Understanding Racism. Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl
the sociology of science,” and he was the first sociologist to be awarded this honor.
Works Cited and Further Reading
Allport, Gordon W. [1954] 1966. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Clark, Kenneth. 1979. “Introduction.” Pp. ix–xiii in The Nature of Prejudice: 25th Anniversary Edition, by G. W. Allport. New York: Basic Books.
Dovidio, John F., Peter Glick, and Laurie A. Rudman, eds. 2005. On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Gilman, Sander L. and James M. Thomas. 2016. Are Racists Crazy? How Prejudice, Racism, and Antisemitism Became Markers of Insanity. New York: New York University Press.
Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, Anna Brown, and Kiana Cox. 2019. “Race in America 2019.” Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
Merton, Robert K. 1949. “Discrimination and the American Creed.” Pp. 99–126 in Discrimination and National Welfare, edited by R. M. MacIver. New York: Harper and Row.
Parker, Kim, Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Rich Morin, and Mark Hugo Lopez. 2015. “Multiracial in America: Chapter 5.” Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
Pettigrew, Thomas. 1979. “The Ultimate Attribution Error: Extending Allport’s Cognitive Analysis of Prejudice.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 5(4):461–76.
Notes
* Photos of Allport and Merton unavailable.
1. Allport ([1954] 1966:xiii).
2. Ibid. (516).
3. Ibid. (27).
4. Ibid. (89).
5. Ibid. (13).
6. Ibid. (5).
7. Ibid. (9).
8. Ibid. (9, emphasis in original).
9. Ibid. (171).
10. Ibid. (173).
11. Ibid. (139).
12. Ibid. (138).
13. Ibid. (181).
14. Ibid. (179).
15. Ibid. (191, emphasis in original).
16. Ibid. (37).
17. Ibid. (125).
18. Ibid. (103).
19. Ibid. (7, emphasis in original).
20. Ibid. (221).
21. Ibid. (73, emphasis in original).
22. Ibid. (31–33).
23. Ibid. (289–324).
24. Ibid. (380, emphasis in original).
25. Ibid. (387–91).
26. Ibid. (396–407).
27. Ibid. (414–23).
28. Ibid. (57–58).
29. Ibid. (281).
30. Ibid. (512).
31. Ibid. (431).
32. Pettigrew (1979:462).
33. Merton (1949).
34. Clark (1979:xii).
35. Allport ([1954] 1966:171).
36. Ibid. (9).
37. Ibid. (37).
38. Ibid. (9).
39. Ibid. (380).
40. Ibid. (191).
Descriptions of Images and Figures
Back to Figure
The examples of structural conditions are physical and cultural differences, rapid social change, and demographic increase. The examples of psychological conditions are family context, projection, and personal insecurity. These conditions lead to irrational categorization, hostility and rejection, in-groups versus out-groups, which in turn result in structural and/or individual prejudice.
Back to Figure
The matrix consists of a horizontal line and a vertical line. The left end of the horizontal line is nondiscriminator, and its right end is discriminator. The top end of the vertical line is unprejudiced, and the bottom line is prejudiced. The four different groups are as follows: Unprejudiced Nondiscriminators: All-Weather Liberals; Unprejudiced Discriminators: Fair-Weather Liberals; Prejudiced Nondiscriminators: Timid Bigots; Prejudiced Discriminators: Active Bigots.
Chapter 2 White Privilege
Robert Amico | Peggy McIntosh | Paula Rothenberg | Tim Wise
White privilege is now a regular part of the lexicon of racial and ethnic studies and is a popular concept in contemporary conversations on race and racism. Peggy McIntosh coined the term in 1988 when she wrote of 40 privileges that Whites receive but people of color do not. Since then, the concept of White privilege has been developed and used by many. In this chapter, the works of Robert Amico, Peggy McIntosh, Paula Rothenberg, and Tim Wise, all of whom undertake both a biographical and a scientific study of White privilege, are used.*
Photo 2.1 Robert Amico
Source: https://www.sbu.edu/academics/philosophy/faculty-andstaff/amico-robert-p-.
Photo 2.2 Peggy McIntosh
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peggy_McIntosh.jpg.
Photo 2.3 Tim Wise
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Wise.jpg.
Why This Theory
The study of racism often compares how people of color fare in relation to Whites on a host of indicators, such as education, employment, and pay. This comparative framework is common because inequalities become clear by comparing the group facing the problems—people of color—to the people who are deemed “normal”—Whites. This framework, however, often leads to a mistaken view of and/or singular focus on people of color “as the problem,” rather than Whites’ role in racism as the problem. Whites may be aware that racism, to some degree, exists but are unaware of how they benefit from that racism. The theory of White privilege, therefore, focuses on how Whites (1) participate in and perpetuate racism, intentionally or not, and (2) are oblivious to the benefits they receive because of racism. A greater goal of using this theory is helping Whites recognize their White privilege to help combat racism.1
Like other contemporary racial theories, the theory of White privilege emerged after the 1960s Civil Rights Movement to explain how racism persists despite existing laws against racial discrimination. Whites began looking inward to dissect how they experience privilege throughout their lives, both in daily interactions and at significant life moments, such as buying a house or getting a job. This chapter relies on the work of four White scholars: Robert Amico,