DIVERSITY AND RACIAL CONFLICT, Sociology 142gm
T-Th 11:00-12:20
Fall, 2010
Professor Ed Ransford T.A.: Hoest Heap of Birds
Office: KAP 364D, (213) 740-3532 Office: KAP 355
Office: T-Th 1:45-3:30; Wed. 10:30-12:30 by appointment Office hours:W 3-5, Th 4:20-5
PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AND BEEPERS DURING CLASS TIME.
Please refrain from texting and emailing during class time
If you must leave the classroom during the session, please close the door behind you quietly
An Overview of the Course
What is “race?” What is “racism?” Why does race continue to matter in contemporary society? This course emphasizes the past and present relations between the white majority and the “colonized minorities” (especially African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans). White ethnic immigrants, and “multi racial groups” are also discussed.
The focus is on power inequality as the most important dimension of a racial stratification order. For example, the colonized minorities not only entered into relations with whites by force and violence, but they experienced enduring systems of subordination: for African Americans, the slavery institution and Jim Crow segregation; for Native Americans, the reservation system and control of tribal institutions by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Throughout the course there will be an emphasis on the historical origins of racism and discrimination, updated to include current policy issues such as the impact of Barack Obama’s presidency on current race relations, race and health disparities, the intense debate on immigration, and continuing racial micro aggressions in everyday interaction. Los Angeles will be discussed as one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world and as a port of entry for immigrants. Throughout the course, we will discuss the fact that race is not so much a biological fact but is rather produced through classification i.e., race is “socially constructed.”
I think you will find the class challenging and, hopefully, provocative. Your class attendance and participation are mandatory and constitute a portion of your final grade.
Required Readings:
1. Course Reader for Soci 142gm, Ransford (USC Bookstore)
2. Feagin, Racist America
3. Espiritu, Asian American Women and Men
4. Hayes-Bautista, La Nueva California
5. Griffin, Black Like Me
Course Grade:
5% quiz, 25% midterm, 25% empirical paper, 25% final, 10% participation and attendance in discussion sections and 10% attendance in lectures. Attendance and participation in class discussions is important and the 20% allocated to a & p can make a substantial difference in your final grade. To receive full credit for attendance and participation, you must arrive to class and discussion sections on time.
The midterm and final exams will use essay questions with a preview set of questions handed out one week before the exam. For example, I will pass out 7 or 8 questions one week before the exam. On the day of the exam, I will call out 3 essays.
COLONIZED vs. IMMIGRANT MINORITIES
Week 1
READINGS:
1. Reader, Introduction: Definitions and Perspectives
2. Feagin, Racist America, Introduction and ch. 1
LECTURES:
8/24 Introduction to the course
Conflicts and contradictions in race relations; introduction to Multiple Hierarchy Stratification
8/26 Social class inequality and Colonized vs. Immigrant minorities-White ethnic immigrants
Weeks 2 and 3
READINGS:
1. Reader, Optional Ethnicities: for Whites Only?
2. Feagin, Racist America, chs. 2
3. Reader, Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, chapters 1 and 4
4. Espiritu, Asian American Women and Men, Chs. 1 and 2
LECTURES:
8/31 and 9/2 Colonized vs. Immigrant Minorities-African Americans, conquest & paternalistic systems of inequality. Paternalistic race relations=intimate but very unequal contact and stereotypes of the subjugated group as childlike and loveable when they stay in their place. Ethnic Notions Video on controlling images under slavery
9/7 and 9/9 Conquest of American Indians and the emergence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Video on contemporary Indian Affairs.
Week 4
9/14 and 9/16 Asian Americans- intermediate experience between colonized and immigrant. Asian American success in launching small businesses. Gender differences in immigration. Paper sons and daughters. Video on Chinese immigration and paper sons and daughters
Tuesday, 9/21 QUIZ
COMPETITIVE RACE RELATIONS: Ethnic Protest and the Civil Rights Movement
Weeks 5
READING:
1. Griffin, read book Black Like Me
LECTURES:
9/21 Quiz 35 minutes. Short break. The shift to Competitive Race Relations; reemergence of white supremacy in the South: disenfranchisement, Jim Crow, biological racism, terrorism
9/23 Later Competitive Relations: Stratum consciousness and stratum action: World War II and entry of minorities into skilled positions; 1954 Supreme Court Decision; Davies’ Theory of Rising Expectations.
Week 6
READINGS:
1. Feagin, Racist America, chs. 3 & 4
2. Reader, Wilson, Declining Significance of Race
3. Reader, Black and Latino Perceptions of Inequality; Watts vs. ‘92
LECTURES:
9/28 Eyes on the Prize Video”-Origins of civil rights protest. Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Discussion of “Eyes on the Prize” (the ingredients of successful protest)
9/30 Overview of 3 Research Methods for the Empirical Paper
EMPIRICAL PAPER ONE PAGE PROPOSAL DUE 10/5
Week 7
READINGS:
1. Reader, Estrada, Chicanos in The U.S.
2. Hayes-Bautista, La Nuevea California, chs. 1, 2
3. Reader, Mexico to USA: A Cultural Odyssey
LECTURES:
10/5 Latinos: Paternalistic-Competitive race relations applied to Mexican Americans with
clip from Video on US- Mexican War. Empirical Proposal Due
Week 8
10/7 Midterm Review
*************************MIDTERM 10/12**********************
RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE 2000-2010 DECADE
Week 9 Individual and Institutional Racism in the Current Decade
READINGS:
1. Hayes-Bautista, La Nueva California, ch. 3 (dysfunctional minority model)
2. Racist America, ch. 4 Contemporary Racial Attitudes and Images
3. Reader, The Style of Color Blindness
4. Reader, It’s Obama
LECTURES:
10/14 Mexican Americans and education issues: freeway noise, teacher expectations, language problems. Video “Victor”
10/19 Where are we on racism today? Micro Aggressions and Color Blind Racism. The “Obama Factor.”
