Race,self-interest and privilege amongst students at elite U.S. and U.K. universities

Warikoo’s The Diversity Bargain describes the findings of research which explores how students at elite universities in the U.S. and the U.K. conceptualize race in relation to the admissions process and their experiences on campus. This is an important study, which reveals differences in the degree of comfort and caution displayed by white students in their framing of race. There are three areas worthy of further exploration: the subjective positioning of the author herself as she engages and responds to the research findings; the advantages of affording a richer theoretical framework to the analysis and, finally, the similarities between Warikoo’s notion of a diversity bargain and Derrick Bell’s concept of interest convergence. These are explored in turn.     

From whiteness to diversity: crossing the racial threshold in bicentennial Argentina

This article examines recent transformations on the discourses of race and nation in bicentennial Argentina, which have shifted from the notion of a fundamentally white nation to an assertion of its racial and cultural diversity. I examine the production of race in contemporary institutional and non-institutional practices that challenge the discourses of modernity according to which Argentina is a white, homogenous and Europeanized nation. The article focuses on a set of cultural manifestations involving Japanese Argentines that – as non-traditional actors in the racial and national stages and as ‘desirable’ immigrants – reveal some inherent fissures in the current official narrative that ostensibly progresses from homogeneity to diversity, and from exclusion to inclusion. By observing the performativity of race and a non-constructivist understanding of race embedded within these cultural manifestations, I argue that the newly multicultural nation continues to inherit its mechanisms of racial production from the modern nation.     

‘To bring out the best that is in their blood’: Race,reform, and civilization in the journal of race development (1910–1919)

The Journal of Race Development [JRD], published out of Clark University in the United States between 1910 and 1919, aimed, in its founder's words, “to present … the important facts which bear upon race progress, and the different theories as to the methods by which developed peoples may most effectively aid the progress of the undeveloped”. Its basic premise was that scientific knowledge could harness racial or civilizational “evolution” and turn it into “development”. This article examines that project, the conceptual apparatus that the JRD's writers and editors brought to bear on it, and how racial ideas informed their conceptions of development and progressive social change through elite scientific and political intervention. Central to this project was an organic notion of “civilization” in which “nature” and “culture” did not so much overlap as flow seamlessly one into the other.     

Including exclusion: the enduring problematic gap between the race and ethnicity paradigms

In the article, “U.S. Racial and Ethnic Relations in the Twenty-first Century”, Zulema Valdez and Tanya Golash-Boza present a compelling argument, suggesting the existence of a gap in race theoretical paradigms and ethnicity theoretical paradigms. They suggest that these two theoretical frames focus on both different social processes and levels of analysis, and argue for a merging of the central tenets of these paradigms in order to facilitate more complete theoretical analyses of racial and ethnic processes in the U.S. While we see great value in this project, we suggest that the authors miss an enduring and problematic gap between these theoretical frames because they do not fully explicate how race/racism theory articulates the fundamentally interconnected relationships between the racial social structure, group-level processes, and individual-level racial dynamics in a manner that ethnicity theory fails to capture.     

Looking up in Scotland? Multinationalism,multiculturalism and political elites

At a time when all the political parties of Scotland are trying to establish a persuasive vision of the nation, inquiry into where ethnic and racial minorities fit into these debates provides one understudied means of bridging literatures on multinationalism and multiculturalism. Focusing especially on the lesser known question of how elite political actors are positioning minorities within projects of nation-building, this article draws upon original empirical data in which three predominant clusters emerge. The first centres on an aspirational pluralism, in so far as political elites are less inclined – in contrast to counterparts in some other minority nations – to place ethnically determined barriers on membership of Scottish nationhood. The second concerns the competing ways in which the legacy of Scotland's place in the British Empire is appropriated by actors of different political hues, and so assumes a multiform role. The third cluster points to potential limitations in minority claims-making and recognition, especially in terms of formal multilingualism and corporate multifaithism, something that may partly be explained by the tension between multinationalism and multiculturalism. Taken together, the article illustrates how elite political actors can play a vital role in ensuring that appeals to nationhood in Scotland can be meaningfully calibrated to include minorities too.     

Can there be a truly systematic and comprehensive theory of race?

ABSTRACT

In this ambitious new book, Mustafa Emirbayer and Matthew Desmond contend that there has never been a truly comprehensive and systematic theory of race. They go on to argue that ‘Much of our best work no longer tells us how to understand or reconstruct racial dynamics but simply gives us concrete proof of their continuing significance’ (3). To what extent does The Racial Order theoretically advance existing theorizing of race? An important contribution – and a central plank in the book – is the way in which a wide variety of cultural and social phenomena is discussed and interwoven into the analysis. The authors draw most heavily on Bourdieu, Dewey, and Durkheim, in their elaboration of the racial order.     

