Race Flashcards
1
Q
Positionally
A
Acknowledging where you stand as your identity, when speaking of a topic that you may or may not relate to. For example, when prof acknowledged her position as someone with a Chinese background and that although she is part of a racialized group, not all experiences of racism and inequities are the same
2
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Structural Functionalism and Conflict Theory
A
- Dominated sociological inquiry in 1960s which siloed research into examining the ways macro-level forces modernized societies, institutions, and cultural values and class relations
- Consequently also meant that there were not many impacts in literature for race, gender, etc.
3
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Symbolic Interactionism
A
Challenged the supposed objectivity and scientific neutrality of the biomedical model when we saw other factors come into play (although has been criticized for negating power structures and power/hierarchy influences)
4
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Was there a complete absence of race in science
A
No, although we did not acknowledge race, did not mean we did not take race into research and there are early forms of systematic data available on race and health can be found as early as the 1800’s in North America
5
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - The Black Deficit
A
- Although in the 1800s life expectancy was low and morbidity rates high, people of colour in NA were still overrepresented in almost all categories of disease, illness & death helping create culture of biological determinism and scientific racism
6
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Race’s variability w/in health research
A
- Major variable both in social and medical fields
- Globally, racially dominant groups are healthier and live longer than racially subordinate groups
- Definitions of race have shifted throughout the decades - now seen as a socially constructed category rather than a biological one, bringing out the history aspect of how we define and view things and how this impacts conducting research and resource allocation
7
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Definition of Race
A
- Race is understood by most as a social categorization of groups ppl are based off physical attributes like skin colour
8
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Ethnicity
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Ethnicity often includes aspects such as language, history, religion and customs
9
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Race vs Ethnicity
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Race is inherited vs Ethnicity is learned (through schools, govt, economy, institutions, etc.
10
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Stereotyping
A
- These beliefs may be less explained in terms of biological traits, but are often justified through flawed social & cultural values
- Weird mix between the biological/physical and morality, like the idea that skin colour leads to different moralities especially when compared to the dominant group
- Causes increases in institutionalized/structural racism (policies, Red Lining, Eugenics)
11
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Impacts of stereotyping and racism
A
- Regardless of race being widely accepted as a social construction, the damaging impacts of stereotyping are still prevalent for POC
- Facing racism has been found to have (-) health impacts on POC, such as with economic mobility/SES, as it determines who and how certain services are accessed, cultural capital building, cultural norms surrounding health, wage gap, etc.
12
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Social Stress Paradigm
A
- In health sociology, aligns with the stress from experiencing or the existential threat of experiencing racism
- Argues that when groups of people are at a social disadvantage (living in a society built on struc.rac.) they are more likely to be vulnerable to stress and stress induced health risks (mental illness, heart disease)
- Self-esteem, self-worth, and the sense of mastery over life have been pointed out as increasing factors for illness
13
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Stressors included in Social Stress Paradigm
A
Strain/stress, institutionalized, structural, polite/nice racism
14
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Racism
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Chronic stressor for POC, especially Black and Indigenous people
15
Q
Historical background of Race and Health - Nice Racism
A
- A form of micro aggression
- Ignorant behaviour where ppl try to seem not ignorant & instead are racist
- Implicit, formulated under premise of not meaning to be racist, does not have to be malicious to be racist
16
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - Origins
A
When Black slavery became more institutionalized, the theory that African Americans being innately inferior to white Europeans became more widely accepted and because of this it embedded itself in practice of health and medicine, resulting in high exploitation of black ppl for economic gain of white medicine
17
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - In Medicine
A
- Black individuals were often compared to apes, therefore seen as less human, less intelligent and uncivilized
- Medical sciences at this time often justified this through pseudo-scientific theories, such as “the great chain of being”
18
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - The Great Chain Of Being
A
Progression amongst human groups, with the lowest being simple and animal like and the most progressed being civilized beings, human and… white
19
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - The Great Chain of Being’s biological “facts” about Black ppl
A
- Larger body parts
- Sexually Deviant
- Strong body odor
- High tolerance for pain
- As well as Chronic Leprosy, lockjaw and difficult parturition were known as Black disease
20
