Race Talkin’ in Private, SOC 408, KILIÇ, 50 points (Adapted from Professor Charles A. Gallagher)
First things first- make sure you read articles I attached here as well as the links at the bottom to prepare for this assignment.
The assignment requires you to engage in a method of social research called participant observation. This type of sociological research requires that you (as the researcher) observe participants in natural settings. You are to collect data informally and covertly, that is, without your participants knowing you are carrying a research project. When you are getting a haircut, talking with your friends, or hanging at a party, eating on campus or watching TV with roommates you should be taking mental notes about what people are saying about race relations in the United States. What I want you to do is examine how individuals talk about race relations in private, informal, naturally occurring settings. You can collect your data in a few ways. If you are watching the news and someone makes a comment about race and crime, or sports and race, or talks about “those people,” listen, then engage the person about what they said. Write down what you heard as soon as possible by excusing yourself to go to the restroom etc. You must take field notes in order to do the assignment properly. You could also quietly take notes as people talk about the situation. Always carry a pen with you and a small notebook or some index cards you can fit in your back pocket or purse. However do not make it obvious that you are recording their words as this will make people uncomfortable or simply self conscious. Remember, they should not know that you are collecting data.
You may enter the conversation but you are not to badger or bait people about race relations. You can ask individuals to clarify a point or ask them why they feel the way they do about an issue or a group. You can choose to be part of the conversation or just listen- it is up to you. The point is to accurately record the range of opinions respondents express about race relations. You should give the respondents pseudonyms (different names) to guarantee their confidentially.
I expect you to collect “race talk” from three different situations (i.e. at work or lunch table or playing on a sports team or shopping, getting your hair done, etc.). Realize the conversations you hear and record what you see as relevant though the exchanges need not be derogatory to be considered worthy of inclusion. Are people optimistic about race? Do they believe we have become a colorblind nation? Do your respondents reject or embrace stereotypes of their ethnic and racial groups? If they embrace stereotypes do they provide any explanation of their beliefs? Are there certain topics that seem to be controversial (interracial dating, affirmative action, drugs, immigration in Arizona, Islamic terrorism, police brutality, affordable care act etc.)? How do they respond when you inquire about their position?
I want you to examine what the existing social science survey literature reports about race relations, then reflect on how your respondents discussed race and how these two things agree/disagree with each other. The survey literature on racial attitudes report how different groups feel about different topics. Is what you heard consistent with those reports? The main theoretical question I want you to examine for the assignment is if “race talk” in private spheres differs from how people respond on national surveys and how whiteness fits into this narrative. While we are not able to test if individuals routinely give “socially appropriate answers” when they participate in a survey, we will be able to examine what your respondents say about a topic
and compare it to national survey data. If differences between survey and what you found in your research exist, how do you explain those differences?
Paper write-up:
This paper should be eight-ten pages long, excluding your bibliography. I want you to detail the exchanges you hear at each of the three research sites. You are to provide me quotes that are as detailed as possible. The write-up for each place where the exchanges took place need not be more than two pages. In the remaining space you are to draw on existing survey research and compare the views expressed by your respondents and trends in the survey literature (you can include quotations or specific examples from your data here in relation to the literature). Are your respondents’ views outside of mainstream public opinion?
Based on your observations and what the survey literature suggests do you think people are honest about their views on race relationships? Do they self-censor? Do you think that individuals interviewed for surveys give socially appropriate answers? Why or why not?
How does whiteness play out in all this? Was whiteness invisible, was it contested, defended, was it viewed as a liability, or was it ignored?
You MUST compare your responses with the social science survey literature. You must have at least TEN citations to receive full credit for this assignment.
