Political correctness and multiculturalism: Who supports PC?

What is the nature and content of political correctness and multiculturalism? Are both these movements solely products of left-wing politics masquerading as an effort to create more racial, sexual, ethnic, and religious diversity throughout social institutions in the name of fairness and equity or are these movements addressing legitimate concerns about tolerance and equality? What of right-wing allegations that information used by proponents of these two movements is biased? What are the social and political implications of these movements and the relationship between economics and multiculturalism? Finally, why is there such controversy surrounding these movements, and who is in fact the opposition? These are some of the questions addressed in this essay.     

Taking risks in investing in the equity market: racial and ethnic differences

Some policy makers and policy analysts have proposed that Social Security should be privatized to enable participants to achieve higher returns through investment in the stock market. How well individual retirees would fare financially under a privatized system largely depends on their decision to invest in the equity market, rather than in other types of investment vehicles. For that reason, it is important to investigate the degree to which minority people are currently investing in this market. This article presents the findings of a study that compared the investment behavior of black and Hispanic people aged 51 to 61 with the investment behavior of their white counterparts. The major findings indicate that black and Hispanic people: (a) are less likely to invest in the equity market than are white people, and (b) tend to invest smaller percentages of their assets in the equity market. Implications for policy are discussed.     

The making of race in colonial Malaya: Political economy and racial ideology

The conventional interpretation of the race problem in Peninsular Malaysia (Malaya) is founded upon the supposedly inevitable frictions between ethnic communities with sharply divergent cultural traditions. In this view, assimilation between the indigenous Malay population and the descendants of immigrants from China and India was always a remote possibility. In this paper I argue that modern race relations in Peninsular Malaysia, in the sense of impenetrable group boundaries, were a byproduct of British colonialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Prior to 1850, inter-ethnic relations among Asian populations were marked by cultural stereotypes and occasional hostility, but there were also possibilities for inter-ethnic alliances and acculturation. Direct colonial rule brought European racial theory and constructed a social and economic order structured by race. A review of the writing of observers of colonial society provides a crude test of this hypothesis.     

Behavior problems and children's academic achievement: A test of growth-curve models with gender and racial differences

The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal association between externalizing and internalizing behavior and children's academic achievement, particularly in terms of whether these variables varied as a function of gender and race. Data pertaining to externalizing and internalizing behavior, academic achievement, gender, and race from three waves of the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 2028) were used. Results indicate that behavior problems had a negative relationship with academic performance and some of these associations endured over time. Externalizing behavior impacted reading scores more negatively for females compared to males at baseline, but the impact of externalizing behavior on long-term reading outcomes did not vary by gender. Externalizing behavior impacted reading scores more negatively for Black children than White children at multiple points in time. Differences between males, females, Black, and White children concerning behavior and achievement are explained. Implications, limitations, and ideas for future research are also presented.     

Gender and racial/ethnic differences in predicting adolescent sexual risk: athletic participation versus exercise

Though often conflated, informal physical exercise and organized athletic participation have very different implications for adolescent sexual risk outcomes. The purpose of this research is to disaggregate strenuous exercise from sports, examine how each is associated with sexual risk, and explain the observed differences using the conceptual lens of cultural resource theory. Using a nationally representative sample of over 16,000 public and private high school students, we employ logistic regression to test hypotheses about the gender-specific and race-specific effects of strenuous exercise and athletic participation on adolescent sexual risk behavior. The results show that both forms of physical activity buffer sexual risk for girls. Strenuous exercise is associated with increased odds of sexual risk for boys. Sports and race interact to influence boys' sexual risk outcomes: Athletic participation is associated with lowered odds of sexual risk for white male adolescents, but heightened odds of sexual risk for black male adolescents.     