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - The Great Chain of Being and Medicine
A
- This paradigm was widely accepted by physicians and medical science, formulating the idea that Black ppl were mentally and medically inferior
- During this time, medical theories based off of racist ideologies were prolific and were shared in a way that promoted slavery and Black inferiority
- Biological determinism was a central tenet of NA viewpoint at the time and was a cultural phenomenon/norm
21
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - Medical Experiments
A
- Enslaved and freed African Americans (plus some poor white ppns) were used for medical experiments
- Slave owners often tested the efficiency of medical remedies on slaves
- Slaves were often used as medical demonstration and test subjects for surgery, which at the time were so underdeveloped that needing surgery was considered a death sentence
- Medical schools would dug up bodies from Black cemeteries without asking or getting permission
22
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - J. Marion Sims
A
- Founding father of gynecology
- Was known for testing and ‘perfecting’ vaginal surgery techniques on Black enslaved women - often without anesthesia
- It has been documented that he had multiple cases where he performed 20-30 surgeries on a single patient
23
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - Slavery abolishment
A
- In United States, after the civil war and after the 13th Amendment was adopted (Dec 18, 1884)
- In Canada, official August 1st 1884
- However, the impacts of slavery and ideological belief in biological determinism still prevailed
24
Q
Historical background of Race and Medical Science - impacts of slavery and biological determinism
A
- By late 19th Century, Black people faced higher rates of sickness than whites & significantly shorter life spans
- Following emancipation, lack of policies to aid former enslaved Black ppl created a crisis of health & mortality, exacerbated as afro-americas left rural & plantation areas
- It has devastating consequences as they were not seen as people and not given health rights, such as being forbidden to get vaccines, lower accessibility to clean living conditions, reduced access to clean birthing conditions and less access to nutritious food
25
Differences in Health Outcomes - Race
- Influential variable when examining health and health outcomes, showing African Americans are twice as likely to rate their health as fair or poor compared to white Americans
- These indivs are more likely to have higher rates of earlier morbidity and mortality when rating their health as fair-low, which shows the importance of perceived health
- More prevalent in African families as they feel like illness is inevitable
26
Differences in Health Outcomes - Health conditions
- Black women are 20x more likely to experience heart failure under age as compared to white women
- Black men are at lower risks of getting diagnoses w CVD than white men, but have higher rates of mortality from this disease (can be tied back to male white centric research generalized to ppns it should not generalize to)
- Black women are at lower risks of getting breast cancer but are 30 times more likely to die from it, which can be attributed to symptoms medicalized differently, accessibility for getting tested and the power and privilege that is needed to have agency or feel like you do in a doctor's office
- In general, black ppl overrepresented in Type II Diabetes, high rates of mortality, hypertension, HIV Aids, etc.
27
Cumulative disadvantage
Emphasized how early advantage or disadvantage (generationally) creates differential status and therefore, health outcomes over time; most research supports this when it comes to explaining the health deficit experienced by POC
28
Cumulative disadvantage example
Organized sport is more important than physical activity, for every ages as it involves physical exercise and meeting people; increases social capital, social support, social network, social resource (impacting health longterm) and leads to learning how to interact with others, positive mental health outcomes, learning physical activity, gaining social capital, creating culmination of resources to make a change according to this hypothesis
29
Universal Context of Fairness
Modern society as fundamentally fair and equitable; this is fueled by the access to opportunities, personal experiences, and the fundamental idea that people get what they deserved ideology (neoliberalism)
30
Problems with Universal Context of Fairness
- Large proportion of white ppl have limited contacts w POC
- Negates varying social factors
- Does not mention equity
- Intersectional approach ignored
- History is important as it gives a "why" and generational factors, but it ignores intergenerational trauma
- If we build a society in this theory, it negates the structural advantages & disadvantages a society is built on
31
Decolonizing Health Canada: Indigenous people
- Due to diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada, analyzing health outcomes can be challenging (incomplete diversity in data as data generalizes experiences of Indigenous people & disregards variations)
- Despite this, it is clear that Indigenous peoples experience higher rates of chronic disease and higher risk factors to illness than non-indigenous Canadians
32
Decolonizing Health Canada: Health outcomes
- Indigenous peoples experience lower life chances and have lower life expectancy than non-Indigenous Canadians
- Indigenous peoples are more likely to experience violent deaths, death by suicide, and death by injury
- These rates change w/in intergroup w addition of variables like ethnicity & geographical location
33
Decolonizing Health Canada: Ex. of health disparity
- Overrepresentation of Indigenous in CVD & diabetes
- Rates of cancer mortality escalating more than other groups, but Indigenous are less likely to be diagnosed, due to diagnosis issues, lack of trust, lack of cultural competence, feeling unsafe, generalizability
34
Decolonizing Health Canada: Increasing factors
