Chapter Eleven Racism and Ethnicity

Objectives

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To outline the practice of racism and to describe various forms of resistance to racism.

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To provide an analysis of identity, specifically ethnic identity, and its emergence in the late twentieth century as a basis of politics.

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To indicate some of the traditional and emerging sociological approaches to issues of racism and ethnicity.

Defining ethnicity

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Key ideas:

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A group who shares a particular history, a set of cultural practices and institutions, and is conscious of a shared identity as a result

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Developed latter half of the 20th Century as a result of political developments and increased interest in cultural identity

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Most significant form of identity for many Now a major consideration in many areas of society

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Health care, fishery resources, inclusion of cultural practices and institutions

Defining race and racism

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Race

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Historical classification of groups according to biological characteristics Racism

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Racially-based classifications lead to prejudice and discrimination Historically, ‘justified’ exclusion and even persecution Institutional racism

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When organisations, especially those responsible for health, education and justice, discriminated against particular groups, intentionally or unintentionally Racialisation

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Process whereby a group is classified as a race and defined as a problem

New Zealand and colonisation

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Colonisation/colonialism

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New Zealand colonised when views about ‘race’ powerful and widespread

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History based on the assumed superiority of the coloniser and inferiority of Maori

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Limited attempts to recognise and protect Maori

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The Treaty of Waitangi

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Post-colonialism

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An analytical approach and political position which is critical of the processes and impact of colonialism Does not mean ‘after colonialism’

Resistance to racism

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Ethnic revival

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Global resurgence of ethnic identity in the latter half of the twentieth century with political implications

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e.g. Black Civil Rights movement in the USA, anti apartheid movement in South Africa

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Linked to post-colonialism

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Challenges ideologies of colonial oppression, including racism

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Reconstruction resulting from interaction between imperial cultures and indigenous cultural practices

Resistance to racism

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Ethnic revival in New Zealand

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1970s-1980s

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Racism highlighted and attacked Maori leaders and institutions challenged

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Late 1980s

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Biculturalism as a basis for public policy Maori control based on ambition of tino rangatiratanga

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Treaty of Waitangi back as a constitutional document Language and culture recognised by policies and institutions

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Much more difficult to ridicule or dismiss Maori in the public sphere

Ethnicity and citizenship

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Ethnic identity now a major determinant in identity creation and social interaction for many people Increasingly notions of citizenship viewed to encompass the differential rights attached to membership to an ethnic group The process of “naming yourself” establishes certain assumptions about social membership and access to rights and resources Ethnic names are indicators of political contestation that reflect the dynamic process of boundary creation and reconstruction of national and ethnic identities

Theorising racism and ethnicity

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Karl Marx/Marxists

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Race and ethnicity as secondary to class-related questions and inequalities

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Max Weber

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Ethnicity as an important aspect of social status

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Franz Fanon

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The internalisation of racist beliefs by those defined as inferior

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The disempowering and exclusionary strategies of colonialism and the need for decolonisation

Theorising racism and ethnicity

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John Rex and Robert Moore

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Challenged commonly-held assumptions about the equity and acceptance of culture difference in Britain from the 1960s (housing classes)

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Bob Miles and Stephen Castles

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Need to be critical of use of ‘race’ and ‘racism’, and recognise importance of resistance and cultural identity (analysis of racism and capitalism)

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Stuart Hall

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Post-colonialism, the establishment and maintainance of hegemony (Gramsci) and its relationship to racism and ethnicity

Summary

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Race and racism are social constructions made important by our social beliefs and values A connection existed between colonialism and the disempowering and exclusionary ideas of racism Ethnic identity and racial exclusion are a central focus of contemporary sociology, especially since ethnic identity politics have emerged as a major expression of resistance and community mobilisation during the late twentieth century The policy implications of the renewed importance given to ethnic identity have increasingly seen notions of citizenship encompass the differential rights attached to membership of an ethnic group