lecture 10+ ch 10 Flashcards
ethnography as
a mode of observation
first research Explore
racism and racial conflict through a case
study of a high school in North Carolina
first research examines the social and institutional factors that make race meaningful for
youth in schools and how
they contribute to racial hostility and conflict. We are
particularly interested in how school actors construct
and respond to racism
We aim to show how enacting tools of_____ _____ shapes young people’s shared
understanding of racism while concealing the structural
aspects of racial inequality…
plausible deniability
what was found in research is that the hidden structural aspects of racism, along with the public definition of racism as an individual trait and overt action
confirm definitions of racism as individualistic and blatant
the first research does not have. why
operationalization
- interactions
key concepts of first research
Overt racism
Structural racism
Institutional boundary making
structural racism
Racism is an ideology that supports a racialized social
system that rewards racial groups unequally across a
number of domains.”
high track classes are populated with… and low tracking>?
in high schools across the United States, high-track
classes are overwhelmingly populated by white and
middle-class students, while lower-track classes largely
serve minorities and lower-income students
tracking
the practice of separating students for
instruction based on perceived ability, achievement,
and/or projected future occupation, has the effect of
separating students from one another by race and
class.
tracking does what to group differences
it creates, magnifies, and reinforces group
differences
strength of enthograpghy
learn something they had not thought of
authors did not bring up race,
what did they ask students
We asked students about their academic … and
personal … backgrounds, their school (e.g., how they
like it, whether there are cliques, how students get
along, what students, teachers, and administrators are
like), school rules (e.g., whether they are clear, how
students learn them), and problems (e.g., what kinds
occur, how they are resolved)
We did not set out to study race relations, racism, or
race making, nor did we ask about race or racism
unless the issue was raised by an informant. Yet we
could not ignore the specter of race at Cordington
true
sample of the first study
one purposively sampled school in North
Carolina
Population
American highschool
Units of analysis
schools
Units of observation
individual students and
teachers / administrators
why was the research inductive
We focus on one racially charged incident in particular
because it represents an expression of the culmination
of issues surrounding race and racism reported by
students in the first half of the year. It also emerged as
the most frequently mentioned and salient event in the
students’ narratives (in both formal interviews and
classroom discussions) regarding their perceptions of
school climate in the latter part of the academic year.
Our approach to the analysis, then, was very much
inductive
what were the five findings of the research
- Race and class divisions amongst peers.
- Official tracking and segregation.
- Perceptions of racial harmony.
- Redneck identity and racial conflict.
- Actors’ accounting for racial conflict and racism.
Race and class divisions amongst peers.
- cliques
preppies
rednecks
goths
blacks
mexicans
What stands out in the students’ identification of
peer groups is the salience of the redneck group
teachers and students noted that redneck students
occupied distinct physical spaces in the school
Academically advanced classes appeared
to comprise
primarily middle-class white students,
while minorities and perceived rednecks composed a
large proportion of lower-track classrooms
We emphasize them here
to highlight how tracking students in this way sustains
We emphasize them here
to highlight how tracking students in this way sustains
peer groups
were organized primarily by
race
Perceptions of racial harmony
played down barriers between peer groups,
arguing that divisions were minimal compared to how
well students ‘got along.’ Students and faculty alike
described the school as integrated and cohesive and
better than others in the district, where fighting was
more common”
(the plausible explanation) scapegoating - racial tension was blamed on
the rednecks
Redneck identity and racial conflict
Many white
students appeared to feel comfortable deriding
redneck students, thus marginalizing them within the
school
Grouped with empowered minorities in the lower-
level classes, redneck students found ample
opportunities to make
racially charged remarks and
antagonize black students”
rednecks were overtly
racist
why was the threat of violence not surprising
teachers ignorance - everyone saying eveyrthing is fine
- school administraters did not make statement
Administrators’ and teachers’ silence regarding issues
of race, and their implicit framing of the race riot as an
isolated incident
The explicit racism of redneck students provides an
easy target for blame. It allowed other whites to
draw
further distinctions between themselves and rednecks
and, in doing so, portray themselves as not racist…
The act of defining racism as a characteristic of a
particular individual or group of individuals who display
overt racial prejudice and antagonism sets boundaries
on the meaning of racism, which
conceals institutional
racism and provides an outlet through which whites
can claim to be not racist”
direct interventions
and discussions about race accomplishes three goals
- quelling immediate tension,
- facilitating positive communication, and
- teaching
students that race is a topic appropriate to open
discussion and inquiry
Schools must pay closer attention to
how unequal
structures affect group relations.
