Contemporary Racism Readings/Assignments

Contemporary Racism, Fall 2009

> Course Syllabus: course description, goals, policies and assignment details.

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> Ground Rules for Class Discussions

> Click here to see a complete bibliography for the course

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9/2/2009: I encourage you to check out the Center for Ethics programming this semester. The programs listed here are potentially very relevant to our course.

Links of Interest:

Tentative Reading/Assignment Schedule

N.B. = nota bene (note well; be sure you think about this);
Readings in blue will be co-facilitated by a student. (Everyone must read these articles as assigned.)

DATE	TOPIC	READINGS	ASSIGNMENTS
T SEPT 1	Social Identity		Due: Baseline Survey (http://www.understandingprejudice.org/baseline/ ; Register using "cwolfeF09" for Class ID)
INTRODUCTION
R SEPT 3	Difficulty & Complexity of Topic	Course syllabus Tatum (2008). Breaking the silence. Whites go out of their way to avoid talking about race: http://www.apa.org/releases/colorblind1008.html	N.B.: (1) What can we do in this class to encourage all of us to “break our silence”?
Journal 1 (Due Sun. 9/6 by midnight). Topic: Your choice. (Suggestion: Write about an experience you have had silencing yourself. What aspect(s) of your social identity was relevant in that situation? What are your thoughts and feelings about the event?)
T SEPT 8	Defining our Terms	Omi & Winant (1986/2007). Racial formations. Tatum (1997/2007). Defining racism: "Can we talk?" Miller (1986/2007). Domination and subordination. Rothenberg (2008). Introduction.
R SEPT 10	Framing the Issues	King, M.L. (1967). The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement. www.apa.org/monitor/jan99/king.html Obama (2008, March 18). A More Perfect Union. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo. Transcript: click here Jones (1998). Psychological knowledge and the new American dilemma of race.
APPROACHES TO RACISM IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Journal 2 (Due Sun. 9/13 by midnight). Topic: Americans elected a Black (actually, bi-racial) President. The U.S. President is one of the most powerful leaders in the world. So, racism surely must be over now, right?
T SEPT 15	Social Cognitive	Dovidio, et al. (2005). Introduction: Reflecting on The Nature of Prejudice: Fifty years after Allport. Blaine (2007). Categorization and stereotyping: Cognitive processes that shape perceived diversity. Macrae, et al. (1994). Stereotypes as energy-saving devices: A peek inside the cognitive toolbox. (Facilitator: Leann Kahrer)	N.B.: Be prepared to answer the questions Blaine posits throughout his chapter, and be prepared to describe (generally) what Macrae et al. did, what they found, and why it matters.
R SEPT 17	Social Identity	Hogg (2006). Social identity theory.
Journal 3 (Due Sun. 9/20 by midnight). Topic: What are your social identities? Describe 1 social identity that is important to you, and 1 that is unimportant. Do you actively reject (or disidentify with) any of your social identities? Explain; relate to readings.
T SEPT 22	Sociocultural Approach	Adams, et al. (2005). Beyond prejudice: Toward a sociocultural psychology of racism and oppression. Lipsitz, G. (2008). The possessive investment in Whiteness.	N.B.: (1) How does a sociocultural psychology of racism differ from the standard approaches used in social psychology? (2) What sort of “racial residue” does Lipsitz’s analysis suggest?
(IMPLICITLY) BIASED ACTIONS OF (UNCONSCIOUSLY) BIGOTED PEOPLE The scope of racism is not limited to intentional acts of hostility by consciously prejudiced actors, but also includes subtle forms of bias perpetrated by normal people who strive to maintain an unprejudiced identity. Automatic biases may reflect definitional properties of individuals, but they are also a reflection of sociocultural affordances.
R SEPT 24	Implicit Bias	Nelson (2002). Old-fashioned versus modern racism. Devine (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components (Facilitator: Christina Steglitz)	N.B.: (1) Distinguish amongst modern, symbolic and old-fashioned racism. (2) What is the distinction between the automatic and controlled components of prejudice?
FALL BREAK
R OCT 1	Aversive Racism	Dovidio (2001). On the nature of contemporary prejudice: The third wave. Dovidio & Gaertner (2000). Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999. (Facilitator: Tom Gambuzza)
Journal 4 (Due Sun. 10/4 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.
T OCT 6	Obama & Sotomayor: The end of racism?	Push to "Otherize" Obama: click here; C. Powell's response: click here (FF to 4:38 to see most relevant portion) Blaine (2007). Stereotypes expressed: social processes that shape actual diversity.	Due: Henry Louis Gates & Justice Sotomayor information (TBA)
R OCT 8	IAT	After you've taken the two IATs, watch these videos, in this order: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmF8iIeOVEo&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RSVz6VEybk	Due: Take the "Race" and the "Weapons" Implicit Associations Tests at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html (Note: cookies must be allowed in order to proceed with the test.) Optionally, you may also take one or both of the following IATs: http://humanoralien.com/ ; http://deadidentity.com/
Journal 5 (Due Sun. 10/11 by midnight). Topic: Discuss your reactions to your IAT results and the IAT in general. Look back at the Understanding Prejudice survey questions you filled out at the beginning of the semester; would you answer differently now?
T OCT 13	IAT	Karpinski & Hilton (2001). Attitudes and the Implicit Association Test. (Facilitator: Dan Brennan) Blair (2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice.	N.B.: (1) Considering Karpinski & Hilton's results, what is the relevance of “cultural milieu” in interpreting results from the IAT? (2) What factors have been shown to moderate the automaticity of stereotype activation?
