racial inequality, racism, and racial change (3/21)

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Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change (3/21) Complete Policy: ArmyNavy and what can be done? What forces and policies influence race relations in what ways?

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Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change (3/21). Complete Policy: ArmyNavy and what can be done? What forces and policies influence race relations in what ways?. Is there race inequality of opportunity (review). Is the playing field level. Some people believe it is more than level. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change (3/21)

Complete Policy: ArmyNavy and what can be done?

What forces and policies influence race relations in what ways?

Page 2: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Is there race inequality of opportunity (review)

Is the playing field level.

Some people believe it is more than level.

The text (e.g. p. 440 “Top dog or Underdog”) suggests this is mistaken.

Feagin argues that discriminatory treatment and stereotyping is pervasive in the US today,

As measured by thousands of matched pair applications for housing, employment, etc.

Page 3: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

#4 The Myth that nothing can be done

There are not only huge shifts in attitudes,

But also large differences and relatively rapid changes in different institutions.

The army went from largely vertically segregated to the most integrated large institution in the US in decades.

The process was similar to that pictured in Remember the Titans

Page 4: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The problem in the army and other armed forces:The problem was that vertical segregation was divisive, dysfunctional and unjust.Incoming candidates differed in test scores, so that if those scores to determined placement vertical segregation was assured.Are the test score differences innate or due to differences in schools, etc.?The army argued that there was evidence of the latter, and if so it is unjust as well as inefficient to accommodate to it.

Page 5: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Nature of army programs

A set of four main compensatory programs.

None insures one a position, only a chance.

They are not aimed to replace the educational system, but to remedy the cumulative racial inequality.

Page 6: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The army and the navy, again.

Feagin does not believe that the army is any more “utopian” than the navy.

Nor were the average sentiments of either most people or most officers different.

The main difference was a commitment by the leadership to a sufficient set of policies directed at both inequality and prejudice.

Page 7: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Are race relations and race inequality stable, unstable or

hyperstable?Call a structure “stable” if it changes a little if a small force is placed on it, and it changes a lot of a large force is applied. Structures without feedbacks are often stable.

Call a structure “unstable” if it changes a lot even when only a small force is applied. Positive feedback structures are often unstable

Call a structure “hyper-stable” if, even after it has been changed, it tends to change back. Negative feedback structures are often hyper-

stable.

Page 8: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The three marbles, again

unstable stable

Hyper-stable

Which dynamic describes racism and racial inequality? Why?

Page 9: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Myrdal believed that race relations were unstable.

They have lots of positive feedbacks. A decrease in prejudice should create an avalanche of

further changes unraveling the racist structure. Just as an increase in racial inequality should create an

avalanche of further changes increasing racism. (Note that both happened in the 1970’s)

Moreover it is part of a larger system. Changes in the economy were undermining Jim Crow. Changes in the whole society were making Southern

regionalism less viable. Changes in the world were making US failure to live up to its

ideals less viable.

The structure of positive feedbacks that brought it about, would cause the whole system to unravel.

Page 10: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Implications of his analysis of racial inequality as positive

feedbacksThe structure looks inert because and only because it is so pervasive.

But policy interventions can be very powerful because change is amplified.

However they must be broad spectrum (I.e. health, education, political power, income, wealth, social participation, etc.

Page 11: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Feagin’s view: We are at a fork in the road:

2 Contradictory dynamics responding to the coming minority majority in different ways:

1. Increasing separatism and coercion• Gated communities• The “Brazilian solution.”

2. A broad coalition to build inclusive citizenship and “true democracy”

“Without justice, there cannot be peace”

Page 12: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The relation between individual attitudes and

social dynamicsIndividual actions society, but in many different ways.Society individual attitudes and behaviors, , but in many different ways.Pettigrew* calls the assumption that a racist society is one that contains a lot of prejudiced individuals a failure to “keep our levels straight” or to “think in systems terms”

Page 13: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Housing segregation and tipping points

A striking and well-understood example involves housing segregation. Suppose that when some black families move into a neighborhood, all the white families move out. Does that mean that all the white families are motivated by prejudice?Even ignoring the institutionalized policies of banks, real estate agents and developers, schools, or politicians, imagine a distribution of attitudes as follows:

Page 14: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

White willingness to live in neighborhoods of varying

mixSuppose the following mix of attitudes:19% favor an integrated neighborhood and will remain, so long as they are not the only whites in the neighborhood.  20% favor an integrated neighborhood and will remain, so long as it remains 50% or more white.20% favor an integrated neighborhood and will remain, so long as no more than 1/3 of the residents are nonwhite.20% favor an integrated neighborhood and will remain, so long as it does not become more nonwhite than the country as a whole (i.e. so long as it is less than 20% non-white)20% favor an integrated neighborhood and will remain, so long as they do not observe other families moving out.1% oppose a integrated neighborhoods and will move out if any non-whites move in.

What is the dynamic that results?

Page 15: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

White flight

   If the institutional rule is that each family makes an independent decision, and if there are no social policies that produce counter-pressures, then:

1. the move of the one percent that oppose integration in principle will cause

2. the next 20% of white families to move out, 3. which will cause the next 20% of white families to

move out, 4. and so on, leading to an all black neighborhood.

Another way of looking at it is as a self-reinforcing stampede of white flight.

Page 16: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Does the outcome reflect wishes?

