Current Manifestations of Racism: An Exploratory Study of Social Distance and White Racial Identity

Abstract

White racial identity theory postulates that White individuals differ in their psychological orientation to race. However, the racial attitudes research has not examined how these differences impact the degree of social contact an individual is likely to have with members from other racial groups. The authors assessed participants' White racial identity and social distance towards White, Asian, Black, Native, and Latino Americans. The nature of the relationship was examined with a canonical correlation analysis. The analysis revealed a significant canonical variate, which indicated that more developed White racial identity status attitudes were related to less social distance towards members of other racial groups, while less developed racial identity status attitudes were related to greater social distance preference. The authors discuss the results in terms of the implications for psychology and offer recommendations for future research     

Looking beyond ethnicity: the negotiation of Chinese Muslim identity in Penang,Malaysia

The conflation of ethnic and religious identities, particularly that of Malay and Muslim, has long historical and political roots in Malaysia. Being one of the most safeguarded identity marks in Malaysia, Islam has become part of the core of Malay ethnicity and plays a prominent role in ethnic politics. Muslim converts from ethnic minorities, such as the Chinese and Indians, are therefore faced with social expectation and pressure to ‘become Malay’. This paper discusses the difficulty and improbability of Chinese Muslim identity in the previous literature and the recent development that enables the decoupling of religious and ethnic identities. By looking beyond ethnicity, the most salient social divider in Malaysia, and looking into other possibilities, such as religious identity, this paper aims to paint a picture of social relations and identification that is more complex yet flexible amongst the Chinese Muslim converts in Penang.     

“Politics have shown that the malays can change”: Corporate anthropology and the governing of entrepreneurial subjectivities in Malaysia

This paper analyses the interplay between anthropological epistemologies, industrial development and labour market policies, and the human technologies seeking to develop entrepreneurial subjectivities in Malaysia. It is argued that the ease with which conceptions of Malay subjectivity interacted with a series of mundane and practical managerial devices depended on the recast of the understanding of Malay subjectivity informed by developmental rationalities and anthropological epistemologies. This paper moreover addresses the apparent contradiction between the neo‐liberal and authoritarian political rationalities inscribed in the programs and human technologies seeking to develop entrepreneurial subjectivities.     

THE MEANING OF RACE TO EMPLOYERS:

The unemployment problems of blacks in the United States have been the subject of considerable research in the social sciences since the 1980s. One way of studying the barriers to employment faced by blacks has been to interview employers, face to face, and directly ask them about their racial attitudes. These studies have concluded that a majority of employers believe that blacks, compared with other racial and ethnic groups, are uncooperative, unreliable, and lack sufficient skills for entry-level employment. The present study critically reexamines employer racial attitudes toward blacks and other groups through a case study of employer hiring in the electronics industry in Los Angeles. Using a different set of interview questions, employers reported (1) that blacks are reluctant to accept unskilled jobs due to a higher reservation wage, not because they lacked skills or a work ethic, (2) that employer racial attitudes varied by level of occupational skill, and (3) that affirmative action regulations modified the hiring process such that employers were less likely to rely on negative racial stereotypes in their hiring and more likely to rely on objective criteria when screening job seekers. I conclude by suggesting that employer racial attitudes are dynamic and, in large measure, shaped by institutional relationships within the workplace.     

Racially Charged Cookies and White Scholarships: Anti-Affirmative Action Protests on American College Campuses

Between 2001 and 2012, students at colleges throughout the United States protested affirmative action policies using various tactics, most notably anti-affirmative action “bake sales,” where the price of the goods was based on the race of the purchaser: white males were charged the most; blacks and Latinos, the least. Other means of protest included “whites-only” or equal opportunity scholarships, an “equal opportunity carnival,” and other satirical productions. Through qualitative content analysis of print and online materials about each protest, I found that the motivations of these protesters can be understood using Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s theories of color-blind racism, particularly the concepts of “abstract liberalism” and “minimization of racism.” I also contend that a secondary goal of these demonstrations is to establish white racial identity as a public identity upon which claims of “reverse discrimination” and oppression can be built.     

Ethno-Religious Identity and Urban Malays in Malaysia

This article explores the forging of ethnic identity by urban Malays in Malaysia around a dialectic between being Islamic and being Malay. I introduce Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus and Anthony Giddens's notion of reflexivity to argue that the Islamic subject in Malaysia engages in different types of interaction which demand varying degrees of reflexivity. While Bourdieu's concept of habitus importantly reveals the actor to be a cultural agent, it denies the individual the meaningful agency that the increasing reflexivity of modernity demands. I suggest that Bourdieu's assertion that the dispositions of habitus are less than conscious does not hold true in a highly reflexive modernity. In this context, the individual is sufficiently conscious of his/her identity to be able to construct it in ways that allow it to be employed as a political weapon.     

