SOC 1104 Midterm Exam

A recurring theme in Desmond and Emirbayer’s Race in America  (2016) is the invisibility of ‘whiteness’ and its pernicious effects. Whites, they write, are (often unwitting) members of ‘the race that need not speak its name’ (p. 26) — and this very silence/invisibility contributes to a system of racial domination (pp. 10-13). ‘White is not “just another” racial category’, they write, ‘it is the dominant category, that with which all other categories are compared and contrasted’.

Whiteness, then, is racial domination normalized. This normalization produces and reproduces many cultural, political, economic, and social advantages and privileges for white people and withholds such advantages and privileges from nonwhite people. (Desmond and Emirbayer 2016:26)

And this normalization, moreover, is hidden in plain sight:

Many white people seem to believe that they do not belong to a racial group. They see themselves, simply, as “normal”. And herein lies the power of whiteness. By refusing to speak its own name, whiteness presents itself as normal. (ibid.).

Identify at least three examples of such invisibility and explain their negative effects. How is whiteness made invisible in each instance, and how does each instance contribute to the racial domination of some (that is, whites) over others (nonwhites)?

You must make explicit reference to at least three sources from our previously assigned reading (for our purposes, references to three distinct chapters in the textbook would count as three different references). Additionally, you must ‘snowball backwards’ by consulting and making reference to at least one other source cited in the assigned reading (thus, you should be citing at least four sources in total). For example, in their discussion of institutional racism and interpersonal racism, Desmond and Emirbayer cite Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton’s Black Power (1967), which they describe as a ‘classic’, and which first introduced these concepts to race studies (Desmond and Emirbayer 2016:13). You would need to consult this reference for yourself and incorporate it into your own analysis (and cite it accordingly).

(Note: Just as you might snowball backwards to Carmichael and Hamilton for help with your theoretical analysis, you might do the same with a more empirical study, citing it for data that supports your analysis.)

Instructions

1. Papers must be submitted electronically as Google Docs on Blackboard. Do not include your name or any identifying text.
2. The body of your paper (that is, excluding title page, reference list, appendices, etc.) can be no longer than 1,000 words. Longer papers will be returned without comment for revision.
3. Print the word count at the top of your paper.
4. You must include a reference list.  (You only need to cite Desmond and Emirbayer once, even if you end up citing three chapters from that book; I’ll be able to tell how many chapters you’ve referenced from the page numbers cited in your text ).
5. Sources must be cited in text and in your reference list using ASA Style (that link takes you to the ASA Quick Style Guide; this video covers much of the same territory and also gives some helpful advice on citing videos).
6. I often use abbreviations and acronyms in my comments on your papers; the key to such comments may be found HERE. Read them before you submit your essay, since those comments will give you an idea of the errors that are most commonly committed—and how to avoid them yourself.

REFERENCES

Carmichael, Stokely, and Charles V. Hamilton. 1967. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. New York: Random House.

Desmond, Matthew, and Mustafa Emirbayer. 2016. Race in America. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.