Racism Lecture Overheads
Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
Psy 430
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Are you a racist?
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Overcoming our Racism by Derald Sue
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The unintentional racist
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Statistics … White Euro-American males
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33% of the population
Occupy most of the upper level jobs
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What is racism?
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Social psychology helps us answer this
question.
Prejudice (Gordon Allport) – a bias expressed
through negative or positive opinions, beliefs,
or feelings towards individuals who belong to
a certain group or fit into a certain category.
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The three components of racism
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Negative in nature
Based on faulty data
Belief that all members possess the same
traits.
Examples
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Stereotypes
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How do stereotypes work?
Why do you have stereotypes?
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History: Even the Rat was White
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Belief: All human beings were originally
white.
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Blackness of Africans = degeneration of mankind
Religion
Philosophical and scientific views
The Noble Savage View
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The History of Racism
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John Duckitt (1992)
Prior to the 1920s – the inferiority of
minorities and the superiority of Whites.
1920s and 1930s – empirical data.
Intellectual inferiority?
1930s and 1940s – Psychodynamic
explanation.
1950s – The prejudiced personality.
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History of Racism
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1960s and 1970s – sociocultural perspective
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Normative approach
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Social conformity
Consensus model of race relations
The idea of racial integration
Ignorance of the role of conflict, power, and
domination.
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History of Racism
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1980s – Ingroup versus outgroup
Contemporary view
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The role of psychology
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The role of psychology in perpetuating racism
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Anthropometry
1925 Howard University professors Locke, Just,
& Herskovits
The beliefs of psychologists
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The role of measurement.
Conclusions? Racial superiority and inferiority
19th Century = the golden age of racism
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The role of psychology
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1973 Henry Garrett, past APA president
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Argued against racial integration
Argument: “black man’s brain on the average is
smaller … less fissured and less complex than the
white brain.”
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The issue of IQ
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What is IQ?
William Stern wrote, “The IQ may be
regarded only as a first approximation; it takes
on significant value only when the bare
quantitative statement is completed by a
qualitative diagnosis. To base any
pedagogical estimate upon the IQ alone for
practical purposes (e.g. assignment to
opportunity classes) is indefensible.”
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Lewis Terman
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Terman, a highly respected IQ researcher,
contributed to the tone of the day in his
writing: “Mental retardation represents the
level of intelligence which is very, very
common among Spanish-Indians and Mexican
families of the southwest and also among
negroes.”
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Issues with Terman
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Terman’s revised scales – English
The Sample used was problematic.
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Derald Sue: Are you a racist?
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Historically – racism was overt.
Now … racism has gone underground
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Is racism alive and well?
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Are minorities just oversensitive?
Why should we adopt a multicultural point of
reference?
Should we talk about race issues openly?
Hey….this ain’t very pleasant!
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Awareness .. The first step
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Most people are just not aware.
Deny prejudiced attitudes yet…..
Who is in charge of our government? Our
schools? Our companies?
Between 2030 and 2050 racial/ethnic
minorities will become the numerical
majority.
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What is Racism?
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Gordon Allport
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A bias expressed through negative or positive
opinions, beliefs, or feelings towards individuals
who belong to a certain group or fit a certain
category.
Racial prejudice has 3 major components: it is
negative in nature; based on faulty or
unsubstantiated data; and is rooted in an
inflexible generalization.
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What are stereotypes?
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Rigid and inaccurate preconceived notions
that you hold about all the people who are
members of a particular group.
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The goal of stereotypes
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Categorization
Makes us feel good about ourselves
Why so harmful? Cultural genocide
Shouldn’t they just “act more like us”?
The truth of the matter … acculturation not a
good thing.
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Study … multiracial persons have a tendency to
self-identify with only one race.
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Overcoming Racism
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Do you oppress?
Modern or contemporary racism
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Unconscious – unintentional racist versus the
conscious-deliberate racist.
Examples of unconscious-unintentional racists
Dovidio studies
Even if you try really hard not to be a racist, why
are you still one?
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The role of social conditioning
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Sue: it is impossible for any of us not to have
negative associations towards people of color
because they are so deeply ingrained in us that
they are outside our conscious awareness and
occur almost automatically.
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Can unintentional bias really harm?
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Surely if I don’t mean to be prejudice, what
harm can I cause?
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The candid camera study
Another Dovidio study
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Additional principles of modern racism
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Modern racism is more likely to be revealed
through your failure to help rather than a
conscious desire to hurt.
You can justify biased behaviors to maintain
the illusion that you are unbiased.
Unintentional bias can still result in
significant harm.
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Some thoughts
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Ethnocentrism
The myth of the melting pot
Oppression: the persecution or subjugation of
individuals or groups by unjust use of force or
authority.
Identity development – minorities come to
believe the stereotypes.
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The Stereotype threat (Steele)
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Stigma held
Why?
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Apprehension
Protective disidentification
What do the studies have to say?
Hanna, Talley & Guindon study – our role in
oppression – all of us engage in secondary
oppression
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Blaming the victim
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Rape victim
Thomas Parham: An analysis of the
oppressed or the victim analysis
Whites look very little at the factors that
create injustice.
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Vocabulary
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What is ethnocentric monoculturalism?
Racism is caused by:
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Belief in superiority
Belief in inferiority of others
Power to impose standards
Manifestations in institutions in our society –
Psychologist James Jones
The invisible veil
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How does one change?
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Can you develop a nonracist white identity?
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Janet Helms
The phases on the path to being a nonracist
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Naiete
Conformity
Dissonance
Resistance and immersion
Introspection
Integrative awareness
Commitment to antiracist action
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