Race and Ethnicity in Contemporary American Society

Selected sources of information:

Dąbrowska,Joanna. 2009. Black Leaders’ Solutions to Racial Tension in America: A Comparison of Public Speeches by Malcolm X and Barack Hussein Obama. Masters Thesis, American Studies Center, University of Warsaw.

Feagin, Joe. 1991. "The Continuing Significance of Race: Antiblack Discrimination in Public Places." American Sociological Review 56: 101-116.

Hochschild, Jennifer and Vesla Mae Weaver. 2010. “’There’s No One as Irish as Barack O’Bama’: The Policy and Politics of American Multiracialism.” Perspectives on Politics 8(3): 737 – 759. (hereafter H&W)

Obama, Barack. 1995. Dreams from My Father. Chapter 4.

Wright, Lawrence. 1994. "One Drop of Blood." The New Yorker, July 24.

Zinn, Howard. 2003. “Chapter 7: As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs,” pp. 125 - 148 in A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper Perennial.

Sociology: the scientific study of human social life in all its aspects.

Social Structure = A general term for any collective social circumstance that is unalterable and given for the individual. They are enduring patterns of behavior that set limits on thought and action and cannot be changed by any individual will (Abercrombie et al 1994: 391; Rytina 1997).

Race

Race = A category of persons who are identified by themselves and by others as having a socially meaningful distinctiveness that rests on biological criteria.

Sociologically, race is considered to be socially constructed, though it is clear people differ in terms of their physiognomic traits.

Racial groups are viewed as biological groups because of how they look, and are aggregated into racial groups by social and political processes.

H&W examine how political institutions and organizations combine with social phenomena (including demographic shifts) to create three types of official racial classification systems: those that are created, those that stay the same, and those that end.

H&W examine the reasons for how each type emerges, including (a) a constituency inside the government that has enough political influence to call for change, or stop a classification from emerging, (b) a constituency outside of the government that can pressure the political system.

September 11, 2001 changed how Americans view Muslims and Arabs and radically changed U.S. political discourse

How Some of Obama’s Detractors Attempted to Portray Obama:

Barack Hussein Obama

The Truth about Barack Hussein Obama is:

H&W find that “multiracialism,” having one or more racial markers, has been politically institutionalized. Multiracialism became institutionalized because of “facts on the ground,” i.e. a demographic shift and from the intellectual movement of multiculturalism.

Yet, the overall incidence of reported multiracialism among individuals is very small; it is smallest among whites, and greatest among Native Americans. It also does not have many or strong advocacy organizations that act on their behalf.

H&W argue that although multiracialism has been politically institutionalized, it has not become an “identity.” People do not feel strong ties to their “multiracial” identity. They are more likely than others to view race as socially constructed and context dependent.

RacismRacism = An elaborate ideology holding that one race is biologically superior and that all others are biologically inferior to it. This doctrine regards the unequal economic and social positions of different races as the outcome of their genetic differences.

“New RacismNew Racism” supplants “cultural” for “biological” in the above definition.

See also Ethnic Hatred, Xenophobia

From U.S. Census Data http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/income_expenditures_poverty_wealth/household_income.html and http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/income_expenditures_poverty_wealth.html

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the U.S. (2008)Median Income and

Mean Income (in 2008 dollars)

Below Poverty Level (%)

White non-Hispanic Median: 55,530Mean: 74,102

8.6

Black (alone or in combination)

Median: 34,345Mean: 46,679

24.6

Hispanic (any race) Median: 37,913Mean: 51,572

23.2

Percent Completed High School 1993 – 2007 by Race

From Table A.2 http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/cps2007.html

Less than High

SchoolHigh School

DegreeBA Degree

and UpAll Races 14.6 9.7 4.6

White 13.9 9 4.2 Men 14 10.2 4.4 Women 13.7 7.4 4

Black 21.3 14 7.3 Men 23.9 16.2 8.2 Women 18.6 11.5 6.7

Unemployment Rate by Level of Education by Race in 2009

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrace2009.pdf

Management, professional and related

Production, transportation, and

material moving All 37.3 11.4

White 38 11.1 Men 35 16.5 Women 41.4 4.9

Black 29.2 14.3 Men 23.8 24 Women 33.7 6.2

Hispanic 19.4 17.1 Men 15.9 22.2 Women 24.6 9.8

Percent in Selected Occupations by Race in 2009

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrace2009.pdf

Management,professionaland related

Production,transportation, and

material moving All 1044 605White 1061 618 Men 1266 666 Women 913 477Black 905 540 Men 922 582 Women 800 453Hispanic 926 485 Men 1017 516 Women 774 374

Median usual weekly earnings ($) of full-time wage and salary workers by selected occupation and race in 2009

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrace2009.pdf

U.S. Census: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance 2009 Report http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p60-238.pdf

No Health Insurance %All races 16.7

White non-Hispanic 12

Black 21

Hispanic (any race) 32.4

Who Does Not Have Health Insurance in the United States? 2009

1960 2000

Blacks Whites Blacks Whites

Population (%) 10.9 87.6 12.3 75.1

College Education

% of population (25-34) who completed 4 years of college or

more / obtained bachelor’s degree or more

5.7 14.6 14.3 26.1

Median income (dollars)

3,886 7,251 33,916 54,920

Below Poverty Level (%)

41.8 11.3 24.5 8.2

From the Civil Rights era to the 21st Century: The Question of Progress