FROM THE TARGET’S PERSPECTIVE Negative consequences of racism do not require intentional acts of differential treatment.
R OCT 15	Self-fulfilling Prophecy	Word, et al. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Chen (1997). Nonconscious behavioral confirmation processes: The self-fulfilling consequences of automatic stereotype activation. (Facilitator: Michelle Wallace)	N.B.: (1) Be prepared to answer the questions Blaine posits throughout the chapter. (2) Explain the self-fulfilling prophecy (a.k.a. “behavioral confirmation”) and the evidence provided by Word et al. and Chen.
Journal 6 (Due Sun. 10/18 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.
T OCT 20	Racism & Interpersonal Interactions	Dovidio et al. (2002). Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction. (Facilitator: Melissa Wolpow) Apfelbaum, Sommers & Norton (2008). Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction. (Facilitator: Melissa Martin)
R OCT 22	Catch-up Day
Journal 7 (Due Sun. 10/25 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.
T OCT 27	Some Systemic Consequences of Racism	Pitts (2008). Crazy sometimes. Johnson, et al. (1995). Justice is still not colorblind: Differential racial effects of exposure to inadmissible evidence (Facilitator: Hanna Glidden) Mays et al. (2007). Race, race-based discrimination, and health outcomes among African Americans. (Facilitator: Michelle Murphy) Do Genes Determine our Health? http://understandingrace.org/humvar/looks_hyper01.html
R OCT 29	Some Systemic Consequences of Racism	Controversy over New Orleans photos captions (2005): http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Controversy_over_New_Orleans_photos_captions Kanye West on Hurricane Katrina (2005; Yay Kanye, poor Mike Myers). Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVTrnxCZaQ Was race a factor in how victims of Hurricane Katrina were treated? Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GLfphAoU5o Henkel et al. (2006). Institutional discrimination, individual racism, and Hurricane Katrina. (Facilitator: Mairin Breault)	Due: Front Page Analysis (TBA)
Journal 8 (Due Sun. 11/1 by midnight). Topic: Reflect on what we learned about the consequences of racism this week. Relate what we learned to something that is personally important to you.
T NOV 3	Some Individual Consequences of Racism	Nelson (2002). Experiencing Prejudice. ~~Crocker & Major (2003). The self-protective properties of stigma: Evolution of a modern classic.~~ Steele (1999). Thin ice: Stereotype Threat and Black college students: click to access. Walton & Spencer (2009). Latent ability: Grades and test scores systematically underestimate the intellectual ability of negatively stereotyped students.	N.B.: (1) Be prepared to discuss the questions posed by Nelson at the end of the chapter. (2) In what way is stereotype threat an external, situational phenomenon? (4) In what way is stereotype threat a consequence of racism? (5) What aspect of stereotype threat is the Walton & Spencer article testing that previous research did not test?
R NOV 5	Black Identity in a Context of Racism	Quick: Name 7 Black leaders... Video #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSafZUWok98 Video #2: http://www.understandingrace.org/lived/video/index.html	In class video: Black in America (30 minute Preview) Due: First half of final paper
Journal 9 (Due Sun. 11/8 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.
T NOV 10	Black Identity in a Context of Racism	Jones (2005). Mechanisms for coping with victimization: Self-protection plus self-enhancement. (Facilitator: Allie DiIorio)
SYSTEMIC PRIVILEGE Systems of oppression also work by benefiting people from dominant groups.
R NOV 12	TBD		In class: Race & Media
Journal 10 (Due Sun. 11/15 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.
T NOV 17	Self-Image Maintenance	Unzueta & Lowery (2008). Defining racism safely: The role of self-image maintenance on White Americans’ conceptions of racism. (Facilitator: Eric Levenson) Spencer, et al. (1998). Automatic activation of stereotypes: The role of self-image threat. (Facilitator: Pat Carr)
R NOV 19	White Privilege	McIntosh (1988/2008). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Wildman & Davis (2008). Making systems of privilege visible. Jenson (2008). White privilege shapes the U.S.	In class: Matrix Due: Outline or draft for second half of final paper
TO SEE, OR NOT TO SEE COLOR? SHOULD THAT BE THE QUESTION?
T NOV 24	Color-Blind Ideology	Norton et al. (2006). Color Blindness and Interracial Interaction: Playing the Political Correctness Game. (Facilitator: Caryn Viverito) Richeson & Nussbaum (2004). The impact of multiculturalism versus color-blindness on racial bias. (Facilitator: Rebecca Scarborough)
Journal 11 (Due Wed. 11/25 by noon). Topic: Choose a topic that relates, in some way, to what we learned about either colorblindness or "white" privilege (remembering that all social identities carry advantages or disadvantages).
THANKSGIVING
T DEC 1	Affirmative Action	Ten Myths about Affirmative Action: http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm Unzueta et al. (2008). How believing in affirmative action quotas protects White men's self-esteem. (Facilitator: Laura Mayerson) Bonilla-Silva et al. (2004). 'I Did Not Get that Job Because of a Black Man...': The Story Lines and Testimonies of Color-Blind Racism.
R DEC 3	Affirmative Action	Kang, J., & Banaji, M. (2006). Fair Measures: A Behavioral Realist Revision of Affirmative Action. California Law Review, 94, 1063-1118.
Journal 12 (Due Sun. 12/6 by midnight). Topic: What surprised you about affirmative action? What is your opinion of its necessity, and how (& for whom?) should it be implemented? Relate your opinions to the readings for this unit.
REDUCING RACISM
T DEC 8	Group Presentations
R DEC 10	Group Presentations
Tuesday, Dec. 15th, 5pm Due: Final Paper (submit to BB)

