohibited through court cases and laws such as Brown v. Board of Education.

But De Facto segregation, or segregation due to traditions and norms, still remains.

People live in neighborhoods, attend schools, and work mostly with people like themselves.

This self-segregation has led to high levels of racial stratification.

About one-quarter of black students attend public schools that have more than 90% students of color –

and those schools tend to have less resources available to them.

De jure school segregation may be over, but de facto segregation has all but insured that the public school system remains separate and unequal for many Americans.

Sometimes, however, racial prejudice has consequences beyond segregation and inequality.

Racism can lead to genocide, or the the systematic killing of one group of people by another.

Whether we’re talking about the attacks on indigenous populations by colonizers starting in the 1600s,

the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the Holocaust during World War II,

or modern examples in Rwanda and Darfur, genocide represents some of the worst of humanity.

And it is usually motivated by racism.

We can’t talk about race without talking about how people have used racist attitudes as an excuse for violence and subjugation.

But hopefully, what we’ve talked about today will give you some context for thinking about how race plays out on a societal scale.

Today, we discussed prejudice, stereotypes, racism, and five theories for why prejudice exists.

We talked about discrimination and the legacies of institutional racism.

And we ended with an overview of four types of racial interaction: pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide.

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