Racial and Ethnic Identity

Racial Formation and Social Construction

Test and 5-week grades

• 5-week totals in discussion section

• Students did well on rigorous test

• Faithful discussion attendance, participation, and papers bring grades up

• Maintain balance and perspective

Introductory Questions

• Which of the following identities is socially constructed?– Race– Ethnicity– Class– Gender– Merit

Questions, continued

• How would you rank the relative importance of the following in determining success in American society?– Race– Ethnicity– Class– Gender– Merit– Luck

Theories of Racial and Ethnic Identity

• Racial Formation: Omi, Michael and Howard Winant, RACIAL FORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES: FROM THE 1960S TO THE 1990S, 1994.

• Social Construction: Cornell, Stephen and Douglas Hartmann, ETHNICITY AND RACE: MAKING IDENTITIES IN A CHANGING WORLD, 1998.

Racial Formation

• race = a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies

• racial formation = a social and historical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed or destroyed

Racial Projects

• racial project = simultaneously an interpretation, representation, or explanation of racial dynamics, and an effort to reorganize and redistribute resources along racial lines

• racial projects range from the right (welfare reform) to the left (affirmative action) and can be societal wide or at the interpersonal level (most people use race in their interpretations of their daily life, e.g., describing others, choosing movies and books, etc.)

Neoconservative and Neoliberal Racial Projects

Neoconservative• Race is no longer an

important factor

• Resist Redistribution

• Portray whites as victims

Neoliberal• Avoid discussion of

race

• Moderate redistribution

• Focus on Black/White issues

Which project is most compelling?

• Does race still affect one’s life in our society?

• Should government be involved in redistributing resources?

• Have we gone too far to help minorities?

Social Construction

Two axes–asserted-assigned

–thin-thick

Examples

• assigned and thick: black South Africans

• assigned and thin: characterizing recent Vietnamese immigrants as Asian Americans

• asserted and thick: Afrikaners in South Africa

• asserted and thin: Italian Americans

Summary and Conclusions

• Racial and ethnic identities are social constructions, not biological or primordial constructions.

• Societal institutions, including the OMB, the Census, and the Courts, play a role in defining and redefining race and ethnicity

• Racial and ethnic identity is more of a choice for some than for others (asserted v. assigned)

Summary, continued

• Racial and ethnic identity means more to some than to others (thick v. thin)

• Race and ethnicity can serve as the basis for the pursuit of political and economic interests.

• Race and ethnicity can serve as the basis for denying equality in society.

Fredrik Barth: What is an Ethnic Group?

1. Biologically self-perpetuating.

2. Shares fundamental cultural values.

3. In-group communication and interaction differs from out-group.

4. Assert and are assigned an ethnic identity.

Intersecting Identities

• National Identity (experiences in other countries?)

• Racial Identity• Ethnic Identity• Religious Identity• Class Identity• Gender

Fluid Identities

• American identity

• Pan-ethnic identities

• Situational identities

Challenging v. Conforming Identities

• Malcolm X: I am not an American– Origins of Hip Hop– Origins of Reggae

• Martin Luther King, Jr.: brotherhood of all mankind– Crossover music by Latino artists: Gloria

Estefan, J-LO, Ricky Martin, Mark Anthony– Will Smith, Nelly

Will we ever quit viewing race as real?

• George Will: can we say race is still an important barrier in American society given Oprah, Colin Powell, and Michael Jordan?

• Counter evidence– Guadalupe, Arizona (Bob Herbert)– Residential segregation, economic

inequality