DATE

TOPIC

READINGS

ASSIGNMENTS

T SEPT 1

Social Identity

Due: Baseline Survey (http://www.understandingprejudice.org/baseline/ ; Register using "cwolfeF09" for Class ID)

INTRODUCTION

R SEPT 3

Difficulty & Complexity of Topic

Course syllabus
Tatum (2008). Breaking the silence.
Whites go out of their way to avoid talking about race: http://www.apa.org/releases/colorblind1008.html

N.B.: (1) What can we do in this class to encourage all of us to “break our silence”?

Journal 1 (Due Sun. 9/6 by midnight). Topic: Your choice. (Suggestion: Write about an experience you have had silencing yourself. What aspect(s) of your social identity was relevant in that situation? What are your thoughts and feelings about the event?)

T SEPT 8

Defining our Terms

Omi & Winant (1986/2007). Racial formations.
Tatum (1997/2007). Defining racism: "Can we talk?"
Miller (1986/2007). Domination and subordination.
Rothenberg (2008). Introduction.

R SEPT 10

Framing the Issues

King, M.L. (1967). The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement. www.apa.org/monitor/jan99/king.html
Obama (2008, March 18). A More Perfect Union. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo.
Transcript: click here
Jones (1998). Psychological knowledge and the new American dilemma of race.

APPROACHES TO RACISM IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Journal 2 (Due Sun. 9/13 by midnight). Topic: Americans elected a Black (actually, bi-racial) President. The U.S. President is one of the most powerful leaders in the world. So, racism surely must be over now, right?

T SEPT 15

Social Cognitive

Dovidio, et al. (2005). Introduction: Reflecting on The Nature of Prejudice: Fifty years after Allport.
Blaine (2007). Categorization and stereotyping: Cognitive processes that shape perceived diversity.
Macrae, et al. (1994). Stereotypes as energy-saving devices: A peek inside the cognitive toolbox. (Facilitator: Leann Kahrer)

N.B.: Be prepared to answer the questions Blaine posits throughout his chapter, and be prepared to describe (generally) what Macrae et al. did, what they found, and why it matters.

