Individual Discrimination: Hate groups

• Hate Organizations and Ideology– Film• Think about:

– What is the basis of the white nationalist belief system?– What are their primary arguments in support of their cause?– How do they attempt to recruit new members and support?– To what degree are these groups a threat to society, racial

minorities, and whites?

– Jot down your thoughts and other questions as you watch the film to share with the class.

Understanding Discrimination

• Discrimination:– The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals

and groups because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons

• Individual vs. Institutional– A large shift in focus to institutional discrimination by social

scientists

– The invisibility of institutional discrimination and color blindness

Discrimination and Relative Deprivation

• Relative deprivation– The conscious experience of a negative discrepancy

between one’s expectations and reality

– Although many minorities may have high incomes, good jobs, and homes in nice areas, a minority group’s position as a whole relative to other groups in society offers evidence of discrimination• Discrimination may be evident, but it is the job of the social

scientist to understand where it is occurring, which is not always an easy task

Discrimination and Absolute Poverty

• Absolute deprivation– A fixed standard on a minimum level of subsistence below

which a individual or family should not be expected to live

– Relative poverty vs. absolute poverty

– Racial minorities have higher rates of absolute poverty/deprivation• Higher child poverty rates-one in three children• African American and Latinos 2x more likely to live in poverty

– What is the poverty line for a family of four in America? An Individual?

Total Discrimination

• The combination of current discrimination and past discrimination has a cumulative effect on individuals and groups of minority status

– An understanding of a individual’s position in society must take into account discrimination that one suffers from now and in the past

• Chart on page 84 of text

Institutional discrimination

• Characteristics of institutional discrimination– Mostly subtle and complex-occurs in daily operations of

institutions=“woodwork racism”• How do schools, health care companies, the CJS, banks, and workplaces

treat some groups unfairly?

– Woven into the fabric of society-rarely questioned

– Often unintentional yet evident

– Covert acts committed collectively against an entire group.• When enough individuals commit acts of discrimination it becomes

institutionalized

Institutional discrimination

• “Despite the fact that civil rights laws and cultural beliefs do not condone discrimination, and have created punishments for such acts, informal acts of discrimination may be so widespread that discrimination becomes institutionalized, even in the face of formal prohibition” (Aguirre and Turner, 2013)– Can occur amongst real estate agents, loan officers, police officers,

teachers, politicians, etc

– If individual acts of discrimination is widespread, these institutions discriminate on a wide scale and we see evidence of unequal treatment of some minority groups such as high rates of relative and absolute deprivation, poverty, incarceration, unfair hiring in jobs, segregation in housing, and unequal schooling.

Example #1-employment

• Discrimination in hiring/job seeking

– Does your name influence getting an interview or how seriously your resume will be taken?• Emily Walsh vs, Lakisha Washington• Greg baker vs Jamal Jones

– Who is more likely to get hired, a black male with No felony record, or a white male with a felony record?• Pg 84-85 of your text

Example #2-housing• Studies by National Fair Housing Alliance and Department of

Housing and Urban Development found that discriminatory housing practices are still routine:-Redlining and racial steering

Redlining: mortgage companies deny loans for houses in minority neighborhoods.

Racial steering: realtors discourage minorities from moving into certain neighborhoods.Home mortgage and car loans– Thomas and Passell found that controlling for income and credit scores, Latinos and African

Americans were 60% more likely to be rejected for loans than whites* Studies document that black and Hispanic homebuyers will pay higher interest rates than whites

with similar credit ratings

• These practices maintain segregation-Who is doing the discriminating? Arguably rental agents, landlords, homebuyers themselves, loan officers. When widespread, results in institutionalized discrimination

Example #3-Schooling• American schools are more racially segregated than ever before-linked

to segregation in housing• The majority of funding for public schools come from local tax dollars,

as a result: – Racial Minorities are disproportionately represented in low-income

neighborhoods, where schools and teachers are underfunded.– Impoverished schools offer fewer college prep and AP courses– Poor black and Latino students are more likely to be tracked into lower

performing classes, even when they have similar grade to whites– A recent study shows that teachers give higher grades to students of

their own race (Ouazad 2008)• 70% of teachers in American classrooms are white, middle class, and female

• Think about the examples of Francisco and Daisy in the film: Waiting for Superman

Example 4-The criminal justice system

• “Nowhere are racial disparities greater than in the criminal justice system”

– Next week