Structural Racism and Rigorous Models of Social Inequity Proceedings of a Workshop (2022) / Chapter Skim
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1 Setting the Foundation: Studying Race and Structural Racism Responsibly
1 Setting the Foundation: Studying Race and Structural Racism Responsibly
Pages 7-18
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From page 7... ...
observed the growing interest among population health researchers in understanding the effects of structural racism on material conditions and outcomes at particular points in time and throughout the life course. He emphasized the value of social scientists learning from humanists and humanistic social scientists about race, racism, race-making, and structural racism as dynamic processes.
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From page 8... ...
. blindfolded by fear." Li described Coates's inability to be comfortable with a White stranger, even though he was never in danger, as an ingrained "anticipatory stress response," having been taught that all White people pose a threat to Black people in a city that was segregated and violent, with
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From page 9... ...
, owing to a different upbringing. Coates suggested that President Obama trusted White America, unlike many African Americans, who are "too crippled by [their]
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From page 10... ...
Tracing historical discussions of race, Hammonds described W.E.B. Du Bois's contribution of 60 data visualizations in 1900 to an exhibit in Paris that focused on the progress of African Americans since Emancipation.
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From page 11... ...
, this "explains the seeming contradiction of officers of color being as likely as their White counterparts to use lethal force against people of color." Bonilla-Silva indicated that this lack of understanding about the sys temic nature of racism persists in part because society incorrectly conflates racism with prejudice. First, prejudice focuses on individuals' psychology or attitudes, whereas structural racism is collective and societal, and extends beyond attitude to create an ideology.
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From page 12... ...
Although several alternative approaches to understanding structural racism exist, Bonilla-Silva emphasized the value of the "racialized social system" approach, which he developed in 1997. He explained that this theoretical framework is based on the following multidimensional premise: "the world-system was racialized in the 15th century, creating racialized social systems" in which "social, economic, political, and even psychologi cal goods have been partially allocated by race." Furthermore, race and racism are "social and political constructs that are mutually reinforced." In other words, Bonilla-Silva continued, "race and racism coemerged and are codetermined." Although races are constructs, they are "socially real," he said, because belonging to the White race has positive consequences and belonging to a non-White race has negative consequences.
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From page 13... ...
She underscored that interdisciplinary scholarship -- integrating re search from the arts, humanities, and social sciences into population health research -- creates stronger science, especially because public health and biomedical training are often misaligned with the reality of how structural racism shapes health and well-being. Reflecting on how researcher bias can influence this scholarship, she noted that racially diverse research teams are also highly beneficial.
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From page 14... ...
Hicken expanded on the definitions of racism offered earlier in the workshop, first sharing philosopher Achille Mbembe's (2003) interpre tation that racism is "a technology aimed at permitting the exercise of biopower" -- the tool that allows society to "regulate the distribution of death." More specifically, Hicken described cultural racism as the s ocially accepted v alues, ideologies, and norms of a racialized society that are deter mined by the dominant power group.
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From page 15... ...
In some cases, the creation of indices may be useful in facilitating particular research questions, but she cautioned that indices are not indicators of structural racism. Hicken commented that the field is moving toward more frequent use of an approach that captures specific features to better understand cultural and structural racism at local levels, both spatially and temporally -- for example, via racial segregation (global and local residential, historical residential redlining, educational, and occupational)
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From page 16... ...
Logan offered further reflections on the first session of the workshop and on the topic of structural racism more broadly. He recalled sociologist Dorothy Roberts's understanding of race as a political construct, which focuses on the division of resources among people through the political process, and noted that this definition captures another aspect of the com plexity of structural racism because it reveals how race is operationalized at the individual and institutional levels, where power dynamics reign.
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From page 17... ...
Logan observed that measures of segregation are often focused on metropolitan areas, and he inquired about capturing geospatial aspects of systemic racism that might not align with existing theories. Bonilla-Silva suggested analyzing local racial formations to examine how the production of racial order varies depending on rural, urban, large, and small popula tions.
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From page 18... ...
If race is relational, she added, then ques tions arise about what it means for White people to be White, as well as about the structures that produce Whiteness. Li returned to the question that began this discussion -- why and how these social constructs exist -- and explained that they exist because of the narratives that underpin American identity and the founding of the nation, which relate to the concept of "White innocence." She noted that all of the achievements in the United States are based on the foundation of freedom and the pursuit of happiness, which in reality are "built on mass exploita tion and genocide and the plunder of bodies of color." She emphasized the importance of challenging this notion of White innocence and changing the narrative that Blackness equates to violence, abjection, and disposability.
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