Perceptions as Reality/ the Power of an ‘Illusion’ Week 10 The Politics of Race: The Riddles of Race/ Perceptions as Reality/ the Power of an ‘Illusion’

Post racial Canada/USA: Myth or reality? Race doesn’t matter Racists are dwindling exception Race based programs (EE) = racist But….

The Paradoxes of the Race Concept It did, it didn’t, it still does, should it, will it? Why dated concept persist in contemporary Canada that commits to colour blind pple. of meritocracy? Race Matters.

Overview of Chapter Race mattered Race classifications + typology Justify colonialism [Social darwinism, eugenics, scientific racism (IQ testing)] Enlightenment - explanatory framework Race can’t matter - No empirical reality, not natural, but socially constructed yet construction concealed Race matters Not real, but…. COGNITIVE: believe its real…. STRUCTURAL: Social location/lived ex INSTITUTIONAL: racialized/racialization “Phenomena do not have to be real, to be real in consequences’ Should race matters? - ‘Fighting fire with fire’/race = prob = solution Will race matter? = source of identity, belonging Canada = racialized or color blind society? = whiteness as racialized privilege

Race Mattered The history of the world is ‘epitomized in one word – Empire; the domination of white Europe over Black Africa and Yellow Asia through political power and built on the economic control of labour, income, and ideas. WEB DuBois 1940 * Not accident but integral to western society

Race matters MATTERS = causes something to happen Eye of the Storm Blue / Brown Eye ‘experiment’ Social Location Phenomena do not have to be “real”… Predictor of success and failure

Race Matters Police Race Profiling Kingston Police Services Survey+Toronto Carding (2008-11) Blacks stopped at rates 3 1/2 times their pop. Why- more crime? - more visibility? - more profiling (discrimination)? Whose Right? – statistics? - Racial Rashomon ( what you see depends on where you stand (social location) - racialized divide – over/under – bad apples/rotten barrel

Race Matters:Sport and Race Disproportional numbers in NFL and NBA Race? Society/Social Anatomical diffs yes, race no. Anatomy + Society = explanatory framework

Race Matters: Race and Crime Racialized minorities + Aboriginal Peoples = disproportionately represented in CJS Aboriginal Peoples = 4% of pop but 22% of prison Race? Or Race as proxy? Or Society or culture or CJS bias? Should race based crime statistics exist? - help or hinder?

Race Matters: Racialized Society Socially constructed yet concealed all societies = distinction = division of labour = devaluation = deeply embedded in founding pples of society Not neutral but ideologically loaded Racialized = biased against racialized minorities (etc) society = slanted toward whiteness as normal etc. = systemically organized around beliefs about race and entitlements (power etc) based on membership in perceived race.

Race Matters: Racialized Institutions Ideas and ideals about what is acceptable, normal and desirable Deeply embedded in design, organization, agendas, values, operations, rewards, outputs Inadvertently benefitting some, biasing others Yet little awareness of this systemic bias Critical Race Theory

Race Matters: Racialized mindset People reject race concept But people (a) believe (b) act © live it as if race were real With very real consequences “Race still a strong factor in US, a major study says” (Montreal gazette, 2 Oct 99)

racialization Process by which powerful impose negative race labels on groups or activities because of their perceived inferior status as race Ex – racialization of crime - Jane-Finch, Gangs, Guns, Drugs - Middle Eastern = terrorism From Biology/thing to Social Construction (verb) - process by which “others” are biologized, stigmatized, excluded - more about us - not race relations, but racialized relations, - not racial minorities, but racialized minorities

Race, Racialization, Racialized Race = divide world into fixed groups - based on physical, psychological etc ch. - believed to determine thought + beh. - arrange in ranking from superior…. Race = misconceived “thing” out there. Racialization = race = ‘process’, socially created = says more about “us” Racialized – structural entrenchment of race as bias

Race Matters: Whiteness as racialized privilege/as white supremacy As social location As relation of Dominance Normative/normal status Unearned privilege + power White as race or as if race? Whiteness as racism? Whiteness still matters

See online case study: Afrocentric/Black-Focus Schools in Toronto Against Black Focus Schools For Black Focus Schools Separatist in style Inclusive in logic Segregationist/marginalize Self Determining/empower Skills focus = key to success Identity focus = key to success Rationale = race Rationale = choice Blacks = problem Education system = problem Slippery Slope Alternative schools in existence

Will Race Matter? Is a race blind society possible or desirable?

Concluding comments/Past Exam Questions Race not just mindset/bad attitudes but a system of power, domination, and control Human differences, not race (see race and sport) Race matters (3 ways) Race = social construction + social location Race = predictor of success or failure …. Race not accidental/incident /flawed but integral to society/society building. society = designed to reflect, reinforce, advance white interests (ex immigration program * Is Race blind society possible?

Not for soc 2eo6 - Tutorial Questions How does this video reinforce the sociological expression that “phenomena do not have to be real to be real in their consequences”? How does this video reflect another sociological truism: success breeds success (that is, a self fulfilling prophecy). How does the video demonstrate the validity of the statement that race is socially constructed? How are concepts of racialization and racialized expressed in the vid