The Meaning of Difference Textbook: Rosenblum and Travis Pages Part 1 Slides

Section #3-The Meaning of Difference – Section #1: How are categories of difference named, dichotomized, aggregated – Section #2: Experience of privilege and stigma that accompanies statuses Section #3: What difference does difference make? – How do social institutions and ideology have an effect on people? Social institution? The “birdcage” metaphor-Marilyn Frye (1983)

Ideology Marx and Engels (1846) “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas” -An ideology is a widely shared belief or idea that has been constructed and disseminated by the powerful that primarily reflects their experiences and functions in their benefit – Offers only a partial view of the world, but is presented as universally valid – Whose ideas prevail? Who controls the means of disseminating ideas, beliefs, and viewpoints? I.e.: The belief in meritocracy

Hegemonic Ideology Antonio Gramsci – Hegemonic/ruling Ideology-An ideology that so dominates the culture that it becomes the prevailing and unquestioned belief – Social control of a large population of people is primarily accomplished through the control of ideas and whatever is considered “common sense” How do you keep people in line even when there are great amounts of poverty and economic inequality

Conveying Ideology Natural Law Language – Use of the term natural/human nature/human instinct=inevitable, predetermined, outside of human control – Use of such language has 3 main consequences 1. Ends discussion of topic 2. Ignores social and historical variability in behavior 3. Treats human as passive, uninterested – Cumulative effect  don’t question behavior/social world; don’t challenge injustice and discrimination » “It’s only natural to…want to have children; discriminate; want to get married” » “Inequality is natural; Poverty is inevitable”; “Aggression and war are human nature” “Greed is natural”.

Conveying ideology: Natural Law Language- “People just want to be with their own kind” Describing something as natural helps us to ignore how social forces create conditions that are attributed to nature. – Is residential segregation natural? – Do most people want to only date, have sex with, and marry people of their own race?

Conveying Ideology: Stereotypes A prediction that all members of a group will behave in certain ways… – All individuals possess same characteristics – Broad based predictions about behavior that attempt to characterize a whole population Cannot be verified Deny reality of historical and cultural variation Attempt to essentialize behavior Despite great evidence that, of course, most stereotypes are completely unreliable, studies show that many people hold strong stereotypical views about groups of people

Model Minority Stereotypes

Whites’ Racial Stereotypes The persistence and disavowal of bias Color blind racism