You can find a wealth of survey data and poll data on-line:
The Kaiser Family Foundation (for example, see American views on immigration: http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr100604pkg.cfm , race and ethnicity attitudes in 2001: http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/3143-index.cfm , perceptions on race and medical care: http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/1528-index.cfm as well as ACA and race: http://kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/health-coverage-by-race-and-ethnicity-the- potential-impact-of-the-affordable-care-act/, and a study on young African-American men: http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/phip071806pkg.cfm )
Gallup (on immigration: http://www.gallup.com/poll/6319/Recent-Immigration-Views-Cover- Melting-Pot.aspx and http://www.gallup.com/poll/108748/Fewer-Americans-Favor-Cutting- Back-Immigration.aspx , on racism: http://www.gallup.com/poll/109258/Majority-Americans- Say-Racism-Against-Blacks-Widespread.aspx , on race relations after Obama http://www.gallup.com/poll/124181/U.S.-Waiting-Race-Relations-Improve-Obama.aspx and http://www.gallup.com/poll/123944/Little-Obama-Effect-Views-Race-Relations.aspx )
NORC (General Social Survey data: http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/Data+Analysis/ navigate through left frame to find questions about race under R in the index)
Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois, by Howard Schuman, Charlotte Steeh, Lawrence Bobo, and Maria Krysan: http://igpa.uillinois.edu/programs/racialAttitudes/ )
Another study on Racial Attitudes of Young Americans:
http://www.hamilton.edu/news/polls/racial-attitudes-of-young-americans
An ASA paper on black-white differences regarding race (using GSS data):
http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/0/7/5/0/pages107504/p1 07504-1.php
and popular views expressed on the web such as: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/22/a- child-will-lead-us-post-racial-attitudes/
You do not have to read all of this. Find a survey that focuses on the issues you want to focus on and cite from that. I am happy as long as you cite from credible sources.
Start this project today as it needs some time to collect data and get informed about current discourse on racial attitudes!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case this helps you, I wanted to add a few ethnographic and methodological suggestions. Use it if it helps you frame and understand the data you collect. This is from Hartigan (2010) (Race in the 21st Century).
While engaging people in race talk, you can pay attention what they are saying from a cultural analysis perspective. Pay attention to four things people do:
1) how do people talk about themselves when they say “I am the kind of person who…” or the opposite “I am not the type of person who…” People use these to depict categories of people (see how race as well as race in connection with class, gender, sexuality etc seep into conversation and what do they signify)
2) How do people express something as natural or as facts (I’m naturally like that or it feels natural to me or ‘they’ act like that, it’s a fact, etc)? Race especially gets located in “nature” so pay close attention.
3) How do they use broader public discourses and narratives (popular culture, political conversations, movies, music, news etc)?
4) People usually constrain themselves as they talk about “problem” issues. These constraints about what to say/not to say, what is uncomfortable to state openly reveal social conventions and decorum. Sometimes what is unsaid means a lot about that culture.
Here is another resource for those interested in digging deeper into the public and popular discourse (Race Talk, A web source by Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity): http://www.race-talk.org/
All other citations need to be from the textbook for the course:
H. Dalmage & B. Katz Rothman. 2010. Race in an Era of Change. (Oxford University Press).
these chapters:
Omi & Winant, p. 3
Garroutte, p. 18
De Genova & Ramos-Zayas, p. 30
Essentialism:
Katz Rothman, p. 59
Boas, p. 65
Hunter, p. 83
Dalmage, p. 94
Social Construction of Race:
Foner, p. 194
Edward Said, Orientalism
Samuel Huntington, Clash of Civilizations
Understanding Whiteness:
Duster, p. 118
Eichstedt, p. 130
Aesthetics, Arts, Essentialized Bodies:
Nagel, p. 41
Racialized Identities in Everyday Life:
Lei, p. 154
Maintaining Inequality- Institutionalized Systems of Oppression and Privilege
Housing:
Howell, p. 233
Pattillo, p. 256
Healthcare:
Anderson et al., p. 389
Sered & Fernandopulle, p. 396
Work:
Bertrand & Mullainathan, p. 228
Cable & Mix, p. 217
Criminal Justice System, Crime & Media:
Wacquant, p. 301
Harris, p. 314
Immigration/Diversity & Multiculturalism:
Padin, p. 327
Robinson, p. 429
Colorblind Racism:
I will provide 2 sources
Resistance and Social Change, Strategies for Individual Action:
I will provide 2 sources
