Definitions
- Racialisation: The process by which an individual becomes categorized as part of a racial group.
- Racism: prejudice or discrimination based on perceived race.
- Ethnocentrism: The act of judging other cultures based on the standards, values, and ideas common to one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism occurs when one evaluates the world from the perspective of their own culture, and ignores the different perspectives of other groups.
- Ethnicity: A set of shared values, cultural practices, and ideas which are used to distinguish one group of people from another. Aspects of ethnicity include rituals, religious beliefs, languages, social norms, and so on.
- Stereotypes: A generalized belief about a group of people, indiscriminately applied to all members of that group.
- Prejudice: the pre-emptive judging of a group or individual based on particular characteristics of them.
- Discrimination: the unfair treatment of an individual or group based on particular characteristics of them.
- Biological racism: the belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are superior to others based on intrinsic factors of biology.
- Eugenics: a philosophy and social movement which holds that human populations or societies can be improved by encouraging certain groups to breed while discouraging others. Eugenicist ideas were often implemented by force.
- Holocaust: the systematic genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany during WWII.
- Scapegoating: a process by which a particular group is blamed for outcomes that they are not responsible for.
- Raciology: in Gilroy, the continued use of racial thinking, especially attempts to reassert essential or biological differences between human races. Often termed ‘scientific racism’
- Post-Colonial Melancholy: A feeling of sadness, regret, and longing associated with a growing recognition of the negative aspects of colonization. Typically associated with nostalgia for the time of empire, especially in Britain.
- New Racism: a form of racism based on a belief in the superiority of the culture of a particular race or ethnic group, rather than superiority in biological traits.
- Cultural Identity:One’s sense of belonging to a particular cultural group.
- Cultural Racism: a belief that the culture of one ‘race’ or ethnic group is superior to another. Cultural racism typically involves the belief that certain ethnic cultures are fundamentally incompatible; it is thus opposed to multiculturalism.
- Islamophobia: Discrimination or prejudice against members of the Islamic Faith.
- Imagined Community: The idea that nations are social constructed entities, based on individuals each believing that they are part of the national-group.
- Homogeneity: A word used to describe a collection of elements which are each identical to one another.
- Paranoid Nationalism: A concept developed by Hage, compared to an earlier form of ‘defensive nationalism’ that saw the threat to the nation as external. Paranoid nationalism is built on the newly vulnerable members of the working and middle class projecting this vulnerability on to anything deemed culturally alien, particularly within the nation’s borders.
- Whiteness Studies:An interdisciplinary field focusing on the cultural, historical, and sociological aspects of whiteness, particularly on the ideology of white supremacy.
- White Mask: When members of non-White racial groups adopt or imitate the behaviour of White groups, internalizing the idea that these groups are superior.
- Whiteness as norm: The idea that a white identity is the ‘default’ identity around which societies are organized. Whiteness as norm involves the marginalization of other racial identities, and the treatment of white culture and norms as the standard to which other groups should aspire.
- Internalized racism: The unconscious acceptance, among racially marginalized groups, of ideas and stereotypes which portray them as inferior.
- Redlining: The systematic denial of service to particular groups, typically on the basis of perceived race.
- Ghetto: In Elijah Anderson’s analysis, the (iconic) ghetto is a widely held, sometimes tacit, stereotype of the neighbourhoods where African Americans live or grew up, embedded in popular culture.
- Invisible Knapsack: A metaphor for privilege, developed by Peggy McIntosh, which posits that privilege is similar to an invisible collection of unearned asserts that people can use to obtain success. Individuals who possess those assets are typically unaware that members of other groups (marginalized racial groups, for example) do not possess them, hence they are ‘invisible’ to them.
- Privilege: The idea that certain individuals or groups have advantages in society based on various characteristics, such as race, gender, sexuality, and so on.
- Passing: When a member of one group is able to be seen by others as a member of different group: i.e. a light skinned black woman may ‘pass’ as white.
- Micro-aggressions: small, commonplace behaviours or environmental features that communicate prejudicial attitudes towards members of marginalized groups.
- White Fragility: a reticence, possessed by white individuals, to talk about race and the structural benefits conveyed by whiteness. White fragility often involves defensive reactions and a dismissal of the existence of racism.
- Intersectionality: The belief that different social categorizations (such as race, gender, and class) intersect and overlap, forming new and complex forms of inequality.
- Cultural Appropriation: The adoption of elements in one culture, typically a minority culture, by another culture, typically a dominant culture. Cultural appropriation is typically seen as negative when cultural elements are misused or divorced from their original meaning.
- Hipster Racism: performing behaviours typically seen as racist in an ironic, self-aware, or satirical manner.
