Deck 2: Systems of Power and Inequality

Question 1

The court case of Susie Phipps, who sued the Louisiana Bureau of Vital Records in 1982 to change her racial classification, illustrates that_____.

A) skin color determines race
B) race is a fixed reality that cannot be altered by legal designations
C) the social meanings of race are constantly being transformed by political struggle
D) race is less important now than it was in the past

Answer 1

C

Question 2

McIntosh defines_____as an invisible package of unearned assets.

A) White privilege
B) Black privilege
C) class
D) being a woman

Answer 2

A

Question 3

McIntosh argues that for White people_____.

A) sexual identity is the only area where a system of advantage can be found
B) gender is the only area where a system of advantage can be found
C) race is the only area where a system of advantage can be found
D) systems of advantage can be found in several aspects of one's life

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Omi and Winant define race as a concept that signifies and symbolizes_____by referring to_____.

A) social conflicts and interests; different types of human bodies
B) underlying genetic differences; skin colors
C) cultural identities; immutable physical traits
D) superiority and inferiority; geographic locations of origin

Question 5

According to Omi and Winant, we should think of race as a(n)_____.

A) fixed and immutable element of human biology
B) illusion we need to overcome
C) element of social structure
D) misconception left over from the past

Question 6

Omi and Winant explain that racial projects can occur at various analytical dimensions. Which of the following is an example of a racial project that is a macro-level social process?

A) microaggressions in everyday interaction
B) discriminatory hiring practices by managers
C) identity formation processes for biracial children
D) policy debates about affirmative action

Question 7

involves historically situated social projects in which groups are defined in racial terms and organized within structures of power.

A) Racist propaganda
B) Racial formation
C) Social Darwinism
D) Equal rights

Question 8

Omi and Winant explain that racial projects can occur at various analytical dimensions. Which of the following would be an example of a micro-level racial project?

A) microaggressions among students in classrooms
B) discriminatory hiring practices by managers
C) how parents talk to children about race
D) All of the above are micro-level racial projects

Question 9

Color-blind ideology ______.

A) ignores race
B) creates equality
C) encourages racial harmony
D) disregards racial hierarchy

Question 10

In color-blind thinking, race is reduced to_____.

A) cultural symbols
B) products for sale
C) differences in style
D) structural inequalities

Question 11

McIntosh argues that men_____.

A) accept their privileged position in relation to women
B) accept their privileged position in relation to people of Color
C) deny their privileged position in relation to women
D) deny their privileged position in relation to people of Color

Question 12

Peggy McIntosh argues that recognizing White privilege challenges_____.

A) the notion that an individual's experience is based solely on his or her own merit
B) the notion that an individual's experience is based on unearned advantage
C) the notion that an individual's experience is based on entitlement
D) the idea that racism is still a problem in the United States

Question 13

Omi and Winant use the term_____to describe how cultural representations and racial meanings are connected to the racial organization of social structures and everyday experiences.

A) racial projects
B) populist diatribes
C) hate speech
D) policy proposals

Question 14

National polls indicate that a majority of Whites now believe that racial discrimination_____.

A) explains the persistence of racial inequality
B) is systematic
C) has been eliminated
D) is still a problem, but only in the south

Question 15

Watching television is a form of_____between Whites and people of Color that encourages Whites to believe that little, if any, socio-economic difference exists now between races.

A) passive interaction
B) active exchange
C) education
D) illustration

Question 16

A social system that awards socio-economic success solely based on the effort of individuals is called a(n)_____.

A) class hierarchy
B) meritocracy
C) racial hierarchy
D) ideology

Question 17

Gallagher believes that_____is responsible for racial inequality today.

A) cultural diversity
B) class consciousness
C) institutional racism
D) laziness on the part of individuals

Question 18

A color-blind perspective insinuates that_____are responsible for racial inequality.

A) social institutions
B) individuals
C) laws and policies
D) women

Question 19

In "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies (1988)," Peggy McIntosh_____________ .

