Exam 4: Contemporary Racial Framing: White Americans

A majority of U.S. drug-dealers are white.

African Americans and Native Americans make-up most of the people incarcerated for illegal drug use.

Opinion polls over the last decade have found increasing percentages of whites who believe that they suffer racial discrimination.

Describe how people with strong stereotypes of an out-group often describe negative and positive behavior by individual members of the out-group.

A recent Washington Post analysis of polls of three generations of white Americans found that millennial respondents were very different in racist attitudes to older respondents.

Discuss the significance of 'giving up' on political correctness, including the recent experimental study that found that a hypothetical politician who makes offensive racist comments in a tweet, but frames it as challenging "political correctness," was less likely to be criticized by the research subjects for the offensive racist comment.

Drawing on the words of analyst Bruce Baum, explain why music is such an effective conduit for the white racial frame.

In opinion polls a majority of whites nowadays appear to be unopposed to interracial marriages on brief survey questions.

Describe sociologist Louwanda Evans's interviews with pilots at major airlines as an example of racial-gender intersectionality.

A 2017 national survey of African Americans found that half had reported experiencing offensive racial comments or racialized assumptions.

Discuss various studies of news media coverage of African Americans and crime, including racial differentials in local and national media reporting.

A 1963 Harris poll found a majority of whites admitted that they agreed with statements about black Americans, including all the following EXCEPT:

Which of the following beliefs illustrates symbolic racism?

What is symbolic racism (also known as modern racism)? Do you believe it has largely replaced old-fashioned racism? Why or why not?

You and a group of friends are discussing black male protests against racism amongst police officers. One of your friends tells you that she agrees with President Donald Trump, that players who kneel during the anthem "maybe shouldn't be in the country." When you explain the reasoning behind their acts of protest, she argues that U.S. society is no longer racist because black players are common on college and professional football and basketball teams. Drawing on Chapter 4, correct her flawed white racially framed assumptions.

Describe recent examples of bogus racialized accusations by whites against black men and their broader significance.

When whites perceive someone to fit their internalized criteria for blackness - which can be skin color, other physical characteristics, or speech - their minds may generate negative attitudes or images, and they may act according to those negative attitudes or images. Possible responses include:

While black men and black woman experience similar levels of discrimination in many areas, black men report more mistreatment than black women in regard to racialized suspicion (52 percent versus 44 percent) and suffering policing discrimination (22 percent versus 15 percent).

Reconsider the comments in the anonymous hate letter the senior author received, apparently from a white man, which appears in Chapter 4. What elements of the white racial frame do you see in the letter?

Describe pre-Civil War minstrel shows in terms of the white racial frame's strong positive orientation to whites and whiteness (the pro-white subframe) and the strong negative orientation to racial "others" who are exploited and oppressed (anti-others subframes).