In our discussion on Tuesday about Omi and Winant, we established new concepts when considering and distinguishing between race and racism. They established race as an element of human culture that is always and necessarily a social historical process. Whereas they describe racism in the form of racial formation as, an entity that involves both social structure and cultural representation in its perspective instead of relying on only one of the two when attempting to understand race.
Omi and Winant go even further to declare the United States as a racial dictatorship. Evidence of this label can be seen in the “white” American identity and the formation of the “color line” within the United States society. Furthermore we discussed that this unwritten dictatorship became possible through many levels of coercion and consent due to hegemony within the original colonies. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary hegemony is defined as a preponderant influence or authority over others; the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.
As most of us know, in order for the colonies to flourish there had to be an exploited working class. Yet, people still needed a reason to justify the establishment of these classes. This is where hegemony truly stamps its mark on the culture of the United States. Consent was acquired through the many coercive pseudo-sciences to make clear distinctions between the races.
In result many of these stereotypes and distinctions between races still linger around today. While many may joke or make light of them, it still pronounces a critical flaw within our culture that these anecdotes are still relevant.
Here is a short clip that jokes about stereotypes. I had trouble putting the video on the page but here is the URL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JemYHDRy_Gw
The title is But That’s Not Racist, it’s kind of funny but they touch on many stereotypes that are present and that people joke about today. But my question for this blog goes back to Omi and Winant declaration that race as an element of human culture that is always and necessarily a social historical process. Since humans have such a negative past when it comes to race, does that make it ok to continue create new distinctions between races just to articulate a point or persuade groups of people?
Funny video, but it is sad that these stereotypes still persist in today's society. Some people argure that progress is being made towards the elimination of such distinctions between races, but new forms of discrimination are constantly being created. I think we all know, or at least I hope we know, that it is not okay to continue to create new divisions between races just to artiulate a point, but if that is the way our society has been run for centuries, it is probably going to take a lot more time, probably centuries, to dismantle these stereotypes. I'm not saying progress hasn't been made, because it has, but there is more work to be done.
ReplyDeleteConceiving of an end to stereotypes seems counterintuitive to me. Ultimately, whether you realize you are doing it or not, you assess someone by the way they look, how they dress, or the context in which you encounter them. Part of that has to do with purely signification associations. For example, you are six years old, and go to school for the first time. Another six year old, wearing a green shirt, pushes you. You may, until further notice, stay away from people with green shirts. Overtime, you begin to realize that the shirt doesn't signify a "pusher." Instead, a "pusher" just happened to be wearing a green shirt. Of course, I chose a very simplistic example. But, the same holds true in everyday interactions. Based on where we grew up, the kinds of people we spend our time with, and the things we are interested in, we build up certain ill-informed biases overtime. Unfortunately, state and public institutions have reinforced race essentialization. Today, we still deal with these historical stereotypes. In my experience, the best way to totally fuck with your idea of how someone is before you meet them, is to simply encounter them. With time, you will probably come to realize some of the things you assumed are true, but most are not. The trope "I am a good judge of character" came about because most people are not. Open dialogue, in my opinion, provides the necessary foundation to interact with someone and to counteract the associations that you advertantly or inadvertantly made upon seeing them. That being said, I think that these kind of dumb associations or judgments about character will continue to be made no matter what. Hopefully, though, there will come a time where these mistakes are grounded in vacuous assessments rather than a history of race-based prejudice.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it makes it ok at all to keep creating new stereotypes or to keep believing in or adhering to the ones that have always been established. I think it is human nature to look at someone and distinguish them by their skin color, height, facial features etc, but that is no excuse for judging someone based on physical characteristics. The stereotypes in the video and that you're talking about have been created by man and things that are not true across the board. It is very sad that these stereotypes don't just fizzle away but rather evolve into new ones. I think these thought processes can be reversed since they were created by us, but as we know it is a long and slow process.
ReplyDelete