A) is more interested in developing separate institutions for Blacks than raising the consciousness of Whites
B) points out that Whites tend to be unaware of the privileges they have as members of the dominant group
C) challenges the belief that minority group members are as prejudiced as members of the dominant group
D) points out that White privilege no longer exists

Question 20

Omi and Winant describe "neoconservative" and "liberal" arguments about public policy to illustrate that_____.

A) racial projects are mere matters of rhetoric and have no bearing on people's lived experience
B) racial projects exist in a definite historical context and are descended from earlier conflicts about race
C) racial projects represent stable and unchanging partisan views that are disconnected from the evolving realities of race
D) mainstream political debate is the only place that racial projects take place

Question 21

Why do you think people deny their privilege?

Question 22

McIntosh says the word "privilege" now seems misleading. Its connotations are too_____to fit the conditions and behaviors that "privilege systems" produce.

A) negative
B) positive
C) ambiguous
D) guilt inducing

Question 23

Contemporary White nationalist groups recruit members and spread racist ideology through_____.

A) hate-based internet websites
B) social media
C) video games
D) all of the above

Question 24

Legally imposed racial discrimination_____.

A) characterizes over 80% of U.S. history
B) ended when slavery was abolished
C) was never the intent of U.S. founding documents or political institutions
D) only affects African-Americans, not other racial groups

Question 25

McIntosh believes race and sex are not the only advantaging systems at work. We need to similarly examine the daily experience of having other advantages such as_____.

A) age, work, money, or experience
B) age, ethnicity, physical ability, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation
C) age, behavior, attitude, or privilege
D) beauty, wealth, and fame

Question 26

How does McIntosh define White privilege?

Question 27

Create a list of the privileges you experience based on your racial, gender, or sexual identity. Is it difficult for you to identify your privilege? Why do you think this is the case?

Question 28

What do Omi and Winant mean by racial formation ? What role does the law play in such a process?

Question 29

The author believes Whiteness protected her from many kinds of_____.

A) adjustments, fears, and actions
B) hostility, distress, and violence
C) fears, violence, and adjustments
D) depression, anxieties, and self-defeating behaviors

Question 30

What is a meritocracy? How does a color-blind perspective buttress the deeply held belief that America is a meritocracy? Why do you think Gallagher uses "OPPORTUNITY HAS NO COLOR" as one of his subtitles within this article?

Question 31

On what evidence does Gallagher build his argument that a belief in color-blindness and a belief in meritocracy are both myths? What are some of the policy implications and social consequences of these related ideologies?

Question 32

Omi and Winant describe policy debate as an example of how racial projects take place as a macro-level social process. How might racial projects take place as micro-level social processes? What examples of this can you describe?

Question 33

Think of a few examples of racial projects in U.S. history and analyze how they connected cultural representation and social structure. That is, how did they interpret, represent, or explain racial dynamics as part of an effort to redistribute resources along racial lines?

Question 34

What does Gallagher mean when he says that "The new color-blind ideology does not ignore race: it acknowledges race while disregarding racial hierarchy      " What happens when media defines "race only as cultural symbols that are for sale"? Do consumers of all racial groups "see" race the same way, according to Gallagher? Why might media have a different influence on the thinking of Whites than on the thinking of racial minorities?

Question 35

How do media images affect the way that Whites think about race and racism, according to Gallagher? How can depictions of racial harmony be racist? How can media images of successful politicians, celebrities and sports figures contribute to racism? What important sociological concepts-and social realities-are missing from the picture in the color-blind perspective?

Question 36

White nationalism in the United States_____.

A) is a radically deviant ideology, supported only by a small fringe of extremists
B) was eradicated with the 1960s Civil Rights Act
C) is inconsistent with the "American values" of the nation's founders
D) is a systemic continuation of a long history of white racism

Question 37

In what way do men deny their privileged position? In what way do Whites?

Question 38

McIntosh acknowledges that running through a matrix of White privilege were a pattern of_____that were passed on to her as a White person.

A) assumptions
B) attitudes
C) behaviors
D) actions

Question 39

What difference does it make to conceptualize race as a property of social structures instead of as an attribute of individuals?

Question 40

Most White Americans today ______.

