According to Michael Omi and Howard Winant, in what ways has state law “quantified racial identity”? The court case of Phipps and the Bureau of Vital Records of Louisiana shows that racial identity was still in place. The judge ruled that she was black even though her parents were black and white. The ruling was seen as a quantifying racial identity. The ruling in Phipps case shows that it was right to identify an individual in a specific race.
Looking at Omi and Winant's discussion of race as a " sociohistorical concept," discuss the difference between this more recent understanding of race and earlier notions of race as a biological concept.
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The racial differences are given major expression by the sociohistorical concept they are fixed. Earlier, the race was seen as a biological difference among different groups of people. This shows that the definition has moved from historical text to social construct.
According to Omi and Winant, what is the significance of persisting racial ideologies in the United States? How is the presence of a "system of racial meanings and stereotypes" different from more particular racial meanings, stereotypes, and myths?
It preserves discrimination. It also creates a basis for racism and differential treatment to be validated as people can operate in a system without knowing that they are engaging in racial discrimination. Racial meanings, stereotypes, and myths can shift and change while the system remains in place.
Define the term "racial formation." Why, as the authors note, is it such a difficult concept to grasp? Consider their choice of words in your response (ex. "unstable," "decentered," "transformed," "struggle").
Racial formation is the attempt to establish the differences between people because of their way of life rather than how they look. It is challenging to get the meaning because it is given based on the need to control and relegate power and privilege.
In Pem Davidson Buck’s essay “Constructing Race, Creating White Privilege,” what is the significance of cultural and biological differences? Why does Buck pay special attention to the distinction?
Before Bacon's rebellion, there was a good relationship between the back and whites and was natural. The construct of race was not yet developed; this allowed white and black indentured servants to marry and elope with each other.
According to Buck, how was law critical to "the maintenance of whiteness and... the production of slaves"? How did this impact the distribution of wealth in the United States, beginning in the colonial period?
Women were controlled by white men to maintain the whiteness and slaves who were considered as wealth for the white slaveholders. The legal shift had an impact on wealth distribution. People who held slaves were considered the richest in the country, and their wealth was distributed among all children. This led to the distribution of wealth in the United States.
According to Buck, what are the key factors that helped to establish structural privileges for whites, what Buck describes as “the benefits of being white”?
The key factors that led to privileges for whites include giving them better treatment as compared to blacks. The whites were spared from mistreatment as compared to blacks. The whites who were landless were bought into the system and enjoyed some benefits such as protection from strict punishments. The poor whites still enjoyed rights that differentiated them from blacks.
Explain the critical concept doing gender in Judith Lorber’s “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender.” What is revealed by emphasizing the act of gendering?
The important concept that is depicted by Judith Lorber is assigning someone a gender by looking at them and making a judgment from social norms. She notes the significance of babies wearing baseball caps, flowered shoes, among other cross-gender clothing. This reveals that in the modern-day, gender roles are changing where both parents look after their children and boys are wearing unisex clothing.
According to Lorber, when do we usually notice gender signs and signals? What does this tell us about gender roles and expectations?
Lorber states that we only realize the signs after they experience change. This shows that dominant views of gender have been in existent but difficult to see.
What is important about seeing gender as a social institution?
It is important because individuals are assigned sex at birth and not gendered, and they are being taught to be masculine and feminine as they grow up. Children are accustomed to walking and talk like girls and boys because social groups expect them to do.