R SEPT 17

Social Identity

Hogg (2006). Social identity theory.

Journal 3 (Due Sun. 9/20 by midnight). Topic: What are your social identities? Describe 1 social identity that is important to you, and 1 that is unimportant. Do you actively reject (or disidentify with) any of your social identities? Explain; relate to readings.

T SEPT 22

Sociocultural Approach

Adams, et al. (2005). Beyond prejudice: Toward a sociocultural psychology of racism and oppression.
Lipsitz, G. (2008). The possessive investment in Whiteness.

N.B.: (1) How does a sociocultural psychology of racism differ from the standard approaches used in social psychology? (2) What sort of “racial residue” does Lipsitz’s analysis suggest?

(IMPLICITLY) BIASED ACTIONS OF (UNCONSCIOUSLY) BIGOTED PEOPLE
The scope of racism is not limited to intentional acts of hostility by consciously prejudiced actors,
but also includes subtle forms of bias perpetrated by normal people who strive to maintain an unprejudiced identity.
Automatic biases may reflect definitional properties of individuals, but they are also a reflection of sociocultural affordances.

R SEPT 24

Implicit Bias

Nelson (2002). Old-fashioned versus modern racism.
Devine (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components (Facilitator: Christina Steglitz)

N.B.: (1) Distinguish amongst modern, symbolic and old-fashioned racism. (2) What is the distinction between the automatic and controlled components of prejudice?

FALL BREAK

R OCT 1

Aversive Racism

Dovidio (2001). On the nature of contemporary prejudice: The third wave.
Dovidio & Gaertner (2000). Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999. (Facilitator: Tom Gambuzza)

Journal 4 (Due Sun. 10/4 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.

T OCT 6

Obama & Sotomayor: The end of racism?

Push to "Otherize" Obama: click here; C. Powell's response: click here (FF to 4:38 to see most relevant portion)
Blaine (2007). Stereotypes expressed: social processes that shape actual diversity.

Due: Henry Louis Gates & Justice Sotomayor information (TBA)

R OCT 8

IAT

After you've taken the two IATs, watch these videos, in this order:

Due: Take the "Race" and the "Weapons" Implicit Associations Tests at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html (Note: cookies must be allowed in order to proceed with the test.)

Optionally, you may also take one or both of the following IATs: http://humanoralien.com/ ; http://deadidentity.com/

Journal 5 (Due Sun. 10/11 by midnight). Topic: Discuss your reactions to your IAT results and the IAT in general. Look back at the Understanding Prejudice survey questions you filled out at the beginning of the semester; would you answer differently now?

T OCT 13

IAT

Karpinski & Hilton (2001). Attitudes and the Implicit Association Test. (Facilitator: Dan Brennan)
Blair (2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice.

N.B.: (1) Considering Karpinski & Hilton's results, what is the relevance of “cultural milieu” in interpreting results from the IAT? (2) What factors have been shown to moderate the automaticity of stereotype activation?

FROM THE TARGET’S PERSPECTIVE
Negative consequences of racism do not require intentional acts of differential treatment.

R OCT 15

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Word, et al. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction.
Chen (1997). Nonconscious behavioral confirmation processes: The self-fulfilling consequences of automatic stereotype activation. (Facilitator: Michelle Wallace)

N.B.: (1) Be prepared to answer the questions Blaine posits throughout the chapter. (2) Explain the self-fulfilling prophecy (a.k.a. “behavioral confirmation”) and the evidence provided by Word et al. and Chen.

Journal 6 (Due Sun. 10/18 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.

T OCT 20

Racism & Interpersonal Interactions

Dovidio et al. (2002). Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction. (Facilitator: Melissa Wolpow)
Apfelbaum, Sommers & Norton (2008). Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction. (Facilitator: Melissa Martin)

R OCT 22

Catch-up Day

Journal 7 (Due Sun. 10/25 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.