A) agree with Black Americans about the extent of racial discrimination
B) hold a dominant racial framing that is consistent with white-racist ideologies, even if they don't subscribe to extreme hate rhetoric
C) have rejected the racist attitudes that fuel White nationalist hate groups
D) understand the White racist history of the United States and its deep and continuing systemic effects

Question 41

Even though they were most often portrayed as low prestige service industry workers, about ________of South Asians who entered the United States between 1966 and 1977 had background in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.

A) 35%
B) 58%
C) 73%
D) 83%

Question 42

Ferber points out the identity of white supremacists, and the white racial purity they espouse requires the maintenance of_____.

A) secure boundaries
B) open boundaries
C) closed boundaries
D) protected

Question 43

How do both the racist past and racist present in the United States show evidence that White supremacist views are linked to and depend upon systems of patriarchy and male dominance? Locate examples in Feagin's article or provide your own examples.

Question 44

According to "What White Supremacists Taught a Jewish Scholar about Identity" by Abby L. Ferber, the history of the Jewish experience_____.

A) has followed a consistent path
B) demonstrates the social construction of race
C) represents the value of white supremacy
D) is the history of freedom from racism

Question 45

According to Ferber, Caucasian Jews today are a ______.

A) small group in the United States
B) strong group in the United States
C) privileged group in the United States
D) fiction, because "Caucasians" are one race and "Jews" are another

Question 46

According to Thakore, South Asian, and Indian characters began appearing as minor or not speaking characters in American TV and media in the_____.

A) 1960s
B) 1970s
C) 1980s
D) 1990s

Question 47

Bonilla-Silva proposes that a new racial stratification system in the United States will be_____.

A) biracial
B) triracial
C) antiracial
D) post-racial

Question 48

According to Thakore, the United States has evolved a_____tier system of racial hierarchy.

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five

Question 49

According to "What White Supremacists Taught a Jewish Scholar about Identity," which of the following groups reflects the social construction of race?

A) Jews
B) Irish
C) Whites
D) All of these answers are correct

Question 50

tend to be portrayed in American media as being from either highly educated backgrounds or low skilled employment, with little in-between.

A) East Asians
B) South Asians
C) North Africans
D) Middle Easterners

Question 51

Ferber reveals white supremacy is not a movement just about hatred, but even more about fear of ______.

A) the strength and courage reflected in Black identity
B) the vulnerability and instability of white identity and privilege
C) the deceptiveness of white identity and privilege
D) newcomers

Question 52

Can you identify the positive and negative aspects of your privilege?

Question 53

Social construction of race refers to the_____.

A) undeniable hierarchy of racial superiority
B) changing classification of race within society
C) justification behind anti-Semitism
D) biological foundations of racial identity

Question 54

By 2001, Blacks were surpassed by ______as the largest minority group in the United States.

A) Asians
B) Latinos
C) Native Americans
D) multiracial

Question 55

Contemporary white supremacist define Jews as non-White: "not a religion, they are an Asiatic race, locked in a mortal conflict with_____."

A) mortal man
B) Aryan man
C) Asian man
D) Black man

Question 56

Abby L. Ferber's research reveals that White supremacists view Jews as __________ .

A) threats to racial purity
B) supporters of their cause
C) White
D) a religious group, not a race

Question 57

Feagin reports that polls show that while the vast majority of Black Americans report experiencing racial discrimination, the majority of White Americans did not think anti-Black discrimination was either widespread or a serious problem. Why might Black and White Americans have such different views of racial discrimination?

Question 58

Abby L. Ferber's experience researching white supremacists led her to reflect on her own racial identity because_____.

A) she did not want to be a member of their targeted group
B) she recognized her own views of white superiority
C) although she largely identified as White, she recognized herself as a target of these groups because she is Jewish
D) she had always considered herself to be a member of a racial minority group

Question 59

What is largely considered to be the main reason that South Asians are subject to "forever foreigner" status?

A) skin color
B) lack of educational opportunities
C) lack of employment opportunities
D) religious discrimination

Question 60

White supremacist literature, according to Ferber, describes Interracial sex as the ultimate_____.

