I couldn't help but think of this Louie C.K clip when reflecting on Morning's study of racial conceptualization. For me, stand up comedy yields some of the sharpest and most relatable social commentary accessible to a wide range of Americans, both intellectual and nonintellectual. Louie C.K, George Carlin and Patrice O'Neil have highlighted inconsistencies in racial conceptualization in ways that are plenty more entertaining than journal articles. Still, what drew me to this clip when I was thinking about Morning's research was the honesty to which he discusses race. Patrice O'Neil, a black comedian, discusses race in a similar way; however, Louie, as a white male, addresses his ideas on race from his own standpoint. While its similar to theories on white guilt and a utilitarian approach to race relations, he still addresses the issue in a conversational but honest way. One of the major obstacles Morning's research had to overcome was the effects of social desirability--individuals hiding their conceptualizations of race that they may have considered would make them appear racist. However, through solid methodology, Morning is able to make this subtle racism more implicit--or at least, expose the assumptions people make when conceptualizing race.
Despite the fact that our society is still largely racialized, and the fact that many Americans support policies that would disproportionately punish non-whites, it is generally accepted that being racist is NOT a positive quality in contemporary American society. This is a roadblock for researchers seeking to understand racism, as subjects often do not want to appear racist. This has caused many social scientists to attempt to manipulate their methodology in ways to combat social desirability effects. Feldman and Huddy (2005) studied opposition to racial programs, coining the term "new racism" as hidden symbolic, racial resentment while old, "blatant racism" was easier to detect. Feldman and Huddy found that opposition to race-based scholarship programs are largely driven by racial resentment, despite the claim that opposition to these programs is due to a drive for increased individualism. Payne (2001) addressed this problem even more head-on through his study of automatic activation of stereotypes. Using a priming task depicting a black or white face and a gun or a garden tool, they used a study of automatic activation via reaction time and misidentification errors to prove that racial stereotypes are automatically activated outside of conscious awareness. The real life implications of this can be seen from the Amadou Diallo tragedy of 1999.
In Morning's research, she discusses how interviewees often shift the discussion of race to ethnicity/culture. She believes they do this to circumvent the "old racism" biological explanations for racial differences, and avoid engagement with America's long history of racial oppression. Interviewees still, however, make claims that there are insurmountable cultural differences, even when they are not able to locate what they are. This cultural racism is a phenomenon Balibar calls "racism without races." Morning suggests that "culture served as amore socially acceptable rendering of racial difference than biology could alone" (1176).
Additionally, Morning avoids social desirability effects by her particularly questioning. Through the use of two particular lines of questioning--one on race in professional sports and the other on differentials in infant birth weight--Morning is able to weed out the conclusions that many people still hold notions that blacks are superior physically and inferior intellectually. An interesting conclusion she found was the result of her questioning on hockey. While most subjects provide biological explanations for why blacks were more prevalent in the NFL, they provided cultural explanations for why whites were more prevalent in the NHL.
Social desirability is an interesting phenomenon. I've never held back any of my opinions on race or gender issues, despite being a straight, white male. As I grow intellectually, I even noticed how many of the old viewpoints I had were wrong, and even offensive. It makes me reconsider my own views on race; still, I have a hard time biting my tongue when I hear someone say that affirmative action programs are unfair to whites, or that women have equality in the workplace. There's so much apparent stratification deeply rooted in our social systems that I can't imagine not discussing it. I recently collected data via survey on race and ethnicity for a project I'm working on, and rather comically, a student put his race/ethnicity as human. I can't think of a better way to describe my own race/ethnicity. While it doesn't take into account the historical and social implications of race, it embodies my own belief that race is a social construct and that as human beings, we're interconnected.
References
Morning, Ann. 2009. “Toward a Sociology of Racial Conceptualization for the 21st Century” Social Forces 87, March 2009
Payne, Keith. 2001. “Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon”
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