T OCT 27

Some Systemic Consequences of Racism

Pitts (2008). Crazy sometimes.
Johnson, et al. (1995). Justice is still not colorblind: Differential racial effects of exposure to inadmissible evidence (Facilitator: Hanna Glidden)
Mays et al. (2007). Race, race-based discrimination, and health outcomes among African Americans. (Facilitator: Michelle Murphy)
Do Genes Determine our Health? http://understandingrace.org/humvar/looks_hyper01.html

R OCT 29

Some Systemic Consequences of Racism

Controversy over New Orleans photos captions (2005): http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Controversy_over_New_Orleans_photos_captions
Kanye West on Hurricane Katrina (2005; Yay Kanye, poor Mike Myers). Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVTrnxCZaQ
Was race a factor in how victims of Hurricane Katrina were treated? Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GLfphAoU5o
Henkel et al. (2006). Institutional discrimination, individual racism, and Hurricane Katrina. (Facilitator: Mairin Breault)

Due: Front Page Analysis (TBA)

Journal 8 (Due Sun. 11/1 by midnight). Topic: Reflect on what we learned about the consequences of racism this week. Relate what we learned to something that is personally important to you.

T NOV 3

Some Individual Consequences of Racism

Nelson (2002). Experiencing Prejudice.
~~Crocker & Major (2003). The self-protective properties of stigma: Evolution of a modern classic.~~
Steele (1999). Thin ice: Stereotype Threat and Black college students: click to access.
Walton & Spencer (2009). Latent ability: Grades and test scores systematically underestimate the intellectual ability of negatively stereotyped students.

N.B.: (1) Be prepared to discuss the questions posed by Nelson at the end of the chapter. (2) In what way is stereotype threat an external, situational phenomenon? (4) In what way is stereotype threat a consequence of racism? (5) What aspect of stereotype threat is the Walton & Spencer article testing that previous research did not test?

R NOV 5

Black Identity in a Context of Racism

Quick: Name 7 Black leaders...
Video #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSafZUWok98
Video #2: http://www.understandingrace.org/lived/video/index.html

In class video: Black in America (30 minute Preview)

Due: First half of final paper

Journal 9 (Due Sun. 11/8 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.

T NOV 10

Black Identity in a Context of Racism

Jones (2005). Mechanisms for coping with victimization: Self-protection plus self-enhancement. (Facilitator: Allie DiIorio)

SYSTEMIC PRIVILEGE
Systems of oppression also work by benefiting people from dominant groups.

R NOV 12

TBD

In class: Race & Media

Journal 10 (Due Sun. 11/15 by midnight). Topic: Your Choice.

T NOV 17

Self-Image Maintenance

Unzueta & Lowery (2008). Defining racism safely: The role of self-image maintenance on White Americans’ conceptions of racism. (Facilitator: Eric Levenson)
Spencer, et al. (1998). Automatic activation of stereotypes: The role of self-image threat. (Facilitator: Pat Carr)

R NOV 19

White Privilege

McIntosh (1988/2008). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack.
Wildman & Davis (2008). Making systems of privilege visible.
Jenson (2008). White privilege shapes the U.S.

In class: Matrix

Due: Outline or draft for second half of final paper

TO SEE, OR NOT TO SEE COLOR? SHOULD THAT BE THE QUESTION?

T NOV 24

Color-Blind Ideology

Norton et al. (2006). Color Blindness and Interracial Interaction: Playing the Political Correctness Game. (Facilitator: Caryn Viverito)
Richeson & Nussbaum (2004). The impact of multiculturalism versus color-blindness on racial bias. (Facilitator: Rebecca Scarborough)

Journal 11 (Due Wed. 11/25 by noon). Topic: Choose a topic that relates, in some way, to what we learned about either colorblindness or "white" privilege (remembering that all social identities carry advantages or disadvantages).

THANKSGIVING

T DEC 1

Affirmative Action

Ten Myths about Affirmative Action: http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm
Unzueta et al. (2008). How believing in affirmative action quotas protects White men's self-esteem. (Facilitator: Laura Mayerson)
Bonilla-Silva et al. (2004). 'I Did Not Get that Job Because of a Black Man...': The Story Lines and Testimonies of Color-Blind Racism.

R DEC 3

Affirmative Action

Kang, J., & Banaji, M. (2006). Fair Measures: A Behavioral Realist Revision of Affirmative Action. California Law Review, 94, 1063-1118.

Journal 12 (Due Sun. 12/6 by midnight). Topic: What surprised you about affirmative action? What is your opinion of its necessity, and how (& for whom?) should it be implemented? Relate your opinions to the readings for this unit.

REDUCING RACISM

T DEC 8

Group Presentations

R DEC 10

Group Presentations

Tuesday, Dec. 15th, 5pm
Due: Final Paper (submit to BB)