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When institutions and racism come together, there is
much destruction in human lives and in the sociocultural world. As race is
constructed and racism is continued, the result is the advantage of some to the
disadvantage of others. This disparity is itself institutionalized, and racism
has defended and maintained it. In this session, members examine how
institutions contribute to the racism in our world, and how that world is
maintained by the custodians and beneficiaries of that disparity.
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Now READ Chapter 3, pages 140-48 |
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Writing Assignment #1: |
Recall the "institution" you selected in your writing assignment for the
last session. The reading for this session lists ten features of
institutions (pp. 141-42). Identify which of these features your institution
has, and very briefly describe what you actually know about those features.
Also, identify which features the institution does not have (or which
features you know nothing about). Now press on to answer these questions:
- What revisions does your previous written statement need in light of your
reading and reflection on stereotypes and typificatory schemes?
- What "system" is your institution a part of, and what do you know about
the history of that "system"?
- What kind of "intersystem relations" characterize your institution, and
what affect do these have on the conduct of your institution’s internal and
external activity?
- When and why did your institution begin? Who got it up-and-running?
- As you reflect further on your institution, whose purposes, aspirations,
interests, norms, memories, meanings and worldview are expressed in the
environment and structure of the institution?
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Now READ Chapter 3, pages 149-58 |
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A trip on the Internet... |
Go to the Internet and read Peggy McIntosh’s article, "White
Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" at the website for the
University of
Toronto.
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Writing Assignment #2: |
The McIntosh article lists several specific illustrations of "white
privilege," and the passage from No Partiality discusses five
dimensions of "white privilege." Reflect very deliberately on the items in
McIntosh’s list and try to uncover the ways they indicate one or more of the
five dimensions. Write down your observations.
Then identify some specific illustrations of your own. What makes them
"white" privileges and how do they manifest the five dimensions?
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A trip on the Internet... |
Read the brief article "Zero
Tolerance" by Lara Johnson in the New Abolitionist Society newsletter.
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Writing Assignment #3: |
How would you describe the "white
privilege" expressed in this article?
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Now READ Chapter 3, pages 158-71 |
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Writing Assignment #4: |
Make a list of the "reference groups" you identify with, as many as you can
think of, both large and small. Then focus your attention on the two or three
that are most important to you and answer the following questions: How do these
groups influence my beliefs, attitudes, values and actions, and why? Is there
anything "ethnic" and/or "ethnocentric" about these groups in their influence on
me? Are these "racial" groups in any way, and if so, how?
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A trip on the Internet... |
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Writing Assignment #5: |
This section in No
Partiality discusses the ideology
of racialized ethnocentrism that has legitimated European American
dominance with the use of the strategies of dominion, segregation and
integration. Reflect on these strategies as you read David Gergen’s
interview with Orlando Patterson, and write down your observations
regarding why there continues to be "conflict" in race relations. Then read
Jonathan Serrie’s article on "The
New Segregation: Ethnic Identity or Racism?" and write down your answer
to the question: How does "integration" continue as a strategy to maintain
racialized ethnocentrism?
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Suggestions
for Group Discussion |
- Share what you have learned about the role played by institutions in
expressing race and contributing to racism. Focus on the schemes that
structure institutions and the way power relations contribute to expressing
dominant and subordinate racial status.
- Click on the cartoon by Andy Singer below and study it closely. What
"institutions" are represented in the cartoon, and how does the cartoon
illustrate the institutionalization of race in a sociocultural world? (When
you finish studying it, click your browser's "Back" button.)
- Discuss these questions: Why is it so difficult for European Americans to
recognize white privilege, and what is needed in order to make this
recognition possible? What would be required to give up white privilege, and
what would be the cost?
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Focused
Question for Group Discussion |
Societies and cultures are held together by a worldview or "symbolic universe
of meaning." Chapter 3 discusses some of the ways our sociocultural world has
constructed race and developed a worldview of racism. These beliefs, attitudes,
values and practices, however, have not gone unchallenged, and as a result, this
worldview has needed maintenance. As you reflect on your typificatory schemes
and the institutions you interact with regularly, discuss these questions: What
are the points of contact between these schemes, their institutional settings,
and the worldview that holds them together? What beliefs and practices
presuppose a "symbolic universe" of racialized ethnocentrism, and in what
particular ways is this universe "maintained" (i.e., how is it defended and
preserved unchanged), and who maintains it? What are the race-oriented conflicts
that occur, how are they managed, and what is the impact on the universe of
meaning that holds policies, practices and procedures together?
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