The social functions of education in a developing country: The case of Malaysian schools and the role of Malaysian teachers

Employing a social constructivist approach, this article discusses the social functions of education in a developing country, Malaysia. These social functions are discussed and a background of the country is provided before looking at three specific functions: developmental, identity and economic, and how they are actualised through schools. Both positive and negative aspects of the three functions are highlighted to provide a comprehensive understanding. The current state of the teaching profession is examined before the role of teachers in realising the three functions is discussed. It is proposed that teachers need to fulfil a moral purpose to contribute positively towards intercultural understanding, nation-building, and advancing society. (Malay language) Menggunakan pendekatan sosial-konstruktivis, artikel ini memperbincangkan fungsi-fungsi sosial pendidikan di sebuah negara membangun, Malaysia. Kesemua fungsi sosial itu diperjelaskan bersama latarbelakang negara Malaysia sebelum tiga fungsi spesifik iaitu pembangunan, identiti dan ekonomik ditinjau dengan lebih mendalam menerusi proses persekolahan. Aspek-aspek positif dan negatif ketiga fungsi ini telah ditinjau untuk pemahaman yang komprehensif. Perkembangan semasa profesion perguruan juga dikaji, bersama dengan peranan guru berkaitan dengan ketiga fungsi ini. Adalah dicadangkan yang para guru harus memegang peranan moral untuk menyumbang secara positif ke arah kefahaman antara-budaya, pembangunan negara dan demi memajukan masyarakat.     

EXAMINING MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING COMPETENCE AND RACE-RELATED ATTITUDES AMONG WHITE MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPISTS

This study investigates the relative contributions of social desirability attitudes, previous number of multicultural counseling courses taken, and racism and White racial identity attitudes together in predicting marital and family therapists' self-reported multicultural counseling competence. Results revealed that, when controlling for social desirability attitudes and the number of multicultural courses taken, racism and White racial identity attitudes in consort accounted for a significant amount of the variance in self-perceived multicultural counseling competence. Implications for marital and family therapy training, practice, and research are discussed.     

Autonomy,diversity, and dissent: Conceptions of power and sources of action in the Sejarah Melayu (Raffles MS 18)

This study is concerned with exploring pre-colonial Malay ideas about power— about relationships between people and those who sought authority over them — and about the sources of social action and identity in pre-colonial Malay political culture. It examines, as its principal source for information about these issues, the Sejarah Melayu (Raffles MS 18), identifying significant instances in the text of dissent and of pluralism in Malay political culture.     

Sophistication and the Antecedents of Whites' Racial Policy Attitudes: Racism, Ideology, and Affirmative Action in America

A number of researchers have argued that the effects of prejudiceon the racial policy attitudes and general political beliefsof white Americans may be restricted to the poorly educatedand politically unsophisticated. In contrast, rather than beingmotivated by prejudice, the racial policy attitudes and ideologicalvalues of the politically sophisticated white Americans shouldbe more firmly informed and motivated by the tolerant valuesat the heart of American political culture. These values includesuch things as individualism, notions of fair play, and devotionto the principle of equality of opportunity. We tested thishypothesis using white respondents from the 1986 and 1992 NationalElection Studies. Our evidence generally indicated that racialpolicy attitudes and political ideology were more powerfullyassociated with ideologies of racial dominance and superiorityamong politically sophisticated white Americans than among politicalunsophisticated white Americans. Moreover, even among the sophisticated,we found that various forms of egalitarianism predicted supportfor—affirmative action and that support for equal opportunityis not uniformly distributed across the political spectrum.     

‘It is so unfair here…it is so biased’: Negotiating the politics of ethnic identification in ways of being Malaysian schoolgirls

In this paper, the notion of Malaysian identity is conceptualised within a framework of identity and difference, drawing on contemporary theorisations of ethnicity linked to the notion of difference. The notion of Malaysian is problematised as being linked to the interplay between nationalistic official and essentialistic labelling, present and historical social and political events, and experiences of daily living in Malaysia. The author draws on the narratives of 16-year-old Malaysian schoolgirls to illustrate the discourses of ethnicity these girls negotiate in their ways of being and knowing. Being Malaysian and more importantly being Malay, Chinese, Indian or Other is not a simple matter of government-imposed labelling. It is more complicated and negotiated. Ways of being and knowing in Malaysia are multiple, shifting and contradictory as each Malaysian has to negotiate with these labels in their daily lives. The author argues that the politics of ethnic identification in Malaysia are intertwined with the politics of difference, which in turn is linked to power and inequality.     