Associations between discussions of racial and ethnic differences in internationally adoptive families and delinquent behavior among Korean adopted adolescents

Internationally adopted adolescents may have more delinquent behavior than non-adopted adolescents. One explanation is that these adolescents experience discrimination and loss of culture, and adoptive parents are not adequately addressing these experiences. However, studies have not examined the effects of family discussions of racial and ethnic differences within adoptive families on adopted adolescents' delinquent behavior. To test this relationship, this study utilized data from 111 U.S. internationally adoptive families with 185 South Korean adopted adolescents (55% female, M age = 17.75). During an observational assessment, families discussed the importance of their racial and ethnic differences, and adolescents completed a delinquent behavior questionnaire. Analysis of covariance showed differences in adolescent delinquent behavior across three ways adoptive families discussed racial and ethnic differences; adolescents whose families acknowledged differences had the fewest mean delinquent behaviors. There were no significant differences in delinquent behavior between adolescents whose families acknowledged or rejected the importance of racial and ethnic differences. However, adopted adolescents whose families held discrepant views of differences had significantly more problem behavior than adolescents whose families either acknowledged or rejected the importance of racial and ethnic differences. Clinicians, adoption professionals, and other parenting specialists should focus on building cohesive family identities about racial and ethnic differences, as discrepant views of differences are associated with the most adoptee delinquent behavior.     

Multiculturalism, “political correctness,” and the politics of identity

American society, in the course of its earlier history, was shaped by the competing visions of nativism and cosmopolitan liberalism. The first defined the American identity in restrictive fashion, and sought to curtail naturalization and immigration. The second, taking an expansive view of American identity, pressed opposing policies. In the period following World War II, new visions of American society have developed in the course of the struggles of people of color to overcome their historical exclusion from the American cultural identity. The latest of these visions are expressed in the movements of multiculturalism and political correctness, which are seen here as facets of a new, and morally assertive, view of American society, revolving around the efforts of previously excluded groups to construct new identities. All of these forms of consciousness—nativism, cosmopolitan liberalism, and multiculturalism—now compete on the American scene in the politics of identity.An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Eastern Sociological Society annual meeting, Arlington, Virginia, March 1992.     

Advancing a sociology of ignorance in the study of racism and racial non‐knowing

By a wealth of indicators, ignorance appears a bona fide if often vexing social fact. Ignorance is socially constructed, negotiated, and pervasive; ignorance is often socially inevitable, even necessary; and, without a doubt, ignorance is socially consequential. Yet, despite its significance, ignorance has appeared a largely secondary concern among sociologists. Perhaps more perplexing, while sociologists of racism, power, and domination have long focused on the ways racial ideologies distort and mystify racial understanding to sustain White supremacy over time, we have done less to elaborate ignorance than is possible and warranted. Here, I join growing calls for a fully‐fledged “sociology of ignorance” and argue that antiracist and decolonial scholars have much to gain from and contribute to such an endeavor. This article traces the historical forebears of a “sociology of ignorance” and explores ignorance as a social concept before turning to examine precedents and increasing attention to ignorance scholarship on racism, racial domination, and racialized non‐knowing. Drawing from this work, I urge race‐critical scholars take advantage of our unique position to advance theory and methodology surrounding ignorance and the social‐cultural production of non‐knowledge as a broader area of social inquiry.     

Youth homelessness and the racial knowledge gap

We know relatively little about homeless youth of color. Despite comprising almost three-quarters of the homeless youth population in the United States, youth of color, along with their unique needs, experiences, and wellbeing, have seldom been the subject of sustained and critical empirical inquiry. For example, in the context of education, the ways in which grade point averages, frequency of school change, and graduation rates may differ between homeless youth in general and homeless youth of color remain unknown. Even if we were to take the liberty of extending the existing comparative research regarding general student performance, the best we can surmise is that homeless youth of color fare worse according to all of these traditional success standards, but we haven’t the faintest idea how much worse or why. When it comes to vital questions about the wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable children in America, we are, at worst, asleep at the wheel and, at best, stumbling in the dark. On its surface, the “racial knowledge gap” appears to be a yawning expanse of missing information enveloped by a hazy mist of imprecise data interpretation, the meaning and significance of which I expound upon in this brief.     

Network analysis in the study of gender differences

This article aims at evaluating how network analysis can contribute to studies on gender differences as also considered in different ethnic contexts. The article shows how the concept of network can be used in new ways and discusses the theoretical foundations of the two main research traditions in this field: (1) on one hand, the anthropological development of social networks within the framework of a situational and processual analytical interpretation; (2) on the other hand, the development of the mathematical and quantitative analysis of the relations between the individual units of the social system, within the framework of a structural analytical interpretation. The paper analyses some of the most interesting contributions of each tradition to show their differences with regard to theoretical elaboration, investigation perspectives and objects, and methods and techniques. It ends by identifying the areas in gender research to which each research tradition can be most appropriately applied.