Category: Race & Ethnicity Studies
by theoryforthemasses In the months leading up to the national election, the American news media has explored several demographic groups whose votes are up for grabs. The focus has largely been on African Americans, Latinos, and white female Clinton supporters; meanwhile, the Asian American vote (as though “Asians” can be qualitatively lumped together) has been largely overlooked. In her exploration of whether Asian Americans are considered “forever foreigners” or “honorary whites,” sociologist Mia Tuan paints a compelling picture of...
by P Threlfall The US presidential campaign has been played like Las Vegas poker tournament. Between both campaigns, the race card, gender card, class card, and fear cards are strategically played with what Boudon referred to as “perverse effects.” Most would hope that tremendous progress would be promised from a campaign that does not consist of four upper class white men, but it seems that it has only served to unveil the deep seated classism, racism, and sexism that...
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoDbO3NeTj4] (by linanne10) Race has long time been a crucial issue for the American society. The representation of people of color is especially tricky in the media, where the mainstream discourses are produced and reproduced largely by and for the white community. The recent debut of the comedy, “Chocolate News,” unrolls with the idea of creating a black sitcom “by and for” the African-American community. The French theorist, Michel Foucault, has noted the relationship between power and the production of...
by rbobbitt Racism takes many forms, constantly shifting in expression in order to brace against the ever widening borders of contact between foreign cultures and ethnicities. Race has once again taken the spotlight as the contest for the US presidential election hosts the first African American presidential candidate and the country collectively examines how much race plays a role in the mind of its citizens. Religious bigotry has also played a role as whisper campaigns spread word of Obama’s...
by socmatters The customary “would you like rolls with your dinner?” takes on a whole new meaning when considering the various ways in which gender roles may complicate the dining experience. Traditional gender role expectations have long influenced the behaviors of servers in restaurants. Although many of the most outdated gender-based customs may have disappeared (e.g., providing menus without prices to females, insisting on separate uniforms for female servers), a recent article in the New York Times insists that they...
by: brianchung The success and integration of immigrant minority groups in North American labour markets have always been quite futile in comparison to their North-American and European-born counterparts. Recent findings from the 2006 census, released by Statistics Canada, show that the children of Chinese and South Asian immigrants to Canada fare much better over time than children of Blacks, Filipinos and Latin Americans. Second- and third-generation Chinese and Japanese Canadians have surpassed the income of all other groups of newcomers,...
By rbobbitt Abortion remains a hotly contested subject within society, and with the election looming high, the pro-choice/pro-life divide continues to provide a means of voting allocations. A recent study by the Guttmacher Institute (see article below), a nonprofit reproductive health research organization, brings a new dynamic into the abortion debate. The Institutes comprehensive examination of abortion reveals that during the past thirty years, abortion rates have dropped among teenage whites and risen among women of color in their 20’s...
By Feistyle In a video speech, Sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh talks about his time spent studying and living with a Chicago gang called the Black Kings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His study was made famous in the book Freakonomics and has been documented in more detail in his book Gang Leader for a Day. He discusses urban poverty and his methods for research and how these changed as his study went on. Read More Bryan Hogeveen on Youth (and) Violence James F....