- Loss of language, cultural traditions, and traditional lands increase risk factors for illness and disease for Indigenous peoples in Canada
- Income, education, living conditions and several Indigenous-specific determinants of (colonization, dispossession of land, and loss of traditional practices) are immediate indicators of vulnerability to illness and disease
35
Decolonizing Health Canada: Risks through these factors
- Risks to diet, physical activity & tobacco use correlate with risks of specific chronic disease and all other determinants of health
- Limited access, rural communities need food & water (fresh produce) need to be imported which costs a lot
- Colonial mechanisms have replaced traditional diets of low-fat, high nutrient foods that required more energy expenditure to high fat, high sugar, & sedentary lifestyles w/in Indigenous ppns
36
Decolonizing Health Canada: Data suggestions
- 58.3% Indigenous populations living off-reserve live inactive lifestyles
- 41.3% of Indigenous youth living off-reserve are overweight or obesity
37
Decolonizing Health Canada: Before residential schools
- The legacy of residential schools cannot be left out of conversation when talking about health outcomes
- Historically, Indigenous peoples across NA lived out successful and dynamic societies, which included forms of education and learning, such a spirituality
- These forms were secured and survived through passing down from gen to gen
38
Decolonizing Health Canada: Residential Schools
- A joint project by the federal govt and christian and catholic religious groups, residential schools were used to facilitate the assimilation the assimilation of Indigenous peoples in Canada
- Sir A John A. Macdonald authorized the creation of the first three residential schools in 1883. However, documentation of residential schools can be found as early as 1620 when missionaries from France started laying down the groundwork for assimilation w/in Canada
39
Decolonizing Health Canada: The Davin Report
- Historically significant for residential schools
- In 1879, the federal govt appointed Nicholas flood Davin, a Toronto-based journalist, lawyer and an unsuccessful conservative parliamentary candidate to investigate the boarding school system in the US
- At the time, the US was launching industrial schools, with the goal to separate. children from their families and from multiple communities for several years to provide them skills to acclimate to the changing colonial environment (economically and socially)
- Partnered with churches for school purposes (a moral based curriculum & cheaper labour)
40
Decolonizing Health Canada: The Davin report resulted in recommendations
- Removing any Indigenous leaders from the character and/or management of the schools
- Partnering w Canadian churches for operation purposes
- Fast track the schools for economic benefit of Canada -> economically beneficial citizens participating in economy to produce more cultural capital
41
Decolonizing Health Canada: "End" of residential schools
- By 1940s, the decline and failure of these schools was prevalent, as Academic achievement was low and only 3% of students had gone beyond grade 6 in 1930.
- But, forced colonial schooling persisted
- By 1950s, the federal govt began phasing out compulsory residential schools and forcing Indigenous children into provincial schools
- Residential schools were kept open during the 1960s and used as boarding schools for children whose families were deemed unfit to care for them
- Genocide, as we are phasing out but if we deem families as unfit to parents, we can continue this, as there is still an economic benefit ideal
- Based off of race, who says what is or isn't fit, biological determinism (inequity, inequality & violence)
42
Decolonizing Health Canada: Abuse in Residential schools
Psychological, spiritual, physical and sexual abuse were common
43
Decolonizing Health Canada: Impacts of violence on survivors
- Heightened experiences of anxiety, depression, anger, low self esteem, and PTSD
- High rates of suicide, suicide attempts and/or self-harm
- Substance abuse
- High rates unemployment, homelessness & incarceration/overrepresentation of Indigenous in Justice System
- Impacted intergenerationally, which will take decades to regress (trauma)
44
The Sixties Scoop
- Large scale removal of Indigenous children from their homes, communities & families often w/o consent or w coercion
- Some children were adopted into predominantly non-Indigenous, middle-class, families across Canada and the US - some sent abroad to New Zealand
- In the 60s federal policy, continued colonial mechanisms, and residential schools left devastating consequences on Indigenous communities
- Taking children lasted from 196-s and into the 1980s, although there is no accurate number as to how many children were forcibly removed from their homes and communities, but recent dsts suggest over 20,000.
45
Epigenetics
Conditions associated with racial discrimination can result in epigenetic alterations within a person's genome, increasing their risks to disease and aging
46
What do epigenetics do
Epigenetics examines our genome and its effects on ppls's health and epigenetic events occur when people experience certain social conditions over time and/or with severity (like loneliness, known to increase resistance to bacterial infections, but decrease to viruses)
47
Methylation
- A complex chemical process, which simply put is a chemical called methyl acts like a on and off switch for particular genes
- Been known to be an epigenetic phenomenon
- Increases risk to CV disorders, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and canecr
48
Telomere Length
- Third epigenetic phenomenon
- DNA and protein structures located at the end of chromosomes that help protect them
- Act as an indicator of aging (several studies show an increased level of anti-black discrimination with a faster shortening of telomeres
49
Epigenetics and Race
A fairly new field of science, but current literature strongly supports the adverse effects of chronic exposure to racial discrimination to changing us on a microscopic biological level