- Identity Politics: A form of political action in which political alliances are formed around certain identity categories, e.g. categories of gender or race. Groups based on identity politics prioritize the concerns, needs, or demands of their particular identity group, often in an uncompromising manner.
- Standpoint Theory: The position that marginalized groups have a unique, valuable perspective on social phenomena, particularly marginalization and oppression. Standpoint theorists argue that groups have fundamentally different experiences and perspectives of the world, and that the exclusion of certain groups creates biased knowledge.
- Whiteness Studies: An interdisciplinary field focusing on the cultural, historical, and sociological aspects of whiteness; particularly on the ideology of white supremacy.
- Kaupapa Maori Theory: Theory based around the vision, aspirations, and values of the Māori community.
- Indigenous standpoint: The unique perspective on social phenomena afforded to an individual by their experience as an indigenous person.
- Reflexivity: the capacity of an individual to reflect on their behaviour, and to recognize the structural factors which shape, constrain, or otherwise inform it. Reflexivity is linked with the sociological imagination.
- Cultural Interface: A model, proposed by Nataka, in which cross-cultural interaction is described as a “layered and very complex entanglement of concepts, theories and sets of meanings of a knowledge system.”
- Black/White paradigm: A way of studying race which only examines relationships between white and black people, rather than also considering non-Black people of colour.
- Colour-Line: A term used to describe racial segregation, or social and legal barriers which separate people based on perceived race.
- Diaspora: A community of people who live outside of their shared country or region of ancestral origin.
- Hybridity: In post-colonial studies, the creation of new transcultural forms within the zone of cultural contact produced by colonization.
- Third-Space: Abstract social spaces ‘between’ recognized groups or identities (i.e. between distinct cultures), where new practices, ideas, and identities can emerges.
- Super Diverse World: The idea that cultural diversity is increasing in societies, both in the number of ethnic groups within societies but also in the form of diversity in ethnic groups themselves.
- Ordinary Cosmopolitanism: Forms of cosmopolitan behaviour or ideas evident in the everyday practices of common people (as opposed to academics).
- Convivial Culture: In Gilroy, the lively, friendly interaction between different racial group in a society.
- Multicultural Drift: The gradual drift towards acceptance of multicultural societies, created by everyday interactions and experiences rather than by academic theorists.
- Contingent Inclusion: A term used to describe the way that racial minorities can become included in communities on the basis of other characteristics.
- Ambivalence: A feeling of contrasting or opposing commitments towards a particular entity or event.
- Essentialism: The view that members of particular groups possess intrinsic and ‘essential’ traits which make them members of that group.
Books on the General Topic
Healey, J. 2016. Multiculturalism and Australian Identity. The Spinney Press.
Lentin, A. 2020. Why Race Still Matters. Polity Press.
Collins, P.H. and Bilge, S. 2020. Intersectionality. Polity Press.
Coates, R., Ferber, A. and Brunsma, D., 2017. The matrix of race. SAGE.
Coles, R., 2006. Race & family. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Contemporary Research Monographs on this Topic
Hage, G. 2012. White nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society. Routledge.
Idriss, S. 2017. Young migrant identities: Creativity and masculinity, 1st. ed., Routledge, London.
Bailey, M. 2021. Misogynoir: Black Women’s Digital Resistance. NYU Press.
Knowles, C., 2003. Race and social analysis. London: SAGE
Malešević, S., 2004. The sociology of ethnicity. London: SAGE.
Contemporary Articles
- Discusses how ‘how racism shifted from the black body as the visible and material target of racial oppression to air/breath, and how suffocation became the characteristic feature as well as the weapon of contemporary racial injustice’.
- Interesting piece on race relations in the AFL and NRL. Examines the conflict between publicly ‘progressive’ policies and a lack of opportunity behind the scenes.
- Examines the intersection between the sociology of race and post-colonial sociology. Comprehensive but easy to follow.
- This is a good easy to read. A focus group study, it illustrates the micro-aggression concept well.
- Touches on many themes of the chapter in an approachable way.
Dunn, KM, Forrest, J, Burnley, I and McDonald, A 2016, ‘Constructing racism in Australia’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 409-430.
- Useful quantitative study on old vs new racist attitudes in Australia.
Augoustinos, M, Tuffin, K and Every, D 2005, ‘New racism, meritocracy and individualism: constraining affirmative action in education.’ Discourse & Society, vol. 16, no.3, pp. 315-340.
- Discourse analysis of focus groups done with Australian students.
- Demonstration of Islamophobia in Australia and accompanying discussion of the ‘new racism’ concept.
- Useful article demonstrating link between racial stereotypes and perceptions of crime.
- Study demonstrating racial bias in classrooms.
