- Discuss the implications of research on racial conceptualization (ie: why does conceptualization of race matter?)
- Discuss Morning's findings in-depth
- Discuss the implications of these findings
This first post will discuss the current race problem in our country, shying away from Morning's research only to set the framework for the importance of her research on conceptualization and classification
W.E.B Du Bois, in his seminal work, "The Souls of Black Folks," stated "for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." In 1997, Halford Fairchild updated Du Bois' statement, saying "The problem of the twenty-first century remains the problem of race—racism, race relations, and racial exploitation—in virtually every corner of the globe."
Yet, proponents of the achievement ideology, clinging to the idea of the "American Dream," that hardwork can override any other factor in dictating success, suggest a perception of America and race relations largely different than that of Du Bois and Fairchild. Ignoring trends in income disparity, social mobility and even explicit racism, many citizens have internalized this dogma that America is fair. Images of success like Jay-Z and Tiger Woods outweigh the large aggregate of blacks effected by an economic glass cieling. Valentino & Brader (2011) studied perceptions of racial equality following the election of Obama, making considerable findings that Obama's election made many Americans believe we live in a post-racial society.
This economic amnesia, that socioeconomic conditions do not dictate your spot on a market and that the playing field is equal, has led to a cycle of misfortune allowing racism to persist for years. Discrepencies in educational opportunties between low-income and high-income areas are tremendous, with failing school systems digging deeper holes for those facing poverty.
Elijah Anderson (2000) proposed his "code of the street" hypothesis, that the behavior of many urban youths is influenced by a street culture or code. This prescribes violent reactions to impersonal attacks and any show of disrespect, as reputation as tough is held with high esteem. He traces the root of these problems to lack of opportunity, persistent racism and lack of jobs. This is also reflective of a finding by Walter B. Miller, as documented in his "Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency." Here, Miller states
"To the lower class, in essence, smartness involves the capactiy to achieve a valued entity through a maximum use of mental agility. Lower class culture can be characterized as 'non intellectual' only if intellectualism is defined specifically in terms of control over a particular body of formally learned knowledge involving 'culture', a generalized perspective on the past and present conditions of our own and future societies, and other areas of knowledge imparted by formal educational institutions. This particular type of mental attainment is, in general, overtly disvalued and frequently associated with effeminacy; 'smartness' in the lower class sense, however, is highly valued."
A viewpoint of those who favor the achievement ideology suggests that this culture is what perpetuates poverty, that because values are skewed in this way, the poor remain poor--they actively choose not to conform to typical American values. However, the notion that socioeconomic conditions perpetuate this culture is probably much more realistic. First, more abstractly, studying research on social roles shows that people act according to the environment placed around. Secondly, sociological research explains how the structure of low-income areas prevents social mobility
In Rodney Stark's (1987) "Deviant Places: A Theory of the Ecology of Crime," he explores how the structure of neighborhoods perpetuate crime and maintain the existence of social problems. This is a major work of "social disorganization theory," a product of the Chicago School. The theory began with Park & Burgess (1925) and their Concentric Zone Theory. They predicted that once fully developed, cities would take the form of five concentric rings; the areas in the city of the rings would exemplify social and economic deterioration while the outside circles would become the prosperous suburban areas. Shaw & McKay (1942) elaborated on this theory, stating that when groups became wealthy enough to move away from the inner urban circle areas, they would. This illustrated that some areas remained disorganized because they were the only places arriving poor could afford to live. Karen Brodkin (1998) documents how after facing years of discrimination, members of the Jewish community have managed to escape their stigmas and, in her words, “become white folks.” Her analysis has been used by many sociologists to show the idea that race is a social construction. In her piece, she documents a New York Times article from 1916 written about the Jewish Lower East Side.
“The neighborhood where these people live is absolutely impassable for wheeled vehicles other than their push carts.If a truck driver tries to get through where their pushcarts are standing they apply to him all kinds of vile and indecent epithets.The driver is fortunate if he gets out of the street without being hit with a stone or having a putrid fish thrown at him. This neighborhood, peopled almost entirely by the people who claim to have been driven from Poland and Russia, is the eyesore of New York and perhaps the filthiest place on the western continent. It is impossible for a Christian to live there because he will be driven out, either by blows or the dirt and stench. Cleanliness is an unknown quantity to these people. They cannot be lifted up to a higher plane because they do not want to be. If the cholera should ever get among these people, they would scatter its germs as a sower does grain.”
The Lower East Side was, for many years, an area for low income immigrant settlement. Before Jewish settlement, this included Germans, Irish, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians. It faced many of these same problems despite the demographic population. Today, gentrification has rid it of these ailments, although it is still predominantly Puerto Rican and Dominican. Still, Brodkin uses this article to show that it wasn’t Jewish culture, nor any biological drives, that caused Jews to be viewed this way; after many years, and the acquisition of wealth, this stigma was uplifted. Rodney Stark (1987) influenced by the Chicago School and a similar belief that it was not necessarily culture that caused deviance produced his “Deviant Places: A Theory of the Ecology of Crime.” His approach emphasized a “kind of places” approach as opposed to a “kind of people.” His main postulate was that crime and deviance persist in certain neighborhoods despite repeated turnovers in their demographic population. Scrutinizing a few examples, he makes several propositions regarding these types of neighborhoods.
Stark states that low income neighborhoods are structured to fail. One of his early postulates is that in dense neighborhoods, it’s harder to keep secrets. Ervin Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to social psychology cites that a large majority of our identity building is done in private, an area he calls “back stage.” It is here we prepare ourselves to put forth the image we desire. In densely populated areas, it is difficult to do this. Another proposition Stark makes is that greater density areas have more association between those most and least predisposed to deviance. In the suburbs, parents have more control over where their children are, as they often have to drive them to almost any social interaction; in the city, this is not the case. Stark states that in crowded homes, there will be a greater tendency to congregate outside in places that raise levels of temptation and opportunity for deviance; in these crowded homes, Stark notes, there are also lower levels of parental supervision on children.
The reason I divert from Morning's research to discuss the problem of the color line is not to de-emphasis the purpose of classification and conceptualization but to highlight the stakes. Nondiscriminatory attitudes and policies are necessary, and incredibly sensitive. If we want to eradicate the persistent racism discussed, if we want to uproot the problems, we need attitudes to change--Morning's work helps us better understand how racial attitudes work. This can help us alleviate these problems--it is only with support and awareness that these challenges can be faced. The structural constraints of agency that lower-income families are faced with are real--so is apparent explicit and implicit racism. It is through changing the structure--as Morning suggests through changes in the way we teach race, the way we measure race, and the way we discuss race--that we can confront the problem head-on.
References
Anderson, Elijah. 2000. “Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City” W. W. Norton & Company (September 2000)
Miller, Walter. 1958. “Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency” Bobbs-Merrill, Colle, Indianapolis, IN
Morning, Ann. 2009. “Toward a Sociology of Racial Conceptualization for the 21st Century” Social Forces 87, March 2009
Park, Robert & Burroughs, Ernest. 1925. “The City: Suggestions of Investigation of Human Behavior in the Urban Environment.” University of Chicago Press.
Valentino, Nicholas & Ted, Brader. 2011. “The Sword’s Other Edge: Perceptions of Discrimination and Racial Policy Opinion after Obama” Public Opinion Quarterly 75, May 2011
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