Norms, Rules, Rights, Society
and Culture
This Week…
• What is equality?
▫ What does it mean, practically?
• What is an identity
• How are identities discriminated against?
• Social construction in race, ethnicity and gender
Equality in the State and in Politics
• States often identify watershed moments
▫ Election of minorities to positions of powers in
states like the US (Obama), Brazil (Rousseff),
Argentina (Fernandez), Bolivia (Evo)
• But what does this actually mean?
▫ What problems are ultimately solved?
▫ Glass ceilings, sure, but what about real societal
change?
Review
• Identity:
▫ “The social label ascribed to an individual or
group that locates the individual in political
society more broadly.”
• Identities often have boundaries
▫ Us vs Them
▫ These boundaries are often socially constructed
▫ Can often be based on visual differences
Important Boundaries of Identity
• Ethnic or Racial boundaries:
▫ World is full of different groups
▫ Biological differences, or cultural differences,
different traditions
▫ Very often associated with discrimination
▫ Depending on the nature of difference, boundaries
can be permeable
▫ These can be further entrenched in law (Jim Crow
Laws; Alien Races law)
Important Boundaries of Identity 2
• Gender (not sex, which is biologically defined)
▫ Primarily a social construction
▫ Also, not a binary
 Trans, questioning, two spirited, nonbinary/genderqueer
▫ A concept that evolves over time (basically
disproving biological determinism)
 If evolution can happen, revolution can too
 Open to activists seeking faster or radical change
Important Boundaries of Identity 3
• Sexual orientation:
▫ Discrimination remains here
▫ Hetero-normativity remains the primary lens
through which the world is seen, as such “others”
may be (and are) discriminated against
▫ Broad range of issues here
 At the extreme, remains (or has recently been made)
illegal in numerous countries
 On the other hand, social movements have
successfully increased rights
Race as a Social Construction
• Biologically, there is virtually no differences between people
that have traditionally been identified as of a different race
▫ Irish as non-white
• Racialization: Historical process which led to groups being
defined as one race or another
▫ Differences between races in the US changed significantly with
the economy
• Consequently, race is a social construction, differences are
imagined
▫ Raises important questions about why these racial identities
emerged, who they benefited and why they were created
Ethnicity as Social Construction
• Ethnicity: Cultural commonality among a group
▫ Broader conception than race
▫ Not bound to state
 African Americans or Mexican Americans don’t seek
their own state
▫ Primarily cultural
 Cultural traditions, rituals, practices
▫ Some debate over whether this could serve to
minimize concerns over the racialization of certain
groups
More on Ethnicity
• Scholars sometimes view ethnicity as different
depending on different societies (as such, they
may treat different castes as having their own
ethnic identity – a largely different experience
than being African-, or Asian-American
• Melting pots, multicultural states and ethnicity
▫ Emergence of hyphenated identities in many
Western states
Discrimination Based on Race and
Ethnicity
• Overt racism has lessened dramatically
throughout much of the west
▫ Implicit racism, though, appears rampant still
▫ Studies suggest (in the US) people that have
stereotypically Caucasian names are more likely to
get job interviews, all other things being equal
▫ Not just an American problem
▫ Affirmative Action
▫ Differences across states
Discrimination Based on Gender
• Most countries have laws making gender
discrimination illegal
▫ May have impact on overt discrimination, but still
plenty of implicit discrimination, even in relatively
equal countries
▫ Job discrimination
▫ Sexual harassment
▫ Pay equity
Gender Discrimination Cont…
• Cultural pressures on “roles” of women
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Role in the family (pay)
Anticipatory discrimination (promotion)
Stereotyping
Gendered labour and job market
• In some states, males get more of the resources,
human and financial capital
▫ Post-secondary attainment
▫ Scandanavia
Empowering Groups in Society
• What is empowerment?
• An increase in social, political or economic
capabilities of an individual or group.
▫ Books description as opposite of discrimination isn’t
exactly accurate
• Sometimes empowerment goes beyond equality
▫ Differential rights to begin the process of long-term
unfairness
▫ Can be in any number of spheres, including economic
or cultural
Empowerment Cont…
• Empowerment does not have to be given, but can
also be taken – often symbolically
▫ Collective action in fighting for rights
▫ Actively seeking elected representatives
▫ Promoting positive discussion of the group in
discourse/media
 May be symbolic, but often comes before more concrete
economic or political empowerment
• Political empowerment is both the election of
representatives from these groups, but also legal
recognition and recourses against discrimination
Mobilizing Social Movements
• Social movements need organization
▫ Political parties are often a straight-forward
mechanism from which to create leadership
▫ Institutionalizes concerns of the group
• Social movements can focus on group
conceptualization
▫ Changing society’s attitudes can result in much
faster change than getting people elected
Political Parties and Ethnicity
• Political parties are an important component in
changing attitudes
▫ Significant institution in democracies
▫ Often only legitimate entry into politics
• Why might ethnic parties emerge?
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Heterogeneous society
How strong is identification with ethnicity
How open is the political system
Are there historical tensions between groups
• Why might they not
▫ Other cleavages are more important (class)
Equality and Institutional Design
• Winning elections is one thing, but certainly not
permanent
▫ Designing systems to assure representation
• Quotas
▫ Reserved seats (common in Latin America)
 May meet with strong opposition
▫ Candidate quotas (NDP in Canada)
 No guarantees
▫ Constitutional quotas