"Are You an African?" The Politics of Self-Construction in Status-Based Social Movements

Current debates over identity politics hinge on the question of whether status-based social movements encourage parochialism and self-interest or create possibilities for mutual recognition across lines of difference. Our article explores this question through comparative, ethnographic study of two racially progressive social movements, "pro-black" abolitionism and "conscious" hip hop. We argue that status-based social movements not only enable collective identity, but also the personal identities or selves of their participants. Beliefs about the self create openings and obstacles to mutual recognition and progressive social action. Our analysis centers on the challenges that an influx of progressive, anti-racist whites posed to each movement. We examine first how each movement configured movement participation and racial identity and then how whites crafted strategic narratives of the self to account for their participation in a status-based movement they were not directly implicated in. We conclude with an analysis of the implications of these narratives for a critical politics of recognition. Keywords: identity politics, social movements, race, self, hip hop.     

Der „Kleine Mann“ und die AfD: Was steckt dahinter?

Critics of my work have found a negative effect of the social status on the likelihood of someone voting for the AfD. However, these findings do not sufficiently confirm the Modernisation Losers’ thesis that I had formulated and testest in this journal in 2017. The reason is that attitudes towards society vary dependent on social status, and these attitudes have no reference to economic modernisation. When controlling the influence of these attitudes in multivariate analyses, status effects will disappear. One of these attitudes is the rejection of refugees: AfD voters often perceive refugees as competitors for scarce resources and a threat to the cultural homogeneity of German society. This means that the effect of social status on the intention of voting for AfD is mediated by attitudes towards immigration. I find evidence for this thesis in some of the contributions of my critics and in new analyses based on the German Social-Economic Panel (GSOEP). My conclusion is that a policy of redistribution will not be suitable for winning back AfD voters, because it misses the decisive motive for their voting.     

The (Un)Happy Objects of Affective Community

Affect permeates understandings of racial and cultural mixture as well as racial democracy in Brazil. Sentiments of interconnectedness, harmony and conviviality shape the ways in which Brazilians of diverse races/colours feel identity and belonging. These sentiments also drive hopeful attachments to possibilities for moving beyond race, influencing how people encounter and relate to racism and inequality. However, studies of race in Brazil tend to either take the affective for granted as positive unifying force or ignore its role in shaping the appeal of dominant racial discourses on identity, nation and belonging. Through an examination of the different ways people feel, experience and live orientations towards mixture and racial democracy as the dominant affective community, this paper analyzes the role the affective plays in constituting racial ideologies and shaping anti-racist action. I explore the ways histories of race, racism, privilege and disadvantage generate unequal attachments to and experiences of mixture and racial democracy as what Sara Ahmed calls ‘happy objects’, those objects towards which good feeling are directed, that provide a shared horizon of experience, and that shape an affective community with which all are assumed to be aligned. Not everyone attaches themselves to the same objects in the same way and for the same reasons – the affective community involves positive, hopeful attachments for some and an unhappy, alienating and unequally shared burden for others. These affective states demonstrate that histories of race and racism cannot be wished away through commonly asserted attachments to abstract ideals of shared belonging. At the same time, examining these affective states provides deeper understanding of the ways unequal attachments move people towards action or inaction in relation to race, racism and discrimination.     

Racial Attitudes in the Deep South: Persistence and Change at the University of Alabama, 1963–2013*

Using data from a unique series of surveys collected between 1963 and 2013, this study examines racial attitudes among young white adults in the Deep South over a 50-year period. Repeated surveys of University of Alabama students in 1963, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1983, 1988, and 2013 measured racial stereotypes, support for racial segregation, and in the 2013 study, racial resentment and support for ameliorative racial policies. Analyses show that in the 1960s endorsement of racial stereotypes was a powerful predictor of support for racial segregation. By the early 1970s, racial integration became a reality in the Deep South and, paralleling broad trends in U.S. society, endorsement of racial stereotypes and support for racial segregation declined. Simultaneously, threats to whites' position in the form of ameliorative racial policies (including affirmative action) emerged along with racial resentment. By 2013, racial resentment, rather than racial stereotyping, was the primary determinant of white students' opposition to racial change. Our findings support Herbert Blumer's (1958) argument that racial prejudice exists in a sense of group position, and that it functions to preserve the advantaged position of the dominant group regardless of changes in the form that prejudice takes.     