- Uses the concepts of whiteness and white privilege, well demonstrated in an empirical study.
- Reiterating and deepening the significance of race, even if it is ‘just’ a social construct.
- Hits on many of the themes discussed in the chapter.
Discussion Questions
- What is the difference between prejudice and structural racism?
- What are some examples of ‘new racism’?
- What do you think is driving the resurgence of racist or prejudicial attitudes in many contemporary societies?
- How can the standpoint of individuals from non-white, marginalized ethnic groups contribute to sociology?
- Do you agree that we are moving towards a ‘super-diverse world’?
Chapter References
- Amin, A (2010) ‘The Remainders of Race’, Theory, Culture, & Society, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 1–23.
- Anderson, E (2012) ‘The Iconic Ghetto’, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 642, no. 1, pp. 8–24.
- Ang, I (2001) On Not Speaking Chinese: Living between Asia and the West. Routledge.
- Back, L (1996) New Ethnicities and Urban Culture: Racism and Multiculture in Young Lives. St Martin’s Press.
- Balibar, É (1991) ‘Is There a Neo-racism?’, in Balibar, É and Wallerstein, I (eds) Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities. Verso, pp. 17–28.
- Bauman, Z (1989) Modernity and the Holocaust. Polity Press.
- Bhabha, HK (2004) The Location of Culture. Routledge.
- Bonilla-Silva, E (2010) Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and Racial Inequality in Contemporary America (3rd edn). Rowman and Littlefield.
- Booth, AL, Leigh, A and Varganova, E (2012) ‘Does Ethnic Discrimination Vary across Minority
- Groups? Evidence from a Field Experiment’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 547–573.
- Canclini, NG (1995) Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. University of Minnesota Press.
- Carmichael, S and Hamilton, CV (1967) Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Random House.
- Clark, KB and Clark, MP (1947) ‘Racial Identification and Preference among Negro Children’, in
- Hartley, EL (ed.) Readings in Social Psychology. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
- Crenshaw, K (1989) ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics’, University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989, no. 1, pp. 139–167.
- DiAngelo, R (2018) White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Beacon Press.
- Fanon, F (1989) Black Skin, White Masks. Pluto Press.
- Ghassan, H (2003) Against Paranoid Nationalism: Searching for Hope in a Shrinking Society. Pluto Press.
- Gilroy, P (2005) Postcolonial Melancholia. Columbia University Press.
- Harris, CI (1993) ‘Whiteness as Property’, Harvard Law Review, vol. 106, no. 8, pp. 1707–1791.
- Hartley, E (1969) Problems in Prejudice. Octagon Books.
- Hill-Collins, P (1990) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge.
- Jones, CP (2000) ‘Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale’, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 90, no. 8, pp. 1212–1215.
- Lamont, M and Aksartova, S (2002) ‘Ordinary Cosmopolitanisms: Strategies for Bridging Racial Boundaries among Working Class Men’, Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 1–25.
- McIntosh, P (1989) ‘White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack’, Peace and Freedom Magazine, July/August, pp. 10–12.
- Moreton-Robinson, A (2013) ‘Towards an Australian Indigenous Women’s Standpoint Theory: A Methodological Tool’, Australian Feminist Studies, vol. 28, no. 78, pp. 331–347.
- Mujcic, R and Frijters, P (2013) ‘Still not Allowed on the Bus: It Matters if You’re Black or White!’, IZA Discussion Paper No. 7300. Race and Ethnicity 121
- Nakata, M (2007) ‘The Cultural Interface’, The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, vol. 36, no. S1, pp. 7–14.
- Nayak A (2003) Race, Place and Globalization: Youth Cultures in a Changing World. Berg.
- Pager, D (2003) ‘The Mark of a Criminal Record’, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 108, no. 5, pp. 937–975.
- Perea, JF (1997) ‘The Black/White Binary Paradigm of Race: The “Normal Science” of American Racial Thought’, California Law Review, vol. 85, no. 5, pp. 1213–1258.
- Sumner, WG (1906) Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals. Ginn and Company.
- Tallbear, K (2014) ‘The Emergence, Politics, and Marketplace of Native American DNA’, in Kleinman, DL and Moore, K (eds) Routledge Handbook of Science, Technology, and Society. Routledge, pp. 21–37.
- Vertovec, S (2007) ‘Super-Diversity and Its Implications’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 1024–1054.
- Wailoo, K, Nelson, A, and Lee, C (eds) (2012) Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of DNA, Race, and History. Rutgers University Press.
- Walter, MM (2009) ‘An Economy of Poverty? Power and the Domain of Aboriginality’, International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 2–14.
- Wilson, WJ (2012) The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions (3rd edn). University of Chicago Press.
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