SOCIOLOGY 660 (600)
CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF RACE AND ETHNIC GROUP RELATIONS
Professor: Joe R. Feagin
Office: 431 Academic Building.
Office Hours: Wednesday, 9:30am-noon, 1:15-2pm, and by appointment.
Seminar Time: Wednesdays, 2-5pm.
Purpose of Course: This seminar focuses on recent social science theory and research about
major racial and ethnic groups, mainly in the United States. We will emphasize these topics:
historical background; leading theories of assimilation, colonialism, racial formation, and
systemic racism; immigration; cognitive framing and racial stereotyping; past and present
patterns of racial-ethnic discrimination; and international examples of racial-ethnic group
dominance. We will review critically important books dealing with these and related racial and
ethnic issues. The seminar will be discussion oriented.
Course Requirements:
1. Regular participation in the seminar sessions;
2. Twelve comment/critique papers (about 3-4 pages each) on readings as scheduled below.
Your final grade will consist of an average of the twelve paper grades, discounted if necessary
for weak class participation. (Late papers will be discounted except for illness.)
The Analytical Comment-Critique Papers:
Students will prepare twelve comment-and-critique papers on the reading assignments and bring
papers to class for discussion. These papers should analyze critically just one or two important
issues in the reading assignment, issues which you find thought-provoking or problematical.
Analyze in some detail an issue of interest. Some approaches: 1) Develop a logical critique of the
arguments you analyze (e.g., Does the evidence support the arguments?); 2) Compare material in
readings with theory/research material presented in class; 3) Compare and contrast material in
one reading assignment with that in another; or 4) Use material in reading assignment to assess
other research you have studied. The point of the papers is to demonstrate that you've thought
through and analyzed important issues in the reading assignment.
Books for Analysis (Available in local bookstores):
(1) Milton Gordon, Assimilation in American Life, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0195008960.
(2) Bob Blauner, Still The Big News: Racial Oppression in America, Temple University Press,
ISBN: 1-56639-874-6.
(3) Joe Feagin, Racist America, Routledge, ISBN: 04155925320.
(4) Amy Chua, World On Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred
and Global Instability, Anchor Books, ISBN: 0385721862.
(5) Michael Omi And Howard Winant, Racial Formation in The United States, Second Edition
(1994), Routledge, ISBN, 0415908647.
(6) Otto Santa Ana, Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public
Discourse, University Of Texas Press, ISBN: 0292777671.
(7) Mia Tuan, Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? The Asian Ethnic Experience Today,
Rutgers University Press, ISBN No.: 0813526248.
Reading Assignments:
By Jan. 26 – ASSIMILATION THEORY. Gordon, pp. 3-114. First comment paper due.
By Feb. 2 - ASSIMILATION THEORY. Gordon, pp 115- 232. (Unassigned pages here and in
later books are recommended, but optional.) Second comment paper is due.
By Feb. 9 – POWER-CONFLICT THEORY. Blauner, pp. 3-111. Third comment paper is due.
By Feb. 16 - POWER-CONFLICT THEORY. Blauner, pp. 133-243. Fourth comment paper is
due.
By Feb. 23 – SYSTEMIC RACISM: PERSPECTIVES & PRACTICES. Feagin, pp. 1-103. Fifth
comment paper is due.
By March 2 –SYSTEMIC RACISM: PERSPECTIVES & PRACTICES. Feagin, pp. 105-233.
Sixth comment paper is due.
By March 9 - Guest lecturer. No paper assignment. Read ahead in Omi and Winant.
(March 16 - Spring Break. If you can, read ahead in Omi and Winant, and Tuan.)
By March 23 – RACIAL FORMATION THEORY. Omi and Winant, pp. 1-112, 145-159.
Seventh paper is due.
By March 30 - ASIAN AMERICANS: FOREVER FOREIGNERS? Tuan, pp. pp. 1-105, 152167. Eighth paper is due.
By April 6 - RACIAL METAPHORS; THE LATINO CASE. Santa Ana, pp. 1-103. Ninth paper
is due.
By April 13 – RACIAL METAPHORS; THE LATINO CASE. Santa Ana, pp. 197-319. Tenth
paper is due.
By April 20 – GLOBAL RACIAL & ETHNIC ISSUES. Chua, pp. 1-122. Eleventh paper is due.
By April 27 – GLOBAL RACIAL & ETHNIC ISSUES. Chua, pp. 123-244 (mid-page). Twelfth
and final paper is due.