KIDS' APPROACHES TO WHITENESS IN RACIALLY DISTINCT SUMMER DAY CAMPS

This study explores how preadolescents engaged in different interactional approaches to whiteness in racially distinct summer camps. Kids in the predominantly white and predominantly black contexts created peer cultures that differed in the following ways: (1) how they marked and defined whiteness, (2) how they made subject positions toward whiteness problematic, and (3) how they maintained different racial hegemonies. Mere numerical majority/minority relations, as well as differences in racial hegemony, caused kids to vary the meanings of whiteness, especially as the value of maintaining color-blind and color-aware orientations fluctuated. The findings suggest that the racial composition of a context may be key to encouraging recognition that white racial subjectivities are as subject to multiple interpretations, expressions, and embodiment as are racial subjectivities of color.     

A curious trajectory of interrace relations: the transformation of cosmopolitan Malay port polities into the multiethnic divisions of modern Malaysia

This article aims to examine several interrelated issues pertaining to the historical development of pluralism in areas forming today´s Malaysia. Firstly, it intends to analyze the transformation of the formerly cosmopolitan populations of Malay port polities into the highly ‘racialized’ society of modern Malaysia. It also seeks to clarify the roots of ethnicity-based issues and relations in the country. Lastly, it attempts to challenge the very concept of Malaysia as a society primarily consisting of three ethnic pillars, dominated by the Malays, and ‘complemented’ by the Chinese and the Indians. I argue that the main driving force behind these tensions is the segregational colonial policies and the postcolonial arrangements of the Malay ethnocentrist governments, rather than ethnic and cultural factors as the ruling politicians tend to stress. I also contend that religious issues, especially those stemming from the dakwah movement, are gradually becoming an increasingly important factor in interrace strife.     

From Affirmative Action to Diversity: Critical Reflections on Graduate Education in Sociology

This article explores the contradictory results of the shift from a race‐conscious affirmative action discourse to a broader “diversity embrace” that advocates tolerance, equality, and respect for cultural differences on university campuses. Drawing on critical race theory and research on the practice of affirmative action in organizations, we argue that the diversity embrace subsumes recognition of racialized histories, social relations, and practices in favor of a “color‐blind” rhetoric that reinforces negative assumptions about the academic merit and worthiness of underrepresented minority students (URM). Our review of the status and condition of URM graduate students in sociology departments reveals that minority inclusion is part of a larger strategy that emphasizes individual and group differences rather than corrective action for past discrimination. We find that access and inclusion in graduate programs in sociology have been uneven with relatively few departments producing a majority of URM sociology doctorates. The diversity embrace obscures their continual low representation in graduate programs, fosters professionalization practices detrimental to these students, and undermines efforts to create a “critical mass” of faculty of color. Such practices constitute a racial project that preserves White privilege at the individual and institutional levels.     

Urban Space,Belonging, and Inequality in Multi-Ethnic Housing Estates of Melaka,Malaysia

Through ethnographic inquiry, this article explores the dynamics of urban space and ethnicity in a multi-ethnic and predominantly middle-class neighborhood in Melaka, Malaysia. Chinese developers and Malay political officials contributed to the social production of the built environment in the neighborhood, including several housing estates, commercial shop lots, religious institutions, kindergartens, and day care centers. Indians, Malays, Chinese, and Christians mark and claim spaces with polysemous symbols entailing shared meanings of protection and representation of their respective categories. While the Malay-dominated government and Chinese capital have established stable religious institutions, Indians are struggling to maintain two unregistered temples. Chinese and Indians interact in many contexts producing a shared politically marginalized identity of Malaysian citizens. International students, mostly Arabs and Africans of various nationalities, produce a politically marginalized identity of non-citizen student-customers. Fluctuating and persisting aspects of identity schemata embedded in processes of social production and construction are integral to citizen and subcitizen struggles for life-space.     

Social Structural Location and Vocabularies of Participation: Fostering a Collective Identity in Urban Agriculture Activism

Contextualized within the visible inequality that permeates its local food landscape and the broader elitist food culture of California's San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland's urban agriculture movement comprises actors with rich vocabularies of motive for participation. Drawing from 25 in‐depth interviews with movement activists, I uncover a racial and social class homogeneity among participants that contributes to the formation of a collective identity but also limits the movement's outcomes in important ways. This research draws from Bourdieu's theory of class distinction and social movement theories of collective identity formation to contribute to literature on the reproduction of class and racial privilege in alternative food activism. I find that narratives for movement involvement converge on three discourses: possession of education‐derived knowledge to contend with the agroindustrial complex, the conflation of the creation of community through urban food growing with inclusivity, and a missionary‐like desire to educate others as to the benefits of growing their own food. I argue that the movement could benefit from a more diverse repertoire of action generated from a greater integration of racially and economically diverse actors working together to reorient the food system toward local food production alternatives.