What Is the Real Source of Racism According to Conflict Theory?

The Functionalist Perspective

According to the functionalist perspective, race and ethnicity are two of the various parts of a cohesive society.

Learning Objectives

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a functionalist approach to race

Primal Takeaways

Key Points

• Classical functionalist theory did not develop specific analyses of race and ethnicity; information technology viewed them equally elective elements of society that contributed to its relatively smooth performance.
• Functionalism emphasizes social unity and equilibrium and has been criticized for existence unable to business relationship for social conflict and systematic inequalities such every bit race, gender, and form.
• Since structural functionalism more often than not stresses the unifying office of culture, it is ill-equipped to sympathize divisive forces like bigotry.

Key Terms

• structural functionalism: A sociological arroyo that looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape gild every bit a whole.

Functionalism addresses society equally a whole in terms of the role of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. In the 1960s, functionalism was criticized for existence unable to account for social alter, or for structural contradictions and conflict (and thus was ofttimes called "consensus theory"), and for ignoring systematic inequalities including race, gender, and grade, which cause tension and conflict. As noted sociologist Michael Omi observes, "The structural-functionalist framework mostly stressed the unifying office of civilization, and particularly American values, in regulating and resolving conflicts. This approach was notably in prove in respect to the sociology of race" (Coulhan 2007, Sociology in America, p.559). From this perspective, societies are seen as coherent, bounded, and fundamentally relational constructs that office similar organisms, with their various parts (such every bit race) working together in an unconscious, quasi-automated mode toward achieving an overall social equilibrium.

Given this emphasis on equilibrium and harmony, the functionalist perspective easily allows for specific macro-analyses of more than contentious ability imbalances, such as race-related issues. It likewise allows for the micro-analyses that much of modern sociology is oriented effectually, such every bit identity formation and the socially synthetic nature of race. It is less well-adapted to agreement individual bigotry because it ignores the inequalities that cause tension and disharmonize.

During the turbulent 1960s, functionalism was often chosen "consensus theory," criticized for being unable to account for social change or structural contradictions and conflict, including inequalities related to race, gender, course, and other social factors that are a source of oppression and disharmonize.

Herbert Spencer: Herbert Spencer was an English language philosopher and social theorist.

The Conflict Perspective

For Karl Marx, class disharmonize was most prominent; other theorists saw racial and ethnic disharmonize as more significant.

Learning Objectives

Explicate race and ethnicity from the perspective of different conflict theorists

Key Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• The feminist theory of intersectionality suggests that different biological, social, and cultural categories, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, interact and intersect to grade a organisation of oppression.
• Since the social, political, and cultural upheavals of the 1960s, there has been a wellspring of conflict theory-inspired analyses of race and ethnicity.
• W. Eastward. B. Du Bois theorized that the intersectional paradigms of race, class, and nation might explain certain aspects of Black political economy.

Key Terms

• Intersectionality: The idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories– including gender, race, class, and ethnicity– interact and contribute towards systematic social inequality.

The classical conflict perspective pioneered by Karl Marx saw all forms of inequality subsumed nether form disharmonize. For Marx, issues related to race and ethnicity are secondary to class struggle.

Other early conflict theorists saw racial and ethnic conflict as more fundamental. Sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz, in Grundriss der Soziologie (Outlines of Sociology, 1884), described how civilization has been shaped past conflict between cultures and ethnic groups, theorizing that large complex human societies evolved from war and conquest.

Since the social, political, and cultural upheavals of the 1960s, at that place has been a wellspring of conflict theory-inspired analyses of race and ethnicity, many of which eventually developed into an overlapping focus on the intersectional nature of various forms of conflict and oppression.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is a feminist sociological theory starting time highlighted by leading critical theorist thinker Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989). The theory proposes that different biological, social, and cultural factors, such as as gender, race, and class, do not operate in isolation of one antoher. Rather, they are interrlated, forming a organization of oppression that consists of different forms of discrimination. This theory will be farther discussed under the feminist perspective of gender stratification in the chapter, "Understanding Gender Stratification and Inequality".

West. E. B. Du Bois theorized that the intersectional paradigms of race, class, and nation might explain certain aspects of Black political economy. Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins writes "Du Bois saw race, grade, and nation not primarily every bit personal identity categories but as social hierarchies that shaped African American access to status, poverty, and power" (2000 Black Feminist Thought: Cognition, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, 42).

The Interactionist Perspective

Race and ethnicity affect the pregnant we attach to each other's actions.

Learning Objectives

Depict how the interactionalist perspective views race and ethnicity

Fundamental Takeaways

Key Points

• Robert Park, 1 of the nigh influential symbolic interactionist theorists on race and ethnic relations, formed his view on race and ethnicity —" man ecology," he called information technology—by drawing on natural environmental.
• Park'south theory of the race relation cycle includes iv stages: contact, conflict, accommodation, and assimilation.
• Park declared that race relations entail "a wheel of events which tends everywhere to repeat itself," also exist seen in other social processes.