A) abomination
B) betrayal
C) fear
D) dislike

Question 61

According to Bonilla-Silva, colorblind ideology is a form of_____.

A) racism
B) benevolence
C) utopian thought
D) propaganda by leftist identity politics

Question 62

According to Mary Waters in "Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?," White ethnics fail to recognize ______.

A) the difference between individualistic symbolic ethnic identity and a socially enforced and imposed racial identity
B) the similarity between individualistic symbolic ethnic identity and a socially enforced and imposed racial identity
C) that some ethnicities are more important than others
D) that all ethnicities are merely symbolic in today's worlds

Question 63

Current population projections suggest that racial minorities will be a numeric majority in the United States by ______.

A) 2020
B) 2050
C) 2080
D) The U.S. population is projected to remain majority White for the foreseeable future.

Question 64

Bonilla-Silva proposes that in a triracial stratification system, an intermediary racial group would buffer conflict similar to the way ______conflict is buffered by a________________ .

A) economic; middle class
B) occupational; manager
C) legal; arbitrator
D) national; multilateral coalition

Question 65

Explain the fear of ambiguity Ferber talks about in her essay. How does Ferber address the issue of ambiguity?

Question 66

As explained in "Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?," symbolic ethnicity refers to an ethnicity that is_____.

A) individualistic in nature and without real social cost for the individual
B) socially determined and without real social cost for the individual
C) biological in nature and without real social cost for the individual
D) socially determined with real social cost for the individual

Question 67

Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and American Indians do not have the option of a_____at present in the United States.

A) symbolic ethnicity
B) symbolic necessity
C) symbolic interaction
D) symbolic reality

Question 68

What conclusions did Ferber draw regarding white supremacy and the social construction of race?

Question 69

As evidence supporting his triracial hypothesis, Bonilla-Silva points toward_____________.

A) gaps in socioeconomic status between the three racial groups
B) differences in occupational status between the three racial groups
C) measures of racial attitudes and social contact
D) all of the above

Question 70

Bonilla-Silva argues that the United States move to a triracial stratification system is_____.

A) a sign that diversity is eradicating racism
B) the result of effective coalition building across many different groups of color
C) part of a strategy for White elites to maintain White power
D) out of step with the new global racial reality

Question 71

According to "Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?" as a result of the exclusion they experienced at college, Black students may form_____.

A) militant defense groups
B) oppositional identities
C) inhibited identities
D) symbolic ethnicities

Question 72

According to "Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?," identifying as Irish on St. Patrick's Day is an example of_____.

A) symbolic ethnicity
B) oppositional identity
C) socially determined ethnicity
D) racialization

Question 73

Describe the white supremacists' view of Jewish people. How does Ferber explain their perspective?

Question 74

Bonilla-Silva's characterization of a triracial stratification system in the United States includes an intermediary group he terms_____.

A) "light Yellow"
B) "new Black"
C) "honorary White"
D) "Gray-tone"

Question 75

As noted in "Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?," White Americans have options regarding their ethnic identities, including_____.

A) the choice of which of their European ancestries to claim and whether to claim any specific ancestry
B) what holidays they will observe
C) what religion they will practice
D) genetic testing

Question 76

A triracial stratification system is already common in_____.

A) Northern Africa
B) Eastern Europe
C) Western Europe
D) Latin America and the Caribbean

Question 77

According to Bonilla-Silva, the key to successfully challenging a tri-racial system will be_____.

A) reminding "honorary Whites" that their status is dependent upon Whites' wishes and practices
B) leveraging economic power to convince elites that dismantling the racial system is profitable
C) eliminating race as a variable of difference
D) convincing elite Whites to recognize the injustice of White supremacy

Question 78

How has the presentation of South Asians and Indian Americans in popular culture been limited historically?

Question 79

According to "Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?," social scientists consider ethnicity primarily a ______.

A) belief in a common ancestry
B) social phenomenon
C) biological phenomenon
D) matrilineal phenomenon

Question 80

What led Abby L. Ferber to reflect on her own racial identity?