‘ Race’, Racism and Cultural Identity Week 5 Lecture: Racism(1): Social Processes
The Implicit Association Test
Can we test individuals for racism? du/implicit/ du/implicit/ The use of MRI scans to measure brain activity in response to racialised images Psychological selection tests based on hypothetical scenarios
Limitations of testing Is racism an innate condition of individuals? Is racism what people think or what people do?
Trevor Phillips (Chair of Commission for Racial Equality) Brain scans as a test for racism would not be useful “We spend far too much time worried about trying to detect racism in people rather than circumscribing the behaviour that leads to bias.” There are people who have racist attitudes who are perfectly fair and even-handed in the ways they treat people, and there are people who think of themselves as committed anti-racists who consistently show bias in the way they behave.”
Racism in contemporary Britain The term racism enters common usage in 1940s. Initial attempts to define racism focused on content and form of beliefs i.e. superiority of one race over another based on inherent biologically based differences. For example, social anthropologist Ruth Benedict in 1943 defined racism as “the dogma that one ethnic group is condemned by nature to congenital inferiority and another group is destined to congenital superiority.” But how useful is this definition in the contemporary setting?
The form, content and object of racialised discourse vary over time. In the contemporary setting the term is applied in ways that do not fit with the definition of racism developed in the middle of the C20th e.g. discussions of intractable ethnic differences or of the ‘underclass’ Is racism about beliefs or actions or outcomes?
The racism of the State Institute of Race Relations : Over 140 deaths since 1978 of black and minority ethnic individuals which have taken place in prison, police or hospital custody and which have given rise to concern because of unexplained or mysterious circumstances surrounding those deaths and / or allegations of maltreatment, dereliction of duty or brutality. Joy Gardner: victim of a racist murder?
A feature of the contemporary setting is that ‘racism’ is typically seen as a pejorative term. The public and policy arena is characterised by debates about the nature of racism (what is racism?) and the extent of racism as a social problem e.g. ‘Institutional racism’, debates about migration and national identity. Implicit in this is also a debate about what ‘anti-racism’ is or should be.
Racism in contemporary Britain Society is formally ‘colour-blind’ Racism is often covert There is a politics of racism and anti-racism To call someone a racist is in many settings a term of abuse. ‘I’m not racist but …’ Meaning and significance of racism in contemporary setting is contested Discussion of race often takes place via coded signifiers such as ‘nation’ or ‘culture’ The incommensurability of minority and majority experiences and understandings of the nature and extent of racism. White backlash against ‘political correctness’ and equal opportunities policies
White backlash US Style
Social science approaches to racism Social science analysis of racism takes place in this confused and confusing social and political setting. For social scientists attempting to operationalise the term, it is hard to separate the explanation of racism (why racism?) from questions of approach and definition (what is racism?).
‘Racism’ has been variously characterised as: Individual prejudice A set of practices Ideology Institutionalised structures State policies
Racism is ….. Multi-dimensional Involves a complex set of social processes e.g. how to measure the impact of racism in the labour market? Intimately connected to other dimensions of difference and inequality
Racism: conceptual issues Individual prejudice or Shared stereotype? A problem of difference or A problem of power? A belief or A behaviour? Defined by intention or Defined by outcome? Action or Structure? Practice or Discourse? Culture or Institution?