Race and ethnicity Flashcards
1
Q
Key authors and explain in general terms their standpoint
A
- Michael Blakey: Scientific Racism and the Biological Concept of Race
- Peggy McIntosh: White and male privilege
- Franz Boas: believed that race was a taxonomy of non-scientific origin, first to critic it, believed race is a social construction
- Johann Friedreich Blumenbach one of the first that attempted to categorise humans according to their race whether they are Causcasion, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian or American
- Carl von Linne/Linnaeus was responsible for creating the taxonomy by which all species and organisms were cateogrised an named
- Samuel Morton used craniometry to scientifically classify different races, creating a racial hierarchy based on false sciences
2
Q
Explain the key theories and methodoliges of Linnaues
A
- Created a taxonomy by which all species and organismis were cateogorised, he sub-divided the huamn species into races accordding to continents
- Created the grouping of Caucasian referring to a presumed original or pure race to which Europeans originated
- created descriptions of the attributes of different races which was a factor in understanding relationships between different groups, such as by classifying Africans and barbaric, lazy and Europeans as natural leaders, race and thus also the science became a justification for enslavement –> this created a hierachy of races used to demonstrate inherent superiority and inferiority
3
Q
Explain the methodologies of Samuel Morton
A
- Used craniometry and other scientific measurements for racial comparisons to justify white supremacy and the social stratifications of race, gender, class etc. 1830s.
4
Q
Explain the concept of racialisation and give examples
A
- Racialisation is the process through which a group becomes defined in racial terms, where groups get racially highlighted by external social forces in relation to the economy, world events and the current political landscape, its where certain racial groups are drawn into the social spotlight
- e.g. Chinese were verbally and physically abused during the emergence of COVID as the political landscape was racially situated, enforced by leaders such as Trump referring to it as the ‘Chinese virus’ and ‘kung flu’
- This process involves looking at race as a verb that is constntly changing, recognises that racialisation is constantly changing and fluid, it explores people’s identities and that social relations aren’t set in stone or biology
- e.g. after 9/11 racialisation was shifted to the focus of discriminating against the Muslim and Arab population as they were seen as a threat to the safety and social cohesion of society
5
Q
Explain criticisms of why race isn’t a valid indicator/concept
A
- The different scientific methods produce very different results such as if blood type A was used as a marker of racial affinity the Irish and Nigerians would be placed in the same category
- Therefore different scientific methods and measurements will produce starkly different results that don’t necessarily align with social views
- the arbitrariness of population boundaries for defining biological characteristics made the categories subject to a great many social biases
- ones race can change based on the current political landscape such as Mexicans considered white, then not to limit immigration and then again to increase efforts for the war
6
Q
Explain what race is and how it differs to ethnicity
A
- Race is a biological category yet it is socially constructed
- Race is a population that differs from others in the frequency of one or more biological traits, they usually have distinguishing characteristics that are associated with different geographical regions where their populations are found
- Race is historically entrenched in science and biology whereas ethnicity is a more fluid term the encapsulates one’s heritage, cultural practices, beliefs, language, customs etc., it more greatly refers to one’s cultural expression and self-identification
- Races appear to be very real, natural and fixed categories and yet there is a necessary malleability for social construction because depending on the researchers classification will vary the results
7
Q
Explain the history/origins of biological race
A
- pseudoscience was a large part of biological race, it was a collection of beliefs or practies mistakenly regarded as being based on sceintific method
- UNESCO statements in 1950 demonstrated that racial biology has nothing to do with variation in human thought and behaviour, that in fact race isn’t a biological phemnonanon but rather a social myth
8
Q
Explain key theories of Franz Boas
A
- One of the first to critic that the race shouldn’t be based on biology or science, but rather that it is a social construction
9
Q
Explain the notion of white privelege and give examples of how it manifests in daily circumstances
A
- Its this notion that white people have unearned assests and priveleges that provides a protection from violence, distress and hostility and mnifests in greater confidence, comfort and oblivion for what other races experiences
- It allows one to escape fear, anxiety or insult, of not being welcome or feeling as if they are constantly in the social spotlight
- Daily instances of white privelege: being able to see yourself in media representation, get a job without thinking that its tokenisitc and based on your race, if you have greater credibility in speaking in a group environment
- White people are often conditioned to ignore their privilege, they fail to recognise their role as the oppressors and are in oblivion about the existence of their white privlege
- Recognises that racism is more than just individual acts of hatred or discrimination but rather instiutionalised in our systems and perpetuated by everyday and institualised acts of white privilege
10
Q
Misconceptions of privilege
A
- Privilege is seen as something desriable, a favoured state when in reality it serves to systemtically over-power certain groups, conferring dominance and control to particualr groups
- Many of the supposed privileges of white people or men shouldn’t be advantageous privileges but rather part of the natural social fabric of society through which everyone has the right to
11
Q
Key factors that can contribute to the definition of race
A
- birthplace
- family ancestry
- physical attributes: skin colour, hair
- religion
- cultural practice
12
Q
Explain the theory of Blumenbach
A
- Johann Friedreich Blumenbach one of the first that attempted to categorise humans according to their race whether they are Causcasion, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian or American
- He categorised this according to phsycial appearance and geographic origin of their ancestors
13
Q
Explain the one-drop theory
A
- The history of American racial definition has been a morass of changing social conventions and laws regarding racial classification e.g. ‘one drop theory’ (a legal classification that if a person has even one black ancestor they are considered black, it’s the idea that one drop of black blood makes them black)
14
Q
Explain eugenics
A
- Eugenics is the scientifically erronous (wrong) and immoral theory of racial improvement and planned breeding
- WW2 turning point where eugenical and genocidal programs of fascist Europe demonstrated the implications of racial science and policy
- study of how to arrange reproduction with a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable, method of supposedly improving the human race, eugenics have been increasingly discredited, unscientific and racially based
15
Q
Explain reification
A
- complex idea for when you treat something immaterial—like happiness, fear, or evil—as a material thing
- DNA forensics is just one field of research how race remains both idea and object for human population biologists, an indication that it is premature to accept the existence of a no-race consensus
