University of Texas at Austin Sociology Department
Day Two Comprehensive (Comps) Exams 2013-2014
Race and Ethnicity (Gender, Race, & Intimate Relationships)
You have four hours within which to answer two questions from the list of six below. Write out the
question and the number at the start of each answer.
1. An internet startup in Austin plans to design a dating website that minimizes racial discrimination
among its members. Write up a report using the latest sociological research, to show how they could do
that.
2. There are three potential outcomes when biracial individuals seek a partner in the dating/marriage
markets. First, they could be treated more favorably than either of their monoracial counterparts (e.g.,
other parties could treat black-white daters more favorably than black and white daters). Second, they
could be treated more favorably than one of their monoracial counterparts, but less favorably than the
other (e.g., other parties could treat Asian-white daters more favorably than Asian daters but less
favorably than white daters). Third, they could be treated less favorably than either of their monoracial
counterparts (e.g. other parties could treat Hispanic-white daters less favorably than Hispanic and white
daters). Discuss the potential explanations for each scenario and how these outcomes might be influenced
by gender, sexuality, and the “biracial makeup”.
3. Emerging theorizing and research examining relationships and intimacy have helped us understand the
ways in which “race relations” are at the core of complex forms of social and political organization of
privilege and discrimination. Based on theorizing and empirical research, (a) offer a critical overview of
the arguments (and provide examples) to examine whiteness, intimacy and heterosexuality as a social
institution; and, (b) review the sociologically informed arguments that can help us become social critics of
race, gender and sexuality studies based on the life experiences of these populations within families and
communities of color.
4. Write an essay outlining the genealogy of the scholarship examining intimacy, relationships, and “race
relations”. In your essay, address the main arguments and contributions, the limitations, as well as the
future directions to consider with regard to scholarship examining: (a) intimacy in African American
families and communities; (b) interracial and mixed race relationships; (c) mixed race, popular culture
and representation.
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5. To what extent was the Western imperial project underpinned by questions of sexual desire?
6. There has been a movement in the U.S. to recognize “mixed race” as a discrete census category.
Others have argued that an official designation along these lines would undermine the coherence of racial
categories and further weaken forms of ethnic and racial political mobilization. Outline the main
arguments for and against the inclusion of “mixed race” on census forms and other official surveys. What
are the implications for sociologists of such categories?
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