Reconstructing race and gender in American cosmetic surgery

While scholars have examined how cosmetic surgery can reinforce gender norms, the development of racially specific standards is a more recent phenomenon that has received less scrutiny. This article examines how cosmetic surgeons conceptualize race and its intersection with gender. Through analysis of eighty surgeon-authored procedural guides, I find that surgeons engage in what I term the biological construction of social difference, mixing discourses of biology and physical difference with social and cultural discourses to describe patient beauty ideals. Surgeons develop an expert discourse on race and gender that is simultaneously about difference and beauty. The development of “ethnic” specific cosmetic surgery standards enshrines a “white” default referent even as it opens the door to other configurations of physical appearance. Cosmetic surgery implies that physical markers of race and gender are mutable – literally, via the surgeon’s scalpel – even as it relies on and reinforces established notions of racial difference.     

Racialization: a defense of the concept

This paper defends the concept of racialization against its critics. As the concept has become increasingly popular, questions about its meaning and value have been raised, and a backlash against its use has occurred. I argue that when “racialization” is properly understood, criticisms of the concept are unsuccessful. I defend a definition of racialization and identify its companion concept, “racialized group.” Racialization is often used as a synonym for “racial formation.” I argue that this is a mistake. Racial formation theory is committed to racial ontology, but racialization is best understood as the process through which racialized – rather than racial – groups are formed. “Racialization” plays a unique role in the conceptual landscape, and it is a key concept for race eliminativists and anti-realists about race.     

Obesity and C-reactive protein levels among white, black, and hispanic US adults

Objective: Studies suggest that obesity's adverse impact on cardiovascular mortality may be reduced in African Americans relative to white Americans. We examined whether obesity's association with novel cardiovascular risk factors such as C‐reactive protein (CRP) also varies by race and ethnicity. Methods and Procedures: We analyzed data from 10,492 white, African‐American, and Hispanic‐American participants of the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, who were aged 20 years and older, with a BMI ≥18.5 kg/m² and CRP ≤10 mg/l. We fit sex‐specific multivariable models of the association of BMI or waist circumference with log CRP levels and tested for interactions of BMI or waist circumference with race/ethnicity. Results: Higher BMI was significantly associated with higher CRP in all racial/ethnic groups for both men and women (P > 0.05 for BMI–race/ethnicity interaction) before and after adjustment for age, education, and health behaviors. Larger waist circumference was also associated with higher CRP levels in all racial/ethnic groups before and after adjustment; among women, the relationship was strongest for Mexican Hispanics (P < 0.01 for waist circumference–race/ethnicity interaction). Results were similar after additional adjustment for medications that might affect CRP levels. Discussion: The association between obesity and CRP is at least as strong in African Americans and Hispanic Americans as in white Americans. Racial differences in the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular mortality are unlikely to be due to racial differences in obesity's impact on CRP.     

Racial and ethnic differences in perceptions of discrimination among Muslim Americans

I use data from the 2011 Pew Survey (N?=?1,033) to examine the prevalence and correlates of perceived discrimination across Muslim American racial/ethnic groups. Asian Muslims report the lowest frequency of perceived discrimination than other Muslim racial/ethnic groups. Nearly, all Muslim racial/ethnic groups have a few times higher odds of reporting one or more types of perceived discrimination than white Muslims. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, the observed relationships persist for Hispanic Muslims but disappear for black and other/mixed race Muslims. Women are less likely than men to report several forms of discrimination. Older Muslims report lower rates of perceived discrimination than younger Muslims. White Muslim men are more likely to report experiencing discrimination than white, black and Asian Muslim women. The findings highlight varying degrees of perceived discrimination among Muslim American racial/ethnic groups and suggest examining negative implications for Muslims who are at the greatest risk of mistreatment.     

The legitimacy of elite gatekeeping

Natasha Warikoo’s study of how students at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities view race and fairness highlights the vast differences between the U.S. and Britain with respect to perceptions of meritocracy by these winners in the competition for places in elite institutions. The strict enforcement of uniform standards for admission is seen as critical and legitimate at Oxford, whereas a more holistic approach in the U.S. – one that sees racial diversity as an important and desirable part of the institution’s culture and identity – is seen as critical to a “diversity bargain”. I question the sources of students’ ideas about race and the diversity bargain, suggesting that they may be rooted more in their pre-college experiences than in their life at university. I also raise questions about whether and how an admissions lottery would work to address some of Warikoo’s concerns.     

Creole: a contested,polysemous term

In this paper, we critically examine the polysemous term, creole, used at different times and various geographical areas to describe diverse identities, languages, peoples, ethnicities, racial heritages, and cultural artefacts. Our objective is twofold: (1) to describe the historically contested nature of the term and its connection to broader trends in defining race in the United States and (2) to suggest that a deeper understanding of racially situated terms such as creole can help to highlight the contextualized character of racial/ethnic divisions, trends, and labels. Our analysis shows that in many ways the Creole people of the United States Gulf Coast Region truly represent the “melting pot” mantra in espoused American ideology and exemplify a direct challenge to bygone racial ideologues which espoused the idea that mixing produces hybridized, impudent, weak, and sickly offspring.     