Key Terms

• Race Relation Cycle: A model of urban race relations consisting of a bike with four stages: contact, conflict, accommodation, and absorption.
• Human Ecology: Urban sociologist Robert Park's model of urban life, which borrowed concepts from symbiosis, invasion, succession, and dominance from the science of natural ecology.
• Robert Park: An urban sociologist from the Chicago School of Sociology who was one of the most influential symbolic interactionist theorists on race and ethnic relations.

George Herbert Mead: George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as i of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general.

Following founding symbolic interactionist George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer claimed that people interact with each other by attaching pregnant to each other'due south actions instead of simply reacting to them. Human being interaction is mediated past the employ of symbols and signification, by interpretation, or by ascertaining the meaning of one another'south actions.

One of the most influential symbolic interactionist theorists on race and indigenous relations was Robert Park. Evolving out of the mid-20^th century "Chicago Schoolhouse" of urban sociology, Park created the term homo environmental, which borrowed the concepts of symbiosis, invasion, succession, and potency from the science of natural ecology.

Using the metropolis of Chicago equally an example, he proposed that cities were environments similar those found in nature. Park and fellow sociologist Ernest Burgess suggested that cities were governed by many of the same forces of Darwinian development axiomatic in ecosystems. They felt the most significant force was contest. Competition was created by groups fighting for urban resources, similar land, which led to a sectionalization of urban space into ecological niches. Within these niches people shared similar social characteristics because they were subject to the same ecological pressure.

This theory served as a foundation for his influential theory of racial assimilation known equally the "race relation cycle". The wheel has four stages: contact, disharmonize, accommodation, and assimilation. The first step is contact, followed by competition. And then, after some time, a hierarchical system can prevail—one of accommodation—in which one race is dominant and others dominated. In the end assimilation occurs. Park declared that it is "a wheel of events which tends everywhere to repeat itself," also seen in other social processes.

The Psychological Perspective

1 crucial psychological finding is that members of stereotyped groups internalize those stereotypes and may endure as a result.

Learning Objectives

Describe how the psychological perspective views race and ethnicity

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Stereotype Threat is the experience of feet or business in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their social grouping.
• If negative stereotypes are present regarding a specific group, they are likely to become anxious about their performance which may hinder their ability to perform at their maximum level.
• Stereotype Threat is a potential contributing factor to long-standing racial and gender gaps in academic performance.
• Advocates of Stereotype Threat explanation have been criticized for exaggerating the importance of stereotype threat and for misrepresenting evidence as more than conclusive than it is.

Cardinal Terms

• internalize: To make something internal; to incorporate it in oneself.
• stereotype threat: The anxiety or stress a person experiences when they find themselves in a situation in which they could potentially confirm a negative stereotype about their social group.

1 of the nearly of import social psychological findings concerning race relations is that members of stereotyped groups internalize those stereotypes and thus suffer a wide range of harmful consequences.

Stereotype Threat is the experience of feet or business organisation in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their social group. Since its introduction into the academic literature in 1995, Stereotype Threat has become ane of the most widely studied topics in the field of social psychology. Beginning described by social psychologist, Claude Steele and his colleagues, Stereotype Threat has been shown to reduce the performance of individuals who belong to negatively stereotyped groups. If negative stereotypes are present regarding a specific group, they are likely to become anxious about their operation, which in turn may hinder their power to perform at their maximum level.

Stereotype Threat is a potential contributing factor to long-continuing racial and gender gaps in academic performance. However, it may occur whenever an private'south performance might confirm a negative stereotype. This is considering Stereotype Threat is thought to ascend from the particular situation rather than from an individual'due south personality traits or characteristics. Since nigh people accept at to the lowest degree ane social identity which is negatively stereotyped, about people are vulnerable to Stereotype Threat if they run into a situation in which the stereotype is relevant.

Situational factors that increase Stereotype Threat tin can include the difficulty of the job, the belief that the task measures their abilities, and the relevance of the negative stereotype to the task. Individuals evidence college degrees of Stereotype Threat on tasks they wish to perform well on and when they identify strongly with the stereotyped group. These furnishings are too increased when they await bigotry due to their identification with negatively stereotyped group. Repeated experiences of Stereotype Threat tin lead to a fell circumvolve of diminished confidence, poor performance, and loss of interest in the relevant expanse of achievement.

The contrary of Stereotype Threat is known as Stereotype Enhancement, which entails an individual's potential to confirm a positive stereotype about their social group, and a subsequent increase in performance ability in the related task as compared to their ability prior to their exposure to the stereotype.

Advocates of Stereotype Threat explanation have been criticized for exaggerating it and for misrepresenting bear witness as more conclusive than it is.

A Racist Campaign Affiche: A racist political entrada affiche from the 1866 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. Psychological perspectives examine the effects of these kinds of propagated stereotypes.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/sociological-perspectives-on-race-and-ethnicity/

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