Introduction to Sociology Professor Munshi Fall 2014

Schedule for Today, 10.29.14 Race and Intersectionality the New Jim Crow

Racism & Prejudice Racism ideology that supports the belief that one racial group is innately superior or inferior to another; system of power Prejudice Generalizations or stereotypes about other groups of people

How do we view racism from a sociological perspective? Racism is a large system that goes beyond individual ideas and prejudices Racism is not usually not intentional but happens in subtle ways

Discrimination Institutional when opportunity, privileges, and rights are denied, usually through policies which make the discrimination seem “normal" Attitudinal shows up in everyday interactions and practices

institutional discrimination is often invisible and indirect  harder to talk about

Case Study: the Prison Industrial Complex What is the prison industrial complex? One definition> overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to what are economic, social, and political “problems.”

Case Study: the Prison Industrial Complex On prison expansion in the U.S. Some facts about the prison industrial complex

Case Study: the Prison Industrial Complex People of color are about 30% of the general population, but about 60% of the prison population 1/15 African American men; 1/36 Hispanic men; 1/106 white men are in prison African American women are 3x more likely to be incarcerated than white women; Hispanic women 69% more likely than white women. 1998-2011, immigration offenses increased by 145%

The New Jim Crow What is the “old” Jim Crow Laws in the U.S. South that enforced racial segregation (1876-1965) Why does Alexander call her book about U.S. prisons: The New Jim Crow?

In small groups: Why are crime rates and patterns of drug crime unable to explain the “glaring racial disparities in our criminal justice system?” What does she mean by a “formally colorblind criminal justice system?” Does the legal system see racial differences? Why or why not?

The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow

Announcements/Homework Changes to syllabus: Essay #2 is due on Monday, November 24, not November 12 For Monday, November 3: Read Chapter 6, pp. 165-182 & re-read pp.151-165. Reading Worksheet #7 due