You must answer 2 of the following 4 questions. You must integrate both the lecture materials and the required reading from the
text into your paper. I must see a clear
connection with the chapter or required readings, videos, or other course
materials. You must provide scholarly support for your essays. These essays are
not asking for your feelings!!!!!
A.
Discuss
what is meant by the term “Rituals of Racism.” Identify and discuss a specific
“ritual,” its manifest and latent functions, and how it operates to
maintain/justify the current system of domination. It has been suggested that the oppressed
become active agents of their own oppression. You are to discuss the Kill
the Indian, Save the Man video as a means of developing an argument to
address the larger discourse concerning the language of oppression and ritual
of racism. Discuss the Kill the Indian, Save the Man video. How does this video challenge popular cultural
narratives about the purpose of education? address the presence of White Privilege?
Does White Privilege exist? Do other forms of racial privilege exist, discuss,
and develop? The Saphir-Worph Hypothesis concludes that “language shapes
the views of reality of its speakers.” If this is true, how then, is the
language used to maintain the system of oppression (deal specifically with
race). If language is not oppressive, develop an argument that explains
sociology’s fascination with language and how it is used to shape our social
realities. In terms of the materials covered in class, do sports teams mascots
further contribute to the “Rituals of Racism” we have been discussing
or has the significance of these teams, and their names/mascots, been drastically
exaggerated, explain? What is the significance of having an animal vs. a group
of people as a mascot? Is this simply a matter of choice, or does this
illustrate something much more complex than what is being manifest at the
surface level??
B.
What
are the 3 “domains” of power? Identify one domain and develop an
argument that clearly demonstrates the way this “domain” is used to maintain
the system of oppression. Once a specific domain has been identified, you must
also identify, at a minimum, one area (1 of the 9 key areas of racism
identified in class) of racism and demonstrate how it operates within the
“domain” you have chosen. Clearly operationalize the term racism. Distinguish
racism from prejudice, stereotyping, and ethnic conflict. In this part of your
response, you must clearly address the issue of “power” and how it
operates to maintain a system of racial domination. The idea of power must also
be utilized to address one concept identified as an advantage of racism. In
relationship to the “advantages of racism, you are to explain how the racial
privilege experienced by a specific group operates to protect the interest of the
group, their progeny, and the “buffer zone” they have created (colonial
administrators). In your analysis of the “advantages of racism,” you must
identify the greatest “advantage” the dominant group receives, explain? How
does fear, not ignorance, drive the complex relationships which maintain racism
in society?
C.
What is ethnicity, explain? What is meant by
the term “Melting Pot?” What is the purpose of the “melting
pot?” In detail, describe what happens to an individual at each of the
four stages of assimilation. Explain how the assimilation process occurs
without individuals having knowledge of it even when it is happening to them.
Identify the institution that you believe is the most influential in relation
to the assimilation process. Give specific examples of the way this institution
operates to “carry out” the process. How does the “Melting Pot” serve to justify and maintain “popular cultural
racism?” How does the “Melting Pot”
contribute to the notion of false
consciousness, i.e., the “oppressed becoming active agents in their own
oppression? Develop an argument that clearly addresses, provide examples, the
idea that because of a pattern of
paternalistic race relations, the oppressed take on the ideas of the
oppressors and become participants in maintaining the system of oppression
rather than dismantling it. In your discussion, you must demonstrate how race etiquette established in the early
beginnings of the U.S. has helped to create and sustain the patterns of popular
cultural racism we discussed in class.
D. What are the differences between
immigrant and colonized minorities? How does each status impact
a group and their relationship to the social system? What is meant by the terms rigid competitive vs. fluid competitive race
relations, explain? Explain the importance of ascribed status in
relation to a racial caste system. If
a racial caste system has ever existed
in a society, even if it appears to no longer exist, what type of “legacy” might it produce? Would this legacy impact the current state of
racial affairs, explain? As a result of the U.S. presidential election of 2008
many individuals have argued that the U.S. has moved into a Post-Racial Era. First, what is your
analysis of this Post-Racial Era? Next,
is it plausible that an election of one individual has the potential to
eradicate a legacy of racial domination, explain? Finally, if race is of
declining significance, what does/would this mean for those who exist on the
margins? Explain Ideological Racism. How does the presence of ideological racism complicate the
ideologies presented through the arguments attached to the Post-Racial Era discourse? Arguments of Cultural Inferiority
suggest that culture, not racism, is to blame for various “failures” within the
social system of the U.S. Consequently, certain racial groups practice various
cultural patterns which have contributed to their “failings” in the social
structure. Using the ideas presented by Cultural
Inferiority you are to explore the ways in which racial stratification has
created specific (identify) cultural nuances that serve to reproduce patterns
of racial dominance under the guise of cultural inadequacy.
To gain full credit for the journal quiz, you MUST use
information from the required reading, lecture, videos, and other academic
sources to support your answers. This paper is not simply based on your
opinion. Your ideas must be informed by the literature. Please contact me if
you need assistance with this.
SOC 251
https://youtu.be/VEIaIVktOEc- SOURCES TO HELP INCLUDE
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