In one sense, by definition the outcome reflects wishes (as well as institutional arrangements.)But by assumption, 99% of the population prefers an integrated neighborhood.And the unwillingness of, for example, the last 20% to live in an almost all-black neighborhood may have nothing to do with prejudice.The outcome dynamic is the same as that which would result if all white families wanted to avoid contact with any black families.But what would have to be changed to change the dynamic is very different.

Page 17: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Within a decade, Jim Crow had been dismantled.

Why did so “little” change in attitudes inequality and social relations result?

On the one hand, the dismantling of Jim Crow is not “little.” Some people even argue that the playing field is level today (a position that Feagin and the text both contest).

On the other hand, many structures of inequality and segregation have remained, and have even grown over the past 20 years.

Page 18: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Theory #1: Deeply rooted sentiments

Some people suggest that attitudes about race are socialized early and resistant to change.But many attitudes appeared to change quite rapidlyThe armyBennington“Remember the Titans”

Page 19: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Theory #2: The new racism

Some people suggest that public acceptability merely made racism take the form of cultural stereotypes rather than genetic theories: “symbolic racism” using code terms of “crime in the

streets,” “welfare,” or “political correctness” “sense of group position:” that whites merely shifted

to whatever policies were most likely to maintain their advantages.

“laissez faire racism:” that the positions most likely to maintain white advantage were individualism and limitation of government policy

Page 20: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Theory #3: countervailing forces

An unstable system can amplify either an increase or decrease of either racial inequality or racial prejudice.Civil rights instituted a beneficent cycleDeindustrialization, globalization, and government cutbacks instituted a vicious cycle.Which increased inequality in the black community and cancelled each other out.

Page 21: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Theory #4: Backlash

The erosion of privileges (or perceived, relative privilege)of some whites produced counter-movements and counter-policies,

and the majority of whites were not willing to take sides.

Page 22: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

My own personal view

I (Peter Knapp) have argued that there are evidently countervailing pressures Both forces are demonstrable, And inequality in the black community has increased. See the Symposium in Contemporary Sociology

(26:314-7; 1997)

but that sociology often has difficulty estimating how large are the effects of such countervailing feedbacks, and that is one of the reasons for developing more systemic theories.

Page 23: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The continued decline of prejudiced attitudes in the

US: RAC PRES Intermar

60

100

1980 1990 2000RAC PRES: % say they would vote for a candidate of the other race, if their party nominated him.

Intermar: % oppose laws against the marriage of blacks and whites.

Page 24: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The lack of trend on policyBLACK $ HELP BLACK

5

40

1980 1990

B LACK $: % believe that the government is doing too little to improve the life chances of blacks.

HELP BLACK: % strongly agree that the government should help blacks overcome the effects of past discrimination.

Page 25: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The effect of Jim Crow racism (or race prejudice) on “HELP

BLACK” INTERMAR.? by GOV.BLACK

GOVT.HELP AGR.W/BOTH NO SPECIAL Missing TOTAL

YES 245 489 1259 4321 1993

12.3% 24.5% 63.2% 100.0%

NO 1564 2339 3601 11675 7504

20.8% 31.2% 48.0% 100.0%

Missing 1641 2549 4445 3281 11916

TOTAL 1809 2828 4860 19277 9497

19.0% 29.8% 51.2%

A small fraction of the population opposes intermarriage, and they are only 8% less likely to support gov’t aid to blacks.

Page 26: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

Another measure of Jim Crow racism (or race prejudice) Re

“HELP BLACK”RACE DIF2 by GOV.BLACK

GOVT.HELP AGR.W/BOTH NO SPECIAL Missing TOTAL

YES 169 305 684 1281 1158

14.6% 26.3% 59.1% 100.0%

NO 1155 1964 3001 6398 6120

18.9% 32.1% 49.0% 100.0%

Missing 2126 3108 5620 11598 22452

TOTAL 1324 2269 3685 Only a small fraction of the population believes that blacks have less inborn ability to learn, and they are only 4% less likely to believe the government should do more to help.

Page 27: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The effect of new racism (or belief in less motivation) on

“HELP BLACK”RACE DIF4 by GOV.BLACK

GOVT.HELP AGR.W/BOTH NO SPECIAL Missing TOTAL

YES 458 1063 2467 4212 3988

11.5% 26.7% 61.9% 100.0%

NO 840 1120 1169 3299 3129

26.8% 35.8% 37.4% 100.0%

Missing 2152 3194 5669 11766 2278

TOTAL 1298 2183 3636

A substantial fraction of the population says that blacks have less motivation and will power, and they are substantially less likely (12% vs. 27%) to support government help.

Page 28: Racial Inequality, Racism, and Racial Change  (3/21)

The effect of belief in discrimination) on “HELP

BLACK”RACE DIF1 by GOV.BLACK

GOVT.HELP AGR.W/BOTH NO SPECIAL Missing TOTAL

YES 962 1102 930 3221 2994

32.1% 36.8% 31.1% 100.0%

NO 352 1106 2751 4380 4209

8.4% 26.3% 65.4% 100.0%

Missing 2136 3169 5624 11676 22605

TOTAL 1314 2208 3681 19277 7203

18.2% 30.7% 51.1%

A substantial minority of the population says that blacks have less income, etc. because of discrimination, and they are substantially more likely (32% vs. 8%) to support government help.