Weeks 10 Micro Aggressions, Race and Health & Social Construction Perspective
READINGS:
1. Feagin, Racist America, ch. 5
2. Reader, Black Tradesmen Face Daily Wall of Suspicion
3. Reader, Rasha, How does it Feel to be a Problem
4. Reader, Many Say Race Relations have Improved under Obama
5. Reader, Privilege, from White Like Me
LECTURES:
10/21 More on micro aggressions. Race and Health: mortality and troubled neighborhoods
10/26 Race and infant mortality; Video on Unnatural Causes
10/28 Every day racism: Muslim Americans and Middle Class African Americans, Video Black Shoppers
Week 11 Racial Dialogues and Micro Aggressions: The Color of Fear
LECTURES:
11/2 Color of Fear Video Part I and discussion
11/4 Color of Fear Part II and discussion
Interracial Marriage and Immigration and the Border
Weeks 12 and 13 and 14
READINGS:
1. Reader, Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity
2. Reader, On Being Blackanese
3. Reader, Illegal but Essential
4. Reader, 15 years on the Bottom Rung
5. Hayes-Bautista, La Nueva California, ch. 5
6. Espiritu, Asian American Women and Men, ch. 5
LECTURES
11/9 Interracial marriage & growth of multiracial groups
11/11 and 11/16 The pluses and minuses of Mexican Immigration. Beyond the social control framework; our political and economic interdependence with Mexico. Recent concerns over drug traffic. Pew survey of immigrants
11/18 Asian Immigration, Asian Stereotypes and Video excerpt on Korean Americans
11/23 Contemporary Stereotypes of Asian Americans from Espiritu’s discussion
EMPIRICAL PAPER DUE TUESDAY 11/23 by 4pm
No exceptions; -1/2 grade off per day for late papers)
Thanksgiving break 11/25
Week 15 The Future
READING:
1. Hayes-Bautista, La Nueva California, chs. 7 and 8: Best and Worst Case Scenarios for California
2. Reader, The White Anxiety Crisis
3. Reader, Race and Diversity in the Age of Obama
LECTURE
11/30 Dual mobility patterns in Black America. Two images for California, Race and Diversity in the Age of Obama
12/2 FINAL EXAM REVIEW AND COURSE EVALUATIONS
Empirical Paper
The empirical paper (usually about 10-12 pages text but no formal length requirement) is a required observation paper. It must be a current (this semester) empirical paper dealing with any area of race-ethnic inequality. It must not be a library report or synthesis of existing research. It must involve direct observation or field work (e.g., questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews, diary accounts of some situation, participant observation, or an analysis of stereotypes in the media books or magazines). For those dosing surveys, you may work individually or in small groups of two. If you work in groups, we expect a more ambitious project. YOU MUST DO THE PAPER TO COMPLETE THE COURSE.
There are three options for the empirical paper.
1) Ethnic immersion in churches. If you choose to do this field work assignment, you will visit church services in which the majority of worshippers are of a different race/ethnicity than your own race. For example, you could visit an African American, Asian American, Hispanic, or white church. The requirement is that you visit three churches (at least one time) of a different race/ethnicity than your own. The African American church might be the First African Methodist (144 W. Adams Blvd.) or practically any other Black church in the South Central area. If you decide to visit a church serving a Hispanic congregation, you could choose a Catholic church, a Pentecostal church or whatever. Arrive in time to get a seat at the service and linger a few minutes after it is over to talk to people and get a feel for your welcome etc. Immediately after each of your visits, write up your observations. These are called “field notes” in sociology. They should be as detailed as possible. How did the members respond to you? How many did you speak with? How many welcomed you? What was the ethnic, age and gender composition of the congregation? Did the sermon relate to a diversity topic in any way? The objective of this exercise is to immerse you in a relatively unfamiliar ethnic setting.
2) Research Report on a Race/Ethnic Topic. Using questionnaire surveys, interviews, or other observation method you would design a study, collect data and draw conclusions. Some popular topics from past semesters are:
- a survey of USC students on attitudes toward interracial dating
- observations of racially integrated vs. segregated (one race) schools of the same grade level
- a survey comparing athletes and non-athletes on racial attitudes and amount of interracial contact
- a comparison of the quality, price of goods, and overall attractiveness of ghetto vs. Westside markets.
3) Joint Educational Project-e.g., tutoring or TA volunteer activity in schools near to USC
FINAL EXAM, Tuesday Dec. 14, 8-10 am
Students with Disabilities:
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to the TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.-5:00p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776