On classifying race in Brazil: Example from a study of the functional ability of older people (60+)

Abstract

How should race be categorized? This article investigates the usefulness of having three categories to describe a black‐white racial continuum, focusing on Brazil and the functional ability of elderly (60+) people there. Ironically, even as the U.S. census has started to acknowledge mixed race again, much social research in Brazil has begun not to. Using 1998 national household survey microdata (PNAD) for Brazil, we find it advantageous to use a three‐category scheme that separates a mixed black‐white (pardo) status from black or white when examining the functional ability of elders. We also find the tantalizing possibility of a crossover in which browns actually have more functional ability than white counterparts after controlling for many demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic factors.     

Jewishness as sui generis: extending theorizations beyond the debate of “race,ethnicity, or religion”

ABSTRACT

Scholarship on Jewishness has often assumed that race, ethnicity, and religion are discrete categories. This review article surveys the place of Jewishness within race literature, ethnicity literature, and sociological religion literature, and offers a new theoretical framework for considering Jewishness as sui generis – of its own unique quality. The categories of race, ethnicity, and religion must be theorized as a system of interconnected frames and processes that overlap, interact, and are co-constituted. This web of frames and processes must be situated within the larger social system and meanings that construct Jewishness alongside other subjectivities.     

"Hey, Those Shoes Are Out of Uniform": African American Girls in an Elite High School and the Importance of Habitus

We examine how race and class influenced the lives of six African American high school seniors who attended a predominantly white, elite, independent secondary school. Race and class contributed to an organizational habitus of the school characterized by white and wealthy privilege. Interaction of that dominant habitus with the dissimilar individual habitus of the students resulted in a form of symbolic violence—symbolic violence the black students knowingly endured in exchange for the social mobility afforded by attending the elite school.     

Television Viewing Is Not Predictive of BMI in Black and Hispanic Young Adult Females

Previous studies have observed that television (TV) viewing is predictive of obesity and weight gain. We examined whether the cross‐sectional association between TV viewing and BMI varied by racial/ethnic subgroups among young women in Wave III (collected in 2001–2002) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We used multivariate linear regression to examine the relationship between TV viewing and BMI among 6,049 females while controlling for sociodemographic and health attributes. We stratified the sample by race/ethnicity to better understand the association between TV viewing and BMI across different groups. Black and Hispanic females had higher BMIs (black: 28.5 kg/m², Hispanic: 27.3 kg/m², white: 26.0 kg/m²) than white females, while black females reported higher numbers of hours spent watching TV (black: 14.7 h/week, Hispanic: 10.6 h/week, white: 11.2 h/week) when compared to their white and Hispanic peers. TV viewing was positively associated with BMI (β = 0.79, P = 0.003 for 8–14 vs. ≤7 h/week; β = 1.18, P = 0.01 for >14 vs. ≤7 h/week) independent of race/ethnicity, age, maternal education, history of pregnancy, parental obesity, and household income. However, in models stratified by race/ethnicity, increased TV viewing was associated with increased BMI only among white females; TV viewing was not predictive of higher BMI in black or Hispanic young adult females. Among black and Hispanic females, counseling to decrease TV viewing may be important but insufficient for promoting weight loss.     

Meritocracy dismissed

Undergraduates at elite universities in the US and UK are, according to Dr Warikoo, conflicted about the relation of racial diversity to meritocracy. In the US, white students view racial minorities as academically less qualified but as providing a diversity benefit; UK students view minorities as equal members of a meritocracy but turn a blind eye to racial disparities on and off campus. What Warikoo’s narrative overlooks is the role played by differences between the US and the UK in the educational paths and testing regimes that produce these disparate mentalities. Although 40 per cent of America’s colleges offer test-optional admissions, some like Harvard still require SAT/ACT scores. The SAT/ACT are predictively weak and biased, stigmatizing minorities as underperformers. Test biases and the predictive superiority of high school grades are not widely understood. Warikoo’s proposal to blow up meritocracy with an admissions lottery is to be applauded.     

Towards unifying racial and ethnic paradigms

Bridging the divide between the ethnic/assimilation and the race literatures has long vexed sociologists. Valdez and Golash-Boza are to be commended for the intellectual effort they display in this article to engage this messy and contentious relationship. The distinction between the ethnic paradigm which produces assimilation projects and the racial paradigm which produces structural racism projects is important. I further this by noting that the process involved in the racial paradigm is racialization. I engage three examples: Mexican Americans, African-Americans, and white Americans. Together, these provide clarity to the discussion of how to pursue a unified approach.     

Race matters in lesbian donor insemination: whiteness and heteronormativity as co-constituted narratives

As in other areas of social life where the privileging of whiteness is rendered invisible, the donor insemination choices of white lesbians making individual choices about the race of potential children are de-racialized and de-politicized. Using qualitative data, we focus on how white women who choose white donors rely on racial markers, while avoiding overt discussions of race, to explain their racial preferences in childrearing. The individuals we interviewed rarely questioned their decision to use white donors, or even verbally acknowledged their decision. For instance, while no participants explicitly stated, ‘I wanted a white child’, they did display preferences in terms of skin colour, hair colour, eye colour, and ethnicity. That is, individuals assumed whiteness and assumed this decision did not have to be explained. Our research deconstructs this narrative and challenges its invisibility.