Table of Contents
This week’s agenda
- Learn new concepts on race, ethnicity, racism and racial hierarchy.
- Understand why race is a highly contested concept.
- Learn several key concepts that are important for understanding racism in the contemporary United States, including color-blind racism, white privilege, institutional racism, overt racism, and microaggressions.
- Understand modern theoretical approaches on race and ethnicity.
- Understand how sociological theories help us understand current racial issues in the U.S.
Required Reading
Textbook
- Section 1o.5. Racial and ethnic inequality in the United States . In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
- Openstax. What is social stratification. In Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Dec 18, 2019 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e.
Supplementary reading
- Dworkin, Shari L. 2009. Race, Sexuality, and the “One Drop Rule”: More Thoughts about Interracial Couples and MarriageÂ
- Lee, Jennifer, Frank D. Bean, and Kathy Sloane. 2003. “Beyond black and white: remaking race in America.” Contexts 2(3): 26-33.
Study Guide
Group Discussion/Activity
Group Discussion/Activity 1: Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Appreciation?Â
- Watch two videos by clicking the links below.
- Inside Japan’s Chicano Subculture
- Is Asian Rap Cultural Appropriation?
- Discuss the following questions
- When we discuss cultural appropriation, we often think of cases that white persons appropriate Black, Hispanic or Asian cultures. Yet, how do we call it when such things happen between minority groups? Discuss whether each case  represent cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation?
Group Discussion/Activity 2: COVID-19 and racism
- Reading suggestions
- From the last year
-
- “A Month of Coronavirus in New York City: See the Hardest-Hit Areas”
- “A Tragedy is Unfolding: Inside New York’s Virus Epicenter”
- “Mask Protection, But Not While Black”
- “Color of Covid: The racial justice paradox of our new stay-at-home economy”Â
- “The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus“
- “How racism amplifies Covid-19 risk for everyone.”
-
- Newer articles
- From the last year
- Video suggestions
- How COVID-19 is highlighting racial disparities in Americans’ health
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- COVID-19 may not discriminate based